Day 21 - On Vacay-cay

June 21 – On Vacation!

The bus ride to Cádiz was ok. I was out most of the time. I was soo asleep. I love how easily I can sleep in buses and loud places. It’s a very good thing to have. LOL. So after 5 hours of traveling, we arrived at the Cádiz bus station. Julie and I started walking towards the beach. It was about a 2 kilometer walk. Piece of cake. LOL. Nah, it was actually a good hike. By the time we almost reached the beach, we were very hungry and wanted coffee very badly. We stopped to have café con leche and toast in a dainty cafeteria. We changed there then hit the beach. The beach was beautiful.

As the Spanish would say, “Es muy preciosa.” When we got there, it was only 8:40am so there was barely anyone there. Also, the tide was low and there were these corals which looked like a trail towards a good long way to the middle of the sea, I mean, ocean. This is actually already the Atlantic coz it’s past the Strait of Gibraltar. We followed the “trail” with our backpacks on. LOL. It would have been disastrous if we had slipped and fallen. Our lives would have been literally wet. LOL. I had all of my “valuables” in that backpack. Anyway, we were being very careful and halfway through, turned around to go back because it was getting a bit too slippery. We didn’t reach the guys who were line fishing at the end of the “trail.” We did take sweet pics so that was a good deal anyway.

By the time we got back, the beach was freaking packed! It was crazyyyyy. We spent most of the day at the beach up to about 3:40pm. It felt so much like being in vacation. I’m afraid I’m getting a little bit too used to not having to worry about something. This won’t be good when I need to go back to my responsibilities back home. Anyway, we did get shade for lunch for about an hour. It was right there by the beach too. We went back to lay out and boy, it was hottt! The water was beautiful and better than Nerja. Nerja was a bit too cold. Cádiz was not as freezing.

Anyway, around 3:40pm I couldn’t take anymore sun. We hit the showers and got cleaned up a little bit. We then hiked back up to the main street. By this time, we were parched and our throats were hurting. Mine was still hurting from whatever this is that I have. Julie’s was more peculiar. She says stuff gets lodged in her throat. LOL. It’s weird. So we stopped by the Carrefour Express. It was a pretty sweet supermarket. I bought a 750mL bottle of orange juice (citrus is good for the throat?) and Julie bought Fanta Limon and chocolate. We were pretty much happy campers. We now took the bus back towards the old part of the city where the bus station was. It only cost us about 1 euro.

We walked around the old part of the city. We went to the cathedral which was amazing. We climbed up the Torre de Podiente, the highest tower in Cádiz. There, you could see everything in the city. It was amazing. What I love about Spain is that most of the cities are so rich in history. It’s crazy.

We also came upon what looked like the old cathedral which I think may have been built by Jesuits. I don't know. The symbol looked familiar from my Ateneo days. Anyway, I hypothesized that the big cathedral was built to accommodate the growing city. After much of the trading was moved from Sevilla to Cádiz, the city boomed. Thus, creating the need for a bigger church. Again, that's just my guess. Hehe.

Anyway, after having walked for a good while, we stopped by a restaurant and had café con leche. Then, we killed time in a park where we laid out our towels to dry. This was actually a good call coz we had to use our towels for warmth and comfort in the bus.

We got into the 9pm bus for Granada and that was it for the beautiful Cádiz! =)

**CADIZ PHOTOS**

Day 20 - We're Going To Cádiz

June 20 – We’re Going to Cádiz

After classes, I went to CLM1 again to see what the deal was about going to Cádiz. I met with Julie and I don’t think she had class coz everyone else had left for London or Paris. So we both went to Veronica’s office and bought our tickets to go to Cádiz. We figured we were just gonna go for the day because it was too hard trying to look for a place to stay Saturday night. All of the places we’ve called were all full. We’re leaving the bus station from Granada at 3:00am, Saturday, June 21.

Julie didn’t want to leave her house very late so she wanted to meet before that. She went to my house to leave her backpack around 10:00pm and we walked around for a while. The city was so pretty, all the light decorations all over the city were lit. Of course, neither one of us had a camera. Anyway, whatevs. We had tapas at the tapa place near CLM1 and had sangrias. It was a nice night so that was good. Around 12mn, we started to walk back towards Camino de Ronda and went to the Internet Café. We were there briefly and then went to my house to get all our stuff.

We left my house around 2am and took a cab to the bus station.

A fun fact about Cádiz:

It’s the oldest continuously inhabited city in all of Europe.

Day 19 - Better?

June 19 – Better?

I felt a bit better today. I went to class and was actually a bit more enthusiastic than normal. Maria Luisa picked on me saying that I may have had too much rest yesterday because I was being very alert and excited. LOL. Venga! Anyway, today was uneventful. Julie and I went to Veronica’s office to find out more about going to Cádiz since everyone else was either going to Paris or London. I called Paco saying I couldn’t be home for lunch. So, I just stayed at CLM1 longer and talked to people on my laptop for a long while.On my walk back home, I decided I needed to replenish my water supply. So, I dropped by SuperSol which is a supermarket 3 doors down from mine and bought stuff. I find it funny how excited I get when I go in a supermarket nowadays. Omg I can’t imagine what I’ll be like when I go back to the States and enter a Wal-Mart! Haha. I will be so excited to eat all the stuff I want! =P

So, anyway I was walking up and down the aisles and looked for cereals. I was watching TV last night and I saw something familiar. It reminded me so much of my (childhood) all-time favorite cereal, KoKo Krunch. After walking around for a few more minutes, I found my long-lost friend, transfigured into Chocapic.

I was soooooo excited! I didn’t get my hopes up just yet, coz it may be something different. But I knew it had to be because it was made by Nestle too. When I got home, I opened the box, and indeed it is KoKo Krunch!!!!Soooo happy!!! Yet so sad coz my throat still hurts. LOL. I ate kadoodles of it anyway. =P

Day 18 - A Miserable Day

June 18 – Un Día Miserablísimo

I woke up around 6:30am with a terrible sore throat. You know that feeling when you wake up in the middle of a deep sleep with a dry mouth and you’re throat was so irritated? Well, that’s how I felt – multiply that by a 100 times. I actually felt sick last night and went to bed at 8:30pm. I was feeling very tired and my throat was killing me.So, I decided not go to class. I could have gone but I had my senses with me (which was good)and knew that it would just have aggravated it even more had I gone to class. I spent all morning sleeping. I woke up midday to eat and take meds. After eating lunch, I slept some more. Then, I went to tutorials at 5pm. The girls were going out that night but I definitely passed.I went by the pharmacy and bought cough drops, ibuprofen and Vicks Vaporub. I had to buy the Vicks coz I didn’t meet the minimum to use my credit card. LOL. And I always try to hold on to my cash.

Anyway, I went home, ate dinner and slept. My throat was killinggggg me. I had gargled hot water with salt, brushed my teeth very thoroughly, flossed my teeth, took meds, and put some Vicks on my throat, chest, and back. I went to bed hoping that I will feel better tomorrow.Being sick sucks. Paying to be sick in Euros sucks even more. LOL. Oh what humor I have. =P

Day 17 - Barely Making It

June 17 – Barely Making ItThe walk to class is actually getting easier and easier by the day. But today, I should have known something was wrong. When I got to class, I was a bit more tired than usual. About 30 minutes into the class, I was miserable. I knew I was sick. I was cold. So I sat by the window where the sun shone. It felt better there. I took some Tylenol that I had brought with me from the States for cases like this. I thought I was not gonna make it through class. Anyway, it may have worked because by the end of class I was feeling so much better.

Boy was I wrong by the end of this day. I was miserable and my throat was hurting so badly. During dinner, I told my host mom that all I wanted was a quarter of the pizza because my throat was killing me. But she wouldn’t take that answer. Urgh. So, I put myself through hell and ate half (a medium) crispy pizza. I went to bed at 8:30pm after gargling hot water with salt, uberbrushing my teeth, flossing, and taking meds.

=(

Day 16 - Start of 3rd Week!

June 16 – 3^rd week

3^rd week has begun. =) I’ve learned so much in the past 2 weeks. It’s been both amazing and so-so. Haha. Whatever that means. I’m a very laidback person. I never stress too much – sometimes it’s not a good thing to have. Anyway, same old stuff – went to class and learned some more. I really love the classes. Today, I said to my seatmate that class here is like playschool. I swear. Haha. It’s like we’re just playing in school. Isn’t that what playschool is? (Coz I really don’t remember. =P I don’t even know if I actually went. Mom, did I go to playschool?) Anyway, class is usually like this:

We only have 2 classes. The first is with Adolfo. The second is with Maria Luisa. I don’t know what the classes are called. As I’ve said, frankly, I just show up. =P

Anyway, with both teachers, we usually talk for about 5-10 minutes about what we did the day before. If we hit something interesting, we spend more time talking. Along the way, we learn new words that pertain to everyday life or stuff that could come in handy when you’re out in the streets. Everything is in 100% Spanish in class. Well, almost everything is 100% Spanish here in Granada except for the English speaking people. =P It’s very good practice to describe things in Spanish when we don’t know what the word is. Sometimes, we explain stuff to our teachers about stuff that we do in the US that they’ve never heard of. It actually gets very interesting. During class, we usually have handouts or we work exercises, activities and games in pairs. Then, we talk some more. We take a 20 minute break between the two classes. We also take a 5 minute pausa during each class. Then we talk some more. Next thing you know, it’s time to go home!

