Scotish Christmas- it's BALTIC here

I arrived on the 22nd of December to Edinburgh, Scotland where I was picked up by my friend's brother and uncle and taken to Glasgow. The normally 45 minute drive took 4 hours because of a blizzard that had traffic at a stand-still. I was greeted after the long day of flying and driving by my friend Tina's parents with a warm meal of vegetable soup, steak pie and wine. It was amazing to eat food that was really close to the food that I'm used to- meat and potatoes and vegetables> after months of ham and bread and olive oil, it was a welcome change. I spent the night talking to the family and just enjoying myself. The next morning I got up to have a huge breakfast of 4 different types of sausages, eggs, toast and tea. Wow- I go on about the food, but it was so great to have incredible home-cooked food. I just spent that day with Tina's mother in the mall: I had to buy gloves. That night I went out with my friends Tina and Kieran to eat and have a few drinks before catching the bus to Edinburgh with Kieran to spend the night. The meal that I had was Haggis, turnips and potatoes- AWESOME! After some ginger beer and cider, Kieran and I caught the bus to Edinburgh.

I woke up this morning to a blizzard! The snow is everywhere, and I'm excited about being out in it at least for a little bit. The plans for today are to go to the castle and just do a little site-seeing. Tonight, I catch the bus back to Glasgow in order to be there for Christmas day with Tina's family.
Edinburgh seems to be just an incredibly beautiful old city with great architecture. Glasgow is more of the big city with tall building and the bustling crowd.

The plans for my stay are to see the dungeons in Edinburgh and maybe do a ghost tour of some of the local places. New years eve I will be on the streets of Edinburgh. I have to catch the train at 9.20 am to catch my 2 o'clock pm flight from Glasgow to Barcelona. Now I am seriously considering changing my flight to the 2nd in order to just sleep in on the first. We will see how much that change costs and if it's a prudent decision.


Oh yeah! I feel like a moron because I constantly have to ask people to repeat what they say: the accent is still really REALLY difficult for me to understand. If they aren't talking directly to me, I am usually REALLY lost, but usually it's OK if they're speaking to me. Usually I just miss a sentence or two- USALLY. I expect it will just take a few days to get used to the accent- the word differences are a different story.

28 December 2009

Still haven't done a lot of site seeing just walking around and doing a small bit of Christmas shopping. Tomorrow morning we're getting up to visit the castle before I have to go back to Glasgow. Tonight I tried to talk Kieran and Tina into going for the Terror Tour of Edinburgh at 22.00, but only Daryl, Kieran's brother and I wanted to go. Tuesday or Wednesday I WILL DO THAT TOUR!
Today was just spent relaxing around Edinburgh, with the evening spent in Kieran's flat just talking. It's so different for me because most of my previous travelling had been done solely focused on doing the touristy stuff, but a lot of my travels abroad are just doing normal stuff. It's great to spend regular days in Edinburgh.

ACCENT UPDATE: I think I've got the accent under control, but then again I haven't been around anyone except people my age lately, and it's the older generation that gives me problems it seems.
Cheers!

Quiero aprender de ti- I want to learn from you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8XzR_McpCQ

Hoy quiero aprender a recorrer vuestra noción desnuda.

Today I want to learn to pour over our naked notion.

Hoy quiero aprender eso que nunca permito en la vida.

Today I want to learn that which I never allow in my life.

Y quiero aprender y liberar de dentro esa ternura.
No lo dejaré, hoy lo haré.


And I want to learn and liberate from within that tenderness.
I won´t leave it alone, today I will do it.

Hoy quiero aprender y escucharé todo lo que me digas.

Today I want to learn and I will listen to whatever all you tell me.


Y deben saber que en vuestra voz existe la cordura.


And they should know that sanity exists in your voice.

Esa que hace ver que falta tanto en esta linda vida.

Your voice which shows that so much is lacking in this beautiful life.

Y voy a aprender, hoy lo haré.

And I´m going to learn, today I will do it.

Y cuando nadie para un rato y mira a su alrededor,
no se deja afectar.

And when no one stops for a little bit and looks around them,
it doesnt affect them.

Y es que este mundo gira tan deprisa,
sólo se llega a pensar locura de los demás y nunca miro la mía.

And it´s just that this world spins so fast,
the only thing that is thought about is the craziness of everyone else and I never look at my craziness.

Y hoy voy a entender y lo pequeño que soy en la vida.

And today I´m going to learn just how small I am in this life.

Y hoy voy a aprender que lo pequeño es grande día a día.

And today I´m going to learn that the small things are the big things from day to day.

Y hoy voy a saber y recoger toda vuestra caricia,
que llega a la piel y hará bien.

And today I´m going to know and hold on to all of your caress
that comes to my skin and it´ll do good.

Y cuando nadie para un rato y mira a su alrededor,
no se deja afectar.

And when no one stops for a little bit and looks around them,
it doesn´t affect them.

Y es que este mundo gira tan deprisa,
sólo se llega a pensar locura de los demás y nunca miro la mía.
Y que existe y que sé que ahí está.

