Hello again!

Hello again!

Tomorrow (Friday) I leave for Morocco! I will be back sometime on Tuesday so I will blog all about it when I get back.

Meanwhile, in Granada, interesting things seem to happen every day. They may be little, but the little things are what make up that big picture, right? For instance on my walk to school one day I was crossing the street at a busy intersection. The cross walk counts down from 65 seconds, I believe. This particular day there was a man with a little clown makeup, just the rosy cheeks and eye makeup, carrying some sort of entertainment trick thingy. He went out in the middle of the crosswalk, bowed to the cars, and started doing his tricks and being elaborate like clowns are. He would smile and make his trick seem amazing, like “how did he do that?” when it really isn’t that clever. Anyways I stopped and started filming him; later to find out I had never pressed the record button. Ain’t that a pain in the rear end? It’s amazing how many beggars there are, which is what the clown was. He walked down the aisle of cars asking for money for his performance. There are the everyday beggars who sit on a corner with a cup and a sign asking for money, and there are the creative ones. Just down the road a little further on the same day, there was a human statue. The man stood on a pedestal with his face painted silver to match his painted clothing. At first glance I didn’t realize he was a man, but after a double take I decided to take a picture. This time I got it and took two for safe measures.

On our walk back home from school, Roseanna and I were talking in American, yes American, when we stopped at a crosswalk. A lady turned around and asked us where we were from because she recognized our language. We said Iowa/America just as she had suspected. She grabbed the man she was with and turned him around saying that he was from Chicago. This lady had a thick Spanish accent though she could speak English very well. They guessed that we were students studying Spanish here at the CLM. Turns out this man did the same 15 years ago, when he was about 30 or so. He said he came to study and fell in love with a woman. The woman he was with grew a big blushing smile and giggled. It was like a love story in the movies. As we waved goodbye and parted ways, all their story needed was “and they lived happily ever after”.

Last night (Wednesday) was a night that shall remain a night that I look back on and laugh about my youth. Roseanna and I met up with Shannon to find a decent bar that wasn’t overcrowded to go watch El Classico, or the Barcelona futbol game against Real Madrid. Apparently everytime they play each other it’s called the classic. I believe this is only the second time they’ve met this season. The first time Barcelona won, last night they tied. We found a bar full of Real Madrid fans and it was a lot of fun watching their reactions at close goals, actual goals, the overreaction of soccer players. Have you actually seen a soccer game? Good Lord, it’s as if the players have to take acting lessons as part of their practices. During half time, we sang Happy Birthday to a man celebrating his 30^th birthday. The party gave everyone in the bar a free slice of chocolate mousse cake. The man next to me at the bar didn’t want his for some reason that I couldn’t comprehend. He insisted that I have it so I had 2 free slices! We met a lot of fun people at the bar, got a lot of free shots, and basically got asked to come back. But you guys probably didn’t need to know that part. Hey, I’m legal here ;)

Fun tid bit: I’m almost done with my book, The Kite Runner. Highly recommend the book, it is fantabulous.

Friday (tomorrow) I take my final placement test to see where I am at. I’ve decided to be in intensive regardless of how I place. I don’t need to be in a higher level for credits or college purposes, so I’m going to enjoy my easier classes and my time in Spain. Therefore, drum roll please, I will be back sooner than expected. I believe classes end the 17^th and I have to vacate housing the 18th of May. Though this means I have to change my flight plans and what not, but I’ll be in the States to celebrate my 20^th, which is too bad considering that I could have went to a bar here. Oh well, I think the States will treat me pretty well, too.

The same day I will also be leaving for Morocco! They said from the time we get there we will be doing stuff nonstop so it should be very interesting. 

If you guys have any questions or things you want me to address in my blog I would love to know. Sometimes I don’t realize that I haven’t covered something about the culture that you guys may be wondering about. Just let me know! Uhla1@central.edu or auhl14@gmail.com but I don’t really check my gmail one too often.

See you when I come back to Europe!