Well, today was no exception. Time flies when I’m in class. I love it. I’ve never experienced this before. Haha. (Except when I fell asleep, time flies – but that’s another thing. =P )

I went home for a couple hours. Then, I had to leave again because we have tutorials today with José. After our tutorial with José, we had a meeting with Veronica to update on how we’ve been and stuff. I didn’t “complain” about my “situation.” Haha. I suck it up, so no need to complain in front of everyone. =P

After the meeting, we went back to CLM1 because Shannon had to arreglar her booking for Rome. She didn’t receive an e-mail confirmation but was given a confirmation code. After almost an hour of trying to figure it out and having Veronica call the vueling.com people, they finally figured out that her confirmation code was off by one letter. After that, Shannon, Julie, and I went to tapas just to hang out for a bit. Then, we all went home for dinner. After having dinner, I felt so much like a pig coz I always get so sleepy and end up taking a “nap.” Well, tonight, I didn’t succumb. LOL. I decided to take a walk. Granada is actually a very nice city – weather-wise. It can get really warm during the day but you’re assured to have a goodnight’s sleep at night because it gets really cool once the sun sets. So I had a good 30 minute walk. I found a feria (little store booths) in a nearby plaza and told this one girl that I will come back some other night because I didn’t have money with me. They had various nice trinkets and stuff.

Anyway, went back home and went to bed. Nothing too special about today. Maybe tomorrow? =P

Day 15 - Sleeping In and Rants

June 15 – Sleeping In and Rants

Today, I woke up at 1:45pm. The last time I slept in the price of gas was still $2.99/gallon. LOL. I actually woke up in the middle of the morning and was very disoriented. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that it was for real that I didn’t have anywhere to be today! So, then I went back to sleep! The other girls were meeting at the park at 3:30 just to hang out but as I woke up too late, I didn’t go. Plus, I was soooooo lazy that day. I ate my first meal and I went and took a nap again. LOL. Talk about fatty. While we’re on the subject of eating, I realized I eat so unhealthily here. I swear my Señora fries everything. Well, almost everything. I usually have fried eggs, fried potatoes, fried cordon bleu, fried chicken, fried hotdogs, and I seriously think my spaghetti the other day for lunch was fried after being cooked. So weird. I pretty much eat fried eggplants everyday and I eat about a dozen eggs a week.

My Señora is really nice but I’m starting to notice that she irks me. Hehe. Sssshhh. The first two weeks it was nice to be served but now it kinda gets annoying and frustrating. I’m perfectly capable of getting fruit from the fridge or bringing my plate to the sink but she stops me from doing so. Then, she repeats everything she says like I don’t get it. Urgh. Then I try to explain to her what I think, then she “contradicts” me but we both mean the same thing.

I feel so bad badmouthing. :P But oh well, there’s got to be somewhere that I offload these things. Also, they are not the tidiest people in the world. I’m one to say, right? Haha. I’m not the tidiest person in the world either but you know, I like to keep my glasses and cups clean. When I wash my thermos, I wash it very thoroughly. When she washes it for me, I doubt she does it like she means it. :P Here’s the part that still gets me: Every time I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, there’s this white porcelain ledge under the mirror. On the ledge is a hairbrush with hundreds of strands of hair. I have to stare at this thing every time I brush and floss my teeth and wash my face. The side of the ledge where I prop my toothbrush (remember I have to carry my toiletries with me to the bathroom and back to my room) is dirty and has some stain stuff. Aaaaahhh.

Now, I’m a very tolerant person. I am. Really. I’m just saying this coz I somehow needed to say it. But I’m not at a point where I’m pulling my hair off or wanting to go home already. LOL. When I talk to the other girls about their host families, theirs are so much better. One girl’s mom is a professional cook. She cooks for other families for a living. Another girl’s mom gives her cereal for breakfast. I feel like the program director knew I was the most tolerant because I don’t think the other girls could have tolerated much of what I have right now. Whateverrr. I’m just saying. :P Plus, we’re halfway through.

To make myself feel “better,” I just tell myself that this is just one of those things I just have to suck up as part of the whole experience. (I actually think this is such good practice for when I go home to the Philippines the end of this year. =P) Now, I don’t mind the brush on the ledge, the shit on the streets, the fried foods, and every single thing being on Spanish. What I still do mind about is smoke belching. Every morning, I don’t mind walking but it gets to my last nerves how I have to endure car smoke! I cannot stand it. =( On the brighter side of things, this is really good practice for the Philippines.

Note to self: Go to Corte Ingles (the department store) tomorrow and buy a handkerchief. =P

So, back to my day, I pretty much didn’t go anywhere. I got a “scolding” at dinner that I shouldn’t sleep too much. My host dad quoted an old saying, “In sleeping, there’s no living.” I tried explaining that I haven’t slept in for soooo long. Then they told stories about previous host kids they had before who would always go out and wander around the city’s main spots every afternoon. Whateverrr. One of these days I’ll do that. =P Hopefully, before I leave. LOL. So, that was it for my Sunday.

Note to self: Go to the Cathedral next available Sunday and actually go to Mass. =P Haven’t had the body and blood of Christ in a while. =)

Day 14 - Alhambra and Flamenco

June 14 – Alhambra and Flamenco

With only 3 hours of sleep, I woke up at 9:30am. We were to rendezvous at the meeting point at 10:30am to go to the magnificent Alhambra. We went up there by bus. It would have been a royal pain to have climbed up there by foot.

Aurelio urged us to use our imaginations while being there – to imagine that this was once a palace where the kings lived – to imagine the luxurious carpets and furnishings – to imagine the milk and honey and wine flowing to a fountain – to imagine that this place was built with the dwelling place of Allah as its inspiration. A place like this is hard to describe. The place is vast and luxurious even in present times. The walls, ceilings, arches, and floor are all made of precious stone, etched to perfection. As a mere human being, I’m incapable of describing a place as magnificent, historic, and dumbfounding as the Alhambra. So, I will leave you with pictures. Still, the pictures won’t be of much service. To truly appreciate the Alhambra, you’ll have to see it for yourself.

(more pics here)

We finished with Aurelio’s tour around 1:00pm after having been walking for 2 hours. We sat on a bench for around 30 minutes while we ate our bocadillos. I had the usual omelette with ham sandwich. The other four girls had left ahead of us while we were eating our bocadillos. We then tried to walk home. “Tried” because we took a wrong turn. Nevertheless, it was a fortunate wrong turn. For have we not made that mistake, we would not have seen these precious gardens.

We then decided to walk back to town. If you study the pictures closely, the Alhambra is perched on a mountain overlooking the city and there we were deciding that we will trek down back to the city. Luckily for Julie and Shannon, they could take the shortcut from their house. From that point where they left, Liz and I still had a good 35-minute walk to go back home. All in all, we were walking since 11:00am and didn’t get home till about 3:00pm.

I got home and took a powernap – all three hours of it. =P I actually dreamt that my alarm went off and stopped it (not snooze). I actually did do this. Haha. But in my dream, I had awaken and realized that it was already 9:00pm and we were supposed to meet at 8:30pm. So in my dream, I just kept on sleeping. But before this whole scene, I swear I checked my cellphone and it was only 5:30pm. By this time, I was just too confused. LOL. I finally realized that it couldn’t have already been that late. I checked my cellphone again, this time in real life, and saw that it was only 6:30pm. I got up and got ready. I ate my 2^nd bocadillo while watching TV. It was then that I came upon the Spain vs. Sweden soccer game. Lucky for me, I got to watch most of the exciting parts of the game. When Villa scored the 2^nd goal for Spain during the final minutes, the whole street shook. No kidding. Oddly, the vibes of the victory were so fierce, I almost cried.

Anyway, I left my building at 8:15 and got to the meeting just on time. This time, we made our way back up to Sacromonte by foot. We went past the discoteca we were in just a few hours ago. We finally arrived at the place where the Flamenco show was to be held. The show was absolutely amazing. If you look at these pictures and watch these videos, you would think that the 5 euro ticket was ridiculously cheap! It was a wonderful experience. The ambience alone would have cost at least $75 bucks if it were in America. (We were later told that that show was sponsored by the government. Thus, explaining the cheap ticket.) Still, if I were given another chance to watch it, I would not mind spending a $100 to watch that again. On the way back home, I told two of the girls, “If I were to go back home to America tomorrow, I would be content. That’s how amazing I thought the show was.” I think they thought that I had wanted to go home or I don’t know, they didn't get it. Hehe. But you get it, right? Good. Anyway, they went to get something to eat and as I was full, I just went to the Internet café. I stayed there for an hour and talked to mom and dad for a little bit. I went home and I was out! Today was a long and wonderful day. =)

Day 13 - Friday the Thirteenth

Day 13 – Friday the Thirteenth

Class was uneventful enough not to be blogged about. =P Or maybe I just forget because I barely made it there and barely made it through till 1pm. =P Note to self: If I can help it, don’t go out on a school night unless I really have to. =P

Today was not a bad luck day. Adolfo explained that in Spain, their “Friday the Thirteenth” is “Tuesday the Thirteenth.” So, we were safe then. =P

