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!

A Mind blowing Adventure

>>Caution lots of ridiculous details ahead <<
Wow, what a journey.  Let me start by saying that this was probably the most important trip I've ever taken. Culture shock was achieved (finally).  And I learned that you can't always believe what you hear or read.  The trip to Morocco was long and arduous but it was definitely worth it (vale la pena)!  We started our journey on a Wednesday night (10 pm Alicante time) with our first flight into Barcelona. We arrived in Barcelona with a landing that had me crossing myself and praying a Hail Mary, Josh you wouldn't have been impressed!  Then we ran on to the train because the last on eleft about 8 min after we landed.  We ran on and sat down, struggling to read the sign in Catalan (for those of you who don't know, Catalan is a dialect of Spanish that is a mix of Spanish & French- an appropriate stepping stone for our journey to Morocco).  We rode the train for about 30 minutes when I finally asked Marial where exactly our stop was (Marial & Diane had been in Barcelona one time before).  She showed us the name of the stop & we watched the electronic screen diligently as the names flashed by.  After about an hour I thought, this doesn't feel right, so we looked up the next stop (Mara- something) on the train map & were horrifed to see that we had completely passed the downtown area and the line was about to end in Girona.  Slightly panicked, a nice man explained to us (after looking at us sympathetically with a little shake of his head) how we could get back into the city via the night bus.  We got off in a suburb-y area around 1 am (?) and found the bus stop (after asking the only other awake human beings in the city). The whole town was closed.  We saw the bus was coming in 20 min and thought, we're saved!  About 25 min later the N3 bus passed as we jumped up and down in a vain attempt to stop it.  Marial then thought, "Wait, in Spain there is a button for everything!" (It sounds ridiculous, but yup not kidding).  We examined the bus stop & she discovered the button.  It was the size & color of a bolt, I don't know what would've happened if we hadn't found it!  We got on the bus, specifically asking the driver, Plaza de Cataluyna?  He nodded yes, about 1 hour, JOLIN!  We we got off the bus after about 20 min we found the building for the hostel, a very fancy building, this can't be it, could it?  Jackpot, the Internet sometimes rocks, I had found it earlier that day & was careful to read the reviews (after what happened to me in Rome last summer I've been a bit sketched out by hostels .  The girls were very happy to see the elegant cozy atmosphere.  Furthermore, the hostel manager sat with us and showed us the interesting points of Barcelona plus a great churros places for breakfast.  We went to bed around 3 (?) am and woke up around 8 to prepare for our long journey ahead.  We walked about 15 minutes down La Rambla (every main city in Spain has one), to find Marial's money exchange place.  The street ended & we asked a local where the place was; turns out there are 2 Ramblas in Barcelona, jolin!  So Marial went off to find her money & we set off for breakfast.  I stopped at Starbuck's for a chai tea (yum- 1st in a month & a half).  Then we went to the churros place for Gwen.  I bought a black scarf to use as a panuelo (more about that later) & we reunited at the Estacion Norte bus stop to buy tickets to Girona.  That ride was another 75 minutes.  Then we finally flew from Girona to Fes (Fez)!  We arrived around 4 (?)- time change- & after customs & money exchange it was time to find our way to the train station to buy tickets to Tanger (tangier in english).  We asked for directions to the bus stop & the man we found spoke Italian, how useful!  So that was on me... Every taxi driver tried to get us in their car, but we opted for the cheap 3 1/2 Dirham ride into the city.  It was very interesting to see the outskirts of the city, Gween took lots of pics so I will put them up later.  We spoke only in Spanish the entire time, which confused everyone (we're a motley crew so no one quite believed we're Spanish).  While we were on the bus we figured, oh we'll just read the signs to see where to get off in the center of the city!  Well...all of the signs were in Arabic!  After a bit of a panic attack, as we got closer to the city we saw French signs, so Diane & I deciphered them and thanked our lucky stars.  Finally we got to a stop where a bunch of people got off, so we thought, hey why not? and hopped off.  