And it´s just that this world spins so fast,
the only thing that is thought about is the craziness of everyone else and I never look at my craziness and it exists and I know it´s there.

Y cuando nadie para un rato y mira a su alrededor,
no se deja afectar.

And when no one stops for a little bit and looks around them,
it doesn´t affect them

Y es que este mundo gira tan deprisa,
sólo se llega a pensar locura de los demás y nunca miro la mia.
Y que existe y que se que ahí está.

And it´s just that this world spins so fast,
the only thing that is thought about is the craziness of everyone else and I never look at my craziness and it exists and I know it´s there.

21 Christmaseeeees, all the same except 1

My first Christmas being about 4.000 miles away from my family, and it´s really not how I expected- granted I have some days until actual Christmas, but by this time in the States I´m already at home on the coast and spending time (arguably TOO much time) with my family- and I miss it.
I guess I´m not as....cozy, we´ll say... with the idea of being away from my friends and family for the holidays, but I´m certainly glad I have the opportunity to spend it in an English-speaking country with great food (I´m sure).
Long story short- I´ll be thinking about you all during this Christmas-

Miss you all!

Lisbon, Portugal Nov. 3-6, 2009

The weekend right after Marrakesh, I went with some people to Lisbon, Portugal. The price for the flight to Portugal wasn´t as cheap as the flight to Marrakesh, but it still is cheap compared to flights in the US.
The weather in Lisbon wasn´t the best- the entire peninsula seemed to have pretty cloudy and rainy weather, but this didn´t detract from the trip as a whole. We all had a blast. We did a lot of walking and seeing as things, but we had a good mix of down-time as well which is necessary when traveling.
Portugal for me really has a Latin American taste to it because of the bright colored buildings and the food and such: all-in-all a really lively place filled with really warm people.

It was a lot of fun to speak Spanish to the Portuguese people and listen to them reply in Portuguese and THEN have to think about what that KIND of sounds like in Spanish and hopefully make the right decision on what they were saying- seriously I loved it. It´s a TON easier to read the language than to understand what they are saying, but they understand Spanish, and that made it really easy to get around.

Hostels are incredible. This hostel we stayed in was an actual real-deal hostel: filled with students traveling, many alone, and wanting to hang out and make friends. One night we didn´t go out, we just stayed in the hostel, cooked, and hung out with the other visitors in the living area. That´s what it´s all about. It´s so interesting to meet people that are basically doing the same thing are you are- it really is easy to talk to people when you are more-or-less in the same boat.

Easyjet is NOT incredible. We were delayed on the flight to and from Lisbon and not just by minutes. The thing about Easyjet is that they don´t really tell you you will be delayed. It just is something that slowly dawns on everyone. "ohhhh..ohhhh I think we´re going to be delayed." After everyone has that thought, and after the plane should have taken off for 20 minutes, then workers for Easyjet show up and change the monitor in the waiting area to "delayed." I´ll probably fly Easyjet again because they´re cheap :)

"And your very flesh shall be a great poem."
Walt Whitman

Marrakesh, Morocco: Nov. 26-29 2009

After hearing the great news that my final paper for Current Spain is not due until after Christmas, I am taking the time to fully update my blog- mainly with trips that I´ve been on.
Tina, a friend from Scotland is addicted to finding cheap plane tickets, so we were so fortunate as to find round-trip tickets to Marrakesh, Morocco for 17,50€! We spent three nights in this city in central Morocco in the North of Africa, and it was incredible.
The appearance of the city in regards to the buildings and such is supposed to be close to that in the south of Spain, but I don´t know first-hand. All I can try my best to do is describe the different world that we flew into.
First of all, it was incredibly dry- not really surprising there- but I´m not kidding, my entire body felt as if it were shriveling up. That plus the fact that you couldn´t drink the water made for a very interesting experience.
The first day that we arrived in Marrakesh we spent walking around the city and seeing what we could. It´s incredible to just wander through the incredibly small streets filled with people and mopeds. The streets are filled with vendors selling anything and everything for an extreme profit (you must bargain: offer less than half and take half price). The streets are filled with the smells of spices and food- overpowering and incredible. The main square was not far from our hostel and there you could find tons of fruits and nuts as well as people shining shoes, charming snakes, and allowing people to take pictures with their monkeys. *I was convinced that the monkeys were going to steal my money* All-in- all the general appearance was a lot like Aladdin for me (sounds ridiculous, but seriously- that´s what I thought).
Being as the country is Muslim, you can always hear the Muzim from the Minarets calling for the people to stop and pray- this occurred, obviously, five times a day. It was really quite eerie especially during the night. What´s more is that on the second day when we took an excursion out of the city to the Atlas Mountains, and we weren´t around any big cities, Muzims could always be heard doing the prayer call: the resonance in the mountains of the Salat(the 5 prayer calls) was awe inspiring.
The second day, as I just mentioned, we paid 45€ and got in a bus with a group of 7 people from the US Air Force and went for an excursion that included the following: tour of a Berber house (Berbers are an indigenous people from that region) and breakfast there, a camel ride, a hike up the Atlas Mountains to a small Waterfall, finalized by lunch in a restaurant situated in the mountains- it was an incredible day. The Berber house was one of the less interesting events of the day because it was full of tourists, but the breakfast was great. The camel ride was exactly what I hoped it would be- a ton of fun (we won´t go into the fact that camel riding in the Moroccan sun should not be done without long pants). The hike was a blast. The waterfall was interesting, but not comparable to the view from those heights. We had to go slower on the way down because of our members gets bad vertigo, and we were high up. The day was filled with people crossing things off their list of things to do in a lifetime.
The third day everything was closed because that day there was the Festival of the Sacrifice: every family previously bought a sheep and on this day the families got together, sacrificed, and ate the sheep. The entire old city was filled with the smoke of burning sheep heads and legs. In order to get out of the smog of burning sheep we took a walk to the new part of Marrakesh which is literally the polar opposite of the old part. The new city is what you would expect from any large city in the world. We did a lot of walking and just looking around that day. The day was topped off with a handsome cab ride back to the Mosque and from there, we walked to the hostal.
This was one of the more influential trips I´ve been on simply because I felt like I accomplished so much in this trip: I´d seen and done things I´ve never seen or done before- the trip was unforgettable.

