picture of the week

So about once a week, Allison, Amanda, and I all walk to Carrefour. Which is basically the Walmart of Spain. It is a couple miles away but it gives us something to do in the afternoons after we get home from school until dinner at 20:30. They have everything that you can think of, just like Walmart. Food, candy, alcohol, clothes, movies, books, etc. But they also have something that I know for a fact that Walmart doesn't have, and that is: AN AISLE OF MEAT. Ham. Pig legs. Mountains of them. Hanging on the walls---its even made into an archway. Not in a refrigerated section... Just a regular aisle in between the bread and cheese aisle. And let me tell you, this is not a nice smell. Some of them have mold growing on the outside. I'm not really even sure how the whole ham thing works here...do you peel the outside off and THEN put it in the fridge? Does it ever go in the fridge? Some bars have it just....sitting there kind of like a roteisserie-but not under any sort of heat....It just sits on display and then I guess when someone wants it they slice some off. The whole thing kind of disturbs me. BUT everyone here really loves it, Marieta has even said that it is a delicacy and it can be quite pricey. All I know is that it is awful. 

First we find the whole aisle of oil. 

Then the aisle of unrefrigerated milk.

Now this.

What will be next?

countryside

The other day I was talking on the phone with my dad and I was telling him how I have to take the bus from Granada to other big cities to fly somewhere or something like that and he asked me, "what is the countryside like?"


So during my bus trip this weekend to Seville, I decided to take some pictures on the bus ride there. First of all, Granada is surrounded by the Sierra Nevada mountains, so of course we go through the mountains. But a majority of the countryside, that I have noticed anyways, is dedicated to olive tree farms. Spain is actually the number one olive oil producer! 

theyre are just hills and hills of them.

class update

School. Escuela. Uni. Colégio. 


My classes have finally become routine enough where I don't have to look at my class schedule in between classes, so, I figured that I would give an update. 


First of all, I am taking five classes here. All of which are taught in complete Spanish, and actually I am not even sure if my teachers speak English because I have never actually heard them speak English. 


I have classes four days a week. Four of the five are on Monday and Wednesdays, and the other is on Tuesday and Thursdays. Each class is one hour and a half and they are twice a week. 


On Monday and Wednesdays, I start my FABULOUS morning off with some Spanish Literature, learning about poetry of a distant time.....ohh such joy. That class is at 8:30. Then I have a "pausa" until 11:30, where I then learn about Islamic Culture and how it relates to Spain. This is actually my favorite class. I find it really interesting for some odd reasons learning about Mohammad...hmm. But the downfall with learning about history in Spanish is that...I only know some of the names in Spanish. FOR EXAMPLE, Christopher Columbus did not sail the ocean blue here, Cristóbal Cólon did. And Noah did not built an ark, but it was Noé. Why names change from language to language I will never understand but this is why I will only know about the Islamic Culture in Spanish.....not that anyone would want to listen to me talk about that anyways... But anyways. After la cultura islámica, I go directly to my POE class (it is now 13:00). This class is my writing and speaking class. I really think that this is the class that I am learning the most from (vocabulary wise). After this class ends I go straight home for lunch. I do not have class again until 18:30, which is the Civilization and Culture of Spain. I find this class really interesting too. Were currently learning about the biggest cities, different rivers, mountains, etc. in Spain. Also, this upcoming week I have an oral presentation in front of the class about how people in Spain celebrate Birthdays. 


Then on Tuesday and Thursdays, I have class at 8:30 again for my spanish grammar class.


Since I last talked about my classes, I have also switched buildings. I am now in the CLM (centro de lenguas modernas). The walk to get to school is roughly three minutes. I actually kind of miss my twenty minute walk in the morning to the other school but that's okay. 


Each classroom has about thirty seats in each classroom. Sometime classes are completely filled, and sometimes it might only be about fifteen people. But, no matter how little or how many people, the rooms always smell, like sick people. It is the worst smell in the world for me. And if it is not smelly, it is stuffy. Sometimes both. On Monday and Wednesdays I sit in the same classroom for three classes, and that room is the worst out of all of them. There is only one window...And it is about 12 inches big, not only that, but it is near the top of the wall. So you never get a fresh breeze-if you are lucky enough to even have it open. 

Yes, this is inside of the building. The fountain and all. The top is a giant skylight, but I took this picture during my night class so it was dark. 

málaga

Occurred: February 19, 2011


During the weekend of February 18-20, everyone in my entire program (that includes everyone from ISU and a couple other schools that work with our organization CEA) were supposed to go to Morocco. However, word got around that on February 20th there was going to be a giant protest in Morocco about their own government. So obviously, our program cancelled the trip. So what did we do? We went to Málaga of course, our favorite costal city...not that we have been to any other ones, on Saturday. Amanda, Allison, and I all caught an early bus to "tomar el sol," -tan. The bus tickets from Granada to Málaga are ten euros each way, so we thought that we would get our moneys worth and stay the night as well. 


Side story: last time we spent the night in Málaga we stayed at a hostel for thirteen euro a night.... and, well...we did not really want to spent thirteen euro again. So we couch surfed!


 CouchSurfing.org is a website that allows people to make profiles about themselves and where they live so that people traveling to that city can either- stay with them at their apartment for free, show them around the city, or go out for a cup of coffee. It is a way to meet new people from all around the world and learn about different cultures. I am not going to lie, at first when I heard about this I was thinking probably what you are..howwww creepy. But seeing as how we had been to Málaga before and knew the city pretty well.... and that my friends thought that it was a great idea, we started searching. We ended up finding two guys that lived in the center of Málaga that said that we could stay their for the night, but they could not meet up with us until 22:00. 