Today was Julie’s birthday, so we all planned to go out. We ate by the River Genil in a disappointing restaurant. I ordered two sides because they didn’t have anything that appeared interesting. I had Salmon and Spanish Omelette. The Salmon was not cooked and was difficult to consume. I gave the other piece to Shannon. We had strong, delicious Sangria for drinks. We then proceeded to go back to the center. Breanna wore painful shoes and wanted to change. As I wanted to do the same thing, we went back together and changed shoes. We then met up with everyone back in the center and we all went to an American friendly bar named Dolce Vita. After that, we all went to Sacromonte somewhere in Albaicin to a discotheque named El Camborio. The first level was made of caves, the second level was an open air balcony, the third, where the dance floor was had see-through walls and had the magnificent Alhambra as its backdrop. It was a beautiful sight. We were the first ones there at 1:30am. I don’t think I’ll ever get accustomed to Spanish time. People didn’t start coming until 2-3am. We all finally went home around 6:00am. It was daylight. =P This is for all the tame days I had in college. =P

Day 12 - Wandering Around

June 12 – Wandering Around

Feeling bad for having slept so much yesterday, after lunch, I went back to CLM1 to get on the Internet. Shannon and I rendezvoused around Calle Pavaneras. She was going to play basketball with some of the guys from school and I was gonna try my luck at playing tennis. Despite the proven usefulness of my tennis racket nowadays, I still long to use it for its true purpose. =P

We walked to the other side of town to the University of Granada’s main campus. I realized I lived 5 minutes away from the main campus. There, they had the sports complex. It took us about 45 minutes to find the basketball courts only to find out that the courts were right by the entrance. At least our having been a bit lost made us go all the way down to the tennis courts where I talked to a coach. He said he’ll pass on my phone number to one of the girls who helps him out and hopefully we can play sometime. We were there from about 6:45 till 8:15. On our way home, we stopped by the yummy ice cream place in front of my building. For Ma. Luisa’s class today, our homework was to eat ice cream and homework always has to be done, you know. =P So, I got this flavor. =P Yummmyyyyy.

After that, we all went out to some places. We found ourselves at Hannigan & Sons again. I was a bit bored so I focused on watching the soccer game. It was the Czech Republic versus Portugal and I do believe Portugal won. It wasn’t such a bad deal watching Cristiano Ronaldo play.

We had this little psych test in Ma. Luisa’s class today. Prime thing to do if you're bored. =P

Open up your imagination.

1) Imagine a forest. Describe it.

2) Is it during the day, night, dawn or sunset?

3) The road diverges. Do you take the blazed trail or do you keep on going through the forest?

4) You encounter a wall. Describe it. Is it high, low, or your stature?

5) How do you overcome the wall? Do you climb it? Do you use a ladder? Or do you simply go around it?

6) You find a key. Describe the key.

7) Do you pick up the key? If yes, do you keep it and save it? Or do you throw it away?

8) You find a house. Describe the house.

9) Are there any people in the house?

Scroll down.

Again, these are just estimations. If it’s sort of true, great. If it’s off, it’s just a game. =P

1) The forest represents how your life is. If you described the forest as lush and green, this means you are contented with your life. If it’s sparse, you are not content with how your life is.

2) The time of day describes your outlook in life. Day means you’re an optimist. Night means you’re a pessimist. Dawn or sunset means you’re life is undergoing changes.

3) The split road represents how you travel life. If you take the blazed trail, this means you like security and like to stay safe and know what you’re doing. If you keep on going through the forest on your own, you’re adventurous and spontaneous and likes to take the risk of going through the unknown.

4) The wall describes your problems. If it’s a high wall, you look at (or have) problems as heavy challenges. If the wall is low, you look at (or have) problems as not being very heavy and difficult. If it’s your stature, it’s the middle ground between the two previous explanations.

5) How you overcome the wall describes how you handle your problems. Climbing it means you take the hard route and you have great difficulty dealing with your problems. Finding a ladder means you plan something out but overcome the wall with less difficulty. If you simply walk around the wall, this means you know how to take the easiest route and don’t let problems stress you out.

6) The key represents friendship. An old, antique key means that you value friendship. A modern key means friendship for you is superficial.

7) Keeping the key means you keep your friends for life. Throwing away the key means you’re disloyal and you like to be alone.

8) The house describes how you see yourself. If it’s homey, you’re a warm person. If it’s scarce of furnishings, you’re a bit lacking in personality. If it’s a simple cottage or chalet, you’re a simple and easy to satisfy person. If it’s a huge and extravagant house, you’re materialistic.

9) The people (or the lack of people) inside the house represents your relationship. If there’s someone in the house, this means you’re in love. If there aren’t any, you’re not.

The explanations given were mostly in absolutes but it’s up to you to size up the truthfulness of the explanations. Tell me, where they a bit accurate? Mine were. =P

Day 11 - Lazy Wednesday

Day 11 – Lazy Wednesday

Wednesday was uneventful. After school, I was very tired that after I had paella for dinner at 8:30pm, I went straight to bed. =P

Note to self: When I go back to the States, I want a Vespa and a SmartCar. =)

Not So Terrible Tuesdays

Day 10 – Not so Terrible Tuesdays

I appreciate how Ma. Luz prepares my café con leche in my red Starbucks thermos every day. It’s so helpful especially when I’m starving in class at 12:00noon. Surprisingly, I’ve been more frugal ever since I got here. It’s interesting. =P I guess it’s because I have limited cash and I can’t just swipe my credit/debit card like I could in the States.

Today, I sorta tried to scribble notes on what I could blog about this day.

1) Eating late at night

Sarah, a classmate, shared something about how she went out for churros late at night last night. Then, Adolfo asked if she had nightmares. Everyone looked at each other like what is he talking about. I think I may have been the only one who understood what he was saying. It’s one of those Pinoy-Spanish things again. They say that if you eat too much late at night you’re going to have bad dreams and not get a good night’s sleep. Don’t ask me why. They just say. =P

2) Graffiti in Granada

Granada is full of graffiti. Most of the walls around town have graffiti. Some are gang-looking ( I don’t know if they actually are), but most of them are artistic. Adolfo explained that a decade or a couple decades ago there was this guy who was a very good graffitero. He was called “el niño de la pintura” (the son of painting). Most of his works can still be seen to this day. I forgot to ask Adolfo if he was still alive or not. He also mentioned that some businesses actually commissioned graffiteros to paint their walls. Also, they actually make good landmarks.

3) Shoe size

Something random. Instead of saying in Spanish that I have a size 39, you say I have number 39. It’s just one of those things you have to know. You say, tengo numero 39. Anyway... =P

4) Los piononos de Granada

Granada’s dessert specialty is the pionono. It’s a small, little, cinnamon roll-looking dessert. It’s kind of gelatin-y and is topped with caramelized sugar. I actually had those this evening. They weren’t fantastic but I didn’t get it from a reputable café that was known for their desserts or piononos.

(You can skip this next part if you don’t want to know about what I did during the day. =P)

I went to the internet café around 6:30pm to meet Shannon. I was there for an hour and a half. Oh, Kuya Nin actually called me this afternoon. It was great to talk to him and briefly with Chloe and Nathan. Nate sounded so sad. LOL. I mean not LOL but Awww. He asked when I was going back. I said soon. Then I could tell in his voice he lit up. He told Kuya Nin that I was going back soon! Aww. Precious little kids. Anyway, Spain had a soccer game today against Russia. While I was walking to the internet café, I heard people screaming crazily. Super crazily. I found out Spain just scored a goal. These Spaniards get a bit crazy about soccer. (Spain actually won 4-1). After the internet café, I walked around to shop. I was actually going to buy this jacket on sale and a new belt (because I always wear the same green polka dotted one. LOL). Then, the lady didn’t accept my credit card because my only form of identification was a photocopy of my passport. I don’t why I don’t bring my State ID with me. Anyway, point was the photocopy has my face on it. I had another ID from school that had my face and the same name on it. I tried explaining to her that it was obvious that that was me. She told me that someone could just have my credit card and have the photocopy. I said good point but that has my face on it. Ugh. It’s hard to prove a point and argue in a language you’re not that fluent in. So I just dropped the discussion and told them I’ll come back tomorrow. They did save the stuff for me so that was cool. On my way back I bought a scarf for 1.80 € which was a steal. I’m going back there to get like 4 more colors. =P

For dinner, we had saladilla rusa ( I think that’s what it was called). I think the main flavor was tuna and mayo. I’m not sure. It looked like a mountain of stuff. It had potatoes and shrimp and some other stuff mixed with tuna and mayo. It was ok, I guess coz I ate it. It wasn’t super good but I ate it. Again, I eat everything. I had bread with it and Ma. Luz also cooked fish nuggets. It wasn’t too bad. Then, I left to go to Café Fútbol where the girls were meeting. I “picked up” Breanna and we “picked up” Amanda on the way. We just sat there and talked for a little bit. Only Laura, Shannon, and I ordered. After that, we all went home. I got back at around 12:00mn.

(Resume)

While I was flossing my teeth, I heard someone singing ‘Bleeding Love’ on the tele. I walk out of the baño and asked Sarah if it was the original singer. Indeed, it was Leona Lewis singing her hit. After brushing my teeth, I stood there watching the tele with Ma. Luz, Paco, and Sarah. The program was Operación Triunfo. It’s like American Idol. All the contestants were crying crazily coz one got sent home. Then the girl who had to go gave everyone beso-besos. It seriously took about 10 minutes of the program. She would hug one person, kiss 15 times on one cheek, turn the other cheek, and kiss 10 more times. Then there were about 7 others left. It’s a cool culture thing I guess. I like how they don’t mind doing that. Americans always have this personal bubble space thing. It was actually kind of weird for me when I first got to the States because Filipinos are generally touchy as well. Now, I hate how I’ve become Americanized and sorta turned un-touchy. Whatever. I guess I adapt well.

