I’m alive!

Hey all! I know I haven’t written in forever. Apparently I’m as much of a failure at blogging as I am at journal writing! I am alive and for the most part well. Hard to believe, but I only have one week of classes left followed by exam week, so things are getting pretty stressful here. I definitely won’t have time to fill in all my missing entries before I leave, so what I’m going to do is give you a brief overview (in the form of a list) of what I’ve been up to and once I have time (i.e. when I get back to the States) I will write the entries I would have written on all of these events (and possibly more) and will post pictures too.

So, since London I’ve…

…been to Toledo, one of the oldest cities in Spain that’s renowned for its swords and gold crafts—it also has lots of paintings by El Greco

…did a whirlwind six day trip to Paris, Rome and Barcelona before Semana Santa

….pulled the biggest April Fool’s Day joke of my life (and am quite proud of it!)

…saw 15 processions during Holy Week

…finally visited Plaza de España and got sunburned

…went to Cadiz (on the coast) and spent a few cold hours on the beach

…visited Michelle and her family in Ireland

…was visited by my parents (yay!)

…turned 20???!!!

…saw my first bullfight, went paddle boating on the Guadalquivir, saw lots of Flamenco dresses during Feria, and did a carriage ride through the historic city center

…and last but not least am currently writing my 25 pages worth of final papers in Spanish (guess I should probably stop procrastinating by writing this blog entry)

I can’t believe how much time has flown and can’t wait to actually give you full updates on what I’ve been doing! Until next time (whenever that may be)!

Brittany

So, after the two weeks of midterms were finished, Michelle and I decided to extend our usual three day weekend into four days (skipping one day of classes) to go to Barcelona for two days and London for two days. It was a fabulous trip!

We left Seville on Thursday night and flew to Barcelona. We unknowingly ended up flying to an airport that is actually an hour and a half outside the city center, so we didn’t end up getting to our hostel until after one in the morning, but we made it safe and sound nevertheless. The next day we walked around Barcelona, went down to the waterfront, enjoyed the weather, saw the cathedral, and looked around some shops. We didn’t actually have a ton of time in the city because we got a little bit of a late start and our flight for London left at around 5 meaning we had to catch the bus to the airport at one thirty. What I saw of Barcelona I really liked, the city has a nice feel to it and I was very glad that we were going to spend more time there on our way back.

Our flight to London was magical. I know that’s a weird word to use to describe a flight, but the plane flew low enough so that we could always see the scenery below. We flew directly over the Pyrenees Mountains and it was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a firsthand aerial view of an entire mountain range, but it was incredible (and also made me really want to go skiing!) Not only that, but at one point Michelle and I looked out the window and using our map were able to tell exactly what part of France we were flying over as we passed a bay with a very particular shape. It was sooo cool to look at something on a map and turn and look out the window and see the same aerial view!

We arrived in London without problems and proceeded to our hostel in Swiss Cottage. By the time we got settled in it was around eight thirty and we went out in search of a place to eat, which was much easier said than done. Coming from Spain where dinner is served around 9:30 or 10 to England where restaurants stop serving food at 8:30 was quite a shock! We ended up buying food at a grocery store called Waitrose, which was probably one of the best decisions we made because with the food I bought there I think I spent about 14-15 pounds total on food the whole weekend! Considering that London is one of the most (if not the most) expensive cities to visit, I was quite proud of myself. On a similar note, it was really weird being in an English speaking country again. I’m so used to having to speak Spanish and having to plan what I want to ask people when asking for directions or anything else, that I found myself mentally preparing to ask for directions in English! It was a very weird feeling!

On Saturday we got a very early start and tried to pack as much of London as possible into one day. We started at the British Museum, which was fascinating. I saw the Rosetta Stone first hand, several mummies, art work from the Parthenon and so much more! There was this fascinating exhibit on life and death which had all the pills that one man and one woman would take in their lifetime laid out in one very long display case. It’s amazing how much medicine we consume!

After the British Museum I went to the Tower of London while Michelle went to the National Gallery. The Tower of London was awesome, although very pricey (14.50 pounds with the student discount!). I took a free guided tour and the guide was hysterical. He got the entire tour group to sing Happy Birthday to a guy in the group. The yeomen, as he was called, told many stories about the prisoners from the tower in a very fun way. After that I had just enough time to see the Crown Jewels and the graffiti from the Tower Prisoners before meeting up with Michelle at the Globe Theater. We didn’t actually get there with what we felt was enough time to be worth the entrance fee, but I did see the exterior. We then went to Victoria Square area where we bought tickets to the longest running play in the world: The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. After getting dinner at this really fabulous restaurant we went to the show. The show was awesome and a very fun experience. I think I need to read more Agatha Christie, because I absolutely loved this play! After the play we ended the night by walking around the city so I could see Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. I ended up climbing one of the statues so I could take a picture with one of the lions…I’m such a Phi Mu dork!

