life in spain/ granada

Alhambra beauty- en los jardines
On top of the Alhambra Alcazaba... Granada's beautiful mountains and city.

More Alhambra, where royalty lounged and concubines waited...In our funky hippie hostel....luckily we got a "girls only" room. These pics dont do it justice.

As time has gone by things have been added to my schedule and I am officially BUSY.

I started working with an organization called “Solidarios”. They are an NGO and have several sectors of volunteer work. I had a couple meetings to become a volunteer and now I will be serving in a street ministry on Tuesdays with some Sevillan students from the university. (These meetings, in Spanish of course, are a little intense to understand) It has been awesome meeting other students Españoles and getting ready to go out to our “routes”. It isn’t a Christian thing but its cool because the whole point is to be friends with the street people. We have a list of the people and where they sleep and why they are on the street and its very organized. We will just be bringing coffee and cookies and hanging out with them. I am excited to see what happens with it…

The hardest thing about being here is the language. Although I have a solid group of amazing Americans to hang out with I am trying to really branch out as much as possible to speak Spanish constantly. Its hard though. When I am with my Spanish friends I feel like a 2^nd grader trying to communicate deeper thoughts with very small vocabulary. Some people are understanding and some arent. My senora is not very patient with my roomate who is still learning how to communicate… at least I have that down, it makes it easier. Obviously compared to before I cam I am speaking really well and learning tons of new stuff everyday but its is still hard, I lack so much. That is why I shall come back this summer and live here :- D

So yeah my week is filled with school, studying (like really studying everyday because I have never been so challenged academically), bible study, serving with Solidarios, Flamenco classes, going out with friends and taking weekend trips…

Last weekend we took a trip to Granada. Its weird to think about how I didn’t know anything about Spain before I came here and now I feel so used to hearing the names of all these places nearby and stuff. So I will try to explain as if I was reading this from the US.

Granada is where the Alhambra is, this is a palace the muslums built before they were kicked out of spain with the spanish- christian conquest. So this palace is known to be an incredible place with tons of history and is just an increible piece of art. We have been learning all about the art style and stuff in my class so going there was surreal, being in that palace and seeing it firsthand totally amazed me. Besides seeing the amazing Alhambra my time in Granada was excellent. We spent a lot of time waling the streets, enjoying the markets and the hippie-feel of the city. We went to an Arabian-type place for dinner and a tetoria, tea place, to chill. The tetorias are sooo cool. Decorated with tapetry hanging and great lighting with candles and huka and just all around very cool. I got come amazing arabian tea and enjoyed good conversation amoung friends.

The hostel we stayed in was awesome, my first hostel and the next one will have a lot to live up to. It was funny sharing a bathroom with a bunch of guys and girls that I didn’t know and sleeping with random people in the room, but definitely a good experience..and a quite hilarious night. I don’t know what else to tell about the weekend, we walked through old Moorish neighborhoods and through crazy beautiful cobblestone streets that zig zagged up the mountain range surrounding the city. If you are ever in Spain I suggest going to Granada, it has been my faviorite palce so far… I am hoping to go back and do some hiking sometime. I think I annoyed the people I was with because everything we did I was freaking out “I LOVE this!” haha.

…This weekend we are going to see where Christopher Columbus left from Spain and see replicas of the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria and then spend the day on the beach…im excited!

estoy felipando

A little artsy shot, through the bell tower thingy.
Overlooking the pueblo.

Martin, Jose and Chenoa checking out the architecture.

Precioso.

Where we ate dulces and had café.

A lot of the sights are similar to things I have seen in Mexico or other places which makes me feel at home here. I already feel like I have a new life in Spain. I want to take every moment and savor it though. Everything we do and everywhere we go I tell everyone “we are in SPAIN! this is crazy!” This semester is one I will remember forever but I really want to leave here bearing fruit of a semester of hard work and cherished memories. I have been studying a lot more then normal, I review everything every night to make sure I wont forget vocab for art and grammar class and I try to reread everything too. Its so amazing learning another language at the same time as learning history and art and culture. Everyday my vocab expands and I realize how little I know. Its exciting (and a little depressing because I know nothing).

This weekend has been fabulous… unexpected and sooo much fun.