We had put our headscarves on (before the trip everyone told us to cover our hair, especially Gwen & I - the blondies), but regardless everyone stared and a few even said, 'Welcome to Morocco'- in many different languages. (The average Moroccan that we ran into spoke French, Arabic, English & Spanish- wow!)  As we bought our tickets in the train station, the woman selling them to us asked, "Why are you wearing the headscarf?" We basically answered that we thought it was the correct thing to do, right?  She persisted, "Well are you Muslim?" We answered no, and she didn't say one way or the other, but as we left I initiated the discussion, well should we take them off?  My main priority in another country & culture, especially one as different as Morocco, is to try to assimilate (although I did NOT have clothes that covered my body- I blame Florida- my friends were amused, don't worry Gram I bought some) and not to offend anyone.  We took a good look around and saw some women and foreign/touristy looking women not wearing them, so we made the decision to take them off.  (In the end I do believe that was a wise decision, we looked ridiculous & out of place).  That was when we realized we didn't have many plans for Fes & seeing how it was already 7 (?) we couldn't exactly head to the historic Medina.  We decided to have dinner (I had a hilarious 'omelette' with french fries in it...not kidding) and just 'hang out' maybe get a glass of wine (ha!).  Instead we discovered that there is no alcohol in Morocco, the nightlife starts around 12 (not that we would go out there) and really there was nothing for us foreigners to do.  We sat in a cafe and drank te mente au lait - fantastic! and used their wifi to facebook our families that we were still alive.  Around 1130 when we couldn't procrastinate any longer we headed back to the train station.  We discovered that there was a lack of benches inside & most people were outside laying on the grass, so we thought, what the heck, and lied down for a little siesta (at least Gwen & I slept- common theme to this story, us passing out wherever...).  Around 1 it got cold so we moved inside & slept on the ground in there.  Finally it was time to board the train & it was pretty nice, we got seats 2 & 2 and slept for the first 2 hours of the journey.  Around 4 (?) this official looking guy came running down the aisle smacking the seats shouting something in Arabic that seemed like 'last stop' and I thought to myself, 'ok Morocco, this is how we inform passengers?' So I woke up Gwen & we got ready to make the switch.  Diane & Marial had been sitting with some gypsies that seemed to have their whole lives with them in bags.  They helped them carry their stuff as Gwen & I sleepily were figuring out what was going on.  We followed them as they ran across to this other train that seemed to be done boarding & ready to go.  It was packed to the MAX & we literally couldn't cram the stuff or ourselves on.  As the train was starting to move we managed to get a foothold on the steps & scrambled over people & bags into the car, only to find there was no where to sit.  After pacing the aisle 6 times with everyone else looking for seats we put our bags on the floor & sat on them in the middle of the aisle.  We all tried to sleep (I actually didn't have much trouble- thank you Roy genes) and every once in awhile someone passing through the aisle would wake us up.  We spent about 3-4 hours like this until finally 3 guys got up to get off, so we rode in seats for the final hour.  We were so happy to get off the train in Tanger around 8 (?) am.  We bought a map & ignored the taxi drivers & walked into the city (about 20 min).  We had a few hotels in mind that Marial had researched.  We ended up finding this little 'bed & breakfast' Dar Omar Khayam that looked like a totally legit old palace (just because of the style of the facade outside).  We went inside & even better the manager spoke Spanish! The room had four beds & a hot shower & only cost 300 Dirhams (30 euros) total - that's 7 euros a night each, unheard of!  We all took hot showers & head off to the Medina, which was really cool.  It was a labyrinth of shops, cafes, restaurants, & in the heart was a mercado central that had good looking bread, dried fruits, nuts, and disgusting meats- literally I saw the corpse of a pig slit down the middle all body parts still intact & I almost got sick.  We had lots of men following us around trying to either give us tours or bring us to their shops or restaurants.  We politely but forcefully declined them all and wandered through the streets until we got hungry & stopped at this quaint little french place.  