I can´t feel my toes!

Literally, I can´t feel my toes it is so cold here right now. I have lived in southern California my whole life where seasons do not exist. I definitely need to buy some winter wear or else this next month and half is going to be a long one. I went to the Alhambra this morning with my art history class. I would have enjoyed it so much more if my toes were not numb, but nonetheless it was beautiful. We climbed up the torre which was this tower at the Alhambra where a view of the entire city awaited us. The details on the wall were ridiculous as well. I love that I can see a lot of the arquitecture and paintings that we study in art history down the street. Anyway, class is really starting to pick up and I have 4 midterms next week. Great.

On a happier note, I was having intense American food cravings so Haley and I went on a search for comfort foods from home. At the conclusion of our quest, we had an amazing dinner consisting of Top Ramen noodles, chips with salsa and queso, corn nuts, oreos, and cookie dough ice cream. Ramen never tasted so good.

Btw...Congrats Obama! Even though my Senora calls you Oama, Omaba, or Boama.

Theme of Morocco: "It's All Part of the Experience"

So Morocco happened about 3 weeks ago, but school and life has picked up so I am blogging about it now.

After the first week of school, I prepared myself for the Sahara Desert and a week in Morocco. I experienced things that I never would have in my life had I not gone on this trip, and I really tried to take in all of it. We started the trip with 2 days in Fez at 5 star hotels. Then we went to the other extreme and camped out in camel wool tents in the Saharra Desert. After, we concluded our trip with a night in Meknes before heading home. There are a million and one things I could write about it, but I guess I’ll just include highlights:

Things in Morocco that I won’t miss:

- Feeling like I was going to die on the first ferry ride across the Strait of Gibraltar: I have never felt so nauseous in my life. Keep in mind this was a huge ferry that fit our bus on it. There was a warning out in the sea after our ferry crossed and all other vessels were prohibited from crossing the rest of the day.
- Bread: Even though it was one of the safe foods that I knew wouldn’t get me sick, I couldn’t look at bread for at least 2 days after because I definitely OD’ed on it in Morocco.
- Sitting for 12 hours at a time on the bus
- Popping dramomine and bifidus pills: I swear people were like pharmacies, equipped with every sort of pill you would need for your stomach, motion sickness, headaches, etc. etc.
- Creeper Moroccan guy at the Fez club ruining our ISA dance circle: This was the biggest buzzkill I’ve ever seen and it was hilarious. Imagine 20 people in a group simultaneous stop dancing once someone creeps on you.
- Holes in the ground as toilets: no details necessary.
- The smell of the tannery and every leather product made there: By far, number one or two on the worst smells I’ve smelt in my life list.
- The smell of our camel wool tent
- The smell of our camel wool tent after it rained
- The smell of our bus after people ate their bocadillos and sour cream and onion Pringles

Things in Morocco that I’ll miss a lot:

- The beauty of an African lightning storm in the desert
- Sunrises in the Sahara Desert
- Chatting about life and dancing with Berbers (or sand people as Gina called them) on top of sand dunes
- Rocking a turban on the daily
- Feeling like real life Indiana Jones on the 4 by 4 jeep ride to the dessert
- Eye opening new cultural experiences
- Constantly singing “A Whole New World” because the streets in the Medina were reminiscent of Aladdin
- Cous cous, Moroccan tea, and the breakfast flat bread
- Stealing desserts from the hotel in Fez
- Laughing at how awkward everyone looked riding their camels
- Strolling around Meknes and learning random facts from our personal tour guide, Chris (ISA Meknes)
- Bonding and having the most random conversations on our bus rides
- Seeing the little children in the pueblos after they received our presents
- Henna tattoos
- Moroccan dance party and live music in the tent
- EVERYTHING ELSE!!!

Even with the things I won't miss, everything was part of the experience and I tried to soak it all in. By far, Morocco was one of the coolest trips I have ever been on.

A much needed update

I have not blogged in a very long time and there is so much to catch up on. It´s been a couple weeks since the last time I have shared my stories online and since then a ton has happened that I need to blog about, in particular my week in Morocco. On the way home from class today, Haley and I were chatting about how fast time is going by and how few weekends we have left here. I like the way how people studying abroad are living with the mentality not to take any day for granted and seize every chance you get because we know we are not going to be in Spain forever. That´s the mentality that I want to take back and keep with me during the rest of my college days and in life, in general.

