First Impressions

I officially finished my first week of class in Granada! Of course, it went as fast as the first week of any semester does. I think my classes will be fairly easy, but speaking in Spanish 24/7 is work in itself. I think I'll have a lot of free time; usually I take 15 credits each semester, but I'm only taking 12 credits this semester since that's all I need to graduate. With that, I'll be trying to volunteer in a school to help teach English, and I'm also looking to volunteer somewhere healthcare related. My Señora also has a family friend that has a 19 year old daughter who is going to college for nursing who wants to meet up with me once she gets back from her Summer break so she can practice English and I can practice my Spanish. It's my goal to start getting more involved with the locals here!

Some of my first impressions of Granada:

Food: my Señora is an amazing cook. She definitely feeds me enough, but if I don't eat ice cream or pizza with my friends, it's the perfect amount. Here is a typical meal: meat, potatoes, veggies, bread, cheese and fruit for dessert. 

My favorite meal so far. The melon they have here (in the bowl) is seriously my favorite fruit now.

Señora: it's different to change my living arrangements from an apartment with friends (and my sister) to living with my Señora, however I'm already very independent in the house, which makes it much more pleasant. I've learned that communication is key. Even though we have different primary languages, I've already discovered that if we both explain where we will be and at what times, everything goes much more smoothly. We have never seen each other in the mornings, and I just eat cereal (seriously it's my crack). For lunch and dinner, if I'm going to be home later or earlier than she's making dinner for herself, she'll just make me up something that I can heat up, or makes me food first that she'll eat later. It's actually quite awesome. I feel spoiled. And for trips, rather than buying food, she packs me a "bocadillo" or a sandwich. Super awesome. Also, we've already had in depth conversations about Obama, universal healthcare, Syria, etc. Didn't think I'd be able to jump into those kinds of conversations so soon, though I'm not going to complain. In short, I think I was assigned a pretty good Señora! Did I mention I have my own bathroom and giant closet? 

Siestas: Granada is scorching hot in the summer, about 110 degrees, by mid afternoon, so everyone goes home in the afternoons for "siesta" to have dinner, nap and talk with the family, resting up to go out at night when the weather is actually bearable. It's a little weird not getting my 8 hours of sleep each night since I go to bed later than normal, but the siesta nap definitely makes up for it. The streets of Granada during siesta (about 2-5pm) are dead, but at about 8 or 9pm until 1am, there are people everywhere, the waterfalls are running and lit up and all the bars give free tapas with drinks.

Streets & Sidewalks: they are definitely different than in the U.S. Most of the sidewalks are tile (very slippery when wet). 

They have the best "walk" signal to cross the street.

The walking guy starts blinking at 3 seconds, so I caught it at a bad time, but doesn't this green guy have swag?

 

The cleanliness on the streets is insane. Every morning people are outside mopping the sidewalk tiles, cleaning all the windows, and people even clean the stoplights and paint the poles each morning around the city. My teacher claims that they need to do this because Spaniards are super dirty, so if they didn't clean every day, the streets would be a disaster. They even have Zambonis that clean the streets and sidewalks, I've seen them around town at all hours of the day. 

Water: the water in Granada is the best in all of Spain because it comes directly from the mountains, meaning all the vitamins and minerals are 100% natural. It's a little weird drinking from tap water though since I've drank from either a Britta or the well water for the last 21 years of my life. But, I will admit, it is very refreshing in 100 degree weather (even if it's warm water). I've also realized that I need to drink at least a gallon a day otherwise extreme dehydration kicks in.

There are many more things to talk about, but I'm going to leave it at this for today. This weekend starts my trips that I'll be taking pretty much every weekend. So prepare for blog posts each week from some crazy awesome place around Europe! Trip 1: Nerja, Spain. You should look up pictures, it's beyond beautiful!

Contact Info.

As you can see, I've posted my mailing address and telephone number. Just a few things, if sending a package, please write "used personal items" on the paper you have to fill out for customs at the post office under the contents line. Also, do NOT buy insurance. If you do not do these two things, it will  take several weeks for me to receive it and I'll have to pay as much as the package as worth to pick it up. Also, telephone is for local contacts and emergencies only, since it will be very expensive to call overseas. Thanks everyone, hope everything is well back in Wisconsin!

First Day of School

Walking to school this morning, I was super excited to finally get a first day of school picture at college. I'm not sure why I haven't been taking them every year, but oh well!

In front of the door leading to our school. It's a building from the 16th century, with all original doors inside.

Once inside the building, all the classrooms and offices are on these two floors surrounding this little fountain. I didn't take a picture, but above the fountain is just the sky, there's no roof. It's beautiful!

The library.

Other view of the library.