"Realize that from the start, every activity that comprises the journey has value and the ability to teach you something."
Bill Toomey

First things first

I've done quite a bit of traveling in the past 2 weeks, but I will have to write about the trips to Marrakesh, Morocco and Lisbon, Portugal later because they are worth writing about, at least a little, in depth. For now I'll just give an update on what's going on here in Spain.

Life outside of school:
Everything is going incredibly well outside of school. Like I said, I've done a good bit of travel and a lot of hanging out. Christmas is coming up soon- I will be flying to Scotland on the 22nd of December until the 1st of January, and I am thinking about taking the bus from Glasgow to Manchester, England to visit some friends there; but we will see how that works out.
After having a bank account here in Spain for almost 4 months, the account was blocked because my bank Santander, which is normally great, lacked my documentation, namely my Residency Card- that kind of bothered me, but mostly because it makes no sense that they discover that they lacked documentation for me after MONTHS of having used the card. So, I presented my documentation only to be told that it would take 15 days to get everything in the computer and have it unblocked. I would probably be more perturbed by not being able to deposit or withdraw money and being literally without money to spend, but I'm getting used to this sort of thing now, and besides- what good does it do? So I'm depending on my friends and the little money that is left over from my paycheck after paying my first months rent in my new house- which brings me to my next topic: my new house.

I will pay my first months rent and receive the keys to my new house this Wednesday. The house is really big and really nice- I haven't seen my room yet, but it doesn't matter because the house is great, and the people that live there are as well. The rent is cheap and includes everything, and the house is a couple of minutes from the Plaza de Cervantes. I'm really excited, but I still have to tell the family I live with now that I am moving out.

The family I live with now are really nice, but after living with people my age for 3 years now any family (including my actual family at times) gets old really fast. I'm constantly being watched out for- Elliott, wear warm clothes because it's cold- Elliott, eat food because you're sick and need to get better- Elliott, don't go out the door with that jacket put on another one-- I'm seriously going a little crazy because of them, but I realize they're not used to having someone my age in their family.

School:

After not having done much during the semester, I am scrambling to write essays and finish projects before the 15th of December. My finals aren't until the end of January and the beginning of February, but the projects are due soon. I have a small essay for my Current Spain class, a project for Spanish Geography, and I have to translate Spanish to English and vice versa for my Translation class; but it all is coming along slowly but surely. Today is a fiesta day, so I´m trying to spend it wisely.

We´ll see how my grades look at the end of this semester, but the truth-be-told, studying in a foreign university isn´t too easy.

"We are either progressing or retrograding all the while; there is no such thing as remaining stationary in this life."
James Freeman Clarke

