Hey everyone, I thought I should update real quick before I have to leave for class in about 15 minutes. This week has been crazy as classes have gotten intense and I've gotten sicker. This is not one of those relationships you want to be positive. I'm hanging in there, because I refuse to miss class. We have our exams today and I want to be ready.
My Spanish mother and I have had a few special bonding moments. At lunch she asked me what I thought about Santander so far, and I got the chance to talk a lot in Spanish to her, which is cool, because it's usually a lot of "si's" and "como?s" on my end (and if you're spanishly retarded, "si" means "yes" and "como?" means "what?"). And Monday night we watched "La República," which is a telenovela about the birth of the second republic in Madrid cerca 1930. I've come to be really hooked on it (I think I've mentioned it before, but not by name) since watching it once before with my señora, and now I'm dying to know what happens. And also my señora and I bond over talking about how gorgeous Alejo Sauras is. Photo here: http://www.rtve.es/television/components/noticia/popup/7/3/3/3/foto383337_957202.shtml (You'll have to copy and paste)
What did I tell you? Probably the most beautiful human being I've ever laid eyes on.
Anyway, Wednesday night, I met some friends after siesta to go to the library's computer lab to study and finalize plans. When I got home it was about dinner time, and mi señora was making tortilla española, which is God's gift to the people. That was another bonding experience between me and mi señora. I got to talk in Spanish and tell her how spaniards know what real tortillas are, and she taught me how to make them. Then I immediately went to sleep. Wine and a full tummy will do that to you.
Last Saturday I woke up sick, as I said before. It was hard for me to explain to my señora that I was sick, not humgover. That's a difficult conversation to have in Spanish. But I think seeing that my cough lasted far into this week (obviously, as it's Friday) convinced her that it wasn't an issue of drinking too much. I can tell we're growing closer because she's becoming more and more like a real mother to me. She makes sure I'm wearing sufficient clothes before I leave the apartment, and even when I'm hanging around the house, she tells me to put a sweater on to make sure I'm warm enough. And also she's been bugging me about 8,000 times a day since Monday to go to the pharmacy. I didn't want to go partly because I knew it would be hard to ask for medicine and describe my symptoms in Spanish, but also because I don't even like going to the doctor when I'm at home. I would really rather just ignore it until it goes away. That's more my style. But I finally went to la farmacia today, and it turned out to be much more painless than I anticipated. The pharmacy tech understood what I asked her, then gave me some cough drops with DXM in them (so I shouldn't take too many before class...) and I paid for them and left. Easy.
I'm having a really hard time coming up with a good travel tip for today, because nothing comedically horrible has happened to me in the last week. Hopefully you've prepared yourselves for dissapointment, because this one's going to be lame:
Travel Tip#10:
When you move to a different country and begin speaking a new language, the very first thing you learn is the curse words. The second thing is medical terminology.
So that's it. Did I mention I'm going to Bilbao tomorrow? The whole day. Even though it's only us Americans going (bor-ing), I'm still excited. I mean, who wouldn't be? Expect pictures very soon.
Ps before I do my closing statement, I have to admit one thing: I'm fairly certain I've been doing it wrong. It made sense, but I think there's a better way. This is what it will be from now on:
"El mundo es un libro y ellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Friday, February 25, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Day 15
Hello everyone. I'm updating because I feel like I should, but I really don't have much to tell you. On my end, I had a great weekend. I went out Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night and it was all really eventful and fun for me, but how many times can you tell the same "I went out, drank a lot, and talked to Europeans all night" story before it gets boring? I mean, I doubt it'll ever get old for me over my three months, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about it everytime.
(Side note- my señora is watching requiem for a dream in the other room. What a trip.)
So thursday night was the arsenal versus Barcelona game. I went home early because of a stomach ache, (Travel Tip #9: Splitting an entire pitcher of sangria with a couple friends, eating a full dinner in less than 10 minutes because you were supposed to meet your friends 10 minutes ago, and then running to a bar where you'll watch a game and drink another glass of wine will probably result in a stomach ache. I mean I'm not a doctor, so don't quote me on that, but yeah.) so I don't know the result of the game, but I think arsenal won. I suppose I'm on Barcelona's side, because Spain is a bit more relevant to my life than England. So anyway, yeah I went home really early, around 10:30, and slept. It was a school night anyway.
