Andando a clase

Like I've said a kajillion times, Malaga is a really beautiful city. Our 1.5 mile walk to class takes 30 minutes and winds through some of the prettier parts of town. I wanted to show you a peek into what it's like here so that it's like you all are here with me :)










Miercoles = Wednesday = hump day. I can't believe I've been in Spain for a week now. Last night was the first time I got to relax and enjoy some quiet free time at la casa. I know I only have so much time to enjoy the Spanish culture and take it all in, but sometimes you need to recharge. I had been going for 6 days straight and my body needed a break. I feel much better today even if the weather is not cooperating with my mood - it's 55 and raining. No me gusta la lluvia.

My only class taught in English, El Greco to Picasso, is taught by a Spanish woman who has never taught in English before. On Monday, she told us that she would speak in Spanish the first day but the rest would be in English. Yesterday afternoon, she said her "chip in her brain was working slower" so we had to settle for Spanglish. I kind of wish I had known that this class was being taught by someone who knows as much English as I know Spanish. I would have taken the Spanish Art History taught in Spanish. That would have given me credits towards my minor instead of a general education credit like the one I'm in now. But I thought it would be a nice break from Spanish 24/7. I should have known that immersion into a culture leaves no room for language breaks!

Tonight a group of us wants to go out for tapas. There is a bar here that sells 1€ tapas and drinks. I always thought tapas were eaten instead of a dinner but they're eaten after dinner instead. Hopefully the weather clears up so we can walk :)

By Popular Request

Dr. B has asked to see what my phone here looks like. Dr. B, this is for you.


I don't know why the picture is turned sideways like that but you get the gist. It's a pretty standard one and it's also used. It costs extra money for me to call anyone but it's free for all received calls. Almost everyone in our program has the exact same phone so we just hope we don't get them mixed up! My ringtone is some Spanish song that came with the phone.

Earlier this week (I can't believe I haven't even been here a week!), I kept getting text messages from people who must have known the last person to have my phone number. They were all addressing Ana and they were all in Spanish. I figure if I don't respond, they won't keep trying, right?

Today I feel like I'm running out of steam. I've been going and going for the past week and I'm about to hit that wall. I have class at 3:30 then I plan on coming home and taking a siesta. Don't get me wrong - I love it here but your body can only take so much, ya know?

I miss you all so much and I want to hear from you all! Besos!

Primer dia de las clases

I was super nervous all yesterday about the beginning of classes, specifically the placement exam we had to take before we started classes. I needed to do well enough on the exam to get into the "Advanced" classes or else I wouldn't get credit for my minor AND I would have had to pay 50€. No bueno.

We had to wake up at 6:45 to leave the house by 7:15 to make it to school by 7:45. Yuck. We ate a breakfast of corn flakes, a muffin, and green tea before Emma and I met Valerie, another student in our building, and Alissa, my roommate from orientation, and headed to campus. It's a beautiful walk right through Málaga. We met the other students outside and proceeded to the dark basement to take our examen and our entrevista (interview). The exam consisted of a lot of grammar questions and even some modismos (idioms). After our exam, we met with a profesor for 5 minutes and talked. My profesor asked me about my studies, my time in Europe so far, why I chose Málaga , etc. We all waited afterwards for about an hour, worrying about our results. Most of us needed to get into the advanced class so our credits would transfer. But I guess it wouldn't be a complete waste since we're in Spain and all but it would still suck.

But we did it! We got our classes and got right to work in our Spanish Society and Culture class. Our teacher's name is Antonio and he is super eccentric and animated and speaks slowly! You have no idea what a relief that is. Most people in Andalucia have a weird dialect where they slur all of their words and drop the "s"'s at the end of words so foreigners have a really difficult time understanding them at first. Our senora speaks very clearly and slowly for us but not all of the students are as lucky as us.

Anyways, Antonio was great. We spent the whole class taking turns talking about ourselves and answering his questions about the class. Of course I said I was interested in the comida (food) of Spanish culture. I'm obsessed with Spanish food. I've been asking people what they've been having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner just to see what type of food is out there. Emma was just saying how much she misses Food Network, and I definitely agree. ¡Lo echo de menos tambien!

Afterward we went back to the casa and chilled before lunch. Our family has a maid named Maria Jose as well. She cleans the floors and windows and cooks lunch most of the time. Today we had maccarones, which is a smooth tube-shaped pasta without ridges in a tomato meat sauce. It was sooooo good! Maria Jose gave me a HUGE bowl with bread and I ate almost all of it. Instead of going into a food coma like my belly wanted me to, I had to go straight back to class for my English elective, From El Greco to Picasso: The Great Masters of Spanish Painting, with our profesora, Cristina. It's supposed to be taught in English, but today she said her switch in her brain from Spanish to English wasn't working, so she will start teaching in English tomorrow. There are a whopping 5 people in our class but it sounds really interesting. We studied a lot of famous Spanish paintings in high school and our guias during orientation have given us great explanations of some of the obras maestras (master works) but I want to know more about the artists' lives.

After class, I met most of our study abroad group in La Plaza for a walking tour of Malaga. We saw so many cool parts of the city that I would have never ventured to without our friendly director, Iker (cool name, huh?). We saw where Picasso was born, the Alcazaba, La Manquita (which means the one-armed woman but is actually a cathedral) and tons of other stuff. It really made me realize that it's more than just a beach town. It has a lot of culture and history that make it such a great place to live. And the weather was beautiful this afternoon - about 65° and sunny.