Well, it’s been fun catching up. It’s now 2:59am. My sleep needs catching up. I guess the 3 hour siesta I took this afternoon sorta makes up for this. Still, I need some rest. =P Hasta luego.

Besitos de Kristia

Start of Week 2

Day 9 – The Start of Week 2

I know I shouldn’t say this but I’m actually excited for Week 6 to get here. I’m not saying that I wish I weren’t here. I’m just saying that I know I’ll be very happy when it will be time to go home. I was walking to school today when I realized: Man, I really just wanna ride on a car. It’s been so long! LOL Speaking of cars, they have the teeniest tiniest cars round here. It makes total sense because their roads are very narrow. But it also makes sense because why would you really need a bigger car, right? Americans, answer please. =P There are a lot of these Smart cars around here and they are very Smart. They could actually park perpendicular to the pavement and still be as wide as the cars that are parked parallel to the pavement.

So, anyway (it’s 2:02am on Wednesday morning as I’m typing this) I figured I’m going to try to deviate from my regular journal form. It has gotten tedious and I suppose that got a little boring too. I mean, I always started with waking up and eating magdalenas and café con leche for breakfast. I’m sure – without a doubt – that that will be my breakfast for the next 5 weeks. Not that I mind because I really do like café con leche. I just wish I had something heavier with it. Those magdalenas are half flour and sugar, the other half – air.

Then, it occurred to me that I really should start talking about my real Spanish experience. Enough of the ‘waking up in the morning, walking to school, learning local phrases, walking back for lunch…. blah blah blah’ boring stuff. Now that we’ve established the daily routine, we can now move on to the meat. =P

Today for lunch I had “fried chicken” with rice. I put those in quotation marks because they weren’t really fried chicken for me. LOL. I mean, yes, they were fried but not real fried chicken for me. One day, Amanda was complaining about how she had to eat this piece of chicken and how she didn’t recognize which part of the chicken she was eating. I thought it was a stupid story. LOL. But now, this fried chicken that I was eating for lunch – I could not figure out which part of the chicken it was. Seriously. I felt for Amanda then. Hahaha. I ate it anyway. That’s my problem. I eat stuff even if I don’t like them. Oh well. I guess it’s a good survival skill. =P

So, after lunch I took a little siesta. Then, I made my way back to CLM1 to get on the internet. This time, I was successful in putting pictures on my Flickr account.

At 4:50pm, I made my way to CCA2 where we will be having our mandatory tutorials. Our tutor is José. José is crazy. José loves to curse and is very unaffected in teaching curse phrases and words. It was very fun and interesting. I mean, those were real stuff that we could use on the streets. =) We were there for about 1.25 hours. I then left for CLM1 to get back on the internet. Julie was also there and was on her laptop. When she got up to leave, she asked if I wanted to go with Shannon and the others to the post office. So, I went with them to the post office and got some stamps for the postcards that I bought from the weekend. We then sat on a bench for a few minutes to just talk while Julie had ice cream. Everyone else didn’t feel like getting any.

There we talked about how we wanted to get on with the Spanish fashion. LOL. Here the skinny jeans are very popular. I’ve tried buying a pair myself but they sit so low on the waist I don’t think I can function well with those on. =P Then, we talked about how young couples make out in public esp. at the parks. That was actually explained in class. Ma. Luisa said it was because it’s unheard of for kids to do stuff in their houses. So, they do it in public? Haha. Anyway, after Julie’s ice cream, we all walked back home.

For dinner, I had pizza and berenjenas (fried eggplant) which I ate with much gusto. I didn’t go anywhere after dinner. Kuya Niño tried calling me several times but it never connected. Then, Ma. Luz knocked on my door and said I had a call. It was Mom! Yayyyy I had not spoken to anyone since I left so that was a nice relief. We spoke for about 20 minutes and took care of some business that she’s attending to on my behalf. LOL. No, we really did. Then I asked her what she wanted from here then she just said that my coming home would be enough. Awww. Haha. (Naks! Mom! Dad! Don’t miss me too much! =P) I then attempted to do my homework but decided against it. You know, the usual me. =P Went to bed and set my alarma really early coz I had to take a shower in the morning.

I've Been Here A Week

Day 8 – I’ve Been Here A Week

5:45am: My alarm goes off. Again, I intuitively turn it off – as in off – not even snooze. I meant to go to the Balcón de Europa to watch the sunrise. I should have known there was no way I could have made it. LOL. But that’s how I am, I always say that I will even though I know in the back of my head that I won’t make it. =P I guess that’s a bad thing to have.

9:30am: I get up to go to breakfast. I had half-cooked sunny side up eggs and some stale, crumby bread, and pseudo-apple juice. Anyway, it wasn’t that bad. We went back to the room to pack up.

11:00am: We all meet outside. The bus was there so we could leave our stuff. Everyone else went to the beach. I did not want to go to the beach because I didn’t need to tan anymore. Plus, I wanted to walk around town and explore and buy souvenirs. So, I went off on my own.

11:15am: I went back to Balcón de Europa and took these beautiful pictures. Now, I don’t regret bringing a semi-DSLR camera. LOL. It’s not DSLR but it works. I was tempted not to buy postcards coz I could just send my own photos. But then, they don’t have those Kodak kiosks here that print photos ahora mismo. I stopped by some shops. I bought Dad his magnet for the fridge (I ought to sell this for a profit. Hehehe.) I bought other stuff that I could just later designate to people. I saw these letter tiles – the same ones you see on the walls outside people’s houses. I wanted to buy my name but as it was 1 € apiece, it was a bit expensive for me. Then, I thought of getting our family name but no one in my family really knows how to put that on the wall. Plus, we might be moving soon. So, then I thought of getting it for the Villaverdes but no, that would have cost me 10 € and I wanted it to spell out Casa Villaverde. That would have been 14 €. Hahaha. So, I bought a letter – one letter- for a friend that has a one letter name. =P

1:45pm: After walking around for a while and taking awesome pictures, I thought I would enjoy my alone time. =P I really had to use the bathroom so I went inside this café/restaurant to use their bathroom. Then, I felt bad that I just crashed inside so I figured I’ll just get lunch there. We were given 10 € by the program to buy ourselves lunch. As seen in this picture, I had paella and a San Miguel beer. I thought about not getting beer but I don’t drink soda and I don’t think they had anything else that could have gone well with paella. Anyway, the paella wasn’t good. It was ok. I made myself eat it because I was really hungry and it was a bit expensive. LOL. The San Mig – I had no problem consuming. =P

2:15pm: I made my way back down to Playa Burriana where the girls were. At this point, I’ve had no communication with them and I had no way to contact them coz I had ran out of minutes booking that flight to Rome which I don’t wanna think about because that had cost me 24 €. Anyway, I got to the beach and figured there was no way that I could find them without combing the whole beach. So I figured, I’ll just go to the shops and buy some postcards. I was walking around the shops and picking out postcards when I heard people speaking English. I look up and there were the girls! Haha. ¿Que casualidad, no? (What a coincidence, right?) They just had lunch and were going back to the beach to lay out some more. I figured by this time there wasn’t really much left for me to do. So I go back out to the beach with them.

4:00pm: We were there for about an hour and a half when I couldn’t take the heat anymore. It was freakin’ scorching hot. You couldn’t walk on the sand without flip-flops. You would have burnt your soles. It was that bad. Surprisingly, I didn’t turn black. Usually, in the States when I would spend a considerable amount of time under the sun, I would turn very, very dark. Right now, I think my tan’s pretty nice. Hehe. Hangin! LOL So, I go back to the little shops just to get shade and get a cold bottle of water. It’s awesome here they don’t have the usual 20 oz. like we do in the States. It’s either 200mL or 1.5L. I always get the 1.5L coz it’s the better deal. =P

4:30pm: While I was paying for some postcards and a book about Nerja, I was hearing on the radio of a tennis game being played. I then remembered that the French Open was going on. I walked further and came upon a café where they had a huge LCD TV and there was Federer and Rafa. Rafa made Federer look really bad during that match. Rafa was seriously dominating. Of course I had to buy something because I wanted to sit and watch. So I got coffee flavored ice cream. Have I mentioned that they have awesome ice cream here? Yes, I wouldn’t have thought that, but they do. Just when Rafa won his 2^nd set, the girls found me. (We were getting good at finding each other). They told me that we were trying to leave earlier. We were set to leave at 6:00pm.

4:40pm: We were making our way back up the hill. This is a serious climb. It’s a good hike. Shannon started running up the hill to get it over with. Then a couple of us followed. I was seriously out of breath when I made it to the top. We sat down on the front steps of some building to catch our breaths and plus there was shade there. We got in touch with Veronica and we were going to leave at 5:15pm.

5:15pm: We got on the bus and left for Granada. Goodbye beach. Goodbye weekend. =( Hello waking-up-early and 1-mile powerwalk. =P

6:30pm: We get back to Granada. I walk home by myself because the way Breanna and Amanda take is longer for me.