I had an omelette for 15 dirham which is 1.5 euros (crazy cheap).  Gwen had the best quiche of her life she says. After that we were feeling the fatigue, so we found a large, beautiful park and chilled for awhile watching this guy's sheep eat a bench & he tried to talk to us to get us to go to his father's restaurant (hope they weren't eating sheep that day).  We walked up through the less touristy part of the city & found a legit coffee place, but it turns out that the BEST thing in Morocco is mint tea! Gwen ordered it and it really tasted like a mint mojito minus the alcohol.  I fell in love with it and I'm very sad to be separated at the moment. (The next day I had 3 or 4 teas...)  We walked down this long road to the beach and saw beautiful houses up on the hill & were amazed at the mountain cliffs that broke off right at the water's edge.  We walked along the coast & I felt like I was at the Battery in Charleston, except there were lots of men fishing down on the rocks with super long fishing poles.  We passed the port & saw where the ferry to Algeciras, Spain is.  We went back to the hotel to rest before an early dinner.  We sought out an authentic place, no more french fries!, and were satisfied to find a place that had tajine, a local meat dish (what type of meat I have no idea) and pizza for Diane (she's a vegetarian-which in Morocco & Spain usually means that they give you fish instead, lol).  We went to bed around 9:30 and slept soundly until 8 am the next morning.  I got to choose the day's activity because it was my only full day (the other girls stayed until Monday), so I really wanted to go the the Caves of Hercules --L'grotte de Hercules--so we had a morning cup of tea & planned our approach.  We had figured out that the only way to get there was by taxi, but most taxi drivers only speak French & Arabic, so Diane & I practiced a conversation, then found a driver and did our best to explain what we wanted & ask how much it cost.  On the drive there we passed the palace of the king, complete with heavily armed guards. I tried to clarify our return, but the driver misunderstood and stopped to turn around.  I frantically flipped through my French dictionary to look for the word, later= apres, and he laughed and said Oh, ok!  I was very nice.  We were excited to see the signs for L'grotte and the views were gorgeous.  As we left we asked to stay for 4 hours, but when he saw my watch (that I haven't changed  he thought we didn't know what time it was, so he found Gwen as we were walking out to the mountain cliff and motioned to her watch.  It was very cute and we reassured him we knew what time it was.  We took lots of pictures then asked someone where the actual caves were...silly us we turned the corner and there was a huge sign!  We payed to go down and the first thing we saw were people selling things, of course Morocco, but then we saw the waves crashing on the rocks through a small circle of light, it was beautiful! Then, we walked down to the beach and I went in the water, just up to my knees.  We walked around an abandoned hotel and made friends with an old Moroccan guy who was collecting shells on the beach.  We walked back up for the world's longest lunch, complete with tea.  My sandwich had french fries in it and some kind of mystery meat..very interesting.  We didn't have time for Diane to ride the camels because our taxi driver was waiting patiently for us.  We got back and did some shopping for a few hours, then walked around until we got hungry.  We found a crepe place and then we had dessert after dinner at a cute bakery.  The next day we went to the bus stop & I got a taxi to the airport, my friends went to Asila by bus.  I met up with my mom in Madrid & we drove to Cuenca to stay in the most beautiful Parador in the world, situated on the top of a mountain.  That area (Castilla la Mancha) actually has season, so I got to experience Fall, which was lovely.  The next day we walked around Cuenca, spent an hour in the Cathedral learned about the mixture of Romanesque, Gothic, Baroque, and Rococo styles.  After walking around the city until the afternoon we drove back to Alicante.  The next day, Tuesday, was a holiday for the Comunidad Autonoma de Valencia, so we drove to Valencia to visit Ainhoa and saw a cool parade celebrating the day the Christian king took back the city from the Moors, Ray has lots of pictures on his camera.  The next day I took them all over Alicante after my 8-12 am classes.  What a long week of traveling, hopefully that explains for this ridiculously long blog post!!

