Ugh. Well, we had our final exams today. They definitely didn’t go as well as I wanted them to. The first one was REALLY bad, considering there were things on it that I didn’t even learn (I had switched into the class 3 days into it). I think I guessed on more than half of it. I guess I’ll see how I did tomorrow. Regardless, I rewarded myself with some gelato today. I’m really starting to like this new place where we can get more than one flavor at a time. Today I got tropical fruit and mango! Lunch was interesting because now we have too many people to all eat at once, so Merete and I and a few others had to wait until the next shift of people. I felt like I had “second lunch” at high school, haha.
This afternoon Chryssi got her ear pierced. Well, she has both of her ears already pierced and has a small hoop in her cartilage as well, but today she got a horseshoe shape (or as they called it: ‘banana’) one right under her other hoop. The piercing and tattoo place is RIGHT around the corner from Jardines, so I reminded her that if she fainted we wouldn’t have to drag her far. Hmm…maybe I’ll finally get my ears pierced :P
Before dinner we booked our cheeeeeeeeap place to stay at in Cabo de Gata (well, technically it’s San Jose). It’s right on the coast AND right in the park, so that’s good! However, the bus station isn’t as close as we had hoped. I guess we’ll have to take a taxi.
Before people went out tonight we had a little music/video party in our room. Old school music like Hanson, Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Avril Lavigne and DISNEY SONGS! It was fun.
Well, time for bed. Last day of our Spanish intensive class tomorrow!
M
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
1 month down, 2 1/2 to go!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Study time!!! That’s what today is for, I guess. However, I did manage to make some time for watching a couple episodes of Weeds…just so I wouldn’t go completely nuts. I think I finally figured out why I’ve been so confused. My Spanish professors back home called these verb tenses something just a bit different than they do here. I thought they sounded weird. Today I got so confused in class…my professor kinda got mad at me.
My study guide is up to about…17 pages now. Still not done, but I’m going strong. Now I’ve just started to write down everything I’m hoping to remember (but I know in the back of my head that I won’t). I just keep telling myself that I get a vacation after the test tomorrow—which is true—and that seems to be helping! I’m excited to look up placed in Cabo de Gata…it looks B-E-A-utiful.
So, basically all of the Spaniards are here in Jardines now. That made for an interesting breakfast. First of all, it was Julia #2 who served us (a.k.a. Fig), but it did go a lot faster. HOWEVER, my piece of pan tostada was itsy-bitsy. There were about 12 of us at breakfast, whereas we’re usually used to having only 4 or 5. Then, at lunch, we had even more than that…I’d guess around 20. We’ had pasta and meat sauce (with sunny-side up eggs on the side…random), which I decided they had made because it’s an easy way to feed that many kids. After we had finished, Elena asked us to kindly move our conversation outside the comedor so that other students could take our table. That was a first!
As I said, I’ve spent most of the day studying, yet I still feel like I know nothing. I know have an immense respect for people who speak multiple languages. I don’t know how they keep the different tenses straight! I mean, take this example: María quiso comprar la casa (Maria tried to buy the house) VERSUS María quería comprar la casa (Maria did not want to buy the house). I look at this and can’t decide why people would make a language so hard. That verb should NOT mean so many different things!
Anyway, I should probably get back to studying. SEND ME CANDY. I NEED STUDY SUGAR.
:)
M
Gelato count: 18
p.s. Telepizza has 1 Euro medium-sized pizzas all of today because of the holiday yesterday…so maybe after tonight’s dinner of deep fried ham and cheese I’ll opt to go get one of those. Florian already ate 3.
Study time!!! That’s what today is for, I guess. However, I did manage to make some time for watching a couple episodes of Weeds…just so I wouldn’t go completely nuts. I think I finally figured out why I’ve been so confused. My Spanish professors back home called these verb tenses something just a bit different than they do here. I thought they sounded weird. Today I got so confused in class…my professor kinda got mad at me.
My study guide is up to about…17 pages now. Still not done, but I’m going strong. Now I’ve just started to write down everything I’m hoping to remember (but I know in the back of my head that I won’t). I just keep telling myself that I get a vacation after the test tomorrow—which is true—and that seems to be helping! I’m excited to look up placed in Cabo de Gata…it looks B-E-A-utiful.