Barcelona: 5/11- 8/11

I´ve recently become a little obsessed with doing as much as I can because of the fact that my closest friends now, a good bit of them, will be leaving at the end of January, so there isn´t a lot of time that we have left. With this in mind, Erik, Philipp, and I bought flights to Barça. We spent 3 nights in the city and did as much as we could with our time there. I´m used to being near the water, so for me Barcelona was perfect.
In Barcelona, the people speak another language- Catalán, and yes, it is a very different language. For me, Catalán is a crazy mix of Spanish and French. I didn't really encounter much Catalán because we reek of foreigner, so everyone spoke mostly English to us. The city is incredibly international which for some reason really surprised me. So many foreign people speaking so many different languages- for me, Madrid isn´t like this much at all- but I do love Madrid, and after 3 days of reading a language I don´t know, I was happy to land in Madrid and read signs in Spanish- my brain was able to just sting with the normal "I´m not reading English" burn.
So, in Barcelona we tried to do a little, but not too much: La Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Picaso Museum, visited some of Antonio Gaudí´s houses, some parks, etc. The cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, really was impressive. Before going to Barcelona, I´d seen pictures of the cathedral, and to be honest,I wasn´t impressed by it at all- it just looked really strange. After I saw the cathedral in person and read about Gaudí´s inspirations, I was really intrigued. The thing with Gaudí is that he was obsessed with nature. With that in mind, you can see how his architectural designs mimic natural designs. In the cathedral, the pillars are supposed to be designed to look like trees, and you can always see leaves and such in his designs. Check out the website because it does a really good job of explaining the different symbology that is used:
http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/index.php
Other than the cathedral, we visited Parc Montjüic and Parc Güell- both really beautiful parks. Güell is situated on a small mountain overlooking the Port, and it is where Gaudí lived for some time.
One night we went to one of Erik´s friend´s house to hang out- and little did I know, there were all Germans there except for 3 people- me being one of those 3. It was really late at night,and I'd never met any of the people before, so it was just really awkward for me to sit there and listen to German for hours with a few Spanish conversations thrown in there (I jumped in on the Spanish conversations). Those are the delightfully awkward times that I´ll remember for the rest of my life- "you know kids, this one time I was in a room filled with Germans speaking their mother-tongue..."
The trip wasn´t without the occasional problem, however. First of all, there were 3 guys who, for the most part, wanted to do different things- Philipp is one who loves to go and do everything that is possible: efficient. Erik is one who wants to see stuff but also have some relaxing time. Me- well I tend to lean more towards the doing stuff until it´s siesta time and then relaxing, but I try to meet in the middle. Well, Philipp and Erik kind of had their awkward moments and there I was being the "non-opinionated American" (I just wasn´t going to input a 3rd opinion in a sea of really opinionated people). I think all of that may sound worse than it was- it wasn´t bad. Also, one night Erik and I (we lost Philipp because he was out still doing stuff) were walking back to the Hostel, and we took a really sketchy street that was filled with, what I can only assume to be crack- whores. I´m from the South of the US and everything is dangerous there- so I was kind of uncomfortable going down "crack-whore alley." We walked faster, and in no time, we were back to the hostel. A similar story happened the next night, but ended with black girls approaching and touching all of us (not completely inappropriately)- including jumping on Erik´s back.
All-in-all it was a great trip- One that won´t be forgotten. I´m going to have to go back to Barcelona during the Summer so that I can go to the beach. My next trip is to Marrakesh, Morocco at the end of November and Lisbon, Portugal the first of December. I haven´t bought anymore plane tickets, but I know I´ll do some small traveling around Madrid soon. I may try to spend Christmas with a friend in Dublin- but as of now, I've no set Christmas plans. It´s great because when I tell everyone I´m not going home for Christmas, and they assume I´m spending Christmas alone. When I told this to some of my Irish friends in class, this guy, Darryl came back the next day to class and said that his dad gave me permission to come-- so an Irish Christmas may happen. Also, I am starting the hunt for an apartment to move into after I´m supposed to move out of the house I´m in now- it shouldn´t be hard to do.

" Life is not governed by will or intention. Life is a question of nerves, and fibers, and slowly built-up cells in which thought hides itself, and passion has its dreams."
- Oscar Wilde

¡Acelera un poco más!

It´s been almost 2 months since I´ve been here in Alcalá de Henares, and everything is going well. Classes are in full-swing now, and I guess now everything is normal. Because I am studying history and humanities, there isn´t an urgent need to go to class, so last week I skipped a lot in order to hang out and basically just do whatever I felt like; but this week will be a "good-student" week (well, except for yesterday because I skipped Translation in order to go to the Thyssen-Bornemiszma Museum- it was worth it). Other than the random trips to Madrid, I´ve not been up to anything really interesting. I´m watching a good bit of fútbol (soccer), and it´s great. Just a good atmosphere, I think.

A couple of weeks ago, I went with 4 German guys to Toledo- we rented a car, and spent the day in the city. Toledo in car has got to be one of the most interesting things ever because of the fact that the streets are designed for people and thus are very VERY narrow. We drove a Seat Leon down streets that were literally as wide as the car, and the streets were packed with people. It was like a sick game of bowling where the car is the ball and the people were the pins- thank goodness we lost that game of bowling.
Me and my friends have booked a trip to Marrakech, Morocco for the end of November (at least I think it´s then.. really not too sure). Also, we are probably going to buy a flight to Lisbon, Portugal soon because they were just as cheap as Marrakech. I really want to travel around Spain, so a trip to Barcelona is probably going to happen soon, but it will be full price which is fine with me.
I almost forgot, last week there was a Medieval Festival here in Alcalá for a few days: food, drinks, hand- things, and different boothes showing how things were made in the Middle Ages- it was quite interesting.
The university here in Spain is a lot different from what I´m used to in the States. I don´t have to go to class because all that happens in the classes are lectures, and we only have one final exam in almost all of my classes with a few exceptions (the exceptions are just one project besides the final exam). So I try to read and keep up, but that hasn´t really worked out as well as I would like. It´s getting easier to follow my professors in class, but still my brain is mush at the end of the day. The hardest part of my days are when I have two hours in one class. I´m not used to that at all. At MSU, I find it almost unbearable to sit and listen for an hour and fifteen minutes- and here, in the 2 hour classes, most of the teachers REALLY lecture for 2 hours solid. Usually we get a break in between the hours, but if a professor is on a roll, we go straight. It was not fun in a straight 2 hour class of Historia de Europa en la Edad Media (History of Europe in the Middle Ages).

