Number of times I have eaten gelato: 4
Number of chocolate pastries: 3
Number of hills climbed:a million
Clothes bought: Surprising only a scarf for 3 euros
Tapa attempts: 2
Things I want to do:
Go to the beach
GO DANCING!!! (but too bad I need nicer clothes to do that)
Go to the mountains
Go to a concert (sadly Shakira is 2 whole hours away)
Go to Valencia or Barcelona or BOTH
Go to a futbol game! (PS: Spain won last night and the energy in the street was AWESOME! Spain really loves futbol. People were running in the streets like crazy)
And lastly....hold a real Spanish conversation with real life Spainards...
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
The Alhambra and Fun Times in Spain
Yesterday, ISA, the program I am studying abroad with, took us all to the Alhambra. It is a palace constructed by the Moors in the 14th century. On our tour, they described it being like its own community within Granada. After the reconquista, the Christians took over the palace. It really represents a mix of religions: Muslim, Jewish, and Christians. There were so many beautiful gardens throughout the palace and we went at the perfect time because all the roses are in bloom. If you've ever even googled Spain you are sure to find pictures of the Alhambra. It is really one of the most popular tourist sites here and it was really cool to get a tour of a place with so much history and see it for myself. Stunning!
So last night was the start of my first weekend in Granada. My new friends and I decided we wanted to do something fun, so we agreed to go out for tapas (something very traditional in Granada) and go dancing. We met up at 11pm to start our adventure. I have to say, I was extremely excited to get a glimpse of Granada at night and spend some time with my friends. We walked all along this street with a ton of tapas bars. Here is the concept: you buy a drink and then you get your tapas, which are little portions of food and there is such a wide variety so I advice looking it up if you want a good idea, FOR FREE!!!!! Too bad for us we didn't know tapas are pretty much a before dinner treat...so by 11:30 there were no tapas left and every place was closing :( We found one place that was still serving so we went there. The man serving was from Argentina and we THOUGHT he told us there were tapas. Well, I guess it got lost in translation and he said they DIDN'T have tapas....our bad!!! So we sat there for a bit with our drinks waiting and waiting for the tapas to come. Truly though, this was definitely a live and learn experience. Something I have been trying to get the hang of here is to ask a question when I don't understand something. If you know me, then you know I don't really like to ask questions and I can get pretty shy. But really, simply asking the man to repeat himself or say what I thought was right to get clarification would have saved us that embarrassment. However, I still had A TON of fun!! We didn't go dancing either because the clubs here don't really get going until like...2 or 3 and we were tired from such a long week. Instead we got gelato (cheesecake gelato...so good!!!) and sat in a park and just chatted and joked around. A perfect Friday night for me! Tonight we are trying the tapas thing again. I will let you know how it goes.
Oooo!! One last thing. Thursday night I went to a flamenco show in the Muslim district! It was so quintessential Spanish. The dancers were beautiful and had so much passion for their craft. Every 2 seconds they'd go "OLE!" and they even had the crowd join in. I was a tap dancer back in the day, so I have to say what they were doing was extremely hard! It was pretty legit. :)
So last night was the start of my first weekend in Granada. My new friends and I decided we wanted to do something fun, so we agreed to go out for tapas (something very traditional in Granada) and go dancing. We met up at 11pm to start our adventure. I have to say, I was extremely excited to get a glimpse of Granada at night and spend some time with my friends. We walked all along this street with a ton of tapas bars. Here is the concept: you buy a drink and then you get your tapas, which are little portions of food and there is such a wide variety so I advice looking it up if you want a good idea, FOR FREE!!!!! Too bad for us we didn't know tapas are pretty much a before dinner treat...so by 11:30 there were no tapas left and every place was closing :( We found one place that was still serving so we went there. The man serving was from Argentina and we THOUGHT he told us there were tapas. Well, I guess it got lost in translation and he said they DIDN'T have tapas....our bad!!! So we sat there for a bit with our drinks waiting and waiting for the tapas to come. Truly though, this was definitely a live and learn experience. Something I have been trying to get the hang of here is to ask a question when I don't understand something. If you know me, then you know I don't really like to ask questions and I can get pretty shy. But really, simply asking the man to repeat himself or say what I thought was right to get clarification would have saved us that embarrassment. However, I still had A TON of fun!! We didn't go dancing either because the clubs here don't really get going until like...2 or 3 and we were tired from such a long week. Instead we got gelato (cheesecake gelato...so good!!!) and sat in a park and just chatted and joked around. A perfect Friday night for me! Tonight we are trying the tapas thing again. I will let you know how it goes.