So, basically all of the Spaniards are here in Jardines now. That made for an interesting breakfast. First of all, it was Julia #2 who served us (a.k.a. Fig), but it did go a lot faster. HOWEVER, my piece of pan tostada was itsy-bitsy. There were about 12 of us at breakfast, whereas we’re usually used to having only 4 or 5. Then, at lunch, we had even more than that…I’d guess around 20. We’ had pasta and meat sauce (with sunny-side up eggs on the side…random), which I decided they had made because it’s an easy way to feed that many kids. After we had finished, Elena asked us to kindly move our conversation outside the comedor so that other students could take our table. That was a first!
As I said, I’ve spent most of the day studying, yet I still feel like I know nothing. I know have an immense respect for people who speak multiple languages. I don’t know how they keep the different tenses straight! I mean, take this example: María quiso comprar la casa (Maria tried to buy the house) VERSUS María quería comprar la casa (Maria did not want to buy the house). I look at this and can’t decide why people would make a language so hard. That verb should NOT mean so many different things!
Anyway, I should probably get back to studying. SEND ME CANDY. I NEED STUDY SUGAR.
:)
M
Gelato count: 18
p.s. Telepizza has 1 Euro medium-sized pizzas all of today because of the holiday yesterday…so maybe after tonight’s dinner of deep fried ham and cheese I’ll opt to go get one of those. Florian already ate 3.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Parades, Pollo and Poker
Today was a very relaxing day. I got to sleep in until 11 and then went out for churros con chocolate. The chocolate here is SOOOOOO good. It tastes like hot chocolate from the states (not Swissmiss…think Ghirardelli ), except just a tiny bit more bitter. It’s super thick, so it sticks well to the churros. Each plate of churros that you order comes with five 9 or 10 inch tubes of churro. The first day we got churros, we made the mistake of ordering two plates of churros. Even though we finished both plates that day, we have now limited ourselves to sharing one plate.
I spent most of the afternoon studying for my exam which is on Tuesday. We have gone over so many things in my class, so it’s difficult to figure out what to study. I decided to go along with my normal way of studying—making a huge hand-written study guide for myself. As of right now, it’s 10 pages…and I’m not even close to being done. We have imperative negative, imperative affirmative, preterit indefinite, preterit imperfect, preterit indefinite, pronombres, and much, much more. I don’t even know what most of these things mean in Enlgish! Haha. I really hope I do well, because I’ve really been trying! I just know that I don’t test very well, so I have to over-prepare. We have the test on Tuesday, and then I guess we’re watching a Spanish move on Wednesday (we’ll see if anyone shows up…), and then the AIFS crew leaves for Madrid on Thursday.
Will and I decided not to go to Barcelona after Madrid because it was getting too expensive just for a day and a half. Instead, we’re planning on doing a day-trip, or stay over at Cabo de Gata…one of the most beautiful places in Spain (at least that’s what both of my professors have said on separate occasions). There are salt marshes, beaches and a huge national park.
This evening Will and I went on a long walk to get away from studying for a bit. We went down to Parque de Garcia Lorca and sat there for a bit. On our way home we went to grab some gelato but ran into this HUGE parade. We had heard marching band-type music earlier, but didn’t think anything of it. It turns out that today is a holiday (I believe they’re celebrating San Maria…ME!). There were literally hundreds, maybe even thousands of people out in the streets. Starting near the cathedral there was a huge band, some priest-looking people and lots of important official type people walking VERY slow. Then behind them there were two lines on either side of the street of people with big, long candles. Some had multiple candles. There were vendors on the street selling roasted corn, potatoes and chestnuts among other toys, balloons and such. The lines of people went alllllllll the way down the main street that we walk on to school…and must’ve kept going for almost a mile from what I could see. There were multiple bands that would walk in between the two lines. When we were right next to one, they started playing this creepy slow song that reminded me of something from Angels and Demons or The Davinci Code or something. Their march wasn’t the typical marching band march…it was very slow and they just sorta rocked back and forth. There were also rounds of very loud Black Cat-esque fireworks. Regardless, it was very interesting. I was basically so impressed with it that I couldn’t even force myself to take pictures of it. I felt like it would be rude or something…in addition to distracting my attention from it!
Then we met up with some other people and went to this Mexican restaurant (!) near the CLM. It was pretty weird to be eating Mexican food in Spain, but it was good! The place reminded me a lot of Little Angie’s Cantina in Duluth, MN. I ordered a Quesadilla de Pollo…as did Will and Merete. Chryssi and Daryl both ordered Burritos de Pollo. I think everyone enjoyed their meals! On our way back to Jardines, we got caught in the middle of the parade that was STILL going on. I guess since they were walking so slow, that makes sense!
Now the boys (Florian, Lewis, Will and Adam) are playing poker in the basement and I plan on studying a bit more. Wish me luck!