El fin de semana

It was my first officially weekend here in Granada. I got here last Saturday but I don’t count that as a weekend. Friday after school four of us went out for Tapas and had a great time walking around the city and stopping in random restaurants/bars for a little food and drinks. We stopped in 3 different places in 3 different areas. It was roughly 2 euros at each bar for a drink and free food. So 6 euros for 3 drinks and food that filled me up, that’s a pretty good deal. There is this one drink that is really good. It’s called Tinto del Verano, and it has red wine, a carbonated lemon soda or just like club soda, with a slice of lemon and ice. It was a great time! It was a night of inside jokes and one liners. Most wouldn’t make sense if I explain them here, but I do have one quick story to tell. We were walking down an alleyway looking for another tapas bar when a white van starts heading our way. Normally in alleyways they have a designated walking area, but this one did not. This alley didn’t even seem wide enough for a car in the first place, let alone a large van. All of our reactions were “Uh-oh, what are we supposed to do?” we were midway through and couldn’t turn around without this being the running of the bulls. So three of us stood in an archway of a door and Shannon stood in another archway across from us. This archway was probably about the length of our shoes. The van drove by and I could have touched it without fully extending my arm. It reminded me of a movie where people are down in a subway area and they have to go into a doorway area so they don’t get smushed. The other girls were scared and thinking about the possibility of what could have happened, but that was the same thing that amused me. We’re alive and young yet. It’s crazy how we’ve only been here for a week when it feels like we’ve been here for a month already.

For school we were assigned to find something in the city. I am in a group that is assigned to find the open air markets/farmers market. Luckily, it’s not too far from where I live. So another girl from school and I went to go check it for our presentation. From start to finish it took us 15 minutes to walk through it at the pace of everyone else. There are racks and tables and clothes lines full of items, mainly clothing. The also sold some fruit, candy, purses, scarves, loads of shoes, music, etc. It was a crazy scene. It’s a great place for all those bargain shoppers that won’t buy anything at the name stores if they can get a knock off brand or something just as good for cheaper somewhere else. It’s a very interesting place to see and I look forward to going back whether I buy something or not. On our walk back from the market we saw a futsal game and started to watch. It was in a gated area right next to a busy street. The kids playing had to be 8 or 9 years old and they were studs for their age. Spain breeds soccer players apparently. We also walked by the Granada CF futbol stadium and I didn’t realize how close that is to my house. I’m definitely going to a game when I get the chance. 

Luego, Roseanna, Tesla, Shannon and I did more exploring around the city. This seems to be my set group of friends. Again, Roseanna is my housemate, Tesla lives right up the street and walks with us to school and Shannon doesn’t live too far from us comparatively to other students. We decided to explore the other side of the river that I’m not used to. That’s the point, right? Go to an area that you’re unfamiliar with to get lost. Weelllllll, that’s sort of how it ended up. We started for an area that we pin pointed on the map, but got side tracked by pretty stores and lots of people and ended up in the city center where everything is. We’ve been here several times. Our school is in this area, our hotel the first night was in the same area, and we took an excursion not too far from the city center.  Oh well, it’s a fun area. They have a huge Burger King that I mentioned before. I went in to get a drink and found out it’s pretty expensive. Which is funny, right? We go to Burger King because it’s cheap and easy. I know, now, that if I ‘m going to buy anything from there again it’s going to be a time that I’m really craving it. We walked around some more and my nose made its way into a bakery of goodies. I ended up getting a chocolate covered waffle that was delicioso! After a long day’s walk we decided to go home for dinner and meet up again later that night. We ended up going to Tesla’s apartment for some cards. She lives with a student who is probably in his late 20s, early 30s from England. I love the British accent and its slang. He’s just doing a four week program and goes back in 2 weeks. He played cards with us and was a lot of fun.

Sunday, my group of 4 went to La parque de ciencias right near my house. This thing was big, even for America. In Europe, they seem to make everything smaller so it was kind of refreshing to see something spacious. It was your typical science museum, but everything seemed so “low-tech”. I think Spain is just behind the times and we are completely spoiled in the US. Like tonight (Sunday) I went to an internet café to get on the computer. It wasn’t like a café were you buy food, no it was a place that had a couple rows of computers. I had to plug the Ethernet cable into my computer and it cost 1 euro an hour. I’m glad that I know that there is one around here so that I can use it, but I’m pretty bitter about having to pay to use the internet. After the science museum we just came home and read. There are a couple books left over from past students, I assume, because they are all in English. Roseanna recommended that I start reading The Kite Runner, and so I did. I’m already 100 or so pages into it. When you don’t have the internet and your legs and feet are tired from walking around the city, a good book is a nice substitute. The last time a read a book was in high school when it was assigned to me. Before that on my own good will- I couldn’t tell ya.