Friday night ended relatively early as well. And I'll emphasize once more that "early" is a relative term, because I went home at like 3:30ish. I also lost my phone, and another friend of mine lost her wallet. Probably, over all, one of the wilder nights we've had, which is saying something.
Saturday night started out slow. I was feeling a little bit sick, probably as a result of hanging out with everyone the night before. Just being in a different country meant that everyone got sick immediately, but I managed to remain healthy until I woke up Saturday morning. Shucks. And I'd been doing so well, too.
I happened to have a pen with me, so my friends and I decided to "keep score," as they say. The spaniards found it hilarious. Probably because they don't drink enough to have to count. But before i forget, I met one!!! It was awesome. I said before that I hadn't really met many spaniards. Yes, I'm surrounded by them, but it's hard to find and befriend the younger people. Especially because it's as though the ERASMUS have taken over. But anyway, I don't even really know if he counts, because he's spanish, but his father is british, so when he speaks English, he has an English accent. I mean, he's more a nomad than anything else, having lived in england, Spain, the united states, and, most recently, morocco (and probably more that I don't know about). People like this fascinate me, because I'd like to fancy myself a worldly and cultured person, but it's simply not true. The fact that I spent about a month traveling southern Europe, and now am living in Spain for three months, is nothing next to him when you consider that this is the only traveling I've done. Anyway, ERASMUS are cool, but it's nice to finally meet someone from Spain.
Alright, well I'm off to study. I have a test tomorrow. I know, it's a pain. School getting in the way of me living in Spain...
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
(Side note- my señora is watching requiem for a dream in the other room. What a trip.)
So thursday night was the arsenal versus Barcelona game. I went home early because of a stomach ache, (Travel Tip #9: Splitting an entire pitcher of sangria with a couple friends, eating a full dinner in less than 10 minutes because you were supposed to meet your friends 10 minutes ago, and then running to a bar where you'll watch a game and drink another glass of wine will probably result in a stomach ache. I mean I'm not a doctor, so don't quote me on that, but yeah.) so I don't know the result of the game, but I think arsenal won. I suppose I'm on Barcelona's side, because Spain is a bit more relevant to my life than England. So anyway, yeah I went home really early, around 10:30, and slept. It was a school night anyway.
Friday night ended relatively early as well. And I'll emphasize once more that "early" is a relative term, because I went home at like 3:30ish. I also lost my phone, and another friend of mine lost her wallet. Probably, over all, one of the wilder nights we've had, which is saying something.
Saturday night started out slow. I was feeling a little bit sick, probably as a result of hanging out with everyone the night before. Just being in a different country meant that everyone got sick immediately, but I managed to remain healthy until I woke up Saturday morning. Shucks. And I'd been doing so well, too.
I happened to have a pen with me, so my friends and I decided to "keep score," as they say. The spaniards found it hilarious. Probably because they don't drink enough to have to count. But before i forget, I met one!!! It was awesome. I said before that I hadn't really met many spaniards. Yes, I'm surrounded by them, but it's hard to find and befriend the younger people. Especially because it's as though the ERASMUS have taken over. But anyway, I don't even really know if he counts, because he's spanish, but his father is british, so when he speaks English, he has an English accent. I mean, he's more a nomad than anything else, having lived in england, Spain, the united states, and, most recently, morocco (and probably more that I don't know about). People like this fascinate me, because I'd like to fancy myself a worldly and cultured person, but it's simply not true. The fact that I spent about a month traveling southern Europe, and now am living in Spain for three months, is nothing next to him when you consider that this is the only traveling I've done. Anyway, ERASMUS are cool, but it's nice to finally meet someone from Spain.
Alright, well I'm off to study. I have a test tomorrow. I know, it's a pain. School getting in the way of me living in Spain...