M
I spent most of the afternoon studying for my exam which is on Tuesday. We have gone over so many things in my class, so it’s difficult to figure out what to study. I decided to go along with my normal way of studying—making a huge hand-written study guide for myself. As of right now, it’s 10 pages…and I’m not even close to being done. We have imperative negative, imperative affirmative, preterit indefinite, preterit imperfect, preterit indefinite, pronombres, and much, much more. I don’t even know what most of these things mean in Enlgish! Haha. I really hope I do well, because I’ve really been trying! I just know that I don’t test very well, so I have to over-prepare. We have the test on Tuesday, and then I guess we’re watching a Spanish move on Wednesday (we’ll see if anyone shows up…), and then the AIFS crew leaves for Madrid on Thursday.
Will and I decided not to go to Barcelona after Madrid because it was getting too expensive just for a day and a half. Instead, we’re planning on doing a day-trip, or stay over at Cabo de Gata…one of the most beautiful places in Spain (at least that’s what both of my professors have said on separate occasions). There are salt marshes, beaches and a huge national park.
This evening Will and I went on a long walk to get away from studying for a bit. We went down to Parque de Garcia Lorca and sat there for a bit. On our way home we went to grab some gelato but ran into this HUGE parade. We had heard marching band-type music earlier, but didn’t think anything of it. It turns out that today is a holiday (I believe they’re celebrating San Maria…ME!). There were literally hundreds, maybe even thousands of people out in the streets. Starting near the cathedral there was a huge band, some priest-looking people and lots of important official type people walking VERY slow. Then behind them there were two lines on either side of the street of people with big, long candles. Some had multiple candles. There were vendors on the street selling roasted corn, potatoes and chestnuts among other toys, balloons and such. The lines of people went alllllllll the way down the main street that we walk on to school…and must’ve kept going for almost a mile from what I could see. There were multiple bands that would walk in between the two lines. When we were right next to one, they started playing this creepy slow song that reminded me of something from Angels and Demons or The Davinci Code or something. Their march wasn’t the typical marching band march…it was very slow and they just sorta rocked back and forth. There were also rounds of very loud Black Cat-esque fireworks. Regardless, it was very interesting. I was basically so impressed with it that I couldn’t even force myself to take pictures of it. I felt like it would be rude or something…in addition to distracting my attention from it!
Then we met up with some other people and went to this Mexican restaurant (!) near the CLM. It was pretty weird to be eating Mexican food in Spain, but it was good! The place reminded me a lot of Little Angie’s Cantina in Duluth, MN. I ordered a Quesadilla de Pollo…as did Will and Merete. Chryssi and Daryl both ordered Burritos de Pollo. I think everyone enjoyed their meals! On our way back to Jardines, we got caught in the middle of the parade that was STILL going on. I guess since they were walking so slow, that makes sense!
Now the boys (Florian, Lewis, Will and Adam) are playing poker in the basement and I plan on studying a bit more. Wish me luck!
M
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Hiking al Llano de la Perdiz
Today we got up in time to get some breakfast in our stomachs before the long hike. We left at 10am and I was surprised to see so many people at our meeting point…considering what I heard about their nights yesterday! Haha. As we started walking from Plaza Nueva, numerous kids admitted to either still being a bit tipsy or extremely hung over. Paula just e and said “me too”. I guess she had a fun night too! Inma and her husband, Raul were the leaders of the pack—Paula sort of hung back with us. As I said, I had no idea what to expect. We started walking and ended up by the Alhambra again. It was a super long uphill walk on uneven cobblestone ‘stairs’. Then it was even more uphill walking, but this time on semi-paved pathways. The group started to stretch out, and it was obvious who had been out the night before. Regardless, everyone managed to keep up pretty well!
We walked through all of these orchards of olive trees, and then past the Granada Cemetery (I guess we took the shorter way this time…) and then started to take a more…less traveled path. There were so many awkward rocks and stones that it was almost impossible to look up while walking, but we took short breaks every so often to get some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78071008@N00/sets/ The views were amazing, so I guess all the sweat was worth it! After about 2 hours we stopped at this little rest stop (for cars…of people who had DRIVEN there) to eat our bocadillos. Unfortunately, Scarlet had put ours in the freezer last night, so mine still wasn’t thawed out. Good thing I had brought some of my “maria” brand crackers with me!
