Night Before Italy

So I thought I would write a very short post tonight, and then in about a week i will write a very long one. Yesterday we were going to go hiking at this awesome place called Monachil. But it was raining. And we had stayed up til like 3am watching I Love Lucy reruns on Youtube. So I basically didn't do much yesterday. Oh except go shopping. I bought a little purse to bring to Italy. It was only 8 euros!! And we had pizza for dinner, which was delicious.

Today I went to church in the Cathedral with Lindsay, Sarah, and Angie. We heard that Mass started at 1pm, so we met up at the Correos (post office) and got to the Cathedral at 10 to 1. Mass was going on already and a sign on the door said that Mass was at 12:30 and 1:30. So we just snuck into the back of the room and stayed til the end of Mass. It ended like 20 minutes later. But it was still cool to be able to go to church in a Cathedral!!

Then we went shopping in these little Arab shops, which are the only stores open on Sundays. Sarah and Angie wanted postcards. Then we found this adorable little lion statue!! It was so perfect because it looked very Spain and a lion is our mascot for Alpha Delta Pi. We bought it and are going to put it in the ADPi House when we go home.

Then we went out for Dunkin Donuts, but here they call it Dunkin Coffee. You can get a cafe con leche and a donut for 2 euros, which is a pretty good deal. I'm not really a coffee person, but it was pretty good!! And the donuts tasted just like the American donuts.

Then we had leftover pizza for lunch with Senora. We talked about Italy and how we can't speak Italian; and how my family is coming to visit and they can't speak English. Then Lindsay and I packed for Italy!! I Skyped my family and then Lindsay and I went out for frozen yogurt while Sarah did her homework. Then we came home and had dinner that Senora's neice made us. She told us about how she visited Italy and how her favorite city there is Florence. She made us soup and turkey for dinner and it was delicious.

Since then, Lindsay, Sarah, and I have been sitting at the kitchen table Skyping our families, our sorority sisters, reading TFM and Dear Blank, Please Blank online, going on Facebook, and looking up stuff for our trip. I looked up bus times and some phrases in Italian. But I have to wake up early so I should probably go to sleep soon...

Tomorrow we take a bus to Sevilla and then at 7pm we fly from Sevilla, Spain to Rome, Italy. We get there at 10pm, and spend all day Tuesday and Wednesday in Rome. Then Wednesday night we leave for Florence, sleep there, and spend all day Thursday in Florence. Then Thursday night we leave for Verona and spend all day Friday and Friday night in Verona. Saturday morning we take a train for Venice, spend the day, and then take a train to Rome Saturday night. Sunday we leave for Sevilla and then take a bus back to Granada. I can't wait!!! But it hasn't really hit me yet that we're going to Italy!! I won't have my computer this week, but when I get home I'll blog again and post pictures. =] Arrivederci for now!!!

Rebajas

Rebajas in Spanish means like sales. All the stores are advertising “Rebajas” for their clothes and shoes and other merchandise. Sometimes I feel like I live on

Michigan Avenue

; I pass by stores to get to class and people in Granada are always shopping.

So basically this week I had class, which is boring and sometimes confusing, but I figured I could suck it up for one more week. I try to do something fun every day after class to just get out of the house and experience the city.

On Tuesday, the CEA took us to this place in Granada called Carmen de los Matires at 4:30. Carmen de los Matires is a garden, well technically it’s four gardens. We had to walk up these stairs and up a steep hill to get to the gardens. The CEA takes us to a lot of cool places in Granada, but they always require a walk, and normally also require hills and stairs. But the walk is always worth it. When we got to the top of the hill, we could see the whole city. It was sooo pretty.

Angie told me about the history of Carmen de los Matires after the visit. She said that the area was owned by the Moors a really long time ago and they used to bring Christians up there to torture and kill. It’s now like a memorial for them. I think if I had known that before, I would have looked at the gardens differently.

The first garden was modeled after the Alhambra. It was really pretty. Another highlight was the peacock. Everyone was taking pictures of it. I had no idea they had peacocks in Spain.

The second garden was by far my favorite. It was called the English Garden and it was all palm trees. There was a beautiful fountain in the middle of the trees and, of course, there was a gorgeous view of the city of Granada again. We took a lot of pictures, and of course, my camera battery started to die.