Viva l'Italia!

As some of you may already know, my Italian friends (Luca, Montix, & Paulo) came to visit this weekend.  They arrived on Saturday night just in time for the fiesta.  I brought along three of my friends (Gwen, Marial, & Jayna) for a hilarious night of shenanigans.  To prepare for the 'language fatigue' we drank some wine and got our words flowing in a hilarious mix of Spanglish, Spantalian, & Italenglish --> did you follow that?  sidenote: those are the proper names for the mixture of each language, it is a topic that we actually study in language & linguistic classes!  Anyway, we stayed out all night and went to lots of different clubs. I only had one night to show them the nightlife of Alicante, so we made the most of it!  The next day Gwen & I met up with them at the beach in the afternoon & we played volleyball, Luca & Paulo showed off their skills, then that night I met up with them again (with Jayna this time) for a drink in El Barrio.  We taught them to stop saying, 'muchacho' and instead say, 'hombre' which they pronounced with the 'h' in an Italian accent....seriously funny to hear. (another thing that Spaniards say among friends is 'jefe' = boss) Yesterday again I hung out with them at the beach and we attempted to climb the castle, I say attempted because apparently starting Oct 1, yesterday, the castle closes at 20:00 and we got there around ....11 haha.  I've completely adopted the Spanish culture of 'whatever, whenever' I'm sure it will drive my Mom crazy when she comes to visit in just...6 DAYS!!  So we succeeded today by climbing it at the hottest time of day, 12 o clock, but the view was gorgeous (I've climbed the castle 4 times now and I still have to climb it at dawn to see the sunrise- it's on the list). I will put pictures up soon...I promise.  We had a nice Spanish style lunch that took 2 hours and they tried real Spanish paella & flan, which they've had before, but in Italy.  Then we said goodbye and I headed off to my new class, Social Realities of Spain, and they headed to the airport.  I don't have much time to catch up on my rest because tomorrow night I fly to Barcelona (with Marial, Diane, & Gwen) and the next day head to Morocco!  What an adventure....more to come next week when I return!

Home Sweet Home

Today I learned a new phrase --> Llueve a cántaros, which literally translated means it's raining jugs/pitchers, but as we say, It's raining cats and dogs!  It was great to see and feel the rain after a month of beautiful, perfectly sunny days.  What a strange thing to say right?  Oh well, here is a picture of my home at school in Charleston, SC (from the College of Charleston Facebook page) during the first week of classes when a hurricane came up from the coast of Florida, my other lovely home, to devastate our sea level city.  In case you're wondering why there are students with backpacks, class were not canceled! Basically, I picked a good semester to study abroad!  Here in Alicante it only rains about 10 days a year (no I'm not making that up), so when it rains, it pours.  The people are not happy and it is quite dangerous.  After the rain stopped, I took the bus home and because the streets were so slick the bus kept skidding.  No one else looked alarmed, but I certainly was! 
On a different note, today at school there was a protest against the government's impending raise on student's fees to attend school.  Just so you all are aware, students here pay at most about 1500 Euros for school, which doesn't sound like much, but everything is relative.  The cost of living here is lower and the salaries are lower.  However, due to the crisis (and the European Union), the government is being forced to raise taxes on everything under the sun: water, electricity, gas, food, clothes, you name it.  It is easy to look on as a foreigner and think, well they 'deserved' this because of a lack of preparation or whatever.  My opinion is that no one could have foreseen this global crisis and no matter what your social status, as a human being you should be able to sympathize with the basic needs of a person.  The 'Socialist' (in quotes because Spain's governmental system is more complicated than the average person would say) countries have been hit harder because they have had the practice of supporting their citizens in the most expensive industries, mainly medical insurance and education, so now that they cannot provide these services, the people are upset.
As an American, I see the benefits of free education and health services, if this makes me 'socialist' then so be it, but I would like to see our country use it's Capitalist background & strength to promote welfare for everyone.  Some say it's impossible because we are have such huge debts, but if we are going to rebuild, why not do it right?