The way back down was REALLY cool. Inma told us “the way down is a lot more dangerous” and we all sorta just shrugged that off. She wasn’t kidding. We were on these tiny paths along the side of the hill that had the hill on one side and a big drop off on the other. Our group was really spread out again, so with all the turn backs in the path, it was fun to look across the valleys and see the other people in the group! (Look at the pictures!) The whole hike took about 4 hours…and my feet were dead. However, it was really actually quite relaxing, since it was really quiet. No motos, no loud bars, no screaming babies. It was very peaceful.
On the way home we decided we wanted to go to Hipercor to buy a George Forman grill (Jorge Forman…). We miss steak. And grilled cheese. I wonder if those are allowed in our rooms…or if we’ll have to get an extension cord and cook on our balconies. Whatever, I can’t stand eating so much fish.
Tonight we got Dominoes Pizza…didn’t taste quite the same, but it was a good change from the cuisine here at Jardines. Still no George Foreman grill, maybe tomorrow. We also watched Wedding Crashers. I guess it was a night to be American. Well, gotta rest up for churros con chocolate tomorrow!
Buenos noches!
M
We walked through all of these orchards of olive trees, and then past the Granada Cemetery (I guess we took the shorter way this time…) and then started to take a more…less traveled path. There were so many awkward rocks and stones that it was almost impossible to look up while walking, but we took short breaks every so often to get some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78071008@N00/sets/ The views were amazing, so I guess all the sweat was worth it! After about 2 hours we stopped at this little rest stop (for cars…of people who had DRIVEN there) to eat our bocadillos. Unfortunately, Scarlet had put ours in the freezer last night, so mine still wasn’t thawed out. Good thing I had brought some of my “maria” brand crackers with me!
The way back down was REALLY cool. Inma told us “the way down is a lot more dangerous” and we all sorta just shrugged that off. She wasn’t kidding. We were on these tiny paths along the side of the hill that had the hill on one side and a big drop off on the other. Our group was really spread out again, so with all the turn backs in the path, it was fun to look across the valleys and see the other people in the group! (Look at the pictures!) The whole hike took about 4 hours…and my feet were dead. However, it was really actually quite relaxing, since it was really quiet. No motos, no loud bars, no screaming babies. It was very peaceful.
On the way home we decided we wanted to go to Hipercor to buy a George Forman grill (Jorge Forman…). We miss steak. And grilled cheese. I wonder if those are allowed in our rooms…or if we’ll have to get an extension cord and cook on our balconies. Whatever, I can’t stand eating so much fish.
Tonight we got Dominoes Pizza…didn’t taste quite the same, but it was a good change from the cuisine here at Jardines. Still no George Foreman grill, maybe tomorrow. We also watched Wedding Crashers. I guess it was a night to be American. Well, gotta rest up for churros con chocolate tomorrow!
Buenos noches!
M
Introducciones de mi vida
I know some of you read Will’s blog as well. He introduced some of the people I talk about, but I thought I should do the same!
Merete: Pronounced: “Mah, reh, tah”. My roommate from both London and here in Granada. She goes to Ohio University and is a Sophomore ALSO studying Journalism (holla!). Merete enjoys loooooooooong siestas and any kind of disco, haha. Oh, and she’s in love with Juanes.
Daryl: a.k.a. Daryl-Dactyl. One of the chicas who lives next to Merete and I on the 2nd floor of Jardines. She is a freshman this year at Wash. University in St. Louis. She is originally from Miami, Florida. Daryl loves to giggle at everything. All the time…Lewis is convinced she even giggles in her sleep. Daryl has class in the Kenia building, so we get to walk together every day!
Jilian: a.k.a. Juanita. Jilian is Daryl’s roommate, and loves to Skype everyone, all the time. She’s not afraid to use her Spanish, even if she’s not quite sure what she’s saying. She’s also a freshman this year from Wash. University.
Mirella: Mirella is very serious about her school work, but also really likes to go out! One of my most memorable moments of her so far is when she got a package at the AIFS office and started yelling, “Yay! My Chemistry and Physics books!” Either that, or the time at lunch where she started crying because she was so happy we might go to a Backstreet Boys concert.
Breana: One of the five AIFS kids from St. Thomas. I actually had a Spanish class with her last year. She is Mirella’s roommate and they live directly below Merete and I.
Marisa: From the Boston area, and is studying to be a teacher. She reminds me a LOT of Christina (my cousin) in many different ways…even though she’s not blonde. She lives on the other side of Jardines. She enjoys leading the pack when we’re out and about…Jefe. Marisa is in my intensive Spanish class for this first month, so we get to do the long 30 minute walk every morning together.