The third garden had like a little river going through it, but it wasn’t really a river. It reminded me of like those little fake rivers at a petting zoo where there is water and you can cross it at a bridge. We saw birds swimming on the water. I think they were ducks but they were all white. After we crossed the bridge, there was a little tower made of rocks. We climbed up it, and Dani, the guy from the CEA, told us that standing in this tower is the tallest point in Granada. I felt kind of like Rapunzel, and even more when Anna told me to dangle my scarf down the side of the tower. This garden was called the French Garden.

The last garden reminded me of the movie Hercules. Remember the scene where Hercules ditches Phil and goes with Meg to the fountain place and then she sings “I Won’t Say I’m In Love”? Well it looked like that. There were bushes cut in like mazes and broken statues and a big circle fountain. This place is also where we learned why people don’t eat the oranges off the trees in Granada. Angie asked Dani if she could eat an orange off a tree. He said sure but he wanted to try it first to make sure it was okay. He spit it out right away and said it tasted like a lemon. Angie then decided to try it anyway and had a similar experience. So, moral of the story, if you ever go to Granada, buy your oranges in a store.

After the Carmen de los Matires experience, Angie had told us that she found peanut butter in this place called Corte Ingles. (That means

English Court

in English.) I have been looking for peanut butter ever since I arrived in Granada, and I had gone almost 3 weeks without it. I searched countless grocery stores around the city and found nothing. I was getting desperate, so I asked my teachers where to buy “mantequilla de cacaohuate.” They said they don’t really have it here and they don’t eat it. I feel so bad for the people who live in Spain. Anyways so I have been dying for peanut butter, and after having expressed this in class, other people told me they feel the same. I guess Corte Ingles was the place to go!!

Now I had been there before, and it reminds me of Macy’s. She said if you go to the basement they have a grocery store. Plus, Lindsay and Sarah and I wanted to buy our Senora flowers because she is going through a tough time with her son being in the hospital. So Lindsay and I headed over to Corte Ingles to buy some peanut butter. We got to the basement and, perfect, we found a flower shop. We bought our Senora some flowers and then headed over to the rows of shelves of food. I was hungry, so this was not the best time to be in a grocery store. But we split up and searched and finally I found it!! Lindsay and I bought peanut butter, these cookies Angie told us to eat them with, and Ritz crackers. We basically ran home and started eating peanut butter. It was the best thing in the whole world.

Then we both skyped our families and had dinner with Sarah and Senora’s sister. Then, something else amazing happened. We skyped Jackie!! For those of you who don’t know, Jackie is my big sister in my sorority. Then Jackie said she had to go to the ADPi House for a meeting, so we asked if we could go with! Jackie brought her laptop to the house and skyped us back! We were able to Skype with Jackie, Brittany (our President from last year), Eryn (our President this year), and Kristie (Standards). It was so awesome!!! I miss them so much and it was so great to be able to see them and hear their voices!! Then they had a meeting and it was 2am and I had to wake up at 8am for class the next day, so we had to go.

Then Wednesday I went for a run/walk with Angie after class. Then at night I met up with Anna, Angie, and 3 other people to plan our trip to Ireland. We bought airline tickets! I was so excited. Then we had a language exchange meeting at 8:30pm. It took forever to get started. We walked for like ever to this random corner by a shady movie theater and waited there for like 20 minutes. Then we crossed the street and stood in some random alley. I got partnered up with this girl named Mara who’s 20. She was actually really good at English. We all then walked to this restaurant. Mara and I sat at a table with 2 other ISU students and 3 other Granada kids studying English. It was a lot of fun! Mara and I talked about Harry Potter, How I Met Your Mother, and Penelope Cruz. She asked me about Chicago and I asked her about Granada. We also talked about skiing, our families, our friends, and where we live. I showed her my driver’s license and she told me that in Spain you have to be 18 to get one, but the drinking age is also 18. We spoke in both languages- I would speak Spanish and she would speak English, and then we’d both speak Spanish or we’d both speak English. It was really cool because we actually understood each other.