Oooo!! One last thing. Thursday night I went to a flamenco show in the Muslim district! It was so quintessential Spanish. The dancers were beautiful and had so much passion for their craft. Every 2 seconds they'd go "OLE!" and they even had the crowd join in. I was a tap dancer back in the day, so I have to say what they were doing was extremely hard! It was pretty legit. :)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Granada...at last :)
Well, after all this time I am in Granada! I have to say: it is definitely my favorite city in Spain. Yes...I have been here for only a few hours, but this city is breathtaking. It is young, safe, and just has a vibe unlike any other. I am so lucky to be here.
My home stay is amazing!!! Hello, WIFI!!! Hahahah. But really, my host mom is super nice and is really making an effort to welcome my roommate and I into her home. Don't even get me started on the dinner....it was amazing and I am so happy I did not have to go to eat out again. Spain has great food, but 4 days of restaurants is way too much! Nothing like a great home cooked meal. Tortilla espanola!!! yummmmyyy!!! So far I am comfortable. My room is really big and clean. The house is big enough for all of us and I will be able to have my private time to study and catch up with friends and family.
I really got to get a hang of this speaking in Spanish thing. I am a little rusty, but it is alright. My host mom says I will be amazing by next week! HAHAHA!! Tomorrow I have an Spanish review for 5 hours...it will be long but most beneficial. I really need to refresh my memory! A year off is really a pain.
If anyone wants to skype in Spanish with me, let me know!
Foto:
My home stay is amazing!!! Hello, WIFI!!! Hahahah. But really, my host mom is super nice and is really making an effort to welcome my roommate and I into her home. Don't even get me started on the dinner....it was amazing and I am so happy I did not have to go to eat out again. Spain has great food, but 4 days of restaurants is way too much! Nothing like a great home cooked meal. Tortilla espanola!!! yummmmyyy!!! So far I am comfortable. My room is really big and clean. The house is big enough for all of us and I will be able to have my private time to study and catch up with friends and family.
I really got to get a hang of this speaking in Spanish thing. I am a little rusty, but it is alright. My host mom says I will be amazing by next week! HAHAHA!! Tomorrow I have an Spanish review for 5 hours...it will be long but most beneficial. I really need to refresh my memory! A year off is really a pain.
If anyone wants to skype in Spanish with me, let me know!
Foto:
 |
| Un gato en mi maleta!!! |
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Toledo :)
Hola a todos!!
Sadly, Im having a really hard time uploading pictures to this blog. I promise I will work on it when I get to Granada, but for now I will give a little update as to what I have been up to in Espana!
Yesterday was our last day in Madrid. I was a bit sad to leave. The city was beautiful and vibrant and it always felt like something amazing was going on. We went to Museo Reina Sofia...an art museum. We saw some very famous works of Spanish art and Mario (everyone is named Mario in Spain) gave us his prospective on the pieces. It was great to hear what these painting meant to a Spaniard and to their history and culture. Then we went to the Royal Palace. SoooOoOOo extravagant! No royals live there now and it mostly focused the time of on Carlos III, it is really indescribable and I got some amazing pictures outside of it.
We arrived in Toledo today. The city is only an hour or so from Madrid. As I said, I was a little sad to leave Madrid, but the second I saw Toledo I fell in love with its old world charm. The hills were incredible. It is how I have always imagined Europe. The most perfect town I have ever seen. We went on a walking tour for over an hour and learned more about the history of the town. Then we went to lunch and got to explore.
So, beyond the details of what I have been doing, I have been doing well. I love Spain and Europe. I am going to Granada and meeting my family tomorrow. Not going to lie...IM SO NERVOUS!!! I hope I am able to communicate with her and adapt well to the lifestyle. I am just really scared. I know I will be homesick at some point but I hope it is not that bad. I just want to adapt and feel comfortable. Also, I am nervous for my classes and placement test. It has been so long since I have taken a Spanish course so I hope I test well and am able to be successful. I will be studying the next couple of days, but I know for me it is more about the experience of being in Spain and getting to know the culture more than a level or class I am taking. I want to use this time to remember why I loved studying Spanish and I hope I don't get frustrated and give up. Hopefully I will be placed in the perfect level and can follow with ease.
Tomorrow is Maria del Mar day....wish me luck!!!
<3 Katie
Sadly, Im having a really hard time uploading pictures to this blog. I promise I will work on it when I get to Granada, but for now I will give a little update as to what I have been up to in Espana!
Yesterday was our last day in Madrid. I was a bit sad to leave. The city was beautiful and vibrant and it always felt like something amazing was going on. We went to Museo Reina Sofia...an art museum. We saw some very famous works of Spanish art and Mario (everyone is named Mario in Spain) gave us his prospective on the pieces. It was great to hear what these painting meant to a Spaniard and to their history and culture. Then we went to the Royal Palace. SoooOoOOo extravagant! No royals live there now and it mostly focused the time of on Carlos III, it is really indescribable and I got some amazing pictures outside of it.