Viernes

La Noche Larga kicked off the weekend on Friday night. All the museums in the city are open for free all night (till 3am) and they all have concerts and plays and wine and everything for free. It happen one night a year. I wound up hanging out with a Spanish friend Martin museum hopping and watching concerts and such…then we met up with others at a flamenco performance (ahh…so amazing) and got some semi-gross hamburgers on the fly cause nothing else was open (I hadnt eaten). After all the festivities we hung out for a while before Martin dropped me and a couple girls off at home.

This culture allows you to appreciate art everywhere you go, just looking at the architecture and old buildings makes me smile (especially now that I have learned all about them in art class!).

Sabado

Chenoa and I decided to be spontaneous on Saturday and go for an adventure with Martin and his friend Jose. They are great guys that we met through the school, a couple of the few Christians we will encounter in Sevilla. It was so great to go with them because they had a car and really knew the cool places. We explored a small town about ½ hr away called Arecenas. This town has amazing caves that you can visit and take a tour. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. So freaking beautiful. I was flipping out the whole time…it was sooo cool inside the caves as we walked through all these different areas with different rocks and minerals and such. I don’t know much about geology but it was really awesome.

After that we got some tapas to hold us over for our walk up to this mountain where there is a cathedral and palace ruins. I had awesome olives…they grow them here, and cheese and chorizo. The tapas were amazing. We shopped around a little so the guys could buy food and then went to eat it at this cool area with weeping willows and tables. The views were amazing and the weather was great and it all felt so European. I learn a lot of street words cause the guys were trying to teach us less formal sayings. We ended the day with coffee and dulces at a pastry shop that is really well known. Apparently this place has lines out the door normally but we were there in the off season.

The culture of Spanish food and “hanging out” involves a lot of relaxing and enjoying each others company…something I think we Americans are bad at doing when we have an agenda. I loved that we did a lot of cool things but there was no rushing and a lot of good conversation. The only time this cultural difference becomes a problem is with hunger. Come 3pm, post-cave viewing, Chenoa and I were starving for lunch. We were sitting in a tapas bar waiting for the guys to order and they were just taking their time, sipping their beers and chilling. I told them we were starving and they said “tranquila” haha. Basically, “chill out”. This is tapas style…you could spend all night just order little bits of food and hanging out and talking.

On the ride home we tried to practice English with them (for their sake). It was hilarious… they were sooo funny practicing what they knew from high school. I could not stop laughing even though I know it was probably mean… the only word that came out perfectly was “brownies” hhahaha. Made me realize how stupid I must sound speaking spanish even though they told us we speak really well.

Domingo

I met a cool girl at church. After the service (2.5 hrs long!) I decided I needed to make more Spanish friends so I asked the pastor to introduce me to young people. It was funny. He brought me over to a girl and introduced us. After besitos and introductions we decided to plan on hanging out. Later I did some homework, met up with people at a café to plan for Granada this coming weekend and spent the evening hanging out with Isabel, my Señora…making dinner and chatting. Good times.

Bull Fight!!

The group at the bullfight ^
First stabbing of the bull ^

Fight the bull after its weakened^

The arena....it really is beautiful... and perfect weather this day^

The poster^

I went to a bullfight thinking I would see a very Spanish event and leave a cultured person…

Forever I will remember the picture I refused to watch but unfortunately saw…. chunks of torro (bull) hanging off of a beautiful creature that is bleeding from its neck as several men stab it to death. I know, its gross…right? Now imagine watching 6 bulls die like this as the crowd cheers.

I am glad I saw it once, ‘una vez para verlo, nada mas’… one time is enough. This is what told my Senora and spanish friend. This isnt a form of entertainment that I would take part in if I lived here long term.

We got tickets to a less important bullfight for pretty cheap. 13 Euros and the seats were good. The arena here in Sevilla is pretty famous so I thought that was cool that I would watch one here. I think that before I went to the fight I was just excited to be doing something so culturally normal. I didn’t really think through what I was going to see. Dying bulls. I don’t know what you think of when you think bull fight but you should know that when you go to one you will witness death and lots of blood….. either the man dies or the bull so really your just hoping the better of the two happens. (The men are rarely killed and only sometimes injured).