So you know that song that goes like “and I will walk 500 hundred miles and I will walk 500 hundred more, just to be the man who walked a thousand miles…”? Yeah that feels like my theme song for this week. SO MUCH WALKING! My calves are going to be in great shape.

Anyhow, I’m singing off on another blog. Stay classy, Des Moines.

…Anchorman? Get it, get it? Ahh, forget it.

Hola once again!

It seems that every day I see more and more of the beauty of Granada, and I spot new things all the time. Like on my walk to school I noticed a lemon tree that I hadn’t ever seen before even though I have walked past it at least twice a day. On my walk to lunch I listened to my iPod and just enjoyed my surroundings. Yesterday (Thursday) was magnificent, beautiful, fun, amazing, etc. I went on an excursion with my class to Albaycin. This is a community for higher up people in society, originally, but it is known for its beautiful scenery and views of the city. It is a short, but very steep climb up steps through the community. As our tour guide/professor explained it, we were going to see multiple views and they were going to go “sexy, sexy, sexy, boom”. I didn’t understand what he meant but we started climbing and the first shot was of the Alhambra which I think is close to the kingdom area. Our class is going to visit there in March. Anyways I thought that view was amazing, but no that was just “sexy uno”. The next view was “sexy dos”, etc. THEN! We get to an alley at the top when we are all completely exhausted. The alley way turns into a large patio area where some people from the community are playing music and socializing. As I turned on the patio, I understood. BOOM! Hooooly Crap! I could see the Sierra Nevadas for miles and miles. I saw the entire city of Granada from the north to the south, from the east to the west. I could see where the city ended and continued. If I could have, and I might later this semester, I would just sit there for hours upon end until the sun goes down and I can’t keep my eyes open. It was such a thrilling and peaceful place. Alas, we had to keep moving on for there are things to do and people to see.

After class we had our first “intercambio”. This is for us to start speaking Spanish more and become more comfortable with it. There were 5 University of Granada students that came and divided us into groups. I am in a group of 3 other girls that tested at the same level as me. Our student is Cari and she is studying English at the University. We started out in the classroom to exchange contact information, but then the entire class went to a bar for drinks and tapas. Tapas are small plates of food served to you when you only order a drink. It’s a cheap way to get food around here. That was a blast. Even though we could only communicate in Spanish it was a lot of fun. At the end, I felt very good about myself because of how well I “performed” during our intercambio. I don’t know if I should have tested higher and the other people I was with weren’t that great at Spanish, but I think I dominated the conversation and translated for Cari and the other girls in my group. These are required get togethers and I’m looking forward to the next one.

This weekend I plan on doing a lot more exploring and experiencing Granada. So far I don’t quite know the area except for my way to school and around school. I didn’t even know there was a restaurant literally right next to our house because I never turn that way to go to school. I would really like to know my area and explore in areas I haven’t been. Basically I want to get lost, but in a good way. In a way that I know my way back =)

I don’t know if I’m going to be able to access the internet over the weekend since the school is closed. I’ll post sometime next week…if I don’t fully get lost this weekend and end up in Portugal.

Hasta Luego! 

Todo es bien!

I don't even know where to begin. I love the response that I have been getting about this blog. It's like I'm taking all of you on this trip with me. This time though, I'm not going to write about my day, I'm just going to say a few key points.

I'm starting to feel more comfortable at my new "house". It was weird adjusting to living with a stranger our of no where who barely speaks your same language, but we're starting to communicate. I found out that she has been hosting students since 1997 and has had about 30 students live with here. I like it because she understands our behavior better. She watches her grandson, Juan Antonio, Mondays-Fridays during the day while his parents work. He's 2 years old and knows colors in English. I get to see him during lunch and I'm starting to talk to him more. He was very shy, as was I knowing that he can speak more Spanish than me haha

Another observation of Granada is that dogs are everywhere and they are trained to walk next to their owner without a leash and they don't beg for attention. One negative about the city is that a lot of people smoke in public. I can't walk to school without getting a whif of smoke at some point.