We arrived in Toledo today. The city is only an hour or so from Madrid. As I said, I was a little sad to leave Madrid, but the second I saw Toledo I fell in love with its old world charm. The hills were incredible. It is how I have always imagined Europe. The most perfect town I have ever seen. We went on a walking tour for over an hour and learned more about the history of the town. Then we went to lunch and got to explore.
So, beyond the details of what I have been doing, I have been doing well. I love Spain and Europe. I am going to Granada and meeting my family tomorrow. Not going to lie...IM SO NERVOUS!!! I hope I am able to communicate with her and adapt well to the lifestyle. I am just really scared. I know I will be homesick at some point but I hope it is not that bad. I just want to adapt and feel comfortable. Also, I am nervous for my classes and placement test. It has been so long since I have taken a Spanish course so I hope I test well and am able to be successful. I will be studying the next couple of days, but I know for me it is more about the experience of being in Spain and getting to know the culture more than a level or class I am taking. I want to use this time to remember why I loved studying Spanish and I hope I don't get frustrated and give up. Hopefully I will be placed in the perfect level and can follow with ease.
Tomorrow is Maria del Mar day....wish me luck!!!
<3 Katie
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Madrid Day 1
I only get 30 minutes free of internet while I am in Madrid a day..so I will have to write this kinda quick!
I arrived in Madrid about 10 am Spain time. 4 am Amuurriccaa time. I sat between 2 little old women (the future Nikki and I) so as you can imagine, I got little to no sleep on the plane sandwiched between them. However, it wasn't really that bad and the 7 hour flight went pretty quick. I watched many episodes of What Not to Wear. There were many young students on my flight studying abroad so it was really fun to talk to them and make friends!
My day pretty much consisted of me being a typical American tourist. Literally, I am pretty sure I have the words "USA" written on my four head. I try to speak Spanish but everyone just talks in English to me anyway. It is a little depressing, but hopefully this will change when I get to Granada in a few days! I got to my hotel and then went to lunch in the center of the city (where all the political action is going on now) with some new friends. We sat on a beautiful outdoor patio. I had some chorizo frito...SOooOOOoo good!! Spanish food is really rich and definitely different than I thought it would be. Mini crabs in your soup is really an adventure. We also had some sangria which was amazing! I will post pictures tomorrow after we go to the museums. We spent the whole day walking around the city. I have wanted to visit Madrid for years so today was really a dream come true. I don't think it has hit me that I am in Europe yet. There are so many little narrow side streets to explore and the city is absolutely beautiful. We went on a bus tour after we got back. I pretty much feel asleep on the bus..ooooppsss!! Then I got my cell phone, went over safety rules with the group, and went to dinner at a little cafe.
Now I am extremely zzzzzzzzzz...busy day tomorrow! Can't wait to explore Madrid some more. Like I said, I will post pictures tomorrow so you can get to see the beauty of the city yourself.
Hasta luego!
-Katie
I arrived in Madrid about 10 am Spain time. 4 am Amuurriccaa time. I sat between 2 little old women (the future Nikki and I) so as you can imagine, I got little to no sleep on the plane sandwiched between them. However, it wasn't really that bad and the 7 hour flight went pretty quick. I watched many episodes of What Not to Wear. There were many young students on my flight studying abroad so it was really fun to talk to them and make friends!
My day pretty much consisted of me being a typical American tourist. Literally, I am pretty sure I have the words "USA" written on my four head. I try to speak Spanish but everyone just talks in English to me anyway. It is a little depressing, but hopefully this will change when I get to Granada in a few days! I got to my hotel and then went to lunch in the center of the city (where all the political action is going on now) with some new friends. We sat on a beautiful outdoor patio. I had some chorizo frito...SOooOOOoo good!! Spanish food is really rich and definitely different than I thought it would be. Mini crabs in your soup is really an adventure. We also had some sangria which was amazing! I will post pictures tomorrow after we go to the museums. We spent the whole day walking around the city. I have wanted to visit Madrid for years so today was really a dream come true. I don't think it has hit me that I am in Europe yet. There are so many little narrow side streets to explore and the city is absolutely beautiful. We went on a bus tour after we got back. I pretty much feel asleep on the bus..ooooppsss!! Then I got my cell phone, went over safety rules with the group, and went to dinner at a little cafe.
Now I am extremely zzzzzzzzzz...busy day tomorrow! Can't wait to explore Madrid some more. Like I said, I will post pictures tomorrow so you can get to see the beauty of the city yourself.
Hasta luego!
-Katie
Friday, May 13, 2011
Test 1.2.3.4!
T-minus 8 days until I am on my way to Granada, Spain!! I am super excited, but soooo nervous at the same time. Hopefully my Spanish is not as horrible as I think it is. I will be doing nothing but studying and packing these next few days. :)
Let the adventure begin!!!
Let the adventure begin!!!
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