Sunday morning I got up early and went to Mass at Westminster Cathedral (not the Abbey, which I didn’t get to see) and then went up the bell tower there to see a very nice view of London. After taking several pictures I met up with Michelle and caught the bus to the airport. The flight back wasn’t quite as exciting (or pretty) as the flight there, but was good nevertheless. We went back to the same hostel we’d stayed at on Thursday and after getting a one euro meal at a restaurant close by, I spent a good portion of the night doing homework. I went to bed very late, but it’s the price I had to pay for not doing more of it before I left.

Monday was our final day of the trip and our second day in Barcelona. We spent the day exploring Gaudi’s works of modern architecture. I was very surprised by how much I liked it. I never considered myself to be a huge fan of modern art, but after touring La Pedrera, one of Gaudi’s works, I discovered that I really liked it. La Pedrera was really cool and they had one floor set up like an apartment would have been when the building was used as such. I really enjoyed learning about it. For me it was really interesting to hear what Catalan, the geolect spoken in Barcelona, sounds like. It’s kind of a mix between Spanish and French and it was really weird to see the audio guides in the exhibit divided in Castellano and Catalan when I’m so used to there just being one “Spanish”. After that we got lunch (not the best experience we’ve had) and walked to La Sagrada Familia, the world’s most visited construction site! It was incredible. Next time I’m there (next week in fact, I think I’m going to try and tour the inside). We then caught the bus back to the airport and flew back to Seville. Overall it was a fantastic, but exhausting weekend! 

Wow, I haven’t written in over a month. That’s not good. Life got a little hectic with midterms and everything else, but I will try and catch everyone up with what’s going on here.

First, the Morocco trip. I enjoyed Morocco, but it wasn’t my favorite place nor do I feel compelled to go back there. We left on Friday afternoon at around 2, took a bus to Gibraltar, and then took a ferry across the straight to the Spanish city of Ceuta. From there we took another bus to the border, crossed into Morocco and arrived at our hotel in Tetuan just in time for dinner. It took us a really long time to cross the border because many people work in Ceuta and buy things in bulk there and then transport them across the border to see in Morocco. I’m not entirely sure that it’s legal, but there you go.

The food in Morocco was great and for the most part it was served in one big dish in the center of the table and everyone grabbed what they wanted. Our hotel was on a beach but we were advised not to go walking along it at night as it wasn’t that safe.

On Saturday morning we got up and did a walking tour of the Medina or old city in Tetuan. I have no idea why, but all throughout the tour I had this really uneasy feeling, that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when something doesn’t feel right. It wasn’t as if we weren’t safe…we were with a guide and there was another guide at the back of the group to make sure that nothing happened and that no one got lost. It was really weird and I think I was the only one to feel that way, but there you go. The city center was different from anything I’d seen before. The streets have no rational order to them (much like the streets in Seville) and are very narrow, and full of people and street vendors. Like I said, it was not what I was used to, but I’m really glad that I got to see it.

The tour was definitely tourist oriented. They brought us into a pharmacy and the guide explained what the various spices and oils were used for and then sold us the products. I bought a small block of musk, which I found out later was way overpriced, but oh well…you live and learn. We also went to a rug making factory that government gave to the Berbers so they could have somewhere to practice their craftsmanship. Some of the rugs were absolutely phenomenal. It’s a good thing that Dad wasn’t there because otherwise he never would have left! The salesmen have their techniques down to a science. They first asked us to say which rugs they liked which they then proceeded to put in front of you. Afterwards a different salesperson would lead you away from the group and try and get you to buy something. They say that there’s “no pressure” but pressure is what you feel when they keep trying to “give you good deal” and pull out other rugs if it isn’t to your liking. I managed to resist them, but my friend Dave ended up buying a very pretty rug at what I think was a pretty good price (but then again what do I know about buying rugs?)

The next part of the trip was my favorite. We took a bus to Tangiers, passed through the city and went to a lighthouse where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea. It was absolutely gorgeous and I wish we’d had a little bit more time there. My teacher and I hiked halfway down the cliffs to get closer to the water and I swear that if we’d had fifteen more minutes we would have made it down to the water and I could have had one foot in each of the bodies of water. After that we went down the road a ways to a place where you can ride on a camel. It was basically a dusty parking lot, but I didn’t care because for two minutes I was on a camel!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a camel up close before, but it was fascinating how it sits down on the ground. Instead of having just one knee joint that separates the leg into two parts, camels’ legs have three parts which meant that whenever the camel went down so a person could mount or dismount, the bottom most part of the legs were facing out in front of the camel instead of behind.

Next we went to the cave of Hercules, which was really cool. There’s an opening in the cave that is shaped like Africa!