We had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dessert with potato chips, yogurt, and fruit. She asked if we wanted one or two sandwiches and when we both said just one, she said that we don't eat very much. I feel like I'm always eating here even though the meals are so spread out.

Tomorrow I have my first Spanish Language and Spanish Literature classes starting at 8 AM. It's been a long day so I'll be sleeping well tonight. ¡Hasta luego, chicos!

Bienvenidos a Malaga!

We finally arrived in Malaga on Sunday. We left the wonderful Hotel Beatriz after a buffet breakfast around 9 AM. Our last time having to haul our suitcases from place to place for 2.5 months!

Toledo is about 5 hours from Malaga but we planned for a couple of breaks so it would be a 7 hour drive. But we did NOT anticipate the bus breaking down twice. It took us an extra 2 hours to get there but it was definitely worth it.

We met our host families in the center of town. It was so nerve wracking sitting on the bus, waiting for Heidi or Iker to call our name to introduce us to our senoras. My new roommate, Emma, was there too! My senora's name is Maria Jose, but she goes by Pepa. She greeted me with the usual two besos and we packed all my luggage in her tiny car and left for my new home. The weather has been a lot colder than usual here and Sunday was especially cold. Pepa kept saying "Tengo frio, hace muy frio" the whole ride.

I just need to say this: drivers in Spain scare the crap out of me. I feel like you have to be very confident and assertive in your driving abilities here because there are some crazies on the road. Not Pepa, but there are others!

When we arrived, Emma helped me carry my stuff up to the apartment (thank goodness for elevators). Thanks Emma! What an adorable place! I'll post some pictures later but it is really cute! Our rooms consist of a bunkbed, 2 bookcases, a wardrobe, a desk and chair, and a bookshelf by our bed. Our room also has a balcony that looks out right to the Mediterranean!

That night we had croquetas, potato chips, yogurt, and fruit for dinner. Croquetas are amazing! They are fried balls of cheese and ham maybe. Whatever they are, they were delish. It's so strange getting used to the eating schedule here. Breakfast is usually something light like cereal or toast. Then lunch is the biggest meal of the day, usually consisting of 2 courses and a lot of food. It's usually served around 2-3:30 and most people take a siesta afterwards. Many stores are closed from 3-5 because of the siesta time. Dinner is much later than in the US, anywhere from 9 to 11:30 and is usually much lighter than lunch.

The weather is much nicer today than it was yesterday. I had my first classes today starting at 7:45 in the morning. I'll be posting about that later today!

Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all so much!

Toledo!

Our next excursion took us to Toledo. It's about an hour and a half south of Madrid in the mountains. It was seriously beautiful, like everything else here. First, we picked up our guia, Mario, and took a panoramic bus tour around the outskirts of the city. What a view!

We then left the bus and took this series of escalators up to the old part of the city. The escalators were carved into the hillside in 1995.

Mario then took us on a walking tour around the city. I couldn't believe how old everything is! And you have to watch where you're walking because many of the sidewalks and alleys also serve as roads for small cars. We almost got ran over on more than one occasion.

Our first stop was the Catedral de San Juan. It was built to thank God for their victory in a battle that helped win a war in the 14th century. The walls were really interesting because they had the symbols of all of the kingdoms of Spain at the time. And it was freezing cold!

A monkey with a monk's hood reading a book while on the toilet? No lie.

Another interesting thing was that the ceilings on the 2nd floor were built by Muslims. During this time, they were the best carpenters in the world. The "F" and "Y" stand for Ferdinand and Ysabel, the reigning king and queen at the time. The ceiling also has symbols of other kingdoms.

We also saw this cool synagogue that was originally a synagogue built by Muslims that was later converted into a church and then back to a synagogue. It was awesome but unfortunately we couldn't take pictures.

The tour took about 3 hours. We saw tons of cool churches, buildings, and views.

This is the Catedral Santa Maria de Toledo. We didn't go inside but it was impressive enough from the outside. The door knockers were about 10 feet off the ground so caballeros (horsemen) could ride right up to the door to knock.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant with a menu del dia, a really popular concept in Spain. For lunch, they offer you a choice of 2 courses and a dessert with bread and water, wine, or refresco (Coke). I had the paella (yum!), the salmon, and helado (ice cream!). It was really delicious, except the salmon kinda creeped me out because they left the skin on and the backbone in. But it was still good!

But what we were most excited about was the Hotel Beatriz - free wifi! Except it didn't work too well. Everyone raced to their rooms to skype their family and friends so the connection got really slow. But the rooms were amazing by themselves. We each had a balcony that looked out to the older part of the city.
We pulled our chairs out onto the balcony with our laptops to enjoy the beauty of Spain.

That night we went back to the town center for another menu del dia. This time I was not as happy with my choices: sopa castellana (garlic soup), bistec ternera (veal steak), and fruta (an apple in this case). The soup was not very good at all - it was a garlicky broth with pieces of soggy bread, jamon (ham), and it looked like they just cracked an egg right into the hot soup. It was very Spanish but not for me. But I'm glad I tried it. The rest of the meal was delicious, including the vino :)

We took taxis back to the hotel to get some sleep before leaving for Malaga in the morning!