7:00pm: I get to my room and found my clothes all washed and folded on my bed. Sweet, eh? I had to unfold most of them and hang them on the closet because most of them didn’t need to be creased. I unpacked, relaxed a bit, and attended to my journal and pictures.

9:30pm: We have dinner. We had berenjenas fritas (fried, breaded, thin-sliced eggplant) – pretty much my favorite. I eat tons of it. We also had fried fish. I like fish. I don’t mind having fish. So, that was a good dinner.

11:00pm: I leave to go the internet café to upload pictures and upload my journal and pictures. The pictures didn’t really work. Vista is freaking annoying with the wifi connection because it keeps on saying local only when connecting to the local network. (If you know how to diagnose this, please tell me!)

1:30am: I go back to the house and sleep. What a tiring day!

The Mediterranean Sea - Nerja - Costa del Sol

June 7 – Going to the Beach – Nerja

8:35am: I get up and get dressed. I told Ma. Luz yesterday that I will be having breakfast at 8:45am.

8:45am: I ate breakfast – Magdalena and café con leche. I think this will be my breakfast for the next 5 weeks.

9:05am: I start walking. We were all gonna meet at the gas station by Recogidas and Camino de Ronda to walk together to the where the bus will pick us up.

10:00am: We’re all in front of the Biblioteca. The bus picks us up and off we go to Nerja – about 2 hours drive.

All throughout the walk from the gas station and thedrive to Nerja, I was busy making calls to book my Rome flight. It was very frustrating. I talked to this customer service lady and she was very unhelpful and rude. Kainis! Then I found out that all my credit on my phone was being used up because I initiated the call to their customer service. So I ended up losing about 24 euros on making those stupid calls that did not get me anywhere. I already gave them a new credit card but they couldn’t figure out what the problem was. I called mom on my States phone and asked her to call Amanda’s phone because it’s free to receive calls. We talked for a bit and she helped me book the ticket. Amanda mentioned that if it was a debit card, it takes it. So, I told mom to do that. She calls back and says she’s booked it. FINALLY. By this time, I was working on it for about 2 hours! You would think that the customer service people would have told me maybe I wanted to try paying with a debit card. But no, they had no idea. Ugh. Anyway…

11:40am: We arrive in Nerja. We went straight to the Cueva de Nerja. It’s a very fascinating place. It felt fake to me. LOL. It was like being in one of those museum-like tours in Disneyland or something. It was magnificent and humongous inside. There was actually a place in there where they hold concerts. Pretty cool!

12:34pm: We check in the Hotel Villa Flamenca. I roomed with Shannon in room 605. We settle in and go back out to go to the beach! I definitely do not need to be tanning but I went anyway. =P The beach was nice. The sand was hot. The water was super cold! It took a lot to dip myself in the water. I went numb. LOL. It was that cold. It looked very pretty though. It was so funny because it took us forever to get into the water. Julie and Laura were halfway in for awhile when 2 Korean or Japanese girls who were nearby started splashing them. It was so funny coz they couldn’t really do much. They can’t get mad at them. =P They finally got in after that.

3:41pm: We had to go find something to eat since we were all hungry. Nerja is very touristic so there were a lot of places that accommodated our needs. There were a lot of tourist shops, cafés, ice cream places, etc. I had a San Mig just coz I always liked the idea of having an ice cold beer at the beach. =P

4:30pm: We went back to the hotel. We decided to just lay out by the pool.

4:45pm: I got back to the room and we wanted to take a nap. Shannon goes to the pool after a 20 minute nap. I, on the other hand, did not feel like getting up. I dropped the pool plan and just kept sleeping.

6:45pm: Shannon gets back in and takes a shower. I was still sleeping. I just heard her come in.

7:00pm: I get up and take a shower. Oh, I asked Shannon about the other commode looking thing in the bathroom. She told me she thinks it’s for washing your hiney. LOL. So I studied that thing while I was in there. Her answer seems logical. Haha.

7:15pm: We sit and talk for a while.

8:15pm: We all went to the hotel bar. Liz ordered a piña colada and Courtney ordered a Margarita. Courts was a rip-off coz her Margarita was in a really tiny glass and it was 4.50 euros. We sit and talk for a while because dinner’s not until 9pm.

9:00pm: We have a dinner buffet. We sit and talk for a while. It was the first regular meal we’ve had since getting here. Or so Laura says. I go back up to the room to change into more comfortable shoes and to get Shannen’s fleece coz we were all going out. =)

10:45pm: We start walking to the Balcón de Europa. It was pretty dark and we couldn’t really see anything. While we were around that area, there were a couple of dancers who had a Tango show. It was really cool to watch. We were going to start in an Irish pub but they didn’t have room and it was smoky. We saw another Irish pub that looked good but they had a wedding party that was going to start in 10 minutes. So, we get out and keep walking. We walked for a while. Liz was reading the map and couldn’t get us to Plaza Tutti Frutti where all the fun bars were.

11:50pm: After walking in circles for a while, I just resorted to asking people. We got to Plaza Tutti Frutti around midnight.

12:00mn: We hear people singing karaoke and they were in English. It was underground so we followed the sound. We join the karaoke party. We stayed there for a bit. Stayed in Tutti Frutti for a while and practiced our Spanish very well.

3:30am: We figured we should all go back to the hotel. Shannon, Liz, and Courtney left early. There were 5 of us left. We would have def fit in one taxi but the taxi guys were being lame. So we split into two taxis. Julie and I were in one and split a 6 euro fare back to the hotel.

So so... It's Friday =)

June 6 – So-So… It’s Friday!

7:45am: Since I’m going for honesty in here (LOL), I skipped shower today. Haha. I slept in instead of waking up at 7:00am. It errrrrritates me how the meal times are setup because it feels like I don’t have time to do anything at all. OK – I wake up early in the morning to go to school. School is from 9am-1pm. I have to be home at 2:15 to eat lunch. I can’t really do much between 1:00 and 2:15 – walking alone is 30 minutes of that 75 minute window. OK, so after I eat which is about 2:50pm, everything is closed for the siesta. I can’t even go shop except for the mainstream shops that look American anyway. Almost everything is closed until 5:00pm. And then, we don’t eat dinner till 9:30pm so I can’t really leave at like 6:00pm and go out till late because dinner is smack right in the middle. I don’t know. Ugh. I hope I’ll have this figured out before this thing ends. Haha.

Anyway, I woke up at 7:45am and didn’t take a shower. I freshened up, ate breakfast and brushed my teeth. My host parents’ son and daughter-in-law were here in the a.m. They came in with their baby, Paco III, while I was quickly eating my breakfast (Magdalena and café con leche w/ my red thermos ready). So I say hello to Paco Jr. and made beso-beso with su mujer (his wife) o la nuera de Paco y Ma. Luz. Oh here in Spain, when you’re introduced to someone you make beso-beso on each cheek. Wait. I think I’ve already mentioned this. (Sorry it’s now 2:00am while I’m writing this. I’m just trying to write down as much as I can because I forget stuff easily.)

8:32am: I start my morning commute. This time I take the route that Ma. Luz showed me the day I got here. At least now I know where everything is. I don’t fret that I’ll make a wrong turn because here in Granada, if you just take streets that lead you to your general direction, you’ll always get to a point where you can readjust your bearings. You will always end up in Plazas and major streets that you’ll recognize.

9:01am: I arrive. It still takes me about 30 minutes! It was less crappy and definitely seemed easier. My books and laptop bring me down though. That’s 10 more pounds. Anyway, whatever. At least I’m perfectly capable of carrying stuff and walking.

9:05am: In Adolfo’s class, we had interrogations. He had two of our classmates act like they were suspects in a bank robbery last night. We were split into two groups. One group had to ask about what they did last night. One group had to interrogate them about what they did this morning. This is to practice our tenses. Anyway, that was a bit fun. Then, we talked about what Spaniards usually do during the weekends.

I swear every single day – every single day – I learn something new in class that totally relates to my Filipino-ness and I have no doubt in my mind that we got it from the Spaniards. Anyway, I mean I knew that before but like I said it’s very fascinating to actually live through it. Like yesterday when we were drawing faces in Ma. Luisa’s class, she described what a lunar is. Pinoys, it’s a nunal.

So back to Adolfo’s class, we described how Spaniards spend their weekends. He gave us a handout of a summary of what people in Spain do in the weekends. Their national hobby is talking. I seriously think that we got this from them. I know how Filipinos love to talk, make jokes, just sit in one place for a long time and eat. The last part of the handout gave it away. =P It says, “Para los españoles, es más importante con quién se está que dónde está.” For Spaniards, who you’re with is more important than where you are. To a good extent Americans believe this too but I Americans don’t really meet a lot and just sit in one place for a long time just to chat and eat. I’m not trying to explain anyone’s behavior or whatever. I just find it fascinating that Pinoys are definitely like that.