We then arrived back in Tangiers and had free time that afternoon. I went out with a group of students to look at the market and just browse around. Some of the stalls were pretty cool and I ended up buying a ridiculous looking trinket for my host mom. We ran into Victor (our professor) at one of the stores and a few of us headed back with him to the hotel. Walking back made me appreciate being a girl in America. It was really weird to walk down the street and see that in every single bar and café there were only males. Not only that, but to quote Michelle, you almost felt like a piece of meat when walking by the bars because every single person in the bar watched you walk by. It was creepy.

That night Keirstin and I decided to go to this optional dance show that the tour offered. At the last second Victor decided to come too. The first dance number consisted almost entirely of a girl in Berber dress shaking her hips to the music for the entire song. I thought I had just been tricked into going to perhaps the worst dance show of my life, but what happened throughout the rest of the show made it all worth it. You see, the show was actually interactive, so they dragged audience members on stage and got them to help with the act or in some cases dance. Getting to watch my history professor get dragged up multiple times was well worth the money J. There were some other audience members who were absolutely hysterical…my favorite being the what had to be over sixty year old overweight man who’s shirt was taken off and was then given a belly dancing top to participate in a full belly dance number. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in my life!

On Sunday morning we took a bus to Chefchouan where we met up with the cutest old man who acted as our guide through the city. The city was really cool and we had quite a bit of time for shopping, which I took advantage of and bought a pair of house slippers that I’ve been wearing nonstop ever since. We then had lunch and took the bus back to the border where we rode the fairy again and then bused back to Seville.

It was a very interesting weekend and I can now say that I’ve been to Africa! I also think that the William and Mary students broke some sort of world record for the number of Mafia games we played on the bus that weekend….I think every time we were on a bus we were playing Mafia, which was highly entertaining especially when we convinced Victor to play for a few games!     

Esta semana por fin enseñé algo. Decidí empezar con el vocabulario necesario para concertar una cita. Para concertar una cita en inglés se  necesita saber los números (cardinales y ordinales), los días, los meses, cómo decir la hora y la fecha, y el vocabulario necesario para hablar con un cliente.

Empezábamos con los números. La mayoría de los estudiantes ya sabían los números pero repasábamos los números hasta sesenta. Después empecé los números ordinales hasta treinta y uno. Estos conocimientos son importantes, pero no sabía una manera divertida para enseñarlos. Hice una presentación en Powerpoint, pero no sabía que necesitaba decir algo a Belí para obtener un proyector. Por eso, no podía usarlo y escribí los números en la pizarra.

Sé que la clase estaba muy aburrida y que los estudiantes no tenían interés. Algunos sí querían aprenderlo, pero debía haberlo creado una actividad para ellos. Los estudiantes tenían las caras desinteresadas y en realidad era mi culpa. En los últimos diez minutos tenían un poquito más energía porque jugaba un juego con ellos. Escribí un número en la pizarra y los dos equipos competían para escribirlo primero. Creo que voy a incorporar más juegos en las próximas clases y usar dulces para sobornar digo “motivarlos”. Necesito planear las clases más antes para que sean más interesantes. Si hago esto la próxima semana será mejor.

On Monday I had my first class with other Spanish students, an intro to sociology class, and I absolutely love it. The other Spanish students in the class are wonderful. I got to class a little early and there were only four other students in the class. I thought about introducing myself but then I realized that they weren’t speaking Spanish. They were Polish students studying here. A big group of Spanish students entered all at once and because they had all of their classes together last semester (and because I don’t look like a Spaniard) they immediately identified all of us as not being from here. They came over and introduced themselves and started asking us questions. They were incredibly welcoming and one of the girls who spent a year in the US told me that if I needed any help or didn’t understand anything I could just ask her. The class itself is great and I really like the professor. She obviously is passionate about sociology and relates well to all of us. Even though she speaks at a normal pace, (i.e. much faster than all my other professors) I can understand her!

On Tuesday I had my second sociology class and it went even better than the first day. When I got to class almost everyone was already there (I think they all had a 9am together) and they were all clustered around the window. I walked in and wasn’t sure whether or not I should approach the group, but before I could decide they motioned me over. They are incredibly inclusive and also invited me to hang out with them during our ten minute break. On day two I could still understand the teacher, but had a much harder time understanding the students when they spoke. They like to talk on top of each other and speak very quickly making it difficult to understand. I really like the class atmosphere because all the students participate in the discussion. I don’t know if it’s just a general difference in class style or if it’s because all of the students know each other that we seemed to have skipped the “awkward silence after a professor asks a question” phase. Either way I’m thrilled to be in this class.

Tuesday night I went to my volunteer placement again, this time with the intention of actually teaching something. I don’t think I was particularly successful. I decided to start by teaching them how to make appointments in English, but to do that you need to know your numbers. While most of them know cardinal numbers, none of them know ordinal numbers which of course are necessary when talking about dates. We kind of spent almost the whole class reviewing numbers and I know I bored them to pieces. The only somewhat redeeming moment was at the end when I had them do a mini competition as a review over what we just learned. I really need to come up with some more creative lesson plans (and plan them more in advance!) and I think things will get better. Stay tuned for next week’s edition of “Brittany Tries to Teach English” (let’s hope there’s improvement!)