Little computer room. Since the school has wifi, I'm assuming this room won't be used too often.

The bathrooms. Interesting fact: inside the bathrooms hangs a sign saying... "Please do not flush toilet paper or sanitary products." Okay...?

My schedule is going to be amazing. Since I only need 12 credits to graduate, I'll be taking 4 classes. Monday and Wednesday from 9:00-10:30 and 11:00-12:30. Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00-10:30 and 16:30-18:00. School is only a 15 minute walk from my house, so I will be having a lot of free time. One of my classes requires community service to help keep me busy, so I'm excited to see what I can find. I'm actually thinking about the Red Cross. 

Saturday night, my Señora's grandboys came over for the night. It's adorable to hear little kids talk in Spanish. They're such well behaved boys and soooo cute!

My Spanish nephews, Antonio (6 years old) and David (6 years old).

We went to a park with this color-changing water fountain. (They were more excited with me than this picture shows.)

So Granada was the last city that the Catholics took over way back in the 15th century. For that, there are hundreds of monuments located around the city and history along the way. On Sunday, in the blazing hot 42C or 107F weather, we went hiking up part of the mountain to the Alhambra. I won't bore you with history, but if you're curious to learn a little about it, look some information up on google. It's a giant village built up on the side of the mountain, that has been transformed into a tourist attraction. Again, absolutely breathtaking views. All the buildings have the most detailed patterns on the walls, not sure how they were able to build such amazing things thousands of years ago. 

Our lunch break under a tree.

From the highest point overlooking Granada.

Just goofing around in the gardens.

It was a day of glorified history class, rather than a textbook, we had our awesome tour guide (you can see the headphones that allowed us to hear everything our leader was telling us) and breathtaking views. After 6 hours of walking during the hottest part of the day, it's safe to say that I was exhausted.

Mi Señora

This morning, I moved in with my host family. I'll be living on the 6th floor of a building in Granada for the next four months. It's finally starting to feel real, and I'm more than excited about it! My host family consists of my Señora who I'll be living with, but she also has 2 children, one son and one daughter, that live in surrounding villages. She has two grandchildren, Antonio and David, and they are coming tonight to spend the night. As you can imagine, I'm very excited to meet them. Also, her daughter is expecting a baby girl at the beginning of December. I'm hoping the baby comes on time so I can meet her!

My Señora works at the hospital as what translates to English as a nursing assistant, but she can do everything a nurse can do, except draw blood. She had to go to school for 2 years for it, so I'm assuming it's something between a CNA and an RN. What's even cooler is that she works in the maternity ward. It's safe to say that I'm beyond jealous.

The last couple days I've been staying in a hostel and attending orientation at the school and around the city. Granada is seriously beautiful with so much to learn, since it has a history longer than the lifetime of the U.S. I'll be posting pictures of the school and Granada once I roam around more by myself, rather than in my group. There are 25 students in our program, all from either UW-Madison or University of Illinois.

The view from our hostel.

Again.

Cookies and cream gelato. Lunch for the day.

The UW-Madison students. Granada has fountains like this around every corner in every plaza. Beautiful.

The dream breakfast of a four year old: hot chocolate and toast. I ate this every morning when staying at the hostel. Still too hesitant to have coffee, so hot chocolate it is!

The view from in front of a friend's house. Super jealous.

Overlooking Granada.

Another fountain, before having some sangría y tapas.

There will be many more pictures to come once I get settled in, but my internet time must be spent booking weekend trips! Already have the first 3 weeks planned out. Yahooo!

Arrival in Granada

I made it to Granada safe. Stories to follow later...

So I guess it's later and time for stories. I woke up this morning with extreme anxiety that I would:

A. Be charged a shitton for my luggage. Maybe I actually didn't need to bring an entire package of mechanical pencils or a whole box of tampons? But what if I need them? Marina was nice enough to let me know her thoughts on my packing. Luckily, my checked baggage was exactly the right weight (only .2 kg over) and they didn't care that I brought two carry-ons. Yayyy!

B. Not be able to get to the hostel from the airport safely at 10pm. I asked the girls in front of me on the plane if there were taxis readily available to take from the airport, they suggested I take a bus. Hello... I don't want to be dropped off in the middle of a city I don't know, don't speak or understand the language perfectly, OR know where I'm going... alone... at 10pm. Thanks anywho. So I was waiting for my luggage and saw a guy walking towards me wearing a "Marquette" shirt. I instantly pointed and we made eye contact, both of us realizing we had a Spanish class together last semester. He's also in the same program. Yahoooo. So we took a bus to the hostel (which he's also staying at the same one), ended up being only 3 euros each, much cheaper than the 30 euro cab ride. Phewww. Freaked out for nothing. Thanks, Chris!