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 13, I think.
I'm sorry, my dearest readers. Please accept my sincerest apologies for not having written. I know it must have been heart-breakingly difficult to not read the paragraphs and paragraphs of dumb shit I have to say. To make it up to you, you all will receive not one, but THREE travel tips, aiight? Sound good? Okay, let's get started:
Travel Tip #6:
Don't decide that "to stop cursing" is your news years resolution the same year you leave the country to learn a new language.
So when was the last time I wrote? Saturday? Sunday, perhaps? I don't even know. But one significant event has taken place since the weekend: classes have officially started. (Side note real quick- I wish you all could appreciate how hard it is for me to write in English right now. Everything comes to me in Spanish first, so I have to think about every sentence and every word twice. And that's twice as much thinking.) Our first day of classes was Monday. For those of you just now joining us, our group of united states-ians was split up into two groups, according to level. They, of course, won't tell us which is the smart level, but I have the feeling they mixed us up. That is to say, the "smart" students aren't all in one class, and the "stupid" kids aren't in the other class. My hermana asked me if I was in the smart class, and I responded with, "Claro que si," which translates loosely to, "Duhhh."
So here is the structure of our arduous, hectic, demanding, strenuous, and a bunch of other sarcastically used words meaning "difficult" days: we arrive at school at 9:30am for our first class, which for my group is conversation, taught by Dr. Chandler (a teacher at UNCW) and our student teacher intern lady (yes that is her official job title), Sara. Then at 11:00, we take a 30 minute break. At 11:30, we return to class for advanced grammar, taught by dr. Gonzalo, who is a teacher here at UNICAN. The other group's schedule is backwards; they have grammar first and then conversation practice. At 1pm, we are done with classes for the day. We go home and eat lunch with our families, usually take a siesta, and then are free to do with the rest of our day as we please. Yes. Life here is rough.
Now, for my parents, I'll emphasize my pursuits inside the classroom. I am extremely relieved to be taking classes again. I hate to admit how boring of a person I fundamentally am, but I absolutely crave structure. I used to resent the fact that I thrived under a set schedule, but now I embrace it. Yeah, I'm also the loser that genuinely enjoys learning grammar rules while everyone else is falling asleep. I admit it proudly.
I wondered if there might be a strategy behind having a certain group take the conversation class first, and THEN the grammar class. It seemed to me a bit counter-intuitive. Bass-ackwards, if you will. Why would you practice speaking language before studying its grammar rules? And then I thought, of course! it must be because everyone in my group already knows said rules and therefore can move on straight to practice only to return to grammar later on to simply tweak a few verb conjugations here, correct a few adjective-noun agreements there. The other students, however must need to first learn the rules before they're able to practice them. Thusly, I MUST be in the "smart" group, follow my logic?
If you hadn't already noticed, I have a problem with over-thinking things.
No, I went back and forth in my head as to why/how we were split, what the method was behind us taking a certain class before another and the other after the first. It was one of those moments when I had to remind myself that I'm in spain. In Spain. Me. Stop worrying about the strategy of learning the language, because it's really simple: ignore why the professors are doing what they're doing, because for everyone, "stupid" group or "smart" group, the objective is to practice, so effing practice. And if you're wondering, yes, that is the pep talk I give myself in the mirror every morning.
('Nother side note- I had a prettier way of saying that, but my señora just came in and distracted me, resulting in my forgetting what I was going to say. So there it is. It's not beautiful, but there it is.)
Okay, so yeah, enough tangents. Seriously, I'm actually going to talk about classes in this paragraph. Really. Here goes. Our first class of the day, conversation with dr. Chandler, is nice first thing in the morning. We've been given a daily vocab list, which is usually a nice mix of a good review (because I SO already know most of the words) and a couple new words that aren't as arbitrary as the ones we were assigned back in high school. As in, words me might actually use in our daily conversations. For instance, the Spanish equivalent of "OMG," and how to say "cool," and "pedestrian crossing," and other such useful city-folk vocabulary. After we take our daily vocabulary quizzes or, pruebitas, literally "small quiz," we usually have a lengthy, slightly structured conversation. Our conversation topics are usually very English-teacher-trying-to-win-over-his-students, like, "describe your best experience since you've been in Spain," "what has been your worst/funniest misunderstanding so far?" and "what was your most surprising moment?" Yeah, what did I tell you? I still enjoy the class a lot, because I get to practice Spanish.