On Wednesday I met up with my intercambio during an event. It was nice to see her again and we were able to chat for a little bit. I was really entertained by her friend Christian who was enamored with all the blonde girls—he went up and introduced himself to practically all of them!

Thursday was fairly uneventful. I met with one of my teachers from MundoLengua to discuss and upcoming presentation, then went to class. After class I wanted to go to this lecture given by a Nobel Peace Prize winner with one of my professors, but the bus didn’t get back to the station in time to meet up with her. I then called Miriam (my intercambio) to see if she still wanted to meet up, and when that didn’t work out I decided to try and find the conference location on my own. I asked directions from the bellman of a really nice hotel, but had a hard time following them. I’m really directionally challenged—although I have no problems asking anyone for directions I never seem to be able to follow them. I either over think them or accidentally set off in the opposite direction. I didn’t end up going to the conference, which was disappointing, but these things happen.

We’re going to Morocco with the program this weekend, so I’m really excited about that! Hasta luego!

PS. I actually had a hard time typing this journal entry because I’m using the Spanish keyboard more than I use the English one, so as I was typing this I kept getting all the symbols mixed up—I guess that means I’m adapting!

 I know this entry is long overdue, but we’ll just say I’m on Spanish time now which makes it all okay! Week three of classes was thoroughly uneventful. On Sunday night I went out with some William and Mary students to a café to sit, talk, and relax. I actually ordered a strawberry milkshake (which ended up being more milk than shake, but nevertheless tasted good). We ended up playing a game of five fingers which I lost!! I never lose that game, but because I’ve been to France and gone parasailing I was the first one out. I couldn’t believe it!

On Tuesday I went to teach my first class at Solidaridad Don Bosco. I was incredibly nervous, but it all turned out okay. I had them play two truths and a lie as part of an icebreaker exercise, which was a lot of fun. After that I asked them what kinds of words they wanted to learn how to say in English and got almost no responses. I then tried to review introductions with them, which was difficult because some of my students have drastically different levels of English. In the end the class ended up being more of a discussion and I didn’t end up teaching much of anything. Overall it went okay I just felt bad that I hadn’t really done any teaching.

Those were basically the only two noteworthy things that happened that week. Now on to my fabulous weekend in Portugal…

Michelle and I left on Thursday night for the bus station in Seville where we caught an 11pm bus that arrived in Madrid at 5am. I pretty much slept the entire bus ride, waking up periodically to shift sleeping positions. We arrived in Madrid at 5am and went directly to the airport via taxi. Our taxi driver ripped us off big time, but there really was no other way we could have gotten to the airport in time for our 6:50 flight. The flight went smoothly and because of the one hour time difference between Madrid and Lisbon we arrived in Lisbon at 7:05. We then took a bus to the city center and looked for our hostel. We had to ask directions from a police officer and my guidebook told me that the reception desk was on the fourth floor instead of the second, but other than those minor setbacks we arrived at out hostel safe and sound. The hostel was really nice and a great deal (15 euros a night!). The bathrooms were clean, everyone gets a key to a locker that has plenty of room to store all your stuff, there was a free laundry service, free Wi-Fi/internet, and free breakfast with fresh baked bread.

After we settled in we decided to go on a walking tour of Lisbon through a tour company whose brochure we picked up at the airport. Going on the walking tour was one of the best decisions we made. There were only eight of us on the tour, nine including the guide among the nine of us there were five countries represented—there was a couple from England, an elderly couple from Ireland, a couple from Bologna who spoke English and Italian, our Portuguese guide and of course the two of us from the good old USA. The walking tour lasted about three hours and we visited pretty much all the main areas of the city. The nice thing about the tour was that she took us inside the places we went instead of just showing us the exterior of the building and telling us its history. We went to the store that first sold the typical liquor of Lisbon and stopped in to sample it—I don’t know what the world is coming to when I lose a game of five fingers and drink liquor at ten in the morning! We also rode on the city tram and went to the top of a tower that connects two parts of the city. Basically the tour was awesome and in my opinion the best way for us to see Lisbon.

When the tour ended Michelle and I sat right next to the river and enjoyed the bocadillos (sandwiches) that our host mom packed for us. The weather was fabulous—sunny, but not too hot. We were seriously tempted to take a nap out in the sun but decided against it. Instead we went in search of a pastry shop and found a very nice one off the beaten path. The employees were very nice since it was obvious that we didn’t speak any Portuguese. When in Portugal we tried using our Spanish to communicate with the locals, put it wasn’t particularly effective. More of them know English than Spanish (and told us this). We used the age old method of point and smile, and used the only Portuguese word we managed to pick up “Obrigado” which means thank-you.