Also for those of you who don't have access to my pictures on facebook, here is a beautiful picture of the scenery that I see on my way to school. I cross this river everyday, like 4 times a day.

That's all for this quick post, talk to you guys again soon!

Sink or Swim

It´s been really hard to find internet access so I´m going to blog to make up for the past couple of days. I´ve been writing in a journal since I can´t blog so I´ll just do my entries for Sunday and Monday. Today is Tuesday so Í´ll blog about today tomorrow or when I get the chance.

Sunday:

I have had one busy day. I woke up this morning with jet lag that finally set in. I did not want to get up at all. A group of 8 of us went to breakfast at Futbol Cafe. I had churros con chocolate. I asked for milk later and the waitor brought it out in a saucer type thing instead of a glass because he thought I was going to mix the cup of thick chocolate syrup but I really just wanted a drink. I´ve been so thirsty since I´ve been here. Then at the hotel we had a quick orientation thing and then our head director, Veronica, said, "Ok, ready to meet your host families?" The nervousness hadn´t set in until she said that. I´m still in a surreal state and that was kind of an eye-awakening statement. I do have a roommate/housemate, luckily. Her name is Roseanna from Buena Vista. We live with one old woman who is a grandmother of atleast 1 and has at least 2 daughters. One of which was there to pick us up from the hotel. We live on the first floor (technically 2nd because they start at 0) in a small apartment. There are 3 small bedrooms, so Roseanna and I get our own, there is only 1 bathroom, a family room, a living room, and a kitchen. The apartment comes together in a circlish with how the rooms connect. We got here, unpacked and had lunch. We had pasta =) , bread, and an orange. Fruit and bread are served at every lunch and dinner so far. Then we had our siesta which was great. It was a 3 hour nap and it could have been longer. We woke up to go meet another family to walk to the school so we knew where it was for tommorow. This is where my day got interesting (NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART- mothers should stop reading here). Two girls from another program here in Granada were supposed to direct us to our school, but she had plans for Tapas at the same time. We all met up with 2 more of their friends, but we weren´t hungry and we thought it was rude of them to make plans when they were supposed to escort us to the school. So we were going to go on our own to find it. One girl said she felt bad because she told out host moms that she would show us. So she took us to the school and led us back to the cafe where here friends were waiting. From there she circled our map to approximately where we lived. Now keep in mind that us three (my roommate, and our new friend Tessla, and I) have only gone to our apartments once on a car ride. It was a new area of town and we were expected to know how to get back? On our journey home we made it to the right area but couldn´t find where we lived. None of us brought the paper along with all of our address because we were under the impression that our host mothers and these other girls were going to escort us the whole way. We got lost in Granada for a good 2 hours. Just what a mother wants to hear, right? We had a map, but what good is a map when all you know is what street you live on- not even the street it crosses with. We circled the city twice around our area, pretty soon everything started to look the same. I thing we covered a 3 mile radius for our cirlce. The way that we ended up finding our apartment is kind of like in the movie The Hangover. We used our clues that we remembered, like common places, monuments that we passed on our car ride, and the final clue was a picture that Roseanna had taken on her camera from her window. It was of a Coca Cola store and we passed it twice but didn´t recognize where we lived. Finally we went inside and asked if there was another store just like it close by and that our apartment was near it. He took us infront of the store and pointed to some apartments around and we finally found it across the street. I felt confident that we would find it, until it got to the last half hour. After circling and circling the same places I dídn´t know what else to do. I had €10 in my pocket, no passport, no phone, no phone numbers to call, and no way for a hotel room. Back at the apartment our host mother called Tessla´s host mother and we met her halfway. Not to mention during all of this it was cold (around 34 degrees F), raining, my clothes got all wet and my sneakers and socks soaked because I didn´t have an umbrella. Then I showered and had dinner and watched a little Batman Begins in Spanish. Another long day in the books, tomorrow I continue orientation and go to school. A hard day, but a happy ending.