"People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Classes and life outside of the Comisaría

Classes are basically in full swing now except for "Grado" classes which start the 5th of October. I´ve had to do some rearranging (ok, quite a bit of rearranging) of my classes in order to make everything work, but I guess because we´re Erasmus, they let us do whatever we want. I only have 4 classes as of now because, after listening to my teacher in Philisophic Anthropology ramble and watching the class of native speakers struggle to follow him, I decided that would not be a wise class choice for me. This is my schedule:

Monday: Spanish Geography and Cultural History of the Middle Ages

Tuesday: Spanish Geography, Spanish-to-English (and vice-versa) translation

Wednesday: Cultural History of the Middle Ages and History of Europe in the Middle Ages

Thursday: History of Europe in the Middle Ages

Friday: NO CLASSES

The way my schedule works, and it seems to be the norm in this university, is that one day a week you are in a specific class for 1 hour and the other day it is for 2 hours, so it´s great that it works out perfectly to 3 hours a week of classes- MSU will be thankful. As you can see, it´s not a lot of classes, and the translation class won´t really count for me in MSU- I just think it´ll be helpful for me. I am going to look for a Grado class to take that will count.

Another thing, I got a job teaching english 6 hours a week, and the pay is NICE. I work in a place called Academio Metodo (I think that´s the name), and it is located on the 3rd floor of a building in the Calle Mayor (pictured). I have classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have adults and teenagers. Most of the groups are upper intermediate- although I do have a group or 2 of elementary level. I´ll just kind of follow the book that they´ve given me, but the main point is to get them to talk. Today is the first day of class, so I´m going to get suggestions from them in order to see where they want to go with the class. My friend from the UK had her first day of teaching yesterday and said that it was a lot of fun- I´m kind of excited.

The police station.

Today should be my last time to go the that hellish place. They told me to bring my health insurance information last monday, and that was all I lacked. After going there and waiting only an hour or so- I went to the table and was told that they didn´t have my letter of acceptance from the University of Alcalá (UAH) and that I have to return today with that.

One thing I´m going to do is tell the coordinators of this exchange at MSU ALL OF THE DOCUMENTS that you have to present upon arrival in Spain- there are a TON. I guess that´s why I´m the guinea pig- next year´s group will have it EASY.

It´s become evident that I could stay here for 10 months and not improve my spanish speaking too much at all because of the number of English speaking people around. So I´ve decided that I have to start studying Spanish on my own because I really do speak a good bit of English, and in the classes I can just sit back and listen- no speaking necessary. Well, I say I listen, but I´ve been in the habit of tuning out the teacher when it gets to messy with all of this huge vocabulary. I´m going to buy the books for the classes that are the most difficult and do some of my own studying so that I have a bit of a better vocabulary for the subject.
My friends and I here have decided that we´re going to stop speaking English, and we´ve been quite successful.

I think that covers all of the important points- I really need to study a little before going to the Comisaría again.

Valencia and the beginning of university classes

I left Friday bright and early with a girl from MSU and her host family to stay in Valencia in their condo. We came back on Sunday so that we wouldn´t be rushed on Monday. It was a very relaxing time on the beach. Madrid had seen a lot of rain and cold weather, so it was nice to get away and see the sun (although there is no sun in these pictures) and the warmer weather.

I did end up getting sick on the second day in Valencia with just major congestion but no fever (so no swine flu). I´m getting better, and by tomorrow I should be 100% again- we´ll see.

Yesterday was my first day of classes- I actually only went to Spanish Geography because I had to skip Social Anthropology in order to wait for 3 hours in a line at the police station in order to get a date to bring my documentation in order to get a student ID. I was literally the last person that got a date. There were five more spots and I was the 5th. I have to return next monday at 8:45 with my documents.

About university- like I said, I went to one class yesterday and there were no spanish people there- only foreigners: One girl from Germany, another from Czech Republic, and about 8 guys from the US. We don´t have to register until the 5th of October, so no spanish person has started- we Erasmus are just trying things out. Hopefully I´ll be able to go to at least ONE more class today before I go to my last day of Spanish classes. Wednesday should be pretty normal. My friends say that some of their professors don´t show up- because "real" classes haven´t gotten into full swing.

Well I´m enjoying my free time before things get going. Oh by the way- in Geography, we have 1 final exam that includes 10 questions covering everything. They don´t do multiple choice- which is a good thing for me.

LAST THING- I´m probably going to Murcia with Erasmus group the 2nd through the 4th of Octuber.

Life thus far...