Post-pastry eating we attempted to find Castelo Sao Jorge which took us awhile. We asked for directions multiple times and still ended up walking the wrong way around the castle. Oh well—we definitely worked off the pastries! The castle itself was really cool and had incredible views of the city. Michelle and I explored the whole place from the museum to the towers to the Davinci periscope. It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon, especially when we sat on the terrace and watched the sun set over the city enjoying the peacefulness of the moment.

Once the sun set we headed back to our hostel and stayed there for about an hour before heading out to grab some dinner, we had to grab something quickly because earlier that day we purchased tickets to West Side Story. After eating at a sandwich place we started walking toward the theatre. Right before we started to cross one of the streets I checked my pockets to make sure that my ticket was still there. Thank goodness I did because my ticket was nowhere to be found! I searched all my pockets and when I couldn’t find it anywhere I started to panic. Michelle and I retraced our steps as we headed back to the restaurant, but didn’t see it anywhere on the street. We returned to the restaurant literally as they were closing (one of the employees was starting to pull the exterior door down). Fortunately they let us in and it must have been my lucky night because the ticket was on the floor right behind my seat. If I hadn’t realized that I didn’t have the ticket exactly when I did I wouldn’t have been able to go back and get it!

We got to the theatre with time to spare and settled in to watch West Side Story in Portuguese. The show was awesome and it was really entertaining to hear all the songs I was familiar with sung in a foreign language. You have to love Europe though—the scene where Maria and Tony have sex is something that is always implied and rarely shown in the US, which was definitely not the case with this production where they were rather explicit about what was happening. I’m really glad that Michelle and I decided to go! After the show we went back to the hostel and passed out—both of us were exhausted.

On Saturday we got up and enjoyed our free breakfast before heading out with three other American students from Florida State, who also stayied at our hostel, to an open air market in the city. The market was interesting because only half the vendors had market style stalls, the rest had their wares spread out on blankets or on folding tables much like your average garage sale. Some of them also sold interesting products like ink cartridges, batteries, and other electronic devices.

We didn’t stay at the market for very long and when we finished we went back into the city towards the train station to catch a train to Sintra, a small town about 40 minutes outside of Lisbon by train. Sintra is home to at least four palaces/castles, all of which are beautiful. We only went to one of them, called Quinta da Regaleira, which is the coolest palace I’ve ever been to. The house itself was stunning and looked like something out of a fairytale, but I fell in love with the grounds. I really wish I could have grown up there as a little kid because I would have had so much fun exploring everything! The grounds had a waterfall, multiple caves/tunnel passages, and an Initiatory well that had an underground circular staircase which circled around the well eight times before reaching the surface. I had to laugh when we went into the caves because you couldn’t see anything. I wasn’t worried, I just put one hand on the side wall and kept walking forward, but one of the students from Florida wanted to see what was up ahead so she took a series of pictures with flash using the flash to light the way. I had a blast walking around the gardens and posing for Disney princess pictures in the various towers scattered throughout the grounds.

We left the palace at around four and took a bus to Cabo da Roca, the western most point in Europe, to watch the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean. I swear I saw two of the most gorgeous sunsets of my life that weekend and while part of it was because the sunsets were physically beautiful, I think an even bigger part of it was the mindset I was in. For the first time in a while I was really relaxed and took the time to realize how incredibly blessed my life is. To put it simply, I was happy with my life. It wasn’t one of the moments of being truly and perfectly happy, but rather an overall feeling of contentment. I definitely thought about all of you while watching that sunset because that’s as close as I’m physically going to be to all of you until I come home in May. I hope all is well with each and every one of you.

After the sunset Michelle, the three Floridians, and I went into the café next to the bus stop and had dinner. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to meet the three of them; I think that was my favorite part of the hostel experience—meeting people from all over the world! After dinner we went to the bus stop to catch the last bus back into town. At that point it was getting pretty cold outside, and while I had my heavier jacket, some of the other people didn’t. We waited out in the cold and the bus didn’t come on time. We started getting worried when it was over ten minutes late, especially since it was the last scheduled bus and we weren’t close to any major town. There were two other people at the bus stop and ironically one of them was the receptionist from our hostel. When it was over twenty minutes late we decided to try and start walking to the nearest town since it looked like the bus was not going to come. After walking for about five minutes we saw the headlights from the bus and rushed back to bus stop. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see a bus in my life.

We made it back to Sintra and then to Lisbon without any problems. Michelle and I decided to walk around and try to find this café that my guidebook recommended and that we went into on our tour. We couldn’t find it and ended up wandering around for a while. We did stop to use the restroom in the Sheraton Hotel in Lisbon, which was really nice and stopped for another pastry on our way back. When we got back to the hostel we stayed up to use the internet and I got to Skype with my dad and two youngest sisters before going to bed.