More stories about Morocco, weekend excursion to Cordoba, first visit to Botellon, and other random but notable Granada adventures coming soon.

Btw...Taking pictures is prohibited at the Ceuta, Spain - Moroccan border. Luckily, I did not get caught by scary border patrol when I took mine :)

My first week of classes...

...only lasted 2 days thank goodness. I tried to listen to everything my professors said, but tuning out is a million times easier when they are not speaking to you in your native language. My classes are a little boring right now, but I can already tell that my art history class is going to be great. My professor started off class with a hilarious slideshow about himself and sang us an opera song.

For now, I have some important business to tend to. One of the best heladerias, Los Italianos will be closed in half a week and I have to go before it does!! Oh yeah I should pack from Morocco too. I leave early this morning at 4am and I´m beyond excited to be in the African dessert for a week. But anyone who knows me knows how much I hate packing, so I´ll probably be up at 3am finishing up.

Sparknotes version of Milan, Athens, and Barcelona

I am now back in Granada after 10 days of crazy travels and adventures. I loved travelling, but it feels great being back in a familiar city with home cooked meals and clean clothes.

Back to recapping...

MILAN

After London, I had a one day layover in Milan which was such an interesting day. Since we were going to be in Italy less than 24 hours, we thought it would be fine to just roam around the city and bum it at the airport. We visited a cathedral and this castle in Milan. I know I´m so great with the details and historical narration. I had the best pizza I´ve tasted in my life for lunch and I´m not just saying that because I was in Italy. I am so thankful for my ability to sleep under any circumstance and I got to utilize my talent in a random park by a castle during my normal siesta time. That night was even better because we bummed it like homeless people at the Malpensa airport in Milan. I made the night as comfortable as possible with a duffel bag as my pillow and towel and sweater as my blankets, and of course, the airport floor as my mattress. There was a ton of people sleeping at the airport which was pretty funny. This one guy came extremely prepared and even had a rainbow blowup mattress. After getting through that night, we were on our way to Athens!

ATHENS
If you have a chance to go, take it!!! By far, the coolest stop on the Eurotrip. Our hostel, Athens Backpackers was amazing. It was around the corner from the Metro stop, 5 minutes walking distance to the Acropolis, and they had a rooftop bar with a view of the Parthenon. No wonder it is rated the number one hostel in Athens. It was insane walking daily amidst ancient Greek structures. On the way to a club one night, we passed the Temple of Zeus in the middle of the city and I just couldn´t believe how much history was in this one place. Of course, I visited the Acropolis and it was as beautiful and amazing as in the pictures. We walked up there early in the morning to avoid the crowds of tourists, but the early wake up call was worth it. It started raining after about an hour and a half so that was our cue to go. On our first day, we found a gyro place and a Greek pastry place that we visited twice a day. I miss gyros and baklava already!

I also got the chance to visit the Greek island of Aegina. We ate lunch on this restaurant that was on the Myrtoo Sea and I devoured the best calamari I´ve ever tasted. We spent the rest of the day laying out on the shore and shopping before we headed back to Athens. That night in Athens, the people at our hostel took us to a hip hop club called The Fuzz. The DJ was terrible but it was nice to hear familiar music. Not that I didn´t enjoy hearing that European song "Me Likey Likey" over and over, but I have not heard Kanye or Nas in a really long time. I was so sad to leave the next day and I´m pretty sure none of the girls were ready to go. I have to go back and visit Santorini. After one more stop to visit Cristoff, the pastry man, we headed out to Barcelona.

Btw...Athens is the coolest.

BARCELONA
Since I am obsessed with the Olympics, I loved seeing the 1992 Olympic village. The Sagrada Familia and Park Guell were incredibly impressive and seeing them made me want to learn more about Gaudi. But for the most part, Barcelona reaffirmed how much I do not like big cities and how much I appreciate Granada. We went on a bike tour with an Aussie guide which was definitely one of my highlights. I sported a yellow bike with sunflowers around the town. There´s just something abotu riding a bike along the Mediterranean in beautiful weather that gets you. The last time I rode a bike, I was with Tracie and Christian and I hit a wall. This time, I only ran into a guy on the bike in front of me and almost crashed into Megan. So I´d say I´m pretty good on a bicycle. I swear I know how to ride one. I got back to Granada that night and woke up way early for my first semester class.