Thursday was my last day of class before the test. After class Angie, Lindsay, and I tried to print our tickets for Italy, but that didn’t work because there was a class in the computer lab. So instead Lindsay and I went shopping! She bought gym shoes for our hike tomorrow. We both bought cardigans from this store called Pull & Bear. I was so excited- my first European clothes! It was only 6 euros and I paid in coins. Then I bought leggings because my stupid tights ripped. We got dinner at Kabob King and the workers there obviously knew we were American. They were laughing at us but they were really nice. It’s one of my favorite places here. Then Sarah came back late and we were home alone that night. Lindsay and I found out that this commercial on TV where these 2 girls sing about Rebajas is the same thing as this song we saw in that Spanish musical, and the same 2 actresses are singing it. It was pretty exciting. Sarah and us bonded over sororities. We talked about recruitment and the fact that she knows some people that we know too. She knows my cousin Jill, my mom's friend's daughter, and a girl in our sorority has a twin in Sarah's sorority. Talk about a small world.

Today, Friday, was the test. My test consisted of a listening part, a reading part, and a grammar part. The listening and reading were together, but the reading part was so stupid. It was about an “ordenador” which I had no clue what that meant. I guessed it meant laptop, and it means computer, so I was basically right. They asked if we had one, what you can use it for, is it easy to use, etc. I just kind of wrote a lot about computers and my experience with my laptop. Then they starting talking about videogames which definitely was not in the text because I read it like 8 times. I just said I don’t like videogames but my cousins do.

Then we had a little break, during which Angie and printed off our plane boarding passes to Italy!! I was sooo excited. I can’t believe I will be in Italy in 3 days!! Then we finished our test, which was the grammar part. It wasn’t as bad as I thought. Then Angie and I returned our textbooks. It felt so good to be done with the test for the intensive course!! I came back to my room and started getting ready for Italy. Luis is still in the hospital, but I think he is getting a little better, knock on wood. We had lunch with Senora, and Sarah is hiking all day.

Just Pictures

So I uploaded a bunch of pictures, so I decided to just put up some of them.

 (mae west- adpi sisters)

 (roommates!!)

 (granada at night)



(church- iglesia de san francisco)

(its snowing, so you obviously need your umbrellas)

(orange trees and snow)

(in the tea place)

(the arab tea)

(hot chocolate!)

(part of our run)

(el rio- the river)

(delicious overpriced sandwiches after the discoteca)

(me and angie in the cathedral! diamonds)

(me and angie after the first discoteca night)

(sorority girls with the alhambra!!)

( <> my favorite <3 )

Arab Tea

Sunday at breakfast, something amazing happened. We looked out the window and it was snowing!!! Snow is kind of rare in Granada, I guess it normally happens maybe once or twice a year on the actual city. It snows a lot, obviously, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains surrounding the city. But what's weird is that, when it snows, people break out their umbrellas.

(ever try taking a picture of snow? its super hard. this was the best i could do. =] )

So Sunday morning Angie and I went to church, and when we came out we were freezing, so we went to go get some hot tea. We walked all over the city until we came to this tea place. Turns out, it's Arab tea. I was really excited. The place was sooo pretty.

So after the tea, I came home. We had lunch and Angie said she wanted to meet up to chat about Italy details, plus the internet at my house was bad. I met up with her and we went to an internet cafe. Then we got cold and went to go get hot chocolate and churros- delicious. Then I came home and chatted with Lindsay and Sarah.

Sarah left for the Bears game at like 8ish, and Lindsay and I didn't leave til 9. A bunch of people from our program were going to Hannigan's Pub to watch the game, since the only sport people in Spain watch is soccer. Apparently if you want to watch "futbol americano" you have to go to an Irish Pub.

So Lindsay and I got directions off of Facebook and MapQuest. Well, as you can guess, we got lost. We finally found Hannigan's but no one was inside, and there was no Bears game. We called Sarah who told us where she was. We got lost again, but thankfully found Anna and her friends. She took us to Hannigan's- right across the street from Paddy's, which is where Sarah was.

Like everyone was in Hannigan's. The score was 14-0, Packers. I do not want to discuss the game any further, because obviously my team lost. But not gonna lie, I loved it when they zoomed out and showed snowy Chicago. We all were like, I want to be there!! Except not really cuz it was freezing there...

So anyways we were really depressed when the Bears lost, and it did not make it any better that there were some Wisconsiners in the pub who were cheering for the Packers. So Lindsay and I, and a bunch of other people, headed next door for Kabob King. Sarah said it was awesome, and she was not kidding. I got some chicken sandwich type thing, and it is like the fast food of Spain I guess, but way healthier than our fast food. It was so delicious. Lindsay refers to it as the DP Dough of Espana. The 3 of us walked home eating our delicious food and I felt much better when I was in my warm bed.