Sunday morning I went to mass in a church that had been partially destroyed during a series of fires and was then reconstructed. I was running a little late and got there seven or eight minutes after the mass started at which point they were already into the homily! Masses in Europe are much shorter than their US counterparts. After mass we packed up, stopped in for one more pastry (although I actually had rice pudding) and then headed to the airport. We had another long wait at the bus stop (apparently Portuguese buses don’t believe in punctuality) and because we were cutting it a little bit close we ended up sharing a taxi with two other people from the bus stop to get to the airport (and it cost about the same as the bus would have). The flight was uneventful and we took the metro to the bus station where we grabbed a bite to eat and got on our bus. The only noteworthy thing that happened on the bus ride back was that during the rest stop half way through the trip we got back on the wrong bus, realized our mistake immediately and then got back off only to panic for a few minutes because we thought that our bus might have already left. It hadn’t but at that point in the trip we were pretty paranoid about all things bus related. We got back into Seville at 11:15 and took a taxi back to our house where our host mom had dinner waiting. It was a very nice ending to an incredible weekend. I can only hope that Morocco next weekend will be just as awesome.

Until next time!

Esta semana empecé a enseñar las clases de inglés, o mejor intenté empezar a enseñar. Estaba muy nerviosa por todo el día y aunque tenía un plan tenía confianza en mis habilidades para enseñar. Entonces llegó a la clase, lleno de nervios. Cuando llegué los estudiantes comían una torta porque era el cumpleaños de una de las estudiantes y ellos me ofrecían un trozo. Después llegó Belí y empezamos la clase.

Empecé con un juego en español que se llama “Dos Verdades y Una Mentira” para conocer mejor a los estudiantes. En el juego cada persona tiene que decir tres cosas sobre su vida, dos son verdades y una es una mentira y después de decirlas los otros intentan averiguar cuál es la mentira. Yo empecé con los hechos y la mentira que había escrito antes de la clase. Solamente una estudiante adivinaba correctamente mi mentira. Después los otros decían sus verdades y mentiras. ¡Una chica decía que estaba embarazada y gracias a Dios que fuera la mentira! Otros chicos en las mentiras decían que le encantaban leer o asistir a la escuela.

Después de esto establecí las reglas o normas de la clase (no había muchas). Para mí es muy raro enseñar a estudiantes que son de casi la misma edad que yo—a veces no siento cómoda  porque creo que no estoy muy cualificada hacer este trabajo y espero que estos sentimientos desaparezcan en las próximas semanas.

Entonces  pedí que los estudiantes me dijeran lo que querrían aprender. No recibía muchas respuestas. Una chica decía que quería mejorar la pronunciación, y creo que esta será difícil enseñar porque inglés tiene más sonidos que español y los vocales son especialmente difíciles. Porque no me decían nada pregunté cuales tipos de trabajos pensaban conseguir y a esta pregunta no recibía respuestas tampoco. En realidad ellos hablaban pero sobre otros tópicos y más entre sí mismos que conmigo.

Después intenté repasar las presentaciones pero era muy difícil porque aunque decían que ya sabían cómo presentarse nadie quería hacerlo. Además los niveles de inglés varían mucho, algunos estudiantes no saben ni una palabra de inglés y los otros ya han aprendido antes. En realidad pasábamos la mayoría de la clase hablando. Me preguntaban cosas sobre mi vida y preguntaban cual equipo de futbol yo prefiero (hay dos equipos de futbol en Sevilla—Sevilla y Betis). La mayoría de los estudiantes en la clase prefieren Betis.

La clase concluyó y aunque no había muerto no sentía satisfecha porque en realidad no enseñaba nada. No me preocupo mucho porque estaba la primera clase, pero espero que la próxima clase sea mejor.

Sorry it took me so long to post this. Now that classes are in full swing it’s getting harder to find time to sit down and write. 

The second week of classes went really well. I felt much better, which was a huge relief. On Monday I had my first volunteer class, which went really well. It only meets once a week and according to the syllabus we’re going to be discussing a lot of issues that affect Spain. I really like the professor for that class; she’s really nice and is enthusiastic about the subject. We went over the history of volunteering/NGOs in Spain and I was surprised to learn that over here volunteering/community service is a relatively new phenomenon. I think that because I grew up in an environment and a country where value is placed on community service and volunteering I assumed that other cultures also valued this, which was pretty narrow minded on my part. On Monday I also got to know several other exchange students from my Lit class, one is from Florida and the other from Canada. I really like how the students here are from all over the world (or if not the world, then definitely the US).  

On Tuesday I actually got up before my host mom did! I went into the city to run errands, meaning buy my history text book and buy stamps for the plethora of postcards I plan on sending. After my history class I stayed to use the internet and unfortunately lost track of time. I had to be at my volunteer placement at 7:30 and the bus didn’t get back until after 7. Needless to say I power walked the whole way there and arrived with minutes to spare. For all you English speakers, here’s a quick summary of my previous entry: My volunteer placement is called Solidaridad Don Bosco and is attached to a high school. My job there is basically to teach English to students who dropped out of school and are taking a class here to learn enough to pass what I think is the equivalent of the GED in Spain. They also learn a job/trade and my students are learning secretariado which means they will probably end up with jobs as administrative assistants. On Tuesday I was only there to observe, but will start teaching next week. There wasn’t that much to observe though because their teacher just got back from her honeymoon and before she left gave them several assignments to work on. The students were finishing up these assignments during the class period I was there.  I really like my students, but am very nervous about teaching them. I’ll let you know how my first week of teaching went in one of my next entries. 