Oh, the Places you will go

Hello all,

So basically what's been going on this past week is a lot of class, a lot of partying, and a lot of planning.  I've settled into my daily routine of shower, coffee, bus, class, lunch, google or beach, *insert random evening activity here*, & night time escapades.  -->Google you ask? My favorite sites recently are ryanair.com and 1channel.ch ....after scouring the internet for cheap flights throughout Europe, I like to reward myself with an episode or two...or three of Burn Notice.  The weather is getting cooler here *frescita* so I am going to the beach less (meaning not every single day).  I have planned trips to Morocco (Marruecos) and to London (Londres) for the month of October.  I'm also looking forward to this weekend because some Italian friends, from last summer's study abroad trip, are coming to visit!  Then just a short week and a half later, I will be meeting my Mom in Madrid for a road trip back to Alicante--> stopping in Cuenca along the way (thank you Ray for the diversion in plans to accommodate my trip to Morocco!) to see other cool stuff.  The days are flying by, but I'm enjoying every second.  Check out my CALENDAR to see what I have planned and if you have any suggestions as to what I should see or do while I'm there, please don't hesitate to tell me!  After my grammar exam this Friday I'll be home free, I can't wait for October to begin!!

Que dia tan largo!

Good news everyone, my classes exist!
       Today I went to my first *legit* Spanish classes at the University and hilariously they are taught by the same professor, which is a good thing because she seems pretty great.  I am taking "Literatura Hispanoamericana de los anos 60 hasta hoy" and "Literatura Hispanoamericana Contemporanea" --> do you see the similarity? ;)  They look to both be interesting classes, in the 1st we are reading novels such as '100 years of Solitude,' 'Love in the Time of Cholera' & 'La Tregua'.  In the 2nd class it is more of a survey of literature so we will read selections from anthologies and lots of poetry.  I have already taken a few lit classes in english & spanish, luckily my Spanish lit class focused a lot on South American literature!  I'm very excited, I think I will learn a lot, and I'll definitely have to work hard.  So my day was so long because I start class at 8 am and go until 3 pm (this is until the end of September), then I went to the office to register, which took another hour.  I got home around 5 pm & Maruja, my host mom, was wondering what took so long!  Then later tonight I have soccer practice from 9-11pm...que dia tan largo...tomorrow will definitely be a beach day!

Totes Legit

Surprise!  Hercules Femenino B is the second highest level of soccer that exists here in Alicante and we just happened to stumble into their practice...  Yesterday we had our first game and it was 'away' in Villajoyosa (we basically showed up, got into a teammates car & had no idea where we were going, haha) I wasn't expecting to play, seeing as I had only been to one practice, but the coach had other plans.  I started the 2nd half as a left forward (delantero) and about halfway through he switched me to right midfield (I think).  I went out for the last 5 minutes or so, but playing was pretty exciting!  Melanie, the German girl who brought me to the team, played well also and she played a lot of the game, too.  They are a very nice, friendly bunch of girls (especially seeing as they outfitted us head to toe...)  So I am planning to continue going to practices, I have no idea what the schedule looks like for the season, but hey life is always an adventure, right?  Also, last night I couldn't find the energy to go out after the game (Thursday I went out until 5 am & I had class at 12...) so I had a chill night watching about 1/2 an episode of Burn Notice before I passed out until 11 am the next day.  Today I'm planning to go to the beach and then go out tonight with some of my friends & their 'Intercambio' partners (since I haven't gotten mine yet) --> Intercambios are students who are studying English, so we help them & they help us.  Needless to say...I love weekends!

Sometimes you're the windshield & sometimes you're the bug

and sometimes you're both....