So all day long, as soon as we got there, we went to the beach. It was a gorgeous day out! The temperature said only 22 degree Celsius= 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit, but it felt so much hotter than that! People were laying out all over the beach and people were even swimming. Honestly, it kind of frightens me that people say it will be in the hundreds before I leave if the 72 degree weather feels like it is really 85. 

not a cloud in the sky :)

Then after..ohhhh, about 5 hours on the beach, we decided to get something to eat. The food in Spain is pretty bland. And by pretty bland I mean, really really bland. We all really wanted something with flavor so we decided on Mexican. We got to the restaurant and immediately ordered ourselves margaritas. we were expecting giant fishbowl-sized margs...and they ended up being equivalent to dixie cups. Also a total bummer, they did not even offer different flavors to cover up the taste of the tequila. Just regular kind...what kind of Mexican place was this?! So, then we decided to order some chips and salsa...because Mexican restaurants in Spain just do not bring you some. First of all, that was not even an option on the menu. We ended up having to order tortilla chips that come with a side of guacamole, salsa, and queso. It was 7 euro; and probably not even half the size that we would have gotten in the US.  And on top of that, we were pretty sure that the salsa was marinara sauce heated up. So not worth it.

this, right here, is a 3 euro margarita. 

After our "dinner," we decided to go to "superSol," a grocery store, because we still had some time  before we could go meet the people that we were staying with. ..They had Cerveza for .21 cents a can!! Such a deal. 

Then it was time to go meet up with them and we did in a central plaza in Málaga. Afterwards they took us to their apartment and showed us our room. I was actually thinking we literally slept on the couch but I was pretty happy when I saw that a bed was provided. Then we got ready..sat around, talked, played a couple drinking games, and then afterward we went to a bar!

the bar we went to.

I think that couch surfing was a really good experience and I am really glad the first time we did it was in a city that we already had been to. Plus after you stay with a person you get to rate them.. And the people that we stayed with did not have any negative or neutral feedback-only positive. Really happy that I did that, but I am still a little apprehensive about doing it in a different country. 

Día de San Valentín y el finde.

Occurred: February 12th-14th


Before I get to the topic of Valentines Day, I have some picture from Saturday night and a picture from after visiting the Alhambra. 


On Saturday night, Amanda, Allison, and me, went to a tetería. A tetería is a place where you can drink tea, eat crepes, get milkshakes, and it is a hookah bar; and obviously, normally owned by Arabic people. We went with some people from Allison's class and it was so much fun! I even made an 'O' with the smoke, how exciting for me! 

After the tour of the Alhambra, we went for tapas! For one "copa" de Alhambra beer (only fitting) we got free tapas. DEAL. Me, Dina, Lisa, Amanda, Lindsey, and Becca went. We got five rounds. 

amanda, becca, lindsey

me, lisa, dina

me, lisa

And now, Valentine's Day aka Single Awareness Day. So we all decided on this depressing holiday to go on dates with each other, or in one big group. Allison, Amanda, Angie, Becca, and Me, all went out for some tea and crepes. You buy a tea/milkshake, you get a crepe free...awesome. It was a pretty good Valentines Day.

allison, me.

allison, me.

crepes..mmm

allison, me, angie, becca, amanda.

tea and crepes! 

LA ALHAMBRA

Occurred: February 13, 2011

Written: Today

So today (feb 13th) we went to the Alhambra. The Alhambra literally means "the red one" in Arabic, which unfortunately I have no idea how that is related to the Alhambra, but why not learn some Arabic today. The Alhambra is a palace and a fortress complex that was constructed during the middle of the 14th century by the Moorish rulers. It is now one of Spain's most visited tourist attractions and was even a runner-up to become one of the seven wonders of the world. 

Just did some research on google: the Alhambra was given that name because it was constructed of red bricks.. makes sense, however I could not make that connection because they do not appear red to me. Also, the Alhambra is important because it was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain before they were expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

The Alhambra was built between 1238 and 1354. 

The architectural details in the Alhambra are completely indescribable! They are amazing. I was obsessed with all of it and took about 300 pictures. So I tried to pick out the best ones! Seriously though, my pictures I must admit are pretty fantastic but nothing to how it is in person. 

we had one-eared headpieces to listen to what the tour guide said...to bad we did not have a notebook because now all that information is lost.  

this is actually the background of my computer. love it. 

this was the ceiling in the king's room, that I do remember. not sure if you can tell but the ceiling was kind of tiered. SO much detail.

this was part of the garden in the summer home. why are we able to see the palace and summer home all in the same afternoon? ...good question 

here is the view from the summer home. Alhambra are the brown buildings on the left. 

lets just say that all the pictures from here down are from the summer home.

love this picture.

amanda, becca, me, lisa, dina, lindsey

RONDA

Date Occurred: February 11, 2011

Date Written: Today.

So, we went to RONDA, a city northeast of the province of Málaga. Although Málaga is a beachy city, Ronda is surrounded by mountains…and is apparently the third most visited town in Andalucía. It is also one of the oldest cities in Spain, dating back to the Neolithic age (stone age). But there is proof of humans at a previous time because there are cave paintings at the Pileta's Cave in Ronda.

The first hour or so was with a Spanish tour guide…

And we then had about five hours to explore by ourselves, gracias a dios. Allison, Amanda, and I chose to venture down the side of the mountain and lay on a slab of rock to eat our lunches. Where we then took a nap. It was...awesome. 

allison, me, amanda, lisa, dina

PUENTE NUEVO. "new bridge"

me and amanda

this is the oldest bullring in all of Spain! it is the "birthplace of bullfights"

Ronda was really one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever visited. I would definitely love to come back to this city. :)