11:00am: Ma. Luisa is not here. She said yesterday that she had a medical appointment of some sort. So, we had a sub. She was ok but Ma. Luisa was def. tons better. =P Ssshhh. We had an activity where we looked at each other’s faces and picked two people and see how they would get along based on their faces. The sub explained that olden people or whatever thought that the shape of your face was an indicator of what kind of person you were. I guess, this is where we got the presumption that people who have big foreheads are smarter than your average person. Anyway, after that we had a matching activity that took forever. There was a list of characteristics on a middle column. On each side of that column were phrases that described the characteristics. We had to match up the descriptions with the characteristic to define it. It was quite interesting. It was then that I found out another thing. The sub told us that in Spain funerals are very serious and solemn. She explained how traditional the Catholics are and how that’s just the way it is. I could definitely relate. I don’t know if it’s changed or not but the funerals I’ve been to in the Phils., it felt obligatory to be sad and not smile. I don’t know if it’s just me or what. Hehe. She asked around too what it was like in our own countries coz there’s also a guy there that’s from Sweden and a girl from Japan.

1:15pm: Shannon and I are at CLM1 to meet with the other people to go to the travel agency. We hiked to the travel agency. Honestly, I didn’t really feel up to that but whatever I was just trying to be cooperative. I hate it when I have to do that. Hehe. Those of you who know me know. =P So Jose led the way and we almost got lost. Good thing he asked. I knew we made the wrong turn but I didn’t wanna speak up because he was “leading.”

1:30pm: So we made it to the travel agency. The whole time we were there, I didn’t wanna be there. I just wanted to buy the tickets on my own but who was I to impose. So, I silently hoped that they would not push through with the travel agency. I had to leave because I was running late for lunch.

2:15pm: I arrived just on time for lunch. Paco was getting ready to fry some stuff. Here, they love frying stuff. For lunch, again, I had cordon bleu which I definitely don’t mind eating. Then we also had Tortilla de Patata. It’s scrambled eggs with fried thinly-sliced potatoes. It was quite good. Until I saw that the middle part of it was kinda not cooked. The end product looks like a quiche. A piece looks like a slice of cake. Anyway, that wasn’t too bad. Again, we watched Karlos’ cooking show. Oh this is funny. At the end of the program, they had okras on the table. Lots of okras. They were explaining what okras were. So, I was curious why they were doing that. I asked Paco if he knew what an okra was. He said he’s never seen it in his life. He thought they were peppers. He said they looked like peppers. LOL. I thought that was very weird.

Paco, wife, and son arrived while we were eating lunch. The wife looked very trendy and posh. I envy. LOL. Plus, she had an N95. I envy more. =P Anyway, they cooked more for their lunch.

3:15pm: I went back to my room. Thought about going out to walk around and buy some stuff. Realized it was siesta time and got errritated because I can’t shop. Then I figured, why if it’s siesta time, why not take a siesta myself?! I didn’t take a siesta. =P by Spanish standards, I went to sleeeep. LOL. Is it same in Pinas where a siesta only lasts 30 minutes tops? There goes another one. For the States, that’s just a powernap. Plus, in Spain, when you’re on your bed, it doesn’t really count as a siesta. Beds are only used for sleeping. Siesta is in a couch or seat, rocking chair, whatev. So I took a siesta este went to sleep.

4:00pm: I was supposed to meet Shannon at 4pm. Kept hitting snooze button.

5:00pm: Didn’t get to the net café till 5pm. Laura was there. I was there till 7:30pm. I updated my blog. Read and sent emails. Chatted with a few people. Checked my bank accounts. Saw Amanda and Breanna and made plans to meet at 10:15pm to try booking the flights again.

7:30pm: I went to Recogidas to buy some stuff. Oh guess who’s going to the beach tomorrow? Not you? =P Yeap we’re going to Nerja. It’s one of the program’s sponsored trips. Wooot! So I went to Recogidas (one of the major streets) to buy a beach towel. I found a bookstore – dropped by – bought an envelope for handouts – they didn’t have regular folders. Found a wall full of pens! Got very excited. We don’t have this big a selection in the States. They’re usually in packages of more than 1 too so it’s more expensive. I saw Pilot G-Tecs!!!!! Bought blue and black =) Went to Blanco and bought a towel. Dropped by a few more shops to find walking shoes. Couldn’t find any.

9:00pm: Had to hurry home for dinner. Took a shower. Had dinner – fried fish and fried thinly sliced eggplants and white wine. Yummy!

10:15pm: Went to net café to meet everyone once again to book flights. Credit card got blocked. I called the number provided in the error message. Guy says the website has higher security for American credit cards. Guy says it was a system mechanism, can’t be fixed yet. Will call back tomorrow. Everyone else who wants to go to Rome (Julie’s not going she might visit a friend in Vienna) has booked tickets except for me and Shannon. We then went to a super good ice cream place in front of where I live. I was going to go to a bar with Shannon and Julie but didn’t wanna walk by myself on the way back home. Plus, there were a lot of sketch people and I didn’t really feel like walking any more.

1:00am: We left the ice cream place. I crossed the street and got home. I cleaned up my room. I wrote 2 days worth of journals (It gets tedious). I packed for the beach. I really got into it. LOL.

3:45am: Went to bed.

Struggling with Words

So how about I’m struggling with talking and writing English right now. LOL. Seriously. It’s so not like me. I mean, first of all, read my blog posts. Haha. I sound retarded. But I know why it’s happening though. I notice that it’s happening too. It’s because I’m in Spanish world where everything is totally Spanish except for when I’m writing these blogs and talking to the girls. No one else speaks Spanish here. Seriously. Even the computers in the internet café are in Spanish. Even the keyboards are Spanish. Even the popular American songs are in Spanish. SO, it’s superinevitable to not think in Spanish. So, lately I guess my mind has been thinking in Spanish without my permission. =P Pues, (See? Spanish words come to me like 2^nd nature), I mean – Anyway, so that’s why I’m having trouble with my words nowadays.

In Spanish, it’s very easy to say stuff. If you wanna describe something, you explain what is happening to it, what it is doing, what it looks like, without risking sounding stupid. OK I know I’m not making that much sense but whatever. I’m just saying my head is like on Spanish 5^th gear right now and I can’t stop it. Pues, understand if at times I have a hard time describing things or it’s not eloquently delivered. =) Vale? Muy bien. Vale.

Getting the Hang of Things

Day 4 – Getting the hang of things

7:30am: Alarm goes off. I turn it on snooze. I wake up 15 minutes later. I changed then go to the table to eat my breakfast. Ma. Luz did knock on my door and I opened it and told her that I was already up and getting ready.

8:28am: I leave the building for school. I planned last night to take a shortcut and try to cut through streets to try to take a straight line from school to CLM2. So I went. Lesson learned today: back roads are shitty. Literally. So, tomorrow, I will stick to the major streets. Seriously. I constantly referred to my map but there definitely was a street that came to a dead end and it took me like 8 piles of sh*t to get to the end of the street, only to find out it was a dead end. So, lesson learned.

9:00am – 1:00pm: Classes. In Adolfo’s conversation class, we had this exercise about having internet profiles. We discussed reflexive, non-reflexive, and regular verbs. In Ma.Luisa’s class, we corrected our writings from yesterday.

1:10pm: Shannon and I went back to CLM 1.

1:15pm: I got on wifi at CLM 1. I was pretty excited. I emailed people and uploaded pictures.

2:00pm: I had to leave to go to the meeting point by Isabel La Loca este La Catolica (I was veryy sleepy when I typed this last night).

2:03pm: I had to go somewhere to eat my bocadillo (snack) prepared by my host mom because I told her that I wouldn’t be home for lunch and that I could just take a snack. Anyway, I was going to just catch up with Shannon ( she’s using crutches by now coz of her foot). When I went to the café that I thought they were gonna go to, they were not there. So I crashed into a tapa, (my first ever!) The lady asked me if I wanted something to eat but I already had my sandwich. She asked me if I wanted anything to drink, so I said, sure I’ll have a beer, why not. So I had my first (legal?) glass of beer (Alhambra) in Granada. It was good. Nice and cold in a warm day.

2:15pm: I make my way to the meeting point by the fountain of Isabel La Catolica.

2:30pm: We start trekking to Albaicin. Aurelio was explaining – locals like to think (or legend goes or something like that) that Albaicin, un barrio, is the novio and Alhambra is the novia. They are situated right in front of each other. Albaicin is a barrio all over a side of a mountain and the Alhambra is on top of a mountain across Albaicin. He further explained that the more we go up the mountain/hill (whatever it was, it was steep), the more the novio gets a better glimpse of the novia. Everywhere in Albaicin, the novio can keep a good watch of the novia. There was crap all over the streets which was not that fun. I guess you just had to watch out for it. There were a few stray dogs and cats. These streets were really narrow and you’d think it’s not possible for people to drive here. Well, we thought wrong. Anyway. Also, back in the day, some king guy – Felipe or Carlos something - (maybe? I really should pay better attention to the tour guide. I guess I was busy skipping over you-know-what or taking pictures :P ) wanted the people in Albaicin to surround their homes with high walls. So as you can see if you go to my pictures in Flickr, you can’t see any homes from the streets of Albaicin. But, within these walls there are some big houses with patios and gardens, etc called a Carmen.

4:00pm: I’m getting used to all this walking. I walk some more with Veronica to her office at CLM1 to get my things. Then, I got back on the wifi at CLM1 and uploaded some more pictures.

6:00pm: I left CLM1 to go to Vodafone (the store that was closed for siesta the other day, the one way out of my way). I bought a new SIM card for 24 euros with 30 euros in credit. I think. I get free incoming calls and it only costs .01 euro to call another Vodafone phone.

7:30pm: I get back to the house. I told my host mom not to worry about feeding me dinner because I was gonna go out with the girls. I had to meet them at the patio at CLM1 at 8:30.