Btw...Barcelona imported the sand from Egypt and the palm trees from Hawaii to construct their beaches.

Starting from London...

...which was a great city to start out my 10 day Eurotrip. I think I saw all the sights in 3 days that I possibly could have without exhausting myself. I hit up most of the tourist spots (Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, St. Paul´s Cathedral, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, etc. etc...) and was freezing my butt off the entire time. Our hostel was definitely different than the 6 person bedroom and ocean view hostel in Malaga. Imagine 24 people in one room and 3 story bunks. I did not even know they made 3 story bunks. On my first night, Elizabeth and I slept in a room with some guy who had to have had sleep apnea or something because he was the loudest snorer I have heard in my life.

The next day, we picknicked with KFC in Hyde Park and walked hundreds of stairs in St. Paul´s Cathedral where a breathtaking view of London awaited us. It´s such a huge city and there was so much more I wanted to see, but the dollar-pound exchange rate was killing me. The next hostel night was a hundred times better and we ended up chatting and having our €2 pizza and classy €6 red wine with some Italians, Croatians, and Polish people. Mix all of us together and it made for some interesting conversations and fun times. After 3 days in London, we made our way to Milan for a day which is a whole other story in itself.

Btw...The British Museum has one of the largest exhibits of Egyptian artifacts.

Some things just make me laugh...

...like watching television with Senora Felipa. Sometimes watching her watch TV is more entertaining than watching the television show itself. The other day, we were watching the news and she saw this politician that she thinks is ridiculous. She straight up called him a piece of sh*t in Spanish. She is a 73 year old grandmother, mind you. She's all about the table manners and etiquette, but not when it comes to talking about crazies on TV. Today during lunch, she saw this really provocative model for Wonderbra on a news segment and called the girl a c*nt. I thought to myself, "Wow. I can't believe senora just said that." Ugh I hate that word, but apparently it's a pretty common slang word and not as rude in Spain as it is in the U.S. Oh Senora Felipa...

Hmm some other things...I talked to my parents on the phone the other day after one month of no phone. I'm glad that they are doing well. I have my final on Friday where I'm going to be tested on 80 hours of intensive Spanish grammar and speech. I guess you could say that I am studying hard tonight because I am going to grab tapas and drinks with some of the girls and Spanish intercambios. If that's not studying and practicing Spanish, I don't know what is. I'm getting good at rationalizing things.

Btw...UC San Diego starts school on Sept. 25th. Good luck tritons!

It´s raining, it´s pouring...

...well not really but it rained for the second time since I´ve been here. The last time I walked 35 minutes to school without an umbrella and I was drenched by the time I got to class. Needless to say, I learned my lesson. Today, I definitely made use of the hot pink umbrella that Giecel and Jhoanne gave me before I left. Thanks girls! After class, senora had an amazing lunch of fresh french fries and chicken with peas and mushrooms waiting for us. As always, it was way too big and I couldn´t finish it. I´ve already asked her twice if I could have smaller portions, but I guess she forgets or something. She likes to call me out on my manners too and ever since I´ve lived with my senora, I realize that I chew loudly with my mouth open and I put my elbows on the table. Oops...whatevs. It´s cool I know senora Felipa loves me and Haley. She definitely does not know our names yet, but I don´t mind being "guapa" or "la otra chica." My stomach hurt after lunch so I walked around Camino de Ronda which is the closest main street to my apartment and went to El Corte Ingles which is like Fedco (remember Fedco back in the day?...I loved that store).

Today, we have a meeting with ISA about our trip to Morocco during the second week of October. I can´t believe I get to go Africa!! I am beyond excited for all the trips that are coming up. After my final on Friday, I have a 10 day break before the University of Granada starts school which means EUROTRIP!!! A couple of the girls in ISA and I are going to hit up London, Milan, Athens, and Barcelona before starting the semester in October. When we get back, this city is going to be filled with around 70,000 university students all in one place. I can´t wait for the madness.

Btw...Granada has the most Eurasmus (Europe´s student exchange program) students of any European city. At least that´s what Ross, the Scottish guy in my Spanish class says.