Today after class, Senora came home at like 2:45 with her two sisters. They made us lunch and the 6 of us ate together. They are so sweet and showed us pictures of their granddaughters. One is making her Communion and the other is one month old. One of her sisters lives in Malaga, like an hour south of here, where the beach is. Senora explained that she was going to the hospital to stay with her son and her sisters would stay here for tonight and make us dinner. The 3 of us (me Sarah Lindsay) went on a like 10 minute excursion looking for flowers for our Senora but everything was closed since it's a siesta, so it turned into a chocolate buying excursion.

When we got back, all 3 of them were gone. I left to go on a run with Angie. We went to this really pretty place on the river. It was so beautiful, and it was more of a walk than a run. We were gone for hours, and then we ate some fruit, and then we were cold so we went back to the Arab tea place. The guy recognized us, which was kinda weird cuz we were there yesterday. We got free crepes. There we ran into Anna and her possey. Then we left at 8:30 and I ran all the way home cuz I was cold. Then we had dinner with Senora's sisters, and then I took a shower. The internet is working absolutely fabulously (knock on wood) and I am typing this on my bed in my room next to the heater. I'm listening to Glee music because I miss listening to my iTunes.

(where we ran)

So in Spain, they have no peanut butter. It's weird. I have searched I can't tell you how many grocery stores searching for peanut butter with no success. And what's worse is I can't even say "peanut butter" in Spanish so I can't even ask for it. They eat a ton of fruit here. Like legit, today I ate 2 and a half oranges and half an apple. And 5 pieces of bread- they love bread here. And a lot of tea. I have tea every morning and Lindsay has coffee. Then you can go to cafes for tea. But Spain is soooo pretty. Like the architecture is so different than the US. They have had stuff that was built in the like 1200s. Our oldest buildings were built in like 1850. Plus they used to have royalty. How cool is that. But they don't have insulation. So if it's cold outside, it's cold inside. And I thought my house was cold... I seriously wish I could camp out next to this heater all day long. So that's it for random culture facts for today!!! =]



(the Arab tea shop again)

Mae West Round 2

Friday class was slightly less terrible than normal. We spent the majority of our classtime watching a movie. Don't get too excited, it was a Spanish movie. I now understand why they watch all of our American movies. It was a musical, but the dancing was awful and we were all laughing at it. Anyways, so after lunch I picked my classes, and then I met up with Lindsay and Angie at a cafe and we had churros con chocolate and planned out our Italy trip. After that we went shopping!!

Senora told us that her son Luis was in the hospital and we would have to be on our own for dinner. We ate yogurt, bread, and oranges. Then Sarah went to go meet her friends for drinks and tapas and Lindsay and I got ready and met up with Angie. We ate at a nearby cafe, Sancho, where we ate a cheeseburger, which was delicious. Then we headed to Mae West, the discoteca, to meet up with Sarah and her friends from U of I. We got there around 1am and it was like empty. I had rum and coke and we danced to some American songs and some Spanish songs. They played "We Are Who We Are" by Ke$ha and "DJ Got Us Fallin In Love" by Usher. It was a lot of fun!! All of Sarah's friends were so nice. There were like 9 of us all dancing together and talking and having fun. Then, since we got 2 free drinks, I got a vodka and Fanta. We left at 3:15am, but we stopped at this sandwich store in the mall. It was me, Angie, Lindsay, Sarah, and one of Sarah's sorority sisters. We bonded over being in a sorority and how much we loved the sandwiches. They don't really eat normal sandwiches in Spain, so it was awesome. Then we walked home and went to sleep.

This morning, Lindsay and I had to walk to CitiBank to take out money because I had 5 euros in cash and the bank is closed on Sundays. We woke up at 11 to go before the bank closed at 1. Senora told me that she was going to the hospital all day but she made food for us. She showed me where she put everything. I told her everything was fine and not to worry. Lindsay and I went to the bank and then came back home and went back to sleep. We woke up again hours later to us and Sarah being home alone. A few hours later Senora came home with her friend, who tried to fix the internet. Senora said she was leaving again and would see us tomorrow. Then Sarah went out with her friends and I went shopping and walking around with Angie. Tonight were just watching Disney Channel in our apartment. It's so weird- the 3 of us feel like we have our own house!! But we hope everything is okay. On the plus side Angie and I, who were both sick this week, are feeling much better!!