8:10pm: After hurriedly getting ready, I left to meet the people at the patio.

9:10pm: After trying out Hannigan & Sons, an Irish pub, near school, we all had to evacuate and go to the other one near Plaza La Catolica because it was some girl’s birthday. There were about 20+ people in our little walking group – most were from LSU. We had a few drinks at the bar while watching the soccer game between USA and Spain (which I think Spain won). I had my first legit San Miguel beer. I took a picture of it but it’s on Amanda’s camera. I tried to bring it with me but the pseudo-bouncer guy stopped me. I guess it could be dangerous carrying a bottle in the streets of Granada.

12:45am: We left Hannigan to go home. We stopped by the internet café very quickly . Breanna and I were walking back together on a major street – so not too much to worry.

1:15am: I get back to the house, typed some of this, set my alarm, and slept!

Pictures

After much thinking (hehe not really), or trying to avoid thinking, I just decided to put all my photos on Flickr. If my quota is up, I think I'm just gonna go pro and pay the annual fee. Anyway, I'll cross the bridge when I get there. For the meantime, here is the link.

http://flickr.com/photos/kristiaa

From now on, I will try to upload pics first before I post my blog. This way, I can give you a link or whatnot if I make a reference of something so you can see what I'm talking about. :) Vale? Vale.

xoxo
kristia

First Day of Classes

June 3

Day 3 – First Day of Classes

7:35am: My alarm goes off. I intuitively turn it off.

8:40am: I look at my cellphone and realize I’m very very late. I was supposed to meet Breanna by her house at 8:30. I will soon attach a photo of Granada’s map and my rout from the house to school. School is about a mile and a half from here. So, I threw on some clothes, gathered my belongings and took off – halfway I powerwalked, the other half I ran. Jesusmio.

9:05am: I entered the classroom. The second CLM building is very nice. It’s a walled building further down the street parallel to the first CLM. You go up a flight of stairs and in front of you is a courtyard. The courtyard is surrounded by orange trees. To your left is a patio with benches. If you go towards the courtyard, you arrive at the main entrance. The building is beautiful and I think most of it is made of marble. Soshal sya.

10:50am: Our first class ends. Our teacher is Profesor Adolfo Sanchez. We pretty much just did conversational stuff. No English is permitted inside the classroom although I did get away with some today. I think my Spanish has improved exponentially in my 2 days here in Granada. By this time, I am starving and very thirsty. So I just bought a bottle of water for .70 euro.

11:10am: Our second class starts taught by Profesora Ma. Luisa Something (I forgot her last name). We mostly did cultural stuff. We got to know which Spanish phrases to say in certain occasions and what are some Spanish customs. For example, it is common for Spaniards to beso-beso (kiss each other in both cheeks) when introduced to someone new. It’s the norm for girl-girl, accepted for girl-guy. If it’s a guy and guy, they shake hands. In Spain, it is an annoyance if you arrive early – for example if you are invited for dinner. That’s all I could think of right now. :P

1:01pm: We are done with classes for the day. Shannon, another girl in the Central College program, actually got transferred to my class so I was pretty excited about that. She hurt her foot very badly from all the walking we did yesterday. I thought it was just one of those you can shake off but I guess not. She’s also an athlete and she plays basketball and has had problems with it. The walking probably aggravated it. Anyway, she can barely walk, so we go to Veronica’s office in CLM 1. I told her that I sometimes get those and it would hurt so much but after sometime you can kinda shake it off. Well, she kinda shook it off there. So we proceed walking towards the city.

2:15pm: I walk with Shannon towards the river to where she lives (very out of my way) because I wanted to go to the Vodafone store to buy a SIM card. She thought that siesta was not until 2:30pm. When we got there, 10 minutes out of my way, the store is closed. BUMMER. So, I turn around and head back to my house. In Spain, they usually eat lunch ( the heaviest meal of the day) around 2:00 – 2:30pm. In a way, my wasted out-of-the-way-walk wasn’t so bad since from that I found a shortcut to my house which is not complicated like the one my host mom showed me. By now, I feel like I know most of the more important streets and where they connect. Or maybe, I just do have a good sense of direction. I think it’s both.

Oh back to the Spanish siesta. I didn’t fully understand the weight of the Spanish siesta until now. Seriously. They close almost everything at 2:00pm and do not open back till 5:00pm. This sucks for us because we get out of class at 1:00pm and that only gives us 1 hour to “shop.” It really does suck coz all you can do is “window shop.” Whatevs.

2:45pm: I arrive at the house and tell Paco I’m home. He just sat down to eat his lunch. He gets up and gets me my plate. I had macarones. It’s not macaroni pasta. It looks like penne but it’s not ribbed. It had like a light tomato sauce and had some bits of ham. It was very good. I topped it with cheese and paired it with bread. As I did not have breakfast, that lunch was a great relief.

3:40pm: I left the house to go to the “meeting point” by the plaza Isabel La Catolica. We had to meet Veronica there so she can show us this place where we can volunteer.

4:40pm: We go to Central College’s 2^nd office (CCA 2) and we had our workshop there. We talked about what were our goals during our stay here in Granada. Most of us wanted to improve our Spanish skills, meet other people, become a bit more independent, etc. Cool beans.

6:10pm: We all leave to go the internet café. The same photo people from Central the other day asked if they could take pictures of us while getting all excited at the internet café. Shannon couldn’t really walk by now, so she wanted to take the taxi. Brett, the photographer, rode with us so he knows where to go. He took the taxi bill (well, Central did). So that was a relief. My first ride in like 3 days. :P Anyway…

6:30pm: I get on the computer!!! How exciting! But bummer was the connection was too slow to accommodate my uploading pictures to the web. Good thing is I’ve copy-pasted my journal from last night to my blogspot and multiply. Anyway, I left there around 8:15pm.

8:30pm: I went to the Orange store por la calle Camina de Ronda. I tried to ask about calling rates and what the charges were gonna be like if we called each other in Granada. I didn’t have any id with me so I couldn’t really buy it then. Maybe tomorrow. And maybe I’ll go with Vodafone. I hear Vodafone’s cheaper.

9:40pm: We had dinner. Jesus Maria Jose! Les dije que cada cena es como una fiesta. Every dinner it seems like we’re having a party. Tonight, I had my very own special scrambled egg already on my plate. Then we had fried large diced calbazin (which I joked were the primos/cousins of the calabaza – to which Paco agreed :P), we had fried fish, some other fish fried the same way, and mi favorito de todo el mundo – calamares!!! Swear it looked wayyyyyyy better and larger and tasted super good(and genuine) than any other calamares I’ve ever had.

I sat with them for a while and we all talked. I’m actually pretty excited I can carry on conversations with them. MariaLuz says I have really good Spanish. So I guess that’s good.

11:00pm: I brushed my teeth and got ready for bed.

11:55pm: I’m done with this journal and I’ve fallen asleep twice while typing this. Anyway, bear with me if I have blatant grammatical errors.

12:00mn: I’m going to bed!!! Hopefully I get up tomorrow. Ma. Luz has told me though that she will knock on my door and wake me up at 8:00am. So I think I should be good. Vale? Vale.

xoxo

Kristia

Placement Exam, Walking, Workshop, More Walking,

June 2

7:30am: I wake up and get dressed.

8:00am: My host mom calls me to eat breakfast. I have toasted bread and butter and café con leche. The bread resembles French bread but not really so it was quite stiff after a few minutes of being toasted. The coffee was really good =)

8:30am: I leave for CLM. Surprisingly, I didn’t get lost. I think I made a couple of wrong turns but I think I’m generally good with directions so I still found my way.

You have to understand though the streets here are a bit confusing. The minor streets are narrow and meander through the city without a pattern. There are many plazas all over the city and they make great landmarks. The city is very old – very very old. This city has been around since like the 10^th century. It is very fascinating. The streets are made of stone. Most parts are made of shiny bricks (? Lol are they called something specific? ) Anyway, some parts are made of cobblestone, marble, or little pebbles. You get the general idea. It’s very fascinating and interesting.

9:00am: I found Veronica and she showed me the aula (classroom) where we had to take our placement exams. I also meet the other girls. It was such a relief to speak English again!!! I was definitely excited.

11:00am: After taking the oral exam and having been placed (I placed advanced), Breanna and I walked back together coz we had to take picture in our houses for Central College’s pictures.

11:30am: I make it back home and in a few minutes the photo people arrive. We took some pictures of us three talking in the dining/living room, a picture of me and Ma. Luz “preparing” coffee, me sitting on the bed with my laptop and of me “studying.”

1:00pm: I walk around for like 30 minutes just to get to know the area better.

2:10pm: Paco serves lunch. I had lintejas (looked like mung beans to me. He says it’s not a type of bean though. I couldn’t argue. Lol. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t have known how. :P) So he offers if I want paella. I had about 4 spoonfuls of the lintejas but it was too rich. I respectfully say that I wasn’t fond of the lintejas and said that I would like paella instead. So I get paella and I was a happy camper.

2:50pm: I leave to meet Breanna outside her house and we both walked to the gas station to meet with everyone else who wanted to go to the internet café.

3:15pm: We’re all at the internet café. It’s cheaper to buy hours by the bulk. It’s 1.80 euro for an hour and it’s 20 euro for 20 hours. So we all bought the 20 hours. It would run as $1.50 an hour which isn’t bad.