On Tuesday night I went out with some of the other W&M students to a bar—a very American bar. I had an okay time, the bar scene really isn’t my thing, but if I’m going to go to one in Spain I’d rather it be a place where Spaniards hang out, not Americans. I did meet one of the other students’ housemate who was incredible. She is here to learn English, but already speaks French, Portuguese, English, and a little bit of German. I have met very few people who have the attitude that if you want something you should pursue it wholeheartedly. She knows what she wants in life and is making it happen and I really enjoyed talking to her. 

Wednesday was thoroughly uneventful, except for the weather which was best described as a torrential downpour. And they say Spain is sunny…tell that to my sopping wet clothes. The weather actually was pretty bad all week. Oh well, as long as it’s sunny at some point I’m happy. 

On Thursday I met my intercambio!! Every exchange person is assigned an intercambio, or a Spanish student who they can contact and hang out with. My intercambio’s name is Miriam and she’s pretty much awesome. She’s a freshman studying translation (Spanish, English, and German). Michelle and I met up with her friend Christian who then took us over to her apartment. We were joined by several other Spaniards and hung out for several hours in her apartment. They are all incredibly nice people and I was so happy to finally meet actual Spaniards! They were really funny too and asked Michelle and I a lot of questions about words in English since some of them had the oral portion of their English exam on Friday. I really enjoyed meeting them. 

On Friday we had an excursion with UPO (University of Pablo Olavide) to Itálica where there are roman ruins. The ruins were really cool, and I’ve included some pictures below. We saw their amphitheatre which looked very much like a miniature version of the Coliseum in Rome.  It was really windy which meant that all of us were freezing for most of the tour. It was a really short trip, as we got back before 1 pm. I had a good time though.

On Friday night Michelle and I went out with Miriam and several of her friends to a dance club, which was a lot of fun. We hung out and socialized for over an hour before actually going to the club. Getting into the club was a little more problematic. I didn’t have any trouble and neither did any of the other girls, but they wouldn’t let any of the guys in the club. They tried to charge them 36 euro to get into the club, which was absolutely ridiculous. We didn’t stay in the club long because we didn’t want to leave the boys standing outside in the cold. After we left the club we went back to Miriam’s house and I ended up spending the night there. I really enjoyed going out with them and hope that I actually get a chance to dance next time. 

On Saturday I mostly slept and did some of my history homework (we were assigned a ridiculous amount). On Sunday Dave and I went into Sevilla to explore and had a blast. We went looking for this Roman statue of a torso that is associated with a Sevillan legend. We also visited the Alameda of Hercules which has two huge pillars on either end of it. The weather was beautiful (finally!) making it a great day for exploring. I went to mass at the main Cathedral which was beautiful. The mass was in a side chapel but the decorations were still incredible. I love being Catholic in Europe, it’s really easy to find a mass to attend and all the churches are gorgeous.

Well, that was my week. Stay tuned for next week’s entry, which I will try and post in a timelier manner! Hasta luego!

PS. Look! It’s Fulton Street…in Spain!

I’m going to keep a blog of my experiences at my volunteer placement. Since I have to write a 15 page final paper for the class (in Spanish) about my experience I’m going to write these entries in Spanish. All you English speakers feel free to skip these entries, for those of you that speak Spanish, feel free to read them (but only if you want to!). I promise that I’ll post another entry in English soon! Enjoy! 

El martes después de las clases usé la WI-FI en UPO por un rato. A las seis y veinte me di cuenta que tuve que salir si quería llegar a tiempo al voluntariado. Por supuesto tenía que esperar mucho por el autobús y había mucho tráfico en las calles. Así cuando llegué al Prado San Sebastián (la estación de autobuses) tuve que correr hasta Solidaridad don Bosco. Afortunadamente llegué a tiempo para mi primer día de clases en don Bosco. Yo solamente estaba allí para observar y no para enseñar. 

Debo decir algo sobre Solidaridad don Bosco. Solidaridad don Bosco es una organización católico que ayuda a los jóvenes. Lo que voy a hacer allí es enseñar inglés a los jóvenes que han dejado de asistir al colegio, es decir que no han completado su educación formal. Ellos asisten a las clases de don Bosco para aprender y conseguir un trabajo. Para hacer esto ellos tienen que aprobar un examen que creo que es similar al examen de GED en los Estados Unidos. Voy a trabajar con los jóvenes de la clase de secretariado (los jóvenes que quieren conseguir un trabajo como recepcionista, secretario, asistente administrativo o algo así.)  