Sick in Spain... but I finally got to see the Alhambra!!

So Wednesday, I woke up with a 102.1 fever. My throat hurt, I was coughing, and I had a headache. I stayed home from class and slept til 2pm. I stayed in bed all day, watching TV shows on my iTunes on my laptop. I went to sleep early and woke up Thursday feeling much better. I had a little bit of a fever when I woke up, but I took an Advil and figured I would try going to class. After class, we had lunch, and then the CEA took us all on an adventure to the Albaicyn region of Granada.

We were told we would get to try Arab tea, but that didn’t happen. We walked through the city up these steps made of cobblestone. The walk was long and tiring, but it was so worth it when we got to the top. We saw the Alhambra!!! It was sooo pretty. We took tons of pictures. Seriously, I took 80 pictures today. And we could see the whole city.

Then we walked around the Arab neighborhood. They showed us a church on a mountain, and also this wall that used to separate the Arab neighborhood of Albaicyn with the gypsy neighborhood of Sacremonte. There were lots of little stores around. Then the tour was over and I went with Lindsay, Angie, and some other people from the CEA. We ordered drinks and got free tapas. Fun fact: Granada is the only city in Spain that has to give you free tapas with drinks.

Tonight I am relaxing. Right now I’m watching NCIS in Spanish!! Tomorrow starts the weekend!! Can’t wait! =] Then one more week of this intensive course and then a week in Italy!!!

Enredados

I'll start with Saturday. I woke up at 1pm to the sound of voices. It was my senora and our new roommate, Sarah. We all had lunch together and she is super nice. Me, Sarah, and Lindsay went walking around Granada with Angie and then we came home and had dinner- chicken noodle soup without the chicken. And pizza. It was delicious.

Then I had a mini sisterhood with Lindsay, Angie, and Anna. We went to go see The Tourist in Spanish!!! Thank goodness I had seen it in English first... otherwise I would have no clue what was going on. When we were at the movie theater for El Turista, we saw tons of posters for Enredados, or in English, Tangled. I was really excited because I love love love that movie, so we took pictures by the signs.

The movie started at 11pm, so after it was over, we went to sleep. Sunday morning, I went to church again with Lindsay and Angie. Then we went to a small cafe after and sat outside because it was nice and sunny out. I had tea and Angie had cafe con leche. Then at night, Lindsay, Angie, and I went to a another cafe and discussed our future trips around Europe. We came home from dinner. We had hamburgers, fries, and yougurt. Their hamburgers here are like ham and their ketchup is darker, but it was still good. Sarah was at the Alhambra for the day and told us all about how awesome it was. I can't wait to go!

These past few days, I have been feeling kind of sick. My throat hurts and I have a bad cough. I accidentally took a 3 hour nap on Monday, and I hate taking naps. I've been doing homework too; we actually have more that I thought we would. But on the upside, last night we watched Ocean's 13 on TV. =]

Today I had class and then everyone with the CEA, the program I am in, had to go to an academic meeting to plan our classes that start in February. It was super confusing because I have to have a certain Spanish class to finish my Spanish minor, plus I need to take gen eds so I can graduate on time, and I want to make sure my classes transfer and I get the classes I need. We also are in different levels based on this test we took last Monday. I am in level 6 now, so you automatically go up one level, so I would be in level 7, which is the cut off for Hispanic Studies. This means I will have more options for classes, but that it will be harder. I met with Angie later at night to ask her about classes at a cafe, and then, since we're both sick, we went looking around for cough drops. We found some in a pharmacy after asking the guy who worked there. I love trying to communicate with people in Spanish and seeing if they can understand me.

At the meeting, we also discussed the trips we are going on with the CEA. We are now all going to Morocco in February, and I am going to Sevilla and Cordoba (in Spain) in March. They also are planning a trip to the Alhambra in February. I love talking about trips and planning them, and I can't wait to start traveling around!