Chryssi: Also from the Massachusetts, Chryssi is the third and final Wash. University freshman we have here on the AIFS trip. Chryssi is the other Jardines girl who is in my intensive Spanish class this month. She was initially in the first class that I was placed in, but we moved up together. Chryssi rooms with Marisa on the other side of Jardines, and apparently talks in her sleep.
Adam: One of the only 2 AIFS boys who are living in Jardines. He enjoys playing soccer (well, any sport for that matter), and will most likely be the captain of our intramural team. He is one of the other St. Thomas students here in Granada. He did a J-Term through St. Thomas before in Seville, so he is VERY good at Spanish! He’s Will’s roommate and they live above Marisa and Chryssi over on the other side of Jardines.
Florian: Or Fabio, or Frodo. He lives with us here at Jardines. He’s from the Canary Islands…but his dad is English and his mom is French, so he has a very interesting accent. I’m very jealous of his ability to speak so many languages (French, Spanish, English, and he dallies in a few others as well)! He is very outgoing and loves to have a good time. We can always count on him on getting us off our butts and out to do something.
Lewis: A newer addition to Jardines. He’s from England but speaks basically fluent Spanish, which is probably a good thing since his BRIGHT blonde hair makes him stick out among the Spaniards. He loves to play all sorts of sports, so Adam has already recruited him to play soccer with us.
Alan: From New York. We met Alan one of our first few days here. He lives in one of the Jardines apartment style rooms across the street. He tends to hang around with our AIFS group because he came here on his own—not through any program or anything!
Other Jardines kids you might hear me mention: Alejandro, Michaela, Amaia, Ana, Maria.
Paula: Our resident director here in Granada. She is originally from New York, but studied abroad here 23 years ago and met a boy…he was actually her intercambio (this is the reason Will doesn’t want me to do an intercambio with a boy, haha). They fell in love, and he convinced her to move her 2 years later. She finished up school, worked for a year in the states, and then moved here with one suitcase, and has been living here since. Her and Miguel now have 2 little kids, both of which came with on the beach trip. Super cute! Paula has a very strong attitude toward everything, and is always willing to help with anything no matter how important or unimportant it may be. When we started having issues here at Jardines she goes, “I’m not scared of them, and don’t let them scare you.” She also helped Will get his new computer through customs—dodging a 600 Euro charge. It’s nice to have someone like her here, because she KNOWS what it’s like in the states, and is able to explain things very well to us in ways that make sense.
Inma: Paula’s assistant of…15 years. Inma helps coordinate everything, and is always willing to help. She’s a bit quieter than Paula, but I can tell that if there were any issues, she’d be able to stand up for us. She always seems to be smiling, which is nice to see whenever we walk into the AIFS office.
Emilio: My first teacher of my intensive Spanish class in the Kenia building. His favorite English phrases include: “you are fired!”, “what in the hell is that?”, “the party is over” and “oh my god”. As you can see, our Spanish skills must frighten him. He is hilarious and I wish he was teaching one of my classes during the actual semester!
Sonia: My second teacher of the intensive Spanish class. Sonia is very mellow, but is very funny. She doesn’t speak much English at all (that’s why the whole “she sells sea shells…” thing was so cute). Her favorite English word is “super” which she likes to add on to just about everything. She has successfully managed to teach us some of the rights and wrongs of Granada, but not before we’ve already embarrassed ourselves.
Eugenia: The tiny little old lady I never thought would yell at me. I was wrong. Regardless, she now has a sprained ankle so I can’t be too mad. I’m not quite sure what she does here, or how she fits into the mix, but she’s usually around to open the door during the days. She’s always smiling and gives us a big “hola!” whenever we come home. She’s basically our Senora (homestay mom).
Scarlet: Our cook. Even though it’s a lot of fish, we still love her. She’s serious about her food, and that’s much appreciated. We always have enough to eat (usually extras!) and the desserts are always something to look forward to: fresh fruit, yogurt, ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, etc. Scarlet doesn’t spend much time at Jardines, but she’s always friendly when she’s there!
Elena: Our room cleaner, and chef-helper. Elena is super nice, and is always cheery. She is always willing to help and does everything with a smile. Her two kids sometimes come to Jardines—a son and a daughter. They’re super cute, but stare at us like we’re weird. After all of the telenovela-type things we heard about Jardines (keep reading), the AIFS kids decided that we’re on EQUIPO ELENA!
