Going out with a bang!

Once upon a time, there was a little blonde girl arriving in a new city, trying to make new friends and survive for four whole months with a new family.  On her first day driving to orientation with her Spanish Dad, Tinin, her hands were shaking and her mind was racing.  The first calming words she heard came from him, "Estas nerviosa? No te preocupes, vas a estar bien." Very simple, yet so helpful.  Then she walked into a room with 32 new face, 32 new possibles friends, 32 different & unique stories just waiting to be heard.  The first night of partying was incredible, it was a whole new world of no last call, party until the sunrises, and best of all no english (minus the americans)!  Then came day 2....the tired trudging around the new campus and then trying to look presentable (minus the shower) for the new family, and what's this? Their dog!  The first day of school happened so fast, then the routine settled in, the friends were made, the trips started to be planned and a whole world of opportunities sat at her fingertips.  She became comfortable with her family and learned about the culture & politics at the lunch table.  Then all of the sudden more than half of the group was leaving, she couldn't believe time had gone by so fast.  She was sad, but thought, one month seems like forever! Alas, the day has come, my last day of school, complete with two mindwreckingly difficult exams (that, don't worry Mom, I'm sure I passed).  All that I have left now are feelings of confused bewilderment, how is it possible that I am getting on a plane to go home already? At the same time though I think, how have I survived this long being so far away from my family, I can't wait to go back home! So there it is, I'm done and all that's left to do is party like a rock star for my last two nights in Spain.

Discovering my new twin

1492- Not just the year that Columbus sailed the ocean blue.  For those of you who haven't extensively studied Spanish history and who may not have much interest, I'll keep my nerd facts brief.  Granada (one of the most historically culturally diverse cities) was conquered by los Reyes Catolicos, Queen Isabel & King Ferdinand, on 2 January 1492.  The Muslim ruler, Emir Muhammad XII (a.k.a. Boabdil) surrendered the city.  Shortly after that, in 1499, all of the Muslims and Jews were forced to convert or leave.  This was an act of Isabel's with the intention to unify Spain under one religion.
As Mattias was driving us the 20 km from Granada to Sierra Nevada early on Friday morning, he told us that the former Muslim ruler, Boabdil, was buried in the tallest mountain.  After our previous trip to Granada & seeing where the Catholic kings were buried, it was very cool to find out that just a few kilometers away lay another great ruler.  Fast forward to around the 1940s and what not so great ruler was dictator of Spain? Franco.  He transformed the naturally dry, bare mountains into a forest of pine trees.  As you can guess, when a plant is not native to an area, it can cause a lot of problems.  The pine seeds spread all over the mountain, resulting in tremendous forests of really weird looking trees.  The pine trees are incredibly tall, but surprisingly bare.  In the spirit of Christmas, think Charlie Brown trees...and lots of them!

Gracie and I started our trip on Thursday afternoon with a four hour car ride into the city (via blablacar.com a great, cheap way to travel all around the globe--heads up fellow students).  Right in the center of the city near our hostel there was a Christmas fair going on, but we were really craving some Moroccan tea & food (you know, when in Granada right?), so we found a nice Teteria (literally house of tea) and dug into some delicious vegetable couscous.  We got a good night's sleep and woke up before the sun to go meet our ride to the mountain, Mattias.  It was about a 30 minute ride up steep & windy roads, but it was so beautiful! When we got to the mountain they suited us up in rental clothes & boards and we rode the gondola up to what we thought was the top.  Not! These mountains are HUGE! It was snowing on the middle part of the mountain, so we were all excited...until we got to the top & couldn't see anything.  It was so snowy & foggy, it was crazy.  But hell we didn't go to sit in the lodge, so we got soaking wet & freezing cold, and had the best time.  At one point I couldn't see and I was leading, so I figured, yeah I'll just follow the lift!  I plowed into a huge snow bank, probably around 5 ft of snow and then Gracie plowed into it behind me.  We were laughing and eating snow, literally the only ones on the run.  I could have stayed there forever and made a snowman, but we decided it'd be safer to head to the bottom portion of the mountain.  That night we got some wine & stayed in, a guy from Wales serenaded our dinner at the hostel, then we hit the hay exhausted around 11.  The next day was absolutely perfect and gorgeous.  The sun was shining, it was a balmy 13 degrees and no blustering winds!  I took a venture and asked the rental guys for nicer boards and they gave us practically new, matching boards.  Ok guys....here's the picture of me and my long lost twin, Gracie.

Don't you just love the candy cane boards? So we headed back on the night bus on Saturday night and when we got in around 5:30 am there were still people out partying, of course! There ends one of the greatest adventures of my time here in Spain. Now all that's left is a lot of reading, a lot of papers, and two exams that total 6 hours in one day, then I'll be home before I know it.

Slainte

Ireland is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever been to--just figured I'd start with that!