At like 5:30pm, after our meeting, Lindsay and I went to Haagan-Dazs for ice cream. Anna, Melissa, and Karina came with us. I wanted ice cream because it was the closest American thing I could think of to home. It was absolutely delicous!! The 5 of us sat outside and looked at the mountains. It is so weird to be sitting outside in January in a sweatshirt and a North Face jacket.

Tonight I am going to go to sleep early. I hope I feel better tomorrow!!

Fin de Semana

So I decided I wouldn't write in my blog again until I did something interesting. Thursday I just had class from 9am til 1pm again. Then the CEA, our program, took us all on a tour to see the gyms that we could join. Sounds great, but they cost 25 euros a month. No thanks, I can go for a run for free. Then I went to the mall with Lindsay and Angie to get Lindsay a new pair of boots. The mall is close to where I live, so it was perfect.

(shoe store in the mall)

Friday was slightly more exciting. Class was boring again. Don't get me wrong, I really like my first teacher. She's really funny and I can totally understand what she's saying. In class we learned about botellons, which is when a huge group of people drink in the streets all night long. She told us that our homework was to go to one. I don't think she was kidding... My second teacher has absolutely no sense of humor. She had us go on the computers for 2 hours and conjugate verbs online. However, I love her shoes.

Friday at 6, Lindsay and I met Angie at the post office and we went shopping around Granada. Then we had dinner at Burger King. Normally, I am more of a a McDonald's person, but that cheeseburger from Burger King was absolutely amazing. My mom asked me if they have Diet Coke in Spain. I found out that they do, but they call it Coca Cola Light. I guess they use real sugar here, but I had some and they tasted pretty much the same to me.

Friday night was definitely the highlight. I went out to a discoteca!! So Angie told me that Anna's roommate, Melissa, (also from ISU) was going to call us when they were ready and then we would all go meet at this intersection. So we all got ready, and at like 11, we got a call from Melissa. Naturally, Lindsay and I were at the wrong intersection, but we met up with Angie. We called Melissa again and we all decided to meet at the post office. So it was Anna, Melissa, their roommate Eva from Germany who left today, their roommate Carina from Pittsburg, Lindsay, Angie, me, and some other people Anna was friends with. We walked to a bar, and it was so crowded. It was literally a hallway and we had to squish through people to get through. They played some English music, like Love The Way You Lie, but also Spanish music. They played Shakira. The bartender gave us all free shots. I'm not sure what it was, but it was fruity. Then I had my first ever legal drink! I had a mojito because Anna told me I would like it. I think there is rum in it, but it was really good.

(Mojitos!!)

So after the bar, we went to a discoteca. Now normally, in the US, people go out around 10 or 11 at night and the bars close at like 2. Here, the discotecas open at like 1am. We got there a little before 2am. To get in, there were like bouncers outside. One said "cuantos anos tiene" to me, which means how old are you. I said "uh, diez y... nueve" cuz my spanish, ya know, isnt the best. The guys asked for an ID. I guess you have to be 18 to get into a discoteca. But still, I was the only one who got carded to go in. Anna said it was because I looked young and how I was dressed. I normally would feel insulted, haha, but I'm used to having people thinking I'm like 16. The discoteca was in the mall and it was called Mae West. It was huge! And there were music and there were lots of bars in the middle and around the walls. When we got in, we got coupons for 2 free drinks. I got a vodka and Fanta. It was so weird to order an alcoholic drink!! So when you order a mixed drink like that, they take a tall thin glass and fill it up halfway with the vodka. Then they give you a bottle of Fanta. Needless to say, I only had one drink. The discoteca was so crowded! There were tons of people and they, again, played some songs I knew and some in Spanish. I was having a ton of fun!! Then Lindsay pointed to her phone. It said it was 3:30am. I was so surprised. I know people in Spain stay out til like 6am, but I always thought I could never do that. Anyways, I realized then how exhausted I was. Lindsay and I stayed til 4am. Then Angie told us to get a taxi, and we got home safely. Then I went to sleep at 4:30am. I have never stayed up that late before!! Then I slept til 1pm. When I woke up, we had our other roommate here. Shes from U of I and her name is Sarah. Later I am going to go walk around Granada with her, Lindsay, and Angie. Overall, this weekend so far was really fun!!!

(ADPi sisters <>)

(in the discoteca)

(the discoteca)

Oh and for those of you who don't know, fin de semana means weekend in Spanish!!! =]