Well we made it to the hostel, and decided to go get some food. So what do you order at 11:30pm when you're not extremely hungry but haven't eaten in hours? Okay, I'll get a baked potato, "mexicana" style. First comes out a plate with some tapas, noodles and french fries. "Uhh, waiter? We didn't order this?" Oh... they're for free with ordering a drink. Yahooo! Now my baked potato comes, wait... I mean 6 pounds of sliced veggies, chicken, avocado, peppers and onions thrown on top of a 3 pound potato. That thing was dense, but delicious. Oh and not to mention, the food was super cheap. I think I'm okay with this.

It's literally so ginormous that it's served with two spoons.

 So my plane ride into Granada. I had a window seat, scoorrreeee. I love window seats. The two seats next to me were empty for several minutes before this older couple came strolling in, having absolutely no idea where their seats were (at least that's what I understood by body language). So after the flight attendant tells them where their seats are, they sit down next to me. The woman looks at me and says, in Spanish of course, "Do you speak Spanish? Because that's all I speak." I excitedly replied with an anxious "Si". Finally I can understand the language in the country I'm visiting.
Then... the man started talking. Loudly. Actually he was yelling, in a dialect that I couldn't even understand a single word. Then the lady started doing the SAME exact thing. Oh my god, now everyone is  laughing at them and looking at me. I have NO idea what they're saying. I'm the only blonde person on this plane so they definitely all know I have NO idea what's going on.

So now it's time to buckle up, mind you the lady thinks it's too uncomfortable to buckle up because her belly is big. She's holding her purse over the buckle and actively hiding the fact that she's not buckled up. Such a rebel at age 75 (maybe even older, not sure).

The plane starts leaving the terminal and the man grabs a hold of the arm rest by the aisle and can't lift it up. So he continues to pull, push and jam it up and down. Loudly. The flight attendant comes and puts it up and asks where the heck he's going. He just wanted to stand up in the aisle while the plane was leaving the terminal to get his wallet out of his pants pocket to put it in his shirt pocket. Interesting lad I tell you.

So we continued the flight with awkward miscommunication and the couple holding onto the seat in front of them like they were going to fall out of the plane if they didn't. Oh and the active hiding of the seat belt continued throughout the entire flight, along with the loud, confusing speaking.

Welcome to Granada!

German Good-byes

After a fun and quick 12 days, it's time for me to say good-bye to my German friends again. Several of them met us at a little bar in Neuss for the evening. Meet my German friends...

Marina's parents, Gisela and Joerg.

Miss Lena.

Maxi, Andy, Caro and Laura.

Lena, Jeanette, Lou and Tina.

Ellen.

Laura, Marina's sister, and Ben, her boyfriend.

The girls that dropped me off at the airport: Lena, Magda, Rina and Marina.

So some of my favorite things about Germany:

1. Bread and cheese. I'm telling you, it's seriously some of the best food ever. I think I have eaten it for about 75% of my meals, breakfast, lunch or dinner. Oh and many snacks. It's sooo yummy. Yes I know it sounds so simple and gross, but it's so much better here. 

2. The people. Everyone is so friendly (at least to me). The only encounter I can remember with a mean person is when Marina had us ride our bikes on the wrong side of the road and everyone was yelling at us. In my defense, I didn't know which was the right side to ride on.

3. Cute houses. All their houses are so close together and cute. Don't really know how else to describe them.

4. Gardens. Every house has a backyard, but it's not like the traditional American backyard. It is typically bordered with trees or a fence with lots of plants grown in front of it so it's blocked off from the outside. Usually there is a little patio area to hang out. They all have such beautiful flowers, and it's so lively and green.

5. Recycling. Most of the recyclables can be taken to a grocery store, put in a machine which gives you a voucher that can be used in the store. For a typical German water bottle, which is I think about 2 liters, they will give you back 25 cents. I think it's such an awesome way to encourage recycling and help out people who are short on money, especially homeless people who can just gather together all the drunk people's bottles on the weekends.

6. Eco-Friendly. Small cars, stick shift, more biking and walking, trains, buses and trams.

7. Cobblestone streets. So beautiful and unique. 

8. Marina. Where else in the world can you find such a one-of-a-kind girl?

Tomorrow starts my journey to España! Super excited to finally go to a country that speaks a language I can understand. 

Bungee Jumping.

I never thought I would do this. Weird for a girl who loved skydiving, I've always thought bungee jumping seemed so much more stupid... 60 meters up high. Jumping off a construction crane over the North Sea. I think it was worth it.

Santa Claus style.

 

Not sure if you can tell by my face, but I had a feeling I would hit the pier on the fall down. I'm happy to say my judgement was incorrect.

Directions: turn the computer sideways and press play.