Tengo ocho estudiantes y ellos están en su segundo año de clases. Aunque no los conozca mucho, me gustan ellos y creo que nos llevaremos bien. A veces es muy difícil para mí entenderles porque hablan rápidamente pero creo que con el tiempo esto va a cambiar.  

Cuando llegué la mayoría de los estudiantes ya estaban en la clase. Ellos charlaban entre sí mismos hasta que llegó la maestra. La maestra es muy simpática es ella con quien trabajo. Ella acaba de casarse y acaba de regresar de su luna de miel. Ella les dio trabajo a sus estudiantes para las semanas en que estaba de boda y  ellos no lo han terminado todavía. Entonces durante la clase que observé ellos trabajaban en esta tarea. Algunos trabajaban en la tarea de matemáticas y la mayoría de ellos necesitaban ayuda. Lo que ellos aprendían me sorprendió un poco porque eran cosas bastante básicas como los múltiples de los números, la multiplicación y la división. La mayoría de ellos trabajaban con diligencia y creo que ellos verdaderamente están allí porque quieren tener éxito. Otros chicos hacían una presentación sobre las leyes relacionados con trabajo. 

Mientras ellos trabajaban hablé con la maestra sobre que yo debo enseñar. La estudiante quien hizo su voluntariado allí el año pasado les enseñó el teclado, las partes del ordenador y de una oficina. También les enseñó cosas básicas como cómo decir la hora y algo así. La maestra sugiere que yo repase estas cosas primero y después enseñe inglés que tiene algo que hacer con los trabajos que ellos consiguen. Entonces necesito buscar el vocabulario más útil para recepcionistas, gente que archiva papeles, y contabilidad. Aunque tengo algunas ideas para la clase estoy muy nerviosa. Nunca he enseñado inglés y quiero crear actividades divertidas para ellos. ¡La próxima semana empezaré a enseñar! ¡Espero que todo vaya bien!

My alarm went off at 5:30 on Saturday morning. That’s right, 5:30. Thank goodness it was totally worth it! Eleven of us from the program caught a train at 7am to Granada with the hopes of packing as much as possible into our one day visit. The train ride took three hours, the first hour of which we played BS and Mafia. After the first hour our initial post-wake up energy disappeared and most of us slept. 

We arrived in Granada at about 10am and immediately set off to walk around the city. We explored the streets and the stores. Michelle and I bought our host mom the “Best Chef Award” since we are always telling her how jealous all of our friends here are of all our meals. We also passed an interesting looking statue (below).  

Next we visited the chapel that Ferdinand and Isabella has constructed after conquering Granada. The chapel was small, but beautiful. It had a very elaborate piece of artwork behind the altar which depicted not only scenes from the life of Jesus and the saints, but also several panels depicting the baptism of the Moriscos, or the Muslim converts to Christianity. I don’t know exactly why I found it fascinating, but I did. Perhaps it was because I was seeing all the things I’d learned in my classes come to life in front of my eyes. In that chapel I also saw the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabel and well as those of King Carlos V and Queen Juana. They also had Isabel’s crown, Ferdinand’s sword, and both of their royal tunics. It was incredible to be surrounded by such historical artifacts. I can’t help but wonder how that crown felt on Isabel’s head or what it was like to live at that time.  

We had lunch after that and while everyone had to buy their own I was thanking my host mom for the delicious sandwiches she packed. We used my camera to take a group photo (below). 

Finally we went to the main attraction, La Alhambra, after lunch. For those of you who might not know, La Alhambra is essentially a giant palace and fortress. It was constructed by Muslim rulers when they controlled Granada. It also has extensive gardens. I visited La Alhambra in eighth grade, but was unfortunately sick that day and thus didn’t get to see the gardens. Though I was also a little sick on this visit, I was at least well enough to see everything!  

All but two of us went to the Nasrid palaces first because we had a specific entrance time for that area. This area was the heart of the palace and had the majority of the rooms. All of them have incredibly ornate and elaborate patterns carved into the ceilings and walls. I tried to photograph them, but you just can’t capture beauty or detail like that. We spent a long time walking around the palace, fortress, and gardens. It was a rather rainy day, but that didn’t stop us from exploring. We climbed the watch towers to see the spectacular views, walked around the gardens which weren’t yet in bloom and even went in an art museum contained on the premises. I wish I could have stayed in the Generalife gardens longer. They were drop dead gorgeous and I almost had one of those rare moments of pure and utter happiness. Perhaps next time…

After we finished we took an extremely crowded bus back into the city center only to climb a hill which had a spectacular view of where we’d just been. Granada is a gorgeous city and some of the pictures I took look like I’m standing in front of a backdrop instead of actual scenery! 

We caught a train back at 8:20 and I attempted to write post cards, eventually giving up in order to play Capitalism (a card game) with the group. I had to laugh when I remembered this was the card game that I played with all my middle school friends six years ago. Apparently some things just never go out of style…