I´ve been in Alcalá de Henares almost 2 weeks now, and I´m slowly getting accustomed to the life here. I didn´t think that I would have to do much "getting used to" because of the fact that I´ve been to Spain several times for decent blocks of time- but that´s not the case at all.

The sounds, smells, and people of Spain I am used to, but it´s the everyday life of a student that is different for me. Right now I am not in university classes but in intensive Spanish language courses*. As of now, my day consists of getting up at random times (always before 12, dad) and taking it easy around the house. I eat lunch around 2:30 and then shower and go to the Plaza de Cervantes at 3:30 to do homework before our 4:00 classes. I have to walk 20 minutes from my house to get to where everyone lives in the center of the city, so yesterday I left clothes and things in my friend Erik´s house and will continue strategically placing clothes in different people´s houses so that after class ends at 8:30 I don´t have to walk 20 minutes to my house, take a shower, get dressed grab a quick dinner, and run back to town to meet people in order to go out. The life of an Erasmus student, I´m learning, is quite different.

So, here I go learning how to live the life of a Spanish person. I know that everyone in the States has certain views on Spain- bullfights, siestas, and different meal times- I don´t have a great grasp of bullfights (just read hemmingway), but I think I´ve learned the reason for siesta and such: the sun.

The life in Spain is dominated by the sun. It´s so strong, and the days are horribly long. We eat lunch in Spain around 1 or 2 (I always eat at 2:3o), and then dinner at 9:30. This is strange to many people, but I think I realize why. At least for me, at 12:00, the sun is burning the brightest, and I NEVER feel like eating at this time- there´s no appetite. My friends feel the same way. As far as dinner, at 9:30 at night the sun is going down or is down and it´s cooling off- that´s when people eat.

Siesta is not as frequent in Spain anymore, but it is VERY common for the stores to close after lunch and reopen around 6. No one is out and about from 3 -4. After lunch, you´ve been tolerating the heat for a while and literally you feel drained by the sun, so you take siesta and avoid being out until it starts to cool down. I´m a huge fan of Siesta because of this reason. I´m usually pretty tired, so a 20 or 30 minute siesta is perfect.

During the morning and early afternoon I´m not doing too much, but starting at 4 I´m in class and then going out with friends. Everyone in Spain goes out at night- It´s so common to see small children in the Plaza at 1:00 in the morning. I´m usually out until 3 or later in the morning, so of course I sleep in. My dad hates this. When I´m at home he loves for me to get up early, and when I told him I´m sleeping in to 10 or 12 in the afternoon, I could see the fire in his eyes. The reason for this is because Spain isn´t the south of the United States. It´s easier for me to wait until it´s bearable outside and do my work and stay up really late and sleep when the sun is burning. Even my university classes all will start around 1 in the afternoon and go until later at night.

Finally, I want to say that it is different being a foreigner. It´s a strange thing when it is difficult to blend in. In Salamanca, when I was there for a month, I did notice it: people look at you differently, talk to you differently, and possibly treat you differently. Yesterday I had to go to the College of Law in order to get my student ID number and email address. I was in a line of 10 students from Alcalá, and I just remember going over what I was going to say in my head, practicing my pronunciation mentally, and such. When I get to the front of the line, I´m there with several people talking to people behind the desk, and I say what I´m doing and what I need- people literally stop and look at me and the guy behind the desk has a different look on his face. It´s not as if they´re angry or anything, it´s just the fact that they realize I´m a foreigner- and I know they know. People in Alcalá seem generally ok with foreigners (it´s a university town which is used to outsiders), but you can run into problems when you open your mouth and out comes this thick accent. I´m getting used to this.

I believe that this sensation of being a foreigner 4000 miles away from your home and living something different than what you´re comfortable with, should be experienced by everyone. It makes you grow as a person, learn to adapt, and also gives you the ability to UNDERSTAND how foreigners feel in our own country. Anything that brings you closer to your fellow man is a great thing. We´re all people- we may look, act, and think differently, but we´re people, and we all deserve each others respect. In the United States, we´re surrounded by foreigners, some of which will remain in our country permanantly. If possible, go out and see what it´s like to look or speak differently than the majority- it´ll change your perspective entirely.

*Classes are from 4-8:30 at night and are great. I have tested into the Advanced Spanish language course (just below the highest of Superior), and I have 2 great teachers: Vega and Alicia. Vega teaches grammar for 2 hours to our class of 13 and then, after a 30 minute break, Alicia comes in to give our 2 hour conversation lesson. On our first day of conversation class, Alicia taught us vulgar expressions and bad words- we actually legitmately arrived at the conversation after diverging from the lesson plan. She said that we should know how to respond to bad situations and how to be forceful ( it was mostly for the 10 girls in the class).

La Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

This is where, once classes start, where I will be spending my days studying and going to class. I regret to say that I have no interesting facts about the building or anything, and I am sure that some exist because this building is too old and too "grand" looking for it to never have been something interesting.

The College of Philosophy and Letters is situated in the Plaza de Cervantes. Like most of the other college buildings in town, it has a courtyard or 2. That´s one of the things that I really like about the university, the fact that most building have these relaxing courtyards and there are usually students scattered around in them.