The fight is called “Corrida del torros” (Run of the bulls)… the spanish people wont even label it what it is… I think it should be called “Muerto del torros” (death of the bulls)… at least put a disclaimer somewhere for the poor tourists. Haha. Basically the “show” is a progression of men vs. bull. The fight I went to was 6 bulls and 3 men. So each fight is a sequence (one bull vs. one bullfighter (and all his helper men)) of weakening, stabbing, tormenting, and killing the bull- maybe making it do a couple tricks with the cape thingy. Some deaths are more gruesome then others but I think, from what I gathered, that when the matador can kill the bull fast (at that point in the show) it is a good thing.

Anyways, if you come to Spain, if you have a weak stomach, don’t watch a bullfight. I couldn’t even watch the parts where they really stabbed a huge pole through its neck….eww. I’m glad that our screams and tears were entertaining for all those around us during the fight though.

El fin de Semana

Cordoba- The Mosque
Mi Profesora de Arte- Carmen
At the ruins in Cordoba

Out to tapas at a Middle Eastern place

Studying in the park.

This weekend was fabulous… full of new experiences. My feet hurt for good reason, city life is doing a number on them but it is so worth it. My walk to school is beautiful and every new place I visit and see is always another beautiful or new European sight to enjoy.

We found a cool underground type flamenco and local music place on thurdsay La Carboneria … very very cool atmosphere, with different musicians playing Sevillan music and there was one flamenco number. On the way back to our apartments I stepped in a pile of horse poo…. This was good entertainment for a restarant full of people watching me and pointing…I took a bow and laughed along with them. We got kinda lost this night but wound up seeing a lot of the cool little streets that were super cute and finding awesome restaurants to visit later…

Everyone went to Cordoba (another bigger city in the Andalucia region of Spain) this Friday to see the Mosque that is very famous:

There is such a rich history and the coolest part is that I know all about it from my art and history class. The detail is the architecture and décor are so interesting when you know all about the buiding, time period and history of it all. The symbolism is incredible.

We had a great day in Cordoba, I feel like I am learning so much from my one Profesor who I adore, Carmen…

She is an incredible teacher and I tried to walk with her everywhere during our time in Cordoba because she is full of information.

After Cordoba we went out to to tapas… (my first time in Spain) and it was so much fun. We all ordered a plate (small portions or meat or dips) and shared. We stayed on the conservative side getting some Spanish dishes and fish and chicken and sausage but it was all really great (minus the calamari and a weird bird creature). Each tapa costs 2 Euros so I had a nice light dinner for that price. The concert was great, in a beautiful garden in the Alcazar… it was in story form with Sevillan type music- very cool and kinda an Arabian feel.

Saturday we went to Cadiz nice and early. It is the oldest European city… very pretty with a great beach. We hung out and took a siesta on the beach… swam and enjoyed the sun. It is a little awkward with all the toplessness and speedo wearing men but besides that it was great. Haha.

Oh yeah…. For mom and dad and those of you wondering if study abroad is just one big party… I am consistantly doing homework in between, on busrides and during siesta time…lots of reading and such. I love being able to concentrate on one genre of classes and learn while experiencing what im learning.

I love the city, I hate the garbage man....

PICTURES!

my bedroommy roomates...Isabel made us homewade ice cream sandwiches...the ice cream here is AMAZING!
Mi Senora- Isabel...70 years old...she is amazing

Girls night out on the river... we rented the boats and got to know each other while enjoying the river.
School... this is the student lounge.

....

What I love about this semester:

-Walking everyday, over a beautiful bridge and through the busy streets of Seville.

-Living in the city (temporarily).

-Not cleaning my room or making my bed because Isabel (Mi Senora) forbids me to.

-The food in Spain! Everything made with olive oil and fresh.

-Learning about history and literature and art while experiencing it. Hearing it in Spanish adds an element I cant describe.

-New sight, smells, sounds, people.

-Freedom from IWU and the box it puts you in.

-Traveling….I have made plans to go to Portugal and all over Spain, Morocco, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and who knows where else.

-And my new nose piercing!

What I don’t like:

That my feet are always dirty here

Turning off lights all the time and walking in the dark.

Being scared of all the robbing that happens on the street and not being able to trust anyone.

Euros…ugh. The conversion rate sucks.

High heels…that I cant wear them and everyone in Seville does.

Trash trucks that come to my apartment window every night at 2AM to wake me up.