During the breaks, we usually (I throw the word 'usually' around as though we've been in class longer than 4 days...) find he other class and hang with them. We need some dose of sanity to prepare for the shit show we all know is coming. Dr. Gonzalo is crazy. Listen to me, people. Crazy with a capital C. So crazy, that I considered relocating to the back of the classroom from my comfort zone of front-and-center. If you've ever taken a class with me, you know that that is saying something. Front-and-center is my home. I will give him this though, every thing he says is so insane, there's no possible way we're ever going to forget it. For instance, there is a grammatical concept called the "impersonal a," which we spaniards put between a verb and the subject if the subject is a person or group of people. A lot of times it is mistaken for the preposition "to," which happens to be spelled the same way (a). Because of this (sometimes frustrating) mistake, Gonzalo calls it-loudly, I might add-"fucking A!" Hopefully that paints some kind of picture for you as to what kind of lectures Gonzalo gives.
And I use the term "lectures" loosely because he has us talk a lot of the time. His way of teaching is doing something, like poking me in the eye (yes that actually happened), and asking me to tell him what happened. "A mi me molestas," which is NOT what it sounds like. In Spanish, "molestar" is a false cognate. It means "to bother" (not to molest; just so we're clear). So I tell him, you're bothering me. Then he asks someone else, what happened? "A ella le molestas," you're bothering her. Then he does something else, like scare the piss out of the girl sitting next to me (again, actually happened), and ask her to tell him what happened, then ask someone else, and so the "lecture" goes.
As I'm only a sophomore in college, I've only taken classes from a tiny, Sherri-sized handful of teachers in my life. I think I was stuck in my comfort zone a little bit, because I knew what the teachers wanted me to say, and how little of it I could say and still get a decent participation grade. I got used to their teaching styles and was dreading branching out. But I have to admit that I think it's been beneficial for me, because already I now understand a few concepts that have evaded me for years. It's a whole new perspective on things and who knew that might help? Which reminds me:
Travel Tip #7:
Zoning out, even for a few seconds, in a class taught in another language costs you exponentially more than zoning out in a class taught in a language you actually understand. Pay attention.
Alright, I'll stop boring you with the academic stuff. Especially because I'm hardly finished, and this is already hellas long. So, a few of us stayed after class to finalize plans to go to Dublin for St. Patrick's day, and I was a little late coming home. The next day, Tuesday, I came home at the normal time, but it seemed early to my señora because she only had the previous day, when I was late, as a point of reference. When I got home, she asked, "Why are you so early? It must be because it's my birthday." Yes, it was my Spanish mother's birthday and I didn't even know it. I am the worst American daughter there is. Luckily, I hadn't given her my homestay gift yet, so when her kids and grand kids came over to celebrate, I had gifts of my own to add to the pile. Then we ate tapas and drank-wouldn't you know it?-soda! It's funny that in the US, we drink soda like water, and here they only break it out for parties. anyways, so I experienced my first Spanish birthday. Que guay!
So I've been making a conscious effort to talk more and more, especially to my señora who is, after all, feeding and housing me. (It's only polite, ya dig?) Today over la comida, which is lunch, we talked about eating habits here versus those in Spain. She told me I was skinny, that she had expected me to be bigger before she met me, and that I needed to eat more. It's as though they're afraid I'm going to lose weight while I'm here. There's something about keeping up appearances, like, if I left after three months skinnier than when I arrived, it would mean either that they were cruel and underfed me, or that they're poor and didn't have the resources to feed me properly. One of them social stigmas, I reckon.
So, as promised:
Travel Tip #8:
Clean your plate. Literally.