Monday-

Today we had our first orientation at the school. We had to be there at 10:45, so I got up at 8:20 had hot chocolate for breakfast after I told my host mom that I don´t like coffee. Then we met up with Tessla to get to school by 10. We have a good solid 25-30 minutes to walk to school. So we go to school, come back for lunch, then go to school for class at 4, then back home at 7. That´s a minumum of 140 minutes of walking everyday. For class at 4 we took a level test to get an idea of where we are at with the language. I think I did very poorly on it. It was half writing and half multiple choice of vocabulary/fill in the blanks the make the sentence correct. I don´t know what level I will get, because honestly I feel border line between Intensive (beginners) and Cultura (intermediate). So I far I seem to be struggling. After class I got my wifi password so I am praying that it works tomorrow. I can´t stand not being able to communicate with everyone back home. After classes, Tessla and I went to get phones with her host mom so she could communicate for us. I have a cheap flip phone that doesn´t have a lot of minutes and it would be easier to skype with people than to call. So we´ll figure that out at another time. I changed the phone to English but I´m still not sure how to operate it. I also bought an umbrella after the first two days of rain, and imagine that today (Tuesday) it is absolutely beautiful and clear skies. I hope to soon mail something home to see how long and if it works properly. I have seen some scratch offs for my Dad and Angela, and some cute Spanish dresses for Brianna. That might take awhile to find out how everything works. I found a post office but it´s like a newspaper stand type thing so I´m not sure how to approach it yet or how to say what I need/want.

Speaking of mail if you want to send something to me, which I don´t really suggest you do. It´s expensive and what would you need to send? a letter? email will do just fine: uhla1@central.edu
But to those stubborn people out there, you have to send it to the school:

Amy Uhl
[Veronica Garcia Montero]
Centro de Lenguas Modernas
Placeta del Hospicio Viego s/n
18009 Granada

Feeling Like a Tourist

I must tell you, we live in a beautiful world. Flying at night with all the cities lit up is absolutely amazing. Then the oceans and the mountains of Spain are breathtaking.

I'll skip the details of the flights because quite frankly there were not glamorous.

I'm now in Granada staying at a hotel for the night until I met my host family and move in with them tomorrow. It's currently 6:15pm here and I'm just waiting around until I go eat an earlyish dinner at 8pm. Dinner here is usually about 9, but I haven't ate since the croissant and yogurt given to the passengers on the Madrid flight so a few of us are going across the street for some pizza and pasta.

Earlier I went with about a group of 10 to explore this new city. It is basically like Italy mixed with New York City on a smaller scale. The sidewalks are thin, the cars are fast, the shops are in abundance, and the people are everywhere. It doesn't have a city feel like NYC though. There are alleys and historic looking buildings and there is a lot of character. To my pleasant surprise I found a Burger King and a Chinese restaurant so I'm set! But no, I plan to try new things and steer away from the things that are always available at home.

I will post pictures when I get some good ones. Right now, there are a bunch of touristy pictures and I feel so American. I will also post them on Facebook when I get a chance, too.

I hopefully will start posting regularly once I get in school so that I'm more reliable and systematic about my posts.

Mi Tripo to Espaino

Hola!

The countdown is almost over as I leave for Spain this Friday. I'm excited, but I don't know exactly what I'm excited for. I haven't grasped the concept that I'm actually going to live and go to school in a foreign country for 4 and a half months. I've been talking about Spain since August, almost to the point that talking about it was the extent of it. Now it's becoming a reality as I start packing and saying goodbyes. It won't be completely real to me until I'm moved in with my host family on Monday.

I've traveled in airplanes before to as far as California and Florida. I hate flying. Not because of the heights or if I'm going to crash, I hate it because my ears pop, you can't stretch out, I'll be sitting next to people I don't know, it's so boring, etc. 3 flights of approx 12 hours in the air plus the wait at the airports between flights. Why can't I just be teleported? Why hasn't this generation invented that yet?

Well I'm going to make this entry short and sweet since I'm not over in Spain yet. Right now Spain is a lot of unknowns, especially with my access to the internet. So I will try my best to keep this updated with my travels.

Hasta Luego!