This morning was *supposed* to be my first day of university classes, but the universe had other plans.  I got there at 8 am & scurried off to my first class (sin cafe-->.<) upon entry I noticed I was the only extranjera- glorious.  I sit down and realize, shit this is NOT castellano, so as I sit there trying to figure out if it's French or what, I realize..it's Valenciano (which is a dialect of Spanish that sounds much different from the Spanish I study).  Finally the professor asks me, what's your name & where are you from?  Which I could make out more or less, so I responded, "Soy Shannon, soy de los estados unidos.  Este clase esta ensenado en valenciano?"  He said, "Si"  I said, "Vale, creo que necesito cambiarme de clase"  Everyone laughed as I got up and left...then I ran around campus like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to figure out my next move.  Only to look at my schedule and realize that I had entered the wrong classroom (it was RIGHT next to it), *blonde moment* but by the time I returned the class had already finished or been canceled.  Anyway after talking to my adviser again, I went to my 2nd class, which was also canceled.  However, there I met a girl from Germany named Melanie.  We got coffee together & she told me she plays soccer and was planning to try out for the women's league of Alicante, it's called Hercules.  I said, Oh that's too bad, I play too but I didn't bring my cleats.  She said, Oh me either, but I'm going to buy some at the outlet mall (right next to our university) so I went with her and bought beautiful Nike cleats (pic later) for 40 Euros *INSANE* and then went to class from 12-3.  I returned home, ate Spaghetti alla Carbonara *score* & fell asleep for 2 hours.  The practice went very well, the team is pretty serious, apparently it's the feminine side to their city's men's team, Hercules, which is a legit team.  Luckily we are playing B side though, so it's just competitive enough for me without being crazy.  At the end of practice, the Coach told us to be at the field on Friday by 630 to go to a game on a bus.  I figured, oh ok to watch right? Nope, they're bringing us uniforms, socks, shin guards, the works and we are playing!  Que buena suerte, no?  #mylifeisawesome

la bonita Valencia

This video pretty much summarizes the past few days.  We went out Thursday night, I had class Friday & went straight to the beach afterward & got back around 9, showered & turned back around to go out until 3 when we returned to sleep for 5 hours until 830 am to get on a bus to Valencia....did you follow that?

Anyway it was all worth it because Valencia is a beautiful city!  It is about 2 hours away by bus.  It has one of the biggest aquariums in Europe, which is part of a bigger Oceanographic museum.  We didn't enter them for time's sake, but we walked around outside and took photos.  I loved the architecture, but Ainhoa said that none of her architecture teachers like it.  (Richard I will post photos for your opinion!)  We did a quick bus tour of the city, seeing all of the important buildings: Correos, el Ayuntamiento, el Banco Viejo, la Catedral de Santa Catalina, the Train Station...etc.  I did my best to take professional photos, ha.  Then we took a tour of the Cathedral.  I met up with Ainhoa at 2 for a nice lunch, and my friend Gwen came too.  We had pretty touristy paella de mariscos, but the flan was great!  She took us to see la Plaza de los Toros & we walked around shopping for a few minutes.  I bought some allergy medicine, which worked miraculously.  When we returned Pepa, Marisa, & the tour guide David were shocked to find out that my accent had changed into una 'Extremadura' accent (dropping 's' and speaking quickly).  Their jaws almost hit the floor, then I reminded them that I lived in Spain.  Well now Professora Pepa will be expecting more from me, whoops haha.  Anyway after that we went to tour a Palace, my camera died...oh well.  Then we returned by bus and I slept like a baby, so I'm ready to go out again tonight! VIVA LA FIESTA!!!!

Nerd Status

Mama & Grams will be proud.....
In my spare time I usually like to go to the beach, talk to la gente, tomar cafe o helado, etc etc, but yesterday  my friend asked if I wanted to go to an Archaeology museum after class, so of course I said yes.  Apparently it received an award for one of the best museums in Europe, it definitely deserved it.  It was one of the most high tech, fancy, & detailed museums I've ever been to (means a lot bc of the whole living in DC thing) and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  The English translations on the signs were funny & almost unreadable, so good thing we speak Spanish!  It was only 1.5 E too! After the museum & some coffee, I went out with the Americanos to a club that turned out to be having an International Erasmus (European study abroad scholarship) event, which was good & bad.  Anyway we met people from all over, my favorite being the Brasilians!  Pretty cool people.  Anyway today I went to the beach as per usual and tonight we are going out again although we have to be at Plaza de los Luceros at 8:30 am tomorrow to take a bus to Valencia!!  My camera is charged and ready to go, no more incidents like the last tour!