So that's it, folks. I hope that wasn't too painfully long, and if you actually made it this far, hey, now I know who my true friends are. I will try not to have such sparse updates. They may be fewer and farther between than every day, as things settle down and we all develop a routine, but to be fair to you, because i love you all so much, I will try and update things, you know, as they actually happen.
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Travel Tip #6:
Don't decide that "to stop cursing" is your news years resolution the same year you leave the country to learn a new language.
So when was the last time I wrote? Saturday? Sunday, perhaps? I don't even know. But one significant event has taken place since the weekend: classes have officially started. (Side note real quick- I wish you all could appreciate how hard it is for me to write in English right now. Everything comes to me in Spanish first, so I have to think about every sentence and every word twice. And that's twice as much thinking.) Our first day of classes was Monday. For those of you just now joining us, our group of united states-ians was split up into two groups, according to level. They, of course, won't tell us which is the smart level, but I have the feeling they mixed us up. That is to say, the "smart" students aren't all in one class, and the "stupid" kids aren't in the other class. My hermana asked me if I was in the smart class, and I responded with, "Claro que si," which translates loosely to, "Duhhh."
So here is the structure of our arduous, hectic, demanding, strenuous, and a bunch of other sarcastically used words meaning "difficult" days: we arrive at school at 9:30am for our first class, which for my group is conversation, taught by Dr. Chandler (a teacher at UNCW) and our student teacher intern lady (yes that is her official job title), Sara. Then at 11:00, we take a 30 minute break. At 11:30, we return to class for advanced grammar, taught by dr. Gonzalo, who is a teacher here at UNICAN. The other group's schedule is backwards; they have grammar first and then conversation practice. At 1pm, we are done with classes for the day. We go home and eat lunch with our families, usually take a siesta, and then are free to do with the rest of our day as we please. Yes. Life here is rough.
Now, for my parents, I'll emphasize my pursuits inside the classroom. I am extremely relieved to be taking classes again. I hate to admit how boring of a person I fundamentally am, but I absolutely crave structure. I used to resent the fact that I thrived under a set schedule, but now I embrace it. Yeah, I'm also the loser that genuinely enjoys learning grammar rules while everyone else is falling asleep. I admit it proudly.
I wondered if there might be a strategy behind having a certain group take the conversation class first, and THEN the grammar class. It seemed to me a bit counter-intuitive. Bass-ackwards, if you will. Why would you practice speaking language before studying its grammar rules? And then I thought, of course! it must be because everyone in my group already knows said rules and therefore can move on straight to practice only to return to grammar later on to simply tweak a few verb conjugations here, correct a few adjective-noun agreements there. The other students, however must need to first learn the rules before they're able to practice them. Thusly, I MUST be in the "smart" group, follow my logic?
If you hadn't already noticed, I have a problem with over-thinking things.
No, I went back and forth in my head as to why/how we were split, what the method was behind us taking a certain class before another and the other after the first. It was one of those moments when I had to remind myself that I'm in spain. In Spain. Me. Stop worrying about the strategy of learning the language, because it's really simple: ignore why the professors are doing what they're doing, because for everyone, "stupid" group or "smart" group, the objective is to practice, so effing practice. And if you're wondering, yes, that is the pep talk I give myself in the mirror every morning.
('Nother side note- I had a prettier way of saying that, but my señora just came in and distracted me, resulting in my forgetting what I was going to say. So there it is. It's not beautiful, but there it is.)
Okay, so yeah, enough tangents. Seriously, I'm actually going to talk about classes in this paragraph. Really. Here goes. Our first class of the day, conversation with dr. Chandler, is nice first thing in the morning. We've been given a daily vocab list, which is usually a nice mix of a good review (because I SO already know most of the words) and a couple new words that aren't as arbitrary as the ones we were assigned back in high school. As in, words me might actually use in our daily conversations. For instance, the Spanish equivalent of "OMG," and how to say "cool," and "pedestrian crossing," and other such useful city-folk vocabulary. After we take our daily vocabulary quizzes or, pruebitas, literally "small quiz," we usually have a lengthy, slightly structured conversation. Our conversation topics are usually very English-teacher-trying-to-win-over-his-students, like, "describe your best experience since you've been in Spain," "what has been your worst/funniest misunderstanding so far?" and "what was your most surprising moment?" Yeah, what did I tell you? I still enjoy the class a lot, because I get to practice Spanish.