3:20pm: I get into the cyberworld for the first time in like 40 hours. I was so ecstatic!!!! I checked my mail, sent a couple emails and setup a Skype account. It all went too fast :P

4:15pm: We had to leave to go back to CLM.

4:30pm: Veronica gives us a tour of the Centro de Lenguas Modernas.

4:45pm: She takes us to the second office of Central College where there are actual classes where we will be holding meetings and workshops. There we go over our handbooks. We shared about our initial reactions about the city and how our host families are, etc.

5:40pm: Aurelio arrives. Aurelio is our tour guide for this afternoon. We start in our “meeting point” near the Isabel Catolica plaza. We basically toured most of the city. From the plazas, the city hall, the little jewelry shops (Aldevinco sa davao lol), the youthful shops, la Capella Real where Juana La Loca and a few other of her relatives are entombed, the Cathedral, and some major streets.

We basically walked for like 2 hours. I seriously think we walked at least 3. 5 miles just in that tour alone.

8:40pm: I got home and I rest for a bit.

9:15pm: I wake up and Ma. Luz knocks on my door to tell me that we’re having dinner.

I definitely had a feast! Yum! First she gave me some sort of egg soup which was a tad salty but was good nonetheless. Then, she gave me a plate of fries and cordon bleu (nuggetty thing with ham and cheese and deep-fried). Then, her daughter-in-law which lives in this house during the week because she takes classes here, had fried eggplants – las veregenas (flour, milk, salt + thinly sliced eggplant then deep-fried). It was soooo good! :)

10:20pm: I realize I had to go. I put on my hoodie and go to Breanna’s house (outside). We walk to Calle Campos to “pick up” Amanda then we all walk to Café Futbol. Everyone else except Laura arrives. We look at the menu. They had a crazy menu of desserts! I had Copa Futbol – coffee ice cream, amaretto, walnuts, whipped cream, more nuts. It was very good and very large. Met some other Americans who were crazily loud :P We then figured out that in the next meals we will have to just start sharing and splitting. It’s more economical :P

11:45pm: I get back home. I’m supertired. I’m kinda glad though coz I seriously think I might lose weight from all this walking :P If I add it up I think we must have walked at least 5 miles today.

2:00am: I just got done typing. lol. :P

Hasta luego. En unas horas tengo que levantarme, arreglarme, e ir a la casa de Breanna e ir a CLM. Tenemos clases a las 9 de la mañana todos los días. (See you later. In a few hours, I have to get up, get ready, go to Breanna’s house and go to CLM. We have classes at 9am everyday (M-F). =P

xoxo

Kristia

On my way to Granada

Going to Granada

I left halfway through the wrap up session of the AICPA Leadership Workshop. The workshop has been very amazing and informative. I wonder how I was selected to be 1 of the 100 students across the nation to attend the workshop but I’m glad I did.

May 31, Saturday

11am: Mom, Dad, and Nico are outside the Wyndham Peachtree Conference Center waiting for me. I went out to meet them. I changed into my travelling clothes and we were off to go to the ATL airport – a 30 minute drive. On our way, we drive through a Chik-Fil-A to buy some sandwiches for lunch.

12noon: We park the car. I take out my luggage and finalize how I packed everything. I had one carryon, my purse. I had one big suitcase where I put in a smaller one so for when I go back in case I have more stuff to carry home, I have an extra suitcase dedicated for that. So off we go to check-in. I was over by 5 pounds so I had to stuff in some stuff on my carryon. As we were heading to security, I went to buy some Euros. As we were there lining up, a whole group of Army people (platoon? Idk) walked through. I assume they just arrived from their tour. It was so touching because everyone in that big arena stood up and started clapping. I was fighting back tears. Hehe. :P

1:30: I go through security. I find my gate and find two of the girls I’ve met at the workshop. I literally blab away 1 hour away. One of the girls, Mary, was Cambodian-American and spoke Khmer. The other was actually a lady, Shahida, and she was from Bangladesh. Anyway, I ended up talking to them the whole time and didn’t even realize that our flight was delayed. We were supposed to be boarding at 2:10pm and fly out at 2:40pm. We started boarding at 2:40pm. I thought we would have been ok in reference to my connecting flight from Philadelphia to Madrid. So…

5:40pm: We are taxiing down in PHL.

5:45pm: We’re at the gate and people start getting out of the plane. (Originally, I was supposed to have a 1.5 hour layover). My flight from Philly to Madrid leaves at 6:10pm. At this time, I realize that I had to make a run for it. I dash out of the gate, hastily ask for the general direction of my next gate and start taking off. I arrived in Gate C13 from ATL and had to get to Gate A25 for Madrid.

6:05pm: After running for probably about a mile with a laptop in my backpack and my rolling carryon, I made it to my gate. They had announced the second final call (which doesn’t make sense coz it’s supposed to be the final :P ) Anyway, while running, there was also this other girl running and we looked like we were racing. LOL. She was holding on to her backpack because one of the bigger pockets was wide open and I suppose she didn’t really have time to close it. So I told her to stop for a quick sec and I’ll close it up for her. So we stopped very briefly and I closed her bag. She took off and I told her to tell them that I was coming. So anyway, when I arrived at the gate, she comes running back out, frantically saying that she dropped her laptop on her way. I was very confused coz I was pretty sure I saw her Macbook on the big pocket that I closed for her. The gate lady checked my boarding pass and passport and when I got to my seat, there were things on my seat. So I ask around. Then the other people said that there was a girl but she ran back out to get her laptop. LOL. So I look at her bag, and figured out what a dummy I was to not have told her that it was in the bigger pocket. So I run up to the flight attendant up at the entrance and told them. Long story short, they got to her and told her and we definitely were seated right next to each other. She’s also studying in Madrid and she also didn’t know what she was getting herself into as was I. Anyway…

6:30pm: The plane took off. I was awake the whole time and I couldn’t sleep or didn’t want to sleep. :P Juno was on the OnDemand thing and so was The Kite Runner. So I ended up watching those but didn’t finish The Kite Runner. It’s not a very long flight. It really is only 6 hours but the time change is +6hours.

June 1

7:43am: We arrive in Madrid. I get my luggage and start going out. By this time, everything still feels so surreal to me. I couldn’t believe I was really in Spain. So I start going, just rolling. I knew I had to get on a bus to Estacion de Avenida de America but wasn’t quite sure which buses or whatever.

8:15am: I overhear three ladies speaking in Bisaya. I approach them and start speaking Bisaya to them. I asked them if they are familiar with the place and they said yes. They recommended going through the Metro to the Estacion America. It sounded like a good idea to me so off I went only to find out that the Metro (subway) was like half a mile from the arrival gates inside the airport. Diosmio. By this time, I already have my big suitcase, my rolling carryon, and my backpack and purse – about 70 pounds.

8:40am: I’ve bought my ticket and made my way down the lift o ascensor only to find out that I went down the wrong one. So, I lug everything back up and go down the right ones. I can’t count how many lifts and trains I got into coz I had to stop at Avenida de America and change into Circulo 6 to Alvaro Mendez – Estacion Sur where the bus station was.

10am: I arrive at Estacion Sur. I couldn’t believe I was lugging my stuff around for 2 hours! Just to go to a bus station probably 8 miles (guesstimate) from the airport! I bought a ticket to Granada.

10:30am: The bus for Granada arrives. Everyone packs their stuff inside. I mistakenly sat on someone else’s seat. I didn’t know it was on the ticket. LOL.

10:40am: The bus gets going. Fifteen minutes into the ride, I go into a coma. Seriously.

4:30pm: I arrive at the Granada bus station. I’m barely making it. I call Veronica (the director of the Granada program). She says I can go straight to my host family. I called my host family to tell them that I was coming – an interesting conversation.

4:45pm: 5 euros later, my host mom greeted me downstairs. I was showed the place where I will be living for the next 6 weeks.

My host mom is very warm, nice, and accommodating. Paco is her husband and all he does is sit in front of the TV and chainsmoke (I think. :P) Very nice guy though. My house is simple. My room is too. I have a dresser, a desk, a nightstand, and a bed. Nothing fancy but nothing terrible so can’t complain. By this time, I was dying – sort of – I just travelled for 24 hours! I was ready for a powernap.

5pm: My host mom tells me to nap and that we were gonna go to the Centra de Lenguas Modernas (CLM – where we take classes) so that tomorrow I can walk myself.

7:30pm: We walk through the streets of Granada all the way to CLM. It’s a good hike – about 15 minutes. Then she invited me for ice cream. No one turns down ice cream. Duh. I tried Tutti Frutti. I asked Maricar, her neighbor who walked with us, which one she recommends and that was her favorite.

8:30pm: We make it back home. I finish unpacking. I think somewhere in here I simply sat on my bed for like 30 minutes thinking about stuff and why and how I was here. =P

9:30pm: I eat dinner by myself. Paco and Ma. Luz left for a bit. I had paella. Then I took a shower which was so refreshing!

I went back to my room and I was so disoriented – not in a bad way though. I watched Next (Nicolas Cage) in my laptop and I was lost in my own little world for like 15 minutes. It felt so great! Until I got sleepy and had to snap back.

11pm: I went to bed. Have to be back at CLM at 9am to meet Veronica and take our placement exam.

Buenas Noches.