Starting into my Routine

So these past few days have been CRAAAZY.  The 1st day of classes went very well, my professor's name is Raquel & she is as animated and fantastic as the professors I have had at College of Charleston *shout out*.  For some reason I had signed up for a business class, so today I talked to Pepa (our head of CCCS) & she allowed me to change into a conversation course because I can't just 'drop' a class...even though no one else at my level is in a conversation class.  When I pointed this out she said, well you'll be the best! ha.ha.  But on the good, great, excellent, fabulous side of things.....the WINDSURF class is being planned!!!!  Apparently before there wasn't enough 'interest' meaning it wasn't well advertised, but at least 6 people will be in the class & it may start in Oct or Nov, not sure yet.  Yesterday & today we toured the University (yes it is HUGE) and we bought our bus passes yesterday, so I'm all 'alicantina' getting myself back & forth, really it's quite simple- even easier than the DC metro!  Between the beach, walking around, tours, classes, & night time paseos I am exhausted, so why am I writing this blog post at 12:30 am instead of sleeping? bc I love ya'll that much...<3  Anyway today was my favorite day so far because we took a tour of Alicante that started at the Plaza de los Luceros (google it) around 5:30 & ended at the Castillo around 10!  We learned a lot about the history of the city, & bc I'm a 'freaky' =nerd I enjoyed every second of it, most of the tour was in Spanish, so a lot of students lost interest.  We ended up at the top of the castle right at sunset (as if they planned it or something hmm...) & took beautiful pictures.  Of course my camera died...at la Plaza de los Luceros...but luckily mis amables companeros americanos took pics of me & all of the things we saw, so I'll do some facebook stalking & I promise I'll put some photos up soon!  I just haven't wanted to be all 'tourist' with my camera everywhere/ I really need to pay attention to where I'm going.  There is a beautiful legend about the castle, but I will have to find a picture & the story to explain, and right now I'm too tired, so  posiblemente manana, vale?

Alicante Por Fin!

Yesterday I drove cross-country from Navalmoral de la Mata to Alicante and my how the land changes!  Most of Spain is very dry, it doesn't rain much here so the land if it isn't being watered for crops is very brown in the summertime (not a super pretty drive).  So Tinin and I are driving along and bam! There's a beautiful mountain right on the outskirts of Alicante.  He looks at me and says, "Ya estas lista?" >>Are you ready?  And of course I was nervous, but on entry to the hotel some Americans heard me and yelled down the hall, so I joined them to wait an hour for orientation, which then lasted 2 hours!  Orientation was....pretty bad & boring.  Then we had 'dinner' but really it was tapas, not much food at all.  Afterwards we walked around the city around 9 pm and boy did we look silly us 30+ Americans.  Mila called me during the walk and I told her thank you SO much for everything & I talked to Esther a little, told her she's my favorite little sister haha.  We had a little botellon en the hotel & went out around 12, Americans learn quickly about nightlife practices : P  Overall it was a very fun night, waking up the next morning at 9....not so much.  This morning we took a tour of a small portion of the University, basically just to know where we need to go tomorrow.  Now the part that you've all been waiting for....MI FAMILIA!!!  The parents names are Maruja Martinez Torres & Jon Paolo (like the Pope) Torres, they have two sons that are 30& 33 (who live elsewhere & 1 is married) and *drumroll please* a DOG!!! named Poncho lmao how funny is that?!  He is a mixed breed, not sure what I asked but didn't understand the response, but he is Lorelai-sized, of course a little fatter & not as cute, but I digress...I'm so excited.  Also my bed has 3 pillows! For those of you who know me understand my obsession.... Also, they are super nice, apparently they host students a lot so they are accustomed to foreigners (they also talk slowly for me which is great).  Poncho just came up to say hi on my bed, but he just got in trouble lmao Maruja said, "A la cama no, a tu cama si!"  Whoops....but looks like I have a new friend!  Tomorrow starts my life as an Alicantina verdadera.....vamos a ver lo que va a pasar!  Tengo ganas de empezar a la universidad, pero tengo que estar en clase por 3 horas, can I do it?? You'll just have to wait and see...

Vamos Real Madrid!