During the breaks, we usually (I throw the word 'usually' around as though we've been in class longer than 4 days...) find he other class and hang with them. We need some dose of sanity to prepare for the shit show we all know is coming. Dr. Gonzalo is crazy. Listen to me, people. Crazy with a capital C. So crazy, that I considered relocating to the back of the classroom from my comfort zone of front-and-center. If you've ever taken a class with me, you know that that is saying something. Front-and-center is my home. I will give him this though, every thing he says is so insane, there's no possible way we're ever going to forget it. For instance, there is a grammatical concept called the "impersonal a," which we spaniards put between a verb and the subject if the subject is a person or group of people. A lot of times it is mistaken for the preposition "to," which happens to be spelled the same way (a). Because of this (sometimes frustrating) mistake, Gonzalo calls it-loudly, I might add-"fucking A!" Hopefully that paints some kind of picture for you as to what kind of lectures Gonzalo gives.
And I use the term "lectures" loosely because he has us talk a lot of the time. His way of teaching is doing something, like poking me in the eye (yes that actually happened), and asking me to tell him what happened. "A mi me molestas," which is NOT what it sounds like. In Spanish, "molestar" is a false cognate. It means "to bother" (not to molest; just so we're clear). So I tell him, you're bothering me. Then he asks someone else, what happened? "A ella le molestas," you're bothering her. Then he does something else, like scare the piss out of the girl sitting next to me (again, actually happened), and ask her to tell him what happened, then ask someone else, and so the "lecture" goes.
As I'm only a sophomore in college, I've only taken classes from a tiny, Sherri-sized handful of teachers in my life. I think I was stuck in my comfort zone a little bit, because I knew what the teachers wanted me to say, and how little of it I could say and still get a decent participation grade. I got used to their teaching styles and was dreading branching out. But I have to admit that I think it's been beneficial for me, because already I now understand a few concepts that have evaded me for years. It's a whole new perspective on things and who knew that might help? Which reminds me:
Travel Tip #7:
Zoning out, even for a few seconds, in a class taught in another language costs you exponentially more than zoning out in a class taught in a language you actually understand. Pay attention.
Alright, I'll stop boring you with the academic stuff. Especially because I'm hardly finished, and this is already hellas long. So, a few of us stayed after class to finalize plans to go to Dublin for St. Patrick's day, and I was a little late coming home. The next day, Tuesday, I came home at the normal time, but it seemed early to my señora because she only had the previous day, when I was late, as a point of reference. When I got home, she asked, "Why are you so early? It must be because it's my birthday." Yes, it was my Spanish mother's birthday and I didn't even know it. I am the worst American daughter there is. Luckily, I hadn't given her my homestay gift yet, so when her kids and grand kids came over to celebrate, I had gifts of my own to add to the pile. Then we ate tapas and drank-wouldn't you know it?-soda! It's funny that in the US, we drink soda like water, and here they only break it out for parties. anyways, so I experienced my first Spanish birthday. Que guay!
So I've been making a conscious effort to talk more and more, especially to my señora who is, after all, feeding and housing me. (It's only polite, ya dig?) Today over la comida, which is lunch, we talked about eating habits here versus those in Spain. She told me I was skinny, that she had expected me to be bigger before she met me, and that I needed to eat more. It's as though they're afraid I'm going to lose weight while I'm here. There's something about keeping up appearances, like, if I left after three months skinnier than when I arrived, it would mean either that they were cruel and underfed me, or that they're poor and didn't have the resources to feed me properly. One of them social stigmas, I reckon.
So, as promised:
Travel Tip #8:
Clean your plate. Literally.
So that's it, folks. I hope that wasn't too painfully long