Last Wednesday (21 Nov)I started my trip North on a flight to Barcelona.  I landed at night again and found my hostel around midnight.  The second I walked in the door, a motley group of adolescents invited me to join them for a 'pub crawl,' so I put my stuff away and went (you know, what the heck?)  Turns out they were pretty cool, 2 American guys, a Canadian girl, 2 Japanese guys, and a German- Lukas (more about him later).  The result of that night was realized at 8 am Thursday morning when I woke Lukas up & asked if he still wanted to come with me to La Sagrada Familia.  So about Lukas, he is probably the goofiest, most easygoing person I've met on this trip.  He also taught me a lot about German culture.  The whole night we were out he was singing & dancing --mainly Gold digger & other American treasures-- and he told me he'd take me around the city the next morning.  I amazingly was the one who found our way back to the hostel that night, but he had 2 maps in his pocket & kept saying, "I am ze map man!" So that's our little joke.  Around 11 am we parted ways & I headed off to the airport for Dublin!

Right off the plane I knew I was in trouble because this guy with a thick accent said, "Hello miss, may I ask what providence you're coming from?" I just looked at him with a dazed & confused face, so he said, "Espana?" I nodded yes & about 30 seconds later I realized he didn't think I could speak English! Anyway, I pass through customs & the man says, "Shannon Margaret? You must have some Irish roots!" So I said yes, sir & that it was my first time in Ireland & I was very excited.  I met up with Carrie & we went for a lovely Thanksgiving dinner-- I had an Irish pie (stuffed w/ turkey), mashed potatoes & gravy, so delicious. The next morning we went on a free walking tour with an energetic tour guide named Niamh who took us around all of Dublin & finished with a traditional Irish fairy tale (about Niamh & Oisin).

We went on a pub crawl that night.  The next day we walked around some more & went to the Jameson & Guiness factories.  We received certificates for pouring the perfect pint & enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

On the edge looking straight down (I know Mom won't approve)

The next day was by far my FAVORITE day since I've been in Europe, because we saw the magnificent Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs rise 120 m (390 ft) above the Atlantic ocean.  They are absolutely magnificent.  They don't look as big because we were standing on the top looking down.











We toured a family farm, 'hiked' up an Irish 'mountain' learned what a fairy tree looks like.  The trip ended in Galway, where we found Oktoberfest & a Christmas festival as well.  The next day I parted with Carrie & took a train up to Belfast.  This is in Northern Ireland, so I learned interesting things about the history between Ireland & England (with a more colorful vocabulary than anything I had learned in school)! I met up with friends, Jean & Laura, from my Alicante program & after we found a hostel we walked around the town then took a cab to West Belfast (where the Republicans are--safer for Americans) to spend the night with some hilariously drunk Irishmen.  The next day was a load of traveling (train back to Dublin, bus to airport, plane to Alicante, bus to city center) so I was exhausted and happy!
Also, for those who are wondering, Slainte means Cheers/to good health in Irish!

Mi Vida Cotidiana

Up until this point I haven't written all that much about my host family or generally what it is that I do everyday.  I also didn't realize until recently that I have a special relationship with my family, simply because I am able to talk to them (about things more significant than what foods I like or what I am doing for the weekend).  In light of all of the political, economic, and social issues that have been going on in the world, I am very thankful that I am able to (intelligently) discuss what is going on with them.  Even more, I am learning so much outside of the classroom.  For example, in my Spanish Social Realities class, we've talked about the formation of the government, the Spanish Civil War, and life under Franco's rule.  I am able to come to class prepared with a background view and even their personal accounts.  It's also a great lesson in diplomacy because I am always careful not to offend them with my strong opinions.  My host mom is very Catholic, so she doesn't believe in the death penalty or life sentences (in opposition to my host dad who thinks that murderers should get what they deserve- a hilarious conflict at times).  No matter how much they disagree, it is always easy to see how much they love each other.  Also at every meal the topic of their dog, Poncho, comes up.  They always tell me hilarious stories, past & present.  Today at breakfast I met one of Maruja's (my host mom) 8 siblings, that's right she's one of 9!!! Carmen was telling me about when they were all out in el 'Campo' (the countryside) and Poncho got a hold of one of the chickens.  They laughed as together they told me the story of how their whole family was having a BBQ & all the sudden they heard the chickens going crazy and saw Poncho running around like a bat out of hell.  My head was swiveling like I was watching a tennis match trying to understand them both at the same time.  These are a few of my favorite moments here and the real reason that my Spanish is improving so much.  Not to mention that my host mom has no fear in correcting even my tiniest grammatical errors!