Just a mini recap

I´ve lived in Spain for nearly a month...crazy huh? Since I didn´t start blogging until a week or so ago, I figured I´d recap some of my most memorable times thus far.

- Gula Gula in Madrid: a huge group of girls from the ISA program and I went to a drag queen show in Madrid. It was pricey, but came with a buffet and a hilarious show. I didnt understand 3/4 of the dialogue since the actors were talking a mile a minute. I'm pretty sure they made some jokes about America, but I probably just took my social cues and laughed along. But some things like really outrageous dancing to Mama mia songs in drag is the same in every country.
- Valle de los Caidos: on our way to Toledo from Madrid, we stopped at this huge church that was built by Franco´s slaves after the Spanish Civil War. It was unsettling because it was this gorgeous structure with a huge cross and church, but over 900 slaves died building it.
- El Escorial: this was a huge monastery that we stopped at on the way to Toledo as well. Behind the Catholic library at the Vatican, it had second most important Catholic library with books from the New Testament and scripture dating back to the 5th or 6th century.
- Toledo: I absolutely fell in love with this town! It´s so cute and a lot smaller than Madrid, which I liked a lot. It was the location of my first tapas bar experience. I loved it all...the huge Cathedral, the cobblestone streets, the mix of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian influence. It´s a little too small for me to want to spend my semester, but it was lovely to visit.
- Flamenco show in the Albaicin (barrio in Granada): geez these dancers are intense! We went to this cave where they have small flamenco shows and I got my first taste of Spanish performing arts live.
- Churros con chocolate: like funnel cake times a thousand. ahhh i need to go back to the churroria in that plaza.
- Tinto de verano at the park: a night of 4 bottles of tinto, a random park in spain, good company, and conversations that probably won´t be repeated again. Plus, Elizabeth (one of the girls in our program who lives close by) stepped in mud and it looked like her foot was covered in poop. That was a good 5 minute laugh.
- Festival of Zaidin: I went to this Spanish indy rock festival that was also a fair. I kid you not, the carnival rides were at least 7 minutes long. It was such an intense ride that I have a battle wound in the form of a bruise on my arm. I definitely got my euros worth though. After, we saw this Spanish band called Lori Meyers. They had a Rooney-ish sound and a Beetles look. I really enjoyed it and the crowd was awesome. With a chocolate churro to top it off, I had so much fun going to a really popular Granada event.

I could write a ton more, but those are just some of the highlights thus far. More good news! I finally got my phone which better work this time. The last one they sent me was broken. For this entire month, I have not communicated with anyone from home except via email or facebook. I can´t wait to call my family.

Btw...If you are 3 years old or younger, the Spanish government gives you 100 euros a month. This was intiated about 10ish years ago as an incentive to get people to start popping out more babies. I guess families figured that kids were too expensive.

And my first hostel experience...

…was nothing but good things. We got to Malaga, which is this beach town about 2 hours away from Granada. Our cab driver was very nice as he pointed out things that we should see. He started talking about Picasso, since Malaga is Pablo Picasso’s hometown. I swear he said that he’s had dinner with Picasso in Paris, but I figured I was tripping out and attributed it to my lack of Spanish comprehension. Then my friend, Elizabeth who understands pretty well said she heard the same thing. Whatever cab driver, if you said you had dinner with Picasso, you had dinner with Picasso. We got to our hostel, The Melting Pot which was about a two minute walk to the beach. We hung out at the beach for a good three hours and I have some great tan lines to show for it. The sand on the Mediterranean coast has nothing on the beaches in San Diego, but it was nonetheless very beautiful. Kellee, Elizabeth, and I were swimming in the sea when it hit us again that, “Wow we’re in Spain swimming in the Mediterranean Sea just because we can.” It sounds silly and so obvious, but I’m always experiencing different things here that just stop and make me think…whoa I´m actually here! When we got back to the hostel, one of the guys who worked there gave us free drinks and sat and chatted with us. He told us that he loves it in Malaga because it´s all about living in the moment. He said in France and in the U.S., it´s all work work work. I love that vibe about Spain. The staff was all young people, mostly from France who were all very chill. The Melting Pot set a pretty high standard for hostels in general so I’m hoping the rest of the hostels on my Eurotrip next week can keep up.
The next day, we walked up a gajillion steps and hills to get to the top of this Muslim fortress in Malaga. It had a great view of the city, including the Plaza de Toros. Before, I thought I wanted to see a bull fight, but after seeing some on TV which was just awful, I think I´m good with just seeing the arena. After, we went to the Museo Picasso Malaga. I felt so dense because I did not understand a lot of the art pieces at all. There was this one clay pot with 3 faces painted on it. I swear it looked like 3 happy faces with little hair strands that a pre-schooler drew. Okay, maybe a first grader. I know that I probably sound ridiculously uninformed right now. No offense to Picasso because some of his pieces were amazing. We strolled around a little more and of course, got helado, then it was time to head back to Granada.