Cat calls from Spanish men who are old enough to be my father.

That I am away from the people I love.

This experience has already proved to me that study abroad will be one of the most amazing times of my life and knowing that there is soooo much more to come makes me excited. We had an awesome girls night out last night, paddleboating on the river (the one in the blog picture) and getting to know each other. I have also been busy with classes, loving them and learning a lot from the awesome professors here at Acento. I am surounded by awesome people and an amazingly beautiful European city and I feel so blessed to be here.

Plans for this weekend….

Tomorrow we are going to a Flamenco thing and to get ice cream in the park and do homeowrk. Friday we go to Cordoba for art class to see the city and visit some famous historical places (the history is so rich in this city!). After that we will go out for drinks and tapas and go to a concert in the gardens. Saturday we are going to the beach in Cadiz which is the oldest European city. Sunday- a bullfight at the Plaza del Torros. It’s a lot and I am excited! (Cheri- my planning personality is coming in handy for everyone..haha.)

Thanks for reading, I love your comments..its helps me keep writing cause I know Im not doing it for nothing. (Its like extra homework for me, im not a natural “blogger”).

1st day of school

My updates are frequent because
- i dont have all my classes yet
- my intercambio has not started
- i dont have homework yet

- i am excited about all that is happening
...basically i have time now but dont expect me to be this good at blogging later.

i didnt sleep last night, it was too hot and loud. why are people screaming in the streets at 4 am? my arms are very sore today from climbing too. and im burnt from the beach trip (suprise, suprise). but today is a good day, my first class went well and i am really excited about it, and later we are going to sit down with maps and books and computers to lay out plans for travel

La Playa

It has been great savoring the end of summer vacation, enjoying

my new home for this semester and having great Spanish adventures. I have mixed feelings about starting classes tomorrow. First emotion is excited and then I realize this semester is not going to be just play so it’s a little sad. We have been walking around the city, getting to know our new home and experiencing Sevillan life with not any responsibilities. I love it here. The food has been great, unlike my Meixcan experience, and I am getting used to eating and sleeping times. We go to bed around 3 AM on the weekend, when I say we I mean myself and the rest of the city. J We eat a loaf of fresh bread with every meal and walk everywhere,…millions of miles a day. I wear flip flops while the rest of

the cuty wears heels. Ha.

La Playa!

Today we went to the beach. It was called Madalascanas…near Portugal and on the

Atlantic. Its kinda cool that I was swimming in the same ocean as back home except on the other side. Its warmer over here. J We packed bocadillos, sandwiches, and left at 10 from the bus station. A lot of us went in different groups and wound up all hanging out there at the beach. Its probably a really popular one cause it was packed but it was soooo much fun. I went for a really long walk with Shawn and Rebecca to see if we could make it to Portugal (kind of a joke) and then we decided to climb this crazy rock thing that I don’t know what it is. It was amazing,

I was soooo happy. We climbed when the tide still wasn’t in enough to make it easy and It was a perfect challenge, I fell a couple times- no crash pad needed with the ocean under you, and we found out that jumping off was double the fun. When the tide came in more and it was less of a climb the rest of the group joined and we has a great time.

I love that today I met a girl from Austria on the bus, hung out with Polish guys jumping off the rock, and bought sunglasses from a man from Senegal....... while in Spain.

Pictures to come of my house and Senora, street and school.

day 2

<--- gorgeous sevillan government building

Day two has gone fabulously, we had a full day of getting accustomed to the things aroun

d us and getting to know each other. I feel very comfortable at home, especially since Isabel treats us like Princesses. I wonder how long this will last though. She is so sweet. She told me not to make my bed because I am too busy studying to have chores like those. Haha. I made it this

morning and she moved the pillows and re-made it. J

Some things about Spain already make me realize how trul

y extravagent we live in the good ol’ USA. For example, you don’t leave lights on ANYWHERE when you leave a room. If I go to the bathroom for one minute I need to turn my light off in my room. Its kind of annoying but it will come naturally soon enough. Also, the weather here is RIDICULOUSLY hoooottttt. Siesta time is starting to make sense in this weather. Basically everything closes from 2-5 for siesta. They don’t actually sleep this whole time (although I might). This part of the day is so hot that it is impossible to roam the streets and everyone eats lunch at 2-3pm anyway.