Salamanca & Huelga General

Hola! So this past weekend I went to my favorite city in Spain, Salamanca! For those of you who don't know, Salamanca is home to one of Spain's oldest Universities.  I took a bus to Madrid around 2 am Friday night and met up with Gwen who had been in Madrid since Thursday.  Then we hopped on a bus to Salamanca and got there by 10:30 am. It was a little rainy when we got there, but we found our hostel (via the Plaza Mayor) to drop our bags off.  Then we got some tapas and walked around the city.  We went to the Cathedral, up into some Towers of the Cathedral, but my favorite part was our tour of the University.  There is a tradition in Salamanca to find the frog on the University building.  Now, I had been to Salamanca when I was 16, so I had an idea of where the frog was, the only problem was we couldn't find it! After searching and searching the Cathedral building, we overheard someone say that the frog was on a different building.  We cracked up and headed off to find the old University building.  That led us to a cool museum of the old University.  In between that madness we had a nice, long, big Spanish-style lunch at some random restaurant  where the waiter brought us two 1/2 bottles of wine (when the menu of the day only included a glass), so we got a little silly and enjoyed ourselves...hooray vacation! Anyway, around 8 am we found the Mercadona to buy some snacks for dinner & I ended up falling asleep until midnight, time to party! We managed to find the famous 1 euro Chupitos bar, which was packed with University kids.  There were about 3 other bars around that area and we seemed to kind of cycle through them with the pack.  We met some people from Salamanca & Madrid and had a great time.  The next morning I bought some U of Salamanca sweatpants & we headed back on the 8 hour trip home.
Today is Wednesday 14/11/12, the day of the Huelga General.  That means the General Strike.  All over Europe countries like Greece, Italy, Ireland, France, Portugal, etc are coming together to show their unhappiness with their government systems & the crisis in general.  So I urge you to pick up a newspaper, or if our U.S. news doesn't cover it go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/ --my favorite site for news, and see what's going on!  (Don't worry family, here in Alicante this is not a violent strike by any means, also it is a touristy city so probably not everything will be closed.  Still I'm in my house anyway writing a paper today.)

Granada, London & Windsurfing, Oh my!

Ah! It's been so long since my last blog post, so I apologize.  These past few weeks have been crazy with traveling! So after my last blog post I went to Granada for the weekend with my program.  It was cold & raining the first day, but on Saturday morning the sun came out for a glorious visit to La Alhambra.  Friday night we went to a Tablao which is a Flamenco performance, which is stereotypical of the Andaluz tradition. We got back late Sunday night and then on Thursday I headed to London to visit Carrie.  We got back to her dorm around 1 am, so we made some mac & cheese (first time since I've been in Spain!). On Friday after her class we had Chinese food & birthday cake! We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament & Big Ben, and walked along the Thames for our evening activity --The Eye! After that we went on a Pub crawl with a tour guide who told us about the history of the London fire & the differences in the two sides of the river.  It was very cool, but we were so cold that when we finished our pint at the first pub we decided to go grab some dinner & head out on our own.  We ended up at a casino, but Carrie & I weren't interested in gambling so we shared a bottle of wine & caught up, it was great to see her! On Saturday we went to the grocery store because everything is super expensive in London, so we tried not to eat out much.  We went to the National History museum to see dinosaurs & that night we went out to a bar close to her 'flat'.  Sunday we went to a market and came back to Hobgoblin's (her local pub) to watch Chelsea get cheated out of an upsetting game against Manchester United, but we had a traditional English roast for lunch, which was cool.  Monday we went to Cyberdog, this crazy RAVE store, and walked around cool markets.  We also went to the National Gallery & the National Portrait Gallery which was probably the highlight of the trip for me because we saw lots of Monet & Van Gogh paintings!  We also saw a portrait of M, from James Bond, and Alfred, from Batman.  That night we went to Fabric, one of the top clubs in London, to see Apple from the Black Eyed Peas DJ, it was AWESOME.  I woke up early for my flight on Tuesday, but I missed it by 5 min so I ended up back in Alicante around 9 pm (that was a long, horrible day but hakuna matata).  Then just 3 short days later Carrie came to visit! We went out Friday & Saturday night, went windsurfing Sunday & she got to meet my awesome intercambio, Lucia.  Monday after my classes we went shoe shopping at the outlet mall & Carrie got some cute boots.  Today we said goodbye & she is off to Madrid to continue her adventure.  This weekend I'm planning to go to Madrid & Salamanca with Gwen, so much traveling!

Alicantino, borracho, y fino!

Friday I had my first 'windsurf' class.   It started at 3 so we were told to catch the bus at 2:15 in order to get to Santa Pola on time.  The 8 people in our class met up at the bus stop to wait for the bus that never came.  No matter, we found our way to the bus station and hopped on a bus there.  Although we were an hour late for class it was still awesome!  We suited up in our neoprina (wetsuits) and partnered up.  They told us that we would be surfing because there was no wind due to the rain.  Gwen and I had missed the first class because of our trip to Morocco, but we caught on quickly.  We made a great team!  My first attempt was when the instructor randomly grabbed a volunteer & sent me on a wave.  I didn't know I was going so I didn't stand up & I rode the wave like a boogie board, laughing the whole way.  The next time I got up on my knees...you know, baby steps.  Gwen got up first & I cheered her on as she screamed.  When she got back she shouted, "Soy la puta ama!" (that translates to I'm the Shit!..more or less..) and the instructor laughed and was surprised to hear her colloquial Spanish (thanks amigos espanoles)!  I got up shortly after and it was a great feeling.  I remember the first time I got up on the wakeboard & the first time I made it down the mountain without falling.  Once I got up it wasn't hard to carve the waves because of my other experiences, so I'm excited to try a shorted, thinner not so beginner board when I get back to Charleston.  It was tiring and after 2 hours and lots of swallowed salt water, the instructor called us in & told us newbies (Gwen & me) that he was impressed.  We were pretty stoked!