My classes here begin the 21st of September, but it´s interesting because for the first couple of weeks the Erasmus students are allowed to visit a lot of classes in order to see what level of difficulty the class is going to be, how the teacher is, etc. We do not actually register for classes until early october- I think this is a great strategy.
Right now I have plans on taking Spanish Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, and some other literatures and histories. I really need to get online and look at the class schedule and plan my weeks.

I was really kind of nervous about the classes, but the Erasmus program is really set up well and I believe will prove to work for the benefit of the foreign students.

I´m about to go to my facultad in order to ask about my ID card ( I only have a temporary paper one now), and I need to find out about registering at the police station so they don´t kick me out of the country.

Alcalingua

Today is the first day of my intensive spanish language classes in the building called the Colegio de los Irlandeses (Irish College). The spanish courses are put on by the Universidad de Alcalá and the language school is called Alcalingua. I really like the location of the college because it´s down a long narrow street and it´s almost as if it were hidden in the Plaza de los Irlandeses.

I am almost positive that my classes will be Monday through Thursday 4 to 8:30 with a 30 minutes break. It´s a great schedule because it allows us Erasmus students to hang out after class for a long time and sleep in- I´m a huge fan.


( this picture on the bottom left is of Alcalingua taken across the Plaza de los Irlandeses- on the other side of the pictured building is the narrow street).

I took the spanish level test last friday, and today I have to go by Alcalingua in order to see what my spanish level actually is- I´m a bit nervous.

The spanish language level test is composed of 100 multiple choice questions- some very easy and some pretty tricky (some questions asked about spanish expressions that I´ll hopefully learn more about as I live here). Also, there was a very short composition portion (I feel composition is my strongpoint in Spanish), as well as a brief 2-3 minute conversation portion which was very awkward for me because the lady was trying to just " have a conversation with me," but I knew what was REALLY going on so I was definitely aware of the fact that her eyes were trying to peer through to the Spanish section of my brain- not fun.

I will be in Alcalingua until my university classes start which is the 21st of September.
Wish me luck!

Day in Madrid

Yesterday, I went to Madrid to kind of do some tourist stuff with 2 girls from Britain, Rachel and Kate, as well as 3 German friends- Erik, Saskia, and Julia. The train from Alcalá is really cheap and it takes about 30 minutes to get to Madrid.

We tried to basically do as much as we could (which still wasn´t a lot because Madrid is gigantic). We did manage to tour the Royal Palace and the Cathedral that is right next to it, and that is something I haven´t done before in Madrid. We were really getting tired of being on our feet walking on hard marble floors, so we decided to go for some food in a café that is close to the Puerta del Sol. The girls had Chocolate con Churros which is basically melted chocolate in a cup in which you dunk fried batter sticks. It´s great. Erik and I actually ate food, and I was really excited to see that they had Sidra which is a drink from the northern province of Asturias.

After gorging on food, we decided to head the el Parque Retiro in order to sit in the shade and hang out until renting a couple of boats. The boats were a ton of fun, and it was a great way to end the day.

We journeyed back to Alcalá and had a "BBQ" which was actually not a barbeque at all but just people sitting on the patio next to a grill and eating sandwhiches with chips- it was actually great. The day was actually one of the most eventful days so far: great time with good friends.

Tendilla

Yesterday I went with my host family to the small pueblo that Luís is from, and where his parents still live. It´s only about 30 minutes away from Alcalá, but it was still a nice get-away. The day was, for me, a very stereotypical spanish day.

We all got up at about 11 in the morning in order to eat a quick breakfast and head for Tendilla. After arriving at Luís´s parent´s house, we were soon greeted by 2 neighbors and Maria-Jesus´s sister, brother-in-law, and their 2 children. Outside of LUÍS´s house (Luís is the name of my host father as well as HIS father-go figure- so for the sake of being clear the older Luís is LUÍS) there is this cave- looking thing, una bodega, that they store things in. It also seems to serve as a bar of some sorts. Nevertheless, what was so interesting to me was the effect of walking down a few stairs and it being about 43 ºC (about 105 F maybe?) outside and now it has to be in the 60´s F- also this sensation of a breeze- very neat. Well besides their awesome collection of old wines and things that was about it for the bodega. We grab a bottle of wine and the paellera (paella making pan) and head back to the scorching inferno. We all sit in the house and have good wine, cheese, chips topped with clams, and great conversation(keep in mind that I´m keeping my conversation at minimum: I don´t think I´ve ever not spoke this little in- well ever). After conversing, Luis, Maria-Jesus, Daniel, and I walk to a restaurant that is down the street in order to meet some of Luís´s friends. We all hang out for at least an hour or so and around 3 we go back to LUÍS´s house to start the paella. I have no idea what time we ate lunch but it was late- even for spaniards, but it was worth it. The paella was gigantic, and there was bread, salad, and wine- I think that´s in an encyclopedia when you look up "Spanish Cuisine."