Julia #1: a.k.a. Fig. Julia seems to run the place even though Paula specifically told us that Elena used to be in charge (and they never had problems back then…). Julia is Elena’s ex-mother in law, and that becomes quite obvious sometimes when they get into arguments. Elena apparently had been married to Julia’s son, but then he cheated on her. NOW, Julia’s son and his new wife come and eat lunch at Jardines almost every day. It’s really awkward now that we all know the back story (Elena obviously doesn’t know we know…), but it keeps things interesting…we all just feel bad that she literally has to serve her ex-husband and his new wife.
Julia #2: ‘The night watcher’. Julia’s daughter who works every night except Saturdays and Sundays. She lets people in whenever they come in from being out and about, whether it be 11pm or 7am. She makes us toast and coffee in the mornings, and always seems happy!
Pedro: Our Saturday night and Sunday watchman. He looks like he’s about 26 or so, and he looks like a human bull dog. However, he’s super quiet and usually just gives us a little “hola” when we come in or out of the residencia. We saw him walking (ironically…) his bulldog the other day on the way home from school, and we still got the tiny little “hola”. This is a nice change from the other ladies trying to explain things to us that we obviously don’t understand.
Merete: Pronounced: “Mah, reh, tah”. My roommate from both London and here in Granada. She goes to Ohio University and is a Sophomore ALSO studying Journalism (holla!). Merete enjoys loooooooooong siestas and any kind of disco, haha. Oh, and she’s in love with Juanes.
Daryl: a.k.a. Daryl-Dactyl. One of the chicas who lives next to Merete and I on the 2nd floor of Jardines. She is a freshman this year at Wash. University in St. Louis. She is originally from Miami, Florida. Daryl loves to giggle at everything. All the time…Lewis is convinced she even giggles in her sleep. Daryl has class in the Kenia building, so we get to walk together every day!
Jilian: a.k.a. Juanita. Jilian is Daryl’s roommate, and loves to Skype everyone, all the time. She’s not afraid to use her Spanish, even if she’s not quite sure what she’s saying. She’s also a freshman this year from Wash. University.
Mirella: Mirella is very serious about her school work, but also really likes to go out! One of my most memorable moments of her so far is when she got a package at the AIFS office and started yelling, “Yay! My Chemistry and Physics books!” Either that, or the time at lunch where she started crying because she was so happy we might go to a Backstreet Boys concert.
Breana: One of the five AIFS kids from St. Thomas. I actually had a Spanish class with her last year. She is Mirella’s roommate and they live directly below Merete and I.
Marisa: From the Boston area, and is studying to be a teacher. She reminds me a LOT of Christina (my cousin) in many different ways…even though she’s not blonde. She lives on the other side of Jardines. She enjoys leading the pack when we’re out and about…Jefe. Marisa is in my intensive Spanish class for this first month, so we get to do the long 30 minute walk every morning together.
Chryssi: Also from the Massachusetts, Chryssi is the third and final Wash. University freshman we have here on the AIFS trip. Chryssi is the other Jardines girl who is in my intensive Spanish class this month. She was initially in the first class that I was placed in, but we moved up together. Chryssi rooms with Marisa on the other side of Jardines, and apparently talks in her sleep.
Adam: One of the only 2 AIFS boys who are living in Jardines. He enjoys playing soccer (well, any sport for that matter), and will most likely be the captain of our intramural team. He is one of the other St. Thomas students here in Granada. He did a J-Term through St. Thomas before in Seville, so he is VERY good at Spanish! He’s Will’s roommate and they live above Marisa and Chryssi over on the other side of Jardines.
Florian: Or Fabio, or Frodo. He lives with us here at Jardines. He’s from the Canary Islands…but his dad is English and his mom is French, so he has a very interesting accent. I’m very jealous of his ability to speak so many languages (French, Spanish, English, and he dallies in a few others as well)! He is very outgoing and loves to have a good time. We can always count on him on getting us off our butts and out to do something.
Lewis: A newer addition to Jardines. He’s from England but speaks basically fluent Spanish, which is probably a good thing since his BRIGHT blonde hair makes him stick out among the Spaniards. He loves to play all sorts of sports, so Adam has already recruited him to play soccer with us.
Alan: From New York. We met Alan one of our first few days here. He lives in one of the Jardines apartment style rooms across the street. He tends to hang around with our AIFS group because he came here on his own—not through any program or anything!
Other Jardines kids you might hear me mention: Alejandro, Michaela, Amaia, Ana, Maria.