Btw…The heladerias (ice cream shops) here close after the last week in September. Sigh…que triste.

Meeting new intercambios...

So yesterday night, some girls in the program, Kim and Pamela, and I met up with the intercambios that we met at our exchange on Tuesday. There was that initial awkwardness when we first got there, but that was over once we all got over the small talk. We went to a tapas bar at Plaza Einstein then to an Irish pub after. This forces me to practice my Spanish and hang out with locals which is nice. There were 4 intercambios...Antonio, Juanra, Ricardo, and Nacho. So the last guy said his name at the beginning of the night, but I could not hear. I don't know if his name was actually Nacho but I didn't want to ask half way through the night so for now, he is Nacho. All of them work and a couple of them are Ph.D. students at the university here so they have a good 6-7 years on me. It was a little different at first because here I was talking about being home for my senora’s dinner at 8pm and there they were talking about finishing up their dissertations. Oh well…I fulfilled the purpose of the intercambio exchange and practiced my Spanish. Sure I said “vale” and “claro” to some of the things they said even if I didn’t get it, but that’s basically the story of everyday. When in doubt, nod my head, make a face like I know exactly what they said, and refer to one of the many default responses I have consolidated in my memory. The whole language thing is leaps and bounds better than when I first got here for sure though.

Btw…Granada means pomegranate J

Estoy cansada...

I had the hardest time getting up this morning. I definitely took a 2 hour siesta yesterday afternoon but I guess it wasn´t enough. I went to a Chinese restaurant (or what they call a "chino") yesterday with my roommate Haley and her friend from Austin. The beef fried rice was delicious! They had something on the menu called "arroz con tres sorpresas" but I thought it was best to stay away. I´m not really a fan of surprises in my food. After, we met up with some other people and paid a visit to our bartender friend Jose Antonio at his bar called "Obellisco." We have a strip of bars right in front of our apartment so I wave to him whenever I see him through the window. I´m not too adventurous so I stuck with my tinto de verano con blanca o limon (red wine with lemonade or white wine). Since the bar is basically in our front yard area, I didn´t have to walk too far before I made my way to a good night´s sleep...only to find myself awake the next morning for a 30 min. walk to the university and a 9am class.

Btw...in Greece, the hand signal for stop (you know sticking your hand out in front of you) means the same thing as flipping someone off in the U.S. How I love the variety of things we learn in class!

Oh the places your mind wanders during class...

For some reason, class was incredibly difficult to get through today. It´s so much easier to zone out when your professor isn´t speaking to you in your language. I looked around and everyone kind of seemed like they had checked out at least half an hour before class ended. My mind did wander off to some random thoughts like...

- I miss Mexican food. If whoever picks me up from the airport in December brings me a California burrito, I will be in debt to you for a long time.
- On average, I see about 5 mullets a day and it never gets old. The twentieth one I see is as ugly as the first one.
- Chrissie´s coming in November!
- Kim ate my biscotti off the floor despite the ants crawling centimeters away. What a trooper for not being wasteful.

Anyway, we have our intercambio exchange tonight. Hopefully it´s not awkfest 08 as Haley would say. Either way, at least I´ll get to practice my Spanish. For now, Senora probably has a massive sized lunch waiting for me at home. Then after, I´ll do what I do everyday...siesta!!! We definitely have to bring that to the U.S. ASAP.

Btw...The prince of Spain´s 3 year old daughter started school at a place where they teach in more than 3 languages. She doesn´t even have to use a whole hand to count her age. I feel so adequate with my knowledge of only English...yay for me!