After eating lunch, we walk back to the restaurant and meet the same friends as earlier and sat and passed the time by talking and playing this game called Moose- I have no idea how to play. Finally we all slowly wander back to LUÍS´s house to grab bread and tortilla española in order to have dinner outside in the mountains with friends. We jump in a van ,and off we go wandering on this long winding dirt road until it takes us past TONS of fields of sunflowers and up into the mountains where there is plenty of shade, a cool breeze, and a monastery that no longer is used. There were about 25 people in total, and we had dinner that consisted of Jamón ( I say the spanish word for ham because I want to be clear that this isn´t grocery store ham- not even GREAT grocery store ham), grilled peppers, tortilla española, cheese, and of course... bread.

I have absolutely no idea what time we left there, but nor did anyone else. It was dark and very nice outside is all I know.

We packed up and started back for Alcalá.

The sky was completely clear, the stars were brillant, and the air fresh as we winded back through the small pueblos. As we crossed the mountains that block out the cool air of the night, you can see the bright lights of Madrid and Alcalá- the same that block out the stars. We were back in civilization- I guess I need to see what time it is.

First day in Alcalá

Alcalá de Henarés- Day 1

Today I arrived in Madrid after a long flight (thank goodness I have a great friend who can get me cheap first class tickets- that makes the flight go by smoothly). My original plan was to take a taxi to the train station and take a train to Alcalá de Henares, but I was tired and just wanted to get there; so I took a 55 euro taxi ride.
After arriving in the city I´ll be spending the next 10 months, I met my incredible host family: Luis, Maria Jesus, Soraya, and Daniel. They are a typical Spanish family, and I believe will be very beneficial to live with. Luis works as an electrician, and Maria Jesus works for the postal service. Soraya is there daughter(15) and Daniel is there son(10).
I´m feeling pretty jet-lagged now, and that was not helped by taking a long walk around the city with intermittent tapeando with Luis. Dinner is being made, and later tonight we´re going to las ferias (the fair) to do typical fair-related business.
I start 3 weeks of intensive Spanish classes beginning the 3rd of September, and after that I will start my university classes the 23rd of September.

No pictures today- maybe tonight.

Preperation for a year away and the State of the Exchange Address

During the next school year, I, along with three other undergraduate students will be representing Mississippi State University in the first exchange program with the Universidad de Alcalá de Henarés. This is an incredible opportunity, but with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes the burden of leaving behind friends and family for an entire year (well, ten months actually).

This blog is for family, and any friends and anyone who would like to follow, although, as usual; I´m sure to get verbose and even boring.

As of right now, I just wanted to get used to the whole blogging thing, and give an update on where I am exactly in the process of becoming a student of the University of Alcalá de Henarés.
As I said, there are four of us in total: Lastarsha Jammerson, Kim Fron, Robert Jones, and myself. We´re all in different majors at Mississippi State University, but we´re all linked by Spanish. I can´t speak for anyone else in the group, but as of now, I have been accepted by MSU for the program, and have applied directly to UAH. I have been in contact with the Office of Socratés-Erásmus which deals with all exchanges, and they have all of my materials. I am waiting now for a letter from UAH stating that I will be a student next year in Alcalá with which I can apply for a student visa at the Spanish Consulate in New Orleans. Once I get my student visa, I have only to apply for a family to live with, and I will be ready.
I have to be in Alcalá for three weeks of intense Spanish lessons by September 1, but I will more-than-likely try to arrive by the middle or end of August to get settled and used to Alcalá and hopefully go see some friends in Catania, Italy. After three weeks of Spanish lessons, I will officially register for my classes and attend orientation. I should be placed in the College of Humanities where I will finish up a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish by taking some much lacking humanities and social sciences (I say much lacking because getting a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology doesn´t require near as many hours of humanities and social sciences: I´m behind).
To prepare for next year, I´m spending the majority of my Summer working at the Social Science Research Center in Starkville, and, for three weeks, at the North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. I´m trying to save money and find scholarships to help pay for next year, and it´s definitely keeping me busy.
Finally, I´m trying to prepare for my final Medical College Admissions Test in June, so I can go to Spain without having to think about that test any more. I may decide to go ahead and start my application to medical school for fear of not being able to access the website next summer while I´m in Spain. All of this said, I do plan on coming back for my "super-senior year" and finish the few classes I have left in Microbiology and then going to medical school with the knowledge and experience that a year abroad in a foreign country will have given me.
It may be a little difficult leaving family and friends for this long of a time, but I believe that after a year away I will return with the ability to not only appreciate the differences in opinions, politics, and ways of life of other people; but the ability to view my nation with different eyes, and this is something that I think is extremely important in today´s world.
Maybe I´m completely wrong about the gravity of this trip. Maybe it will be a superficial and even boring. But, I invite the boredom because, hey, I´m going to Spain.

I´m a huge fan of quotes as you´ll be able to see, but I end with this quote by Mark Jenkins. "Adventure is a path. Real adventure-self-determined, self- motivated, and often risky- forces you to have first-hand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness, and bottomless cruelty of humankind- and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white."