Paula: Our resident director here in Granada. She is originally from New York, but studied abroad here 23 years ago and met a boy…he was actually her intercambio (this is the reason Will doesn’t want me to do an intercambio with a boy, haha). They fell in love, and he convinced her to move her 2 years later. She finished up school, worked for a year in the states, and then moved here with one suitcase, and has been living here since. Her and Miguel now have 2 little kids, both of which came with on the beach trip. Super cute! Paula has a very strong attitude toward everything, and is always willing to help with anything no matter how important or unimportant it may be. When we started having issues here at Jardines she goes, “I’m not scared of them, and don’t let them scare you.” She also helped Will get his new computer through customs—dodging a 600 Euro charge. It’s nice to have someone like her here, because she KNOWS what it’s like in the states, and is able to explain things very well to us in ways that make sense.
Inma: Paula’s assistant of…15 years. Inma helps coordinate everything, and is always willing to help. She’s a bit quieter than Paula, but I can tell that if there were any issues, she’d be able to stand up for us. She always seems to be smiling, which is nice to see whenever we walk into the AIFS office.
Emilio: My first teacher of my intensive Spanish class in the Kenia building. His favorite English phrases include: “you are fired!”, “what in the hell is that?”, “the party is over” and “oh my god”. As you can see, our Spanish skills must frighten him. He is hilarious and I wish he was teaching one of my classes during the actual semester!
Sonia: My second teacher of the intensive Spanish class. Sonia is very mellow, but is very funny. She doesn’t speak much English at all (that’s why the whole “she sells sea shells…” thing was so cute). Her favorite English word is “super” which she likes to add on to just about everything. She has successfully managed to teach us some of the rights and wrongs of Granada, but not before we’ve already embarrassed ourselves.
Eugenia: The tiny little old lady I never thought would yell at me. I was wrong. Regardless, she now has a sprained ankle so I can’t be too mad. I’m not quite sure what she does here, or how she fits into the mix, but she’s usually around to open the door during the days. She’s always smiling and gives us a big “hola!” whenever we come home. She’s basically our Senora (homestay mom).
Scarlet: Our cook. Even though it’s a lot of fish, we still love her. She’s serious about her food, and that’s much appreciated. We always have enough to eat (usually extras!) and the desserts are always something to look forward to: fresh fruit, yogurt, ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, etc. Scarlet doesn’t spend much time at Jardines, but she’s always friendly when she’s there!
Elena: Our room cleaner, and chef-helper. Elena is super nice, and is always cheery. She is always willing to help and does everything with a smile. Her two kids sometimes come to Jardines—a son and a daughter. They’re super cute, but stare at us like we’re weird. After all of the telenovela-type things we heard about Jardines (keep reading), the AIFS kids decided that we’re on EQUIPO ELENA!
Julia #1: a.k.a. Fig. Julia seems to run the place even though Paula specifically told us that Elena used to be in charge (and they never had problems back then…). Julia is Elena’s ex-mother in law, and that becomes quite obvious sometimes when they get into arguments. Elena apparently had been married to Julia’s son, but then he cheated on her. NOW, Julia’s son and his new wife come and eat lunch at Jardines almost every day. It’s really awkward now that we all know the back story (Elena obviously doesn’t know we know…), but it keeps things interesting…we all just feel bad that she literally has to serve her ex-husband and his new wife.
Julia #2: ‘The night watcher’. Julia’s daughter who works every night except Saturdays and Sundays. She lets people in whenever they come in from being out and about, whether it be 11pm or 7am. She makes us toast and coffee in the mornings, and always seems happy!
Pedro: Our Saturday night and Sunday watchman. He looks like he’s about 26 or so, and he looks like a human bull dog. However, he’s super quiet and usually just gives us a little “hola” when we come in or out of the residencia. We saw him walking (ironically…) his bulldog the other day on the way home from school, and we still got the tiny little “hola”. This is a nice change from the other ladies trying to explain things to us that we obviously don’t understand.
...A bit under the weather
Friday, September 25, 2009
Today was a pretty normal day…breakfast, school, lunch, walking around, etc. In class we started reviewing for our finals—EEK! Ours is on Tuesday, and from the looks of it, I’ll be studying all of Sunday.
Will and I booked our hostel in Barcelona for after the AIFS trip to Madrid. It’s this tiny little place, but I think it should be fun! It’s really close to the center of the city, which we read was really important. Even though we don’t have very much time there, I think it will be a good experience. Some other people are staying in Madrid, some people are going to Portugal and other random places. We figured that since AIFS never makes any trips to Barcelona that we should try and get there even if it’s only for a short time!