Today Ainhoa left for Valencia, she is working for 3 days before school starts at a festival called Moros y Cristianos as a face painter, she is very talented.  I'm excited that in 2 days I'll be heading to Alicante!  Then we went to the pharmacy and also just for a walk around town.  We stopped twice for drinks & tapas, this is a very funny practice in Spain, but in a small town I suppose that this is the norm, also many people are on vacation (which lasts a month here btw!).  Then after lunch we went to another spot in the mountains.  I could write about them forever, I would love to  live there in a small house with fresh mountain water & no electricity & hike & swim everyday ...que rara soy de verdad! But I digress...there were some nudists in the mountains & that was pretty funny.  Esther took some pictures with her camera but I don't have them yet, I will post them later.  Tonight I'm very excited for the Real Madrid v. Barcelona game that is coming on in 20 min (9:45) GO REAL MADRID!!!
---random other question, is there a way to know who is viewing this blog? I found out how to see which countries people are viewing from, which is so cool!--
Spanish phrase of the day: Ella se cae de la cuña de bebe --> She fell out of the crib as a baby, lol...

La Garganta- The Throat

This place is the best natural water park that exists in La Extremadura.  Being back in the mountains reminded me of the hikes that I took with Austin at VT & the mountains in Northern Italy.  Also, being in a bathing suit all day is always wonderful!  The water of course is extremely cold because it comes from the tops of the mountains.  To the left of me is the waterslide--tobogon--and to the right of Esther's head is another spot where we jumped from.  The trip was a success, nobody got hurt & we all had fun!

Also leave comments! I want to know what you guys are thinking :)

I Did my Research

So today I went to the pool with Ainhoa and her two friends, Lara & Alba (what a pretty name!).  We played Culo--the card game from yesterday I'm getting pretty good at it ;)-- and talked a lot about the differences between the USA & Espana.  I'm really glad that I read up on social differences, especially the fashions.  I asked about some of the things I read, such as: wearing tights under shorts in the winter time, not wearing flip-flops=chanclas like EVER, wearing high heels always, never going out in athletic clothes...and the list goes on!  The reality is...all of this is correct, so thank god I brought some cool tights and I limited my athletic clothes to PJs, I didn't even bring sweatpants!  Of course my lifestyle will never completely blend in because I love playing sports and I don't love shopping...but oh well I'll always be 'la rara' (strange) person because I want to be. :)

Los Espanoles saben salir de fiesta!

The Spanish know how to party!
http://instagram.com/p/Oxgdhihi7p/
This is a picture of Marta and I (a friend of Ainhoa's who likes to invent words in Spanish and English, she is very funny and wants to come to Miami, so of course I invited her) in a bar called Canterville in Navalmoral de la Mata, toda la gente estaba alli! We stayed out until 5 am, we didn't leave until 3 am.  We pregamed--> la bottellón, until 3 am.  Apparently we came home early, but I was jetlagged and Ainhoa was tired because she left for the airport at 7 am (super early for Spaniards).
Today after waking up at 12 pm, que perezosas!, we ate more tortilla for lunch (every meal I've had so far has included tortilla & some part of a pig today it was the face :O ) and then after el almuerzo we played a strange form of triangular dominoes and Culo, which is a game played with Spanish cards.  Here is a picture of both because they are cool looking!

The Fun has Arrived!

I have arrived in Spain!  After a long flight into Madrid and then a 2 hour ride to Navalmoral de la Mata, I am settled in and getting excited for what the next 4 months has in store for me.  For the first few hours of the flight I listened to a new playlist entitled, 'Driving in the Sky' that has some of the new music Austin put on my Ipod (I made it a dance/electronic mix in honor of my two lovely brothers, so artists include David Guetta, Deadmau5, M83, & Bombay Bicycle Club).  Then they screened the Hunger Games, which I stayed up to watch (probably why I'm so jetlagged).  Customs only took about 15 minutes, USA take notes! I was an hour late coming out though and Ainhoa & her dad were getting anxious for my arrival.  Finally, I am excited to start this blog especially for the benefit of my grandparents who have supported me all my life and are always interested in what my next adventure is.  Thank you to all my family and friends who have been there for me, influencing and supporting my decision to study abroad in Spain.  In about a week I will drive cross country with Ainhoa to Alicante, where I will attend orientation and then start my intensive period of classes!

~~The video above (filmed by Ray) is a special shout out to my awesome dogs who I am training to be a sled team.  Of course I will miss them too.