<---part of the group/tour guide Martin

Today, after a morning of orientation (I love the organization of this program), I went out on the streets to get money and buy some necessities. I roamed for a looong time and got very hot and tired only to find my ATM card needed to be fixed (thanks mom for doing that, you’re the best). Later on I found some internet outside the school and sent some emails and posted a blog post from day 1. I went home, took a short nap and then we had a fantastic tour of the city by a local guy that the school hired. He showed us all the historic buildings and important places to visit around here. My group was awesome and we had a good t

ime taking pictures and exploring. Chenoa and I made sure to take note of places to return to. These include some great little parques, places with benches and trees and walkways, and some restaurants, flamenco places, tapas bars, ice cream stores and museums/cool important sites.

<----good friends already! Chenoa and I in front of the Cathedral.

I am so excited with all that is going on I almost forgot that I have classes that will be starting Monday! Ah. Tomorrow is registration and some more orientation and then we are making plans to s

ee bull fights and visit the beach this weekend. The bull fighting arena here in Seville is the most famous one in Spain, they said all the big bullfighters want to fight here in order to become more popular. Pretty cool. Also, the president’s residence is here, this confused me but there is a huge garden around it that we are going to go check out sometime soon. So much to do and the great thing is there is SO MUCH TIME!

....

day 3

i am registered for classes... got into all the ones i wanted. i am excited! pizza party in the parque tonight and maybe beach tomorrow.

first day!

So here I am. It’s going to be hard to explain the feelings I have right now. It feels SO weird to move into a house in the middle of a big city in Spain. I have never lived in a city, this is something that I didn’t even consider before I left. When I realized that I will not only be experiencing a new language, home, school, friends, etc but also changing from rural life to city life I got a little nervous. But here I am, laying on my new bed, listening to the sound of Isabel (my senora) watching TV and the people outside. Its HOT here. I have my own room which is really great and I have a lot of space for my things (mom I think I brought too many clothes!) I am completely moved in and I feel like my body is adjusted fairly well to the time difference. True to self I slept through the whole plane ride after my new friend Shanoa and I exchanged life stories. Everyone was jealous of my ability to sleep so easily on the plane. What can I say, I have sleeping skills.

I know that this is really scattered but I want to get all the new things down for everyone to get a feel for my first day here….

I was dropped off with two girls I had met 9 hours earlier on the side of the road in Seville where my host mom (Isabel) was standing. She is spunky and cute and I loved her right away. After quick introductions we scurried along the sidewalks following in a row to the apartment I will be staying in. This involved sweat, heavy breathing, glares from the Spainards, loud luggage wheels on the stone sidewalks and feeling like I couldn’t move when I got up the last flight of stairs to the apartment. Ha. Needless to say, wheeling two suitcases through the city is not an ideal situation.

The apartment is quaint. Isabel lives alone because her husband passed away 2 years ago. She is older, in her 70’s. It was fun getting a tour of the house, we have two balconies and rooms for eating and hanging out in. The kitchen is tiny but with all the standard appliances and we have our own bathroom to share.

It I had never travelled before I would be in a state of shock right now but I feel like the weird differences are things that I am fairly familiar with. Even things like the décor in this apartment. It is so ridiculous from my American perspective… there are very strange things and gadgets hanging all over the place. I feel very blessed though, Isabel is great and an amazing cook so far (almuerzo at 2pm was the most amazing french fries, grilled chicked with lemon sauce and salad and fresh bread plus some fruit). She has made it clear that she wants us to be as comfortable as possible and told me to please call her by her name and not “Senora” and to use all the informal forms in Spanish because now we are family. J

Its basically siesta time here, I will take a short nap and then I am meeting some new friends at 4 to walk around the city a little.

It is so weird that I am here, exciting and intimidating. I still kind of have this feeling of “what was I thinking, why am I doing this!” but I am sure that will wear off.

If you are planning on praying for me daily I have a very realistic prayer request…

I will be living with three people this semester who do not know God at all on a personal level. No one in this apartment are Christians. I was surprised by this but I also feel like God has been preparing me for it so I am not shocked that I’m in the situation. I feel like He really wants to use me in these other girls lives and potenially in Isabel’s too. Pray that I will have wisdom and discernment so that I can show a little bit of Christ as I live here.

Laura