Tomorrow we have our AIFS hike through the hills and valleys of Granada…not sure what to expect, but Inma and Paula both said it’s pretty intense. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better than I am tonight before we leave at 10am tomorrow morning. I’m pretty sure I have a fever, and I feel really nauseous. I’m planning on just sleeping through dinner and trying to rest up for tomorrow. I can’t believe some people are actually going out to the disco tonight!! Craziness.
Well, wish me luck on the hike tomorrow!
M
Today was a pretty normal day…breakfast, school, lunch, walking around, etc. In class we started reviewing for our finals—EEK! Ours is on Tuesday, and from the looks of it, I’ll be studying all of Sunday.
Will and I booked our hostel in Barcelona for after the AIFS trip to Madrid. It’s this tiny little place, but I think it should be fun! It’s really close to the center of the city, which we read was really important. Even though we don’t have very much time there, I think it will be a good experience. Some other people are staying in Madrid, some people are going to Portugal and other random places. We figured that since AIFS never makes any trips to Barcelona that we should try and get there even if it’s only for a short time!
Tomorrow we have our AIFS hike through the hills and valleys of Granada…not sure what to expect, but Inma and Paula both said it’s pretty intense. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better than I am tonight before we leave at 10am tomorrow morning. I’m pretty sure I have a fever, and I feel really nauseous. I’m planning on just sleeping through dinner and trying to rest up for tomorrow. I can’t believe some people are actually going out to the disco tonight!! Craziness.
Well, wish me luck on the hike tomorrow!
M
Friday, September 25, 2009
El vino vino, pero no vino vino, vino vinagre!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Today Emilio wasn’t in class, and the substitute was sick…so Sonia had to teach BOTH classes for the entire 4 hours. Ouch. It actually wasn’t that bad…and it was fun for us because Daryl is in the other class, so we got to have class with her! After lunch Will and I went to check out this “Festival de Chocolate” that is in the Bib-Rambla Plaza by us. It was just 2 tents with…basically nothing much (except some chocolate), so we opted for some gelato instead!
Tonight most of us Jardines kids went to see our second Flamenco Guitar concert at the Museo Casa de los Tiros. Tonight there were three performers: Alfredo Mesa (Guitarra flamenca), Karim (Guitarra clasica), and Ramon del Paso (Guitarra flamenca). I really liked the first and the second guys. We didn’t get nearly as good of seats as we did last week, but all you really need to do is hear it—so it was still a lot of fun! While listening to the second guy playing, I was reading his bio in the program and saw that he was born less than a year before Daniel! I bet the Spaniards here wouldn’t know what to do with his kind of music though…haha.
After the concert we walked over to the Shawarma place that we had gone to on Monday. We missed dinner because of the concert, so we were all really hungry. The guys in the restaurant remembered us from Monday, which was pretty funny. I’m sure we’ll be back there again sometime soon!
On the way back to Jardines, we checked out Hannigan’s because we thought they had said they had karaoke on Thursdays…and Merete really wanted to sing. However, it was pretty empty so we ended up just coming home. I guess we are all pretty tired anyways, so that was probably a good idea. Maybe next week.
M
Gelato count: 17
Today Emilio wasn’t in class, and the substitute was sick…so Sonia had to teach BOTH classes for the entire 4 hours. Ouch. It actually wasn’t that bad…and it was fun for us because Daryl is in the other class, so we got to have class with her! After lunch Will and I went to check out this “Festival de Chocolate” that is in the Bib-Rambla Plaza by us. It was just 2 tents with…basically nothing much (except some chocolate), so we opted for some gelato instead!
Tonight most of us Jardines kids went to see our second Flamenco Guitar concert at the Museo Casa de los Tiros. Tonight there were three performers: Alfredo Mesa (Guitarra flamenca), Karim (Guitarra clasica), and Ramon del Paso (Guitarra flamenca). I really liked the first and the second guys. We didn’t get nearly as good of seats as we did last week, but all you really need to do is hear it—so it was still a lot of fun! While listening to the second guy playing, I was reading his bio in the program and saw that he was born less than a year before Daniel! I bet the Spaniards here wouldn’t know what to do with his kind of music though…haha.
After the concert we walked over to the Shawarma place that we had gone to on Monday. We missed dinner because of the concert, so we were all really hungry. The guys in the restaurant remembered us from Monday, which was pretty funny. I’m sure we’ll be back there again sometime soon!
On the way back to Jardines, we checked out Hannigan’s because we thought they had said they had karaoke on Thursdays…and Merete really wanted to sing. However, it was pretty empty so we ended up just coming home. I guess we are all pretty tired anyways, so that was probably a good idea. Maybe next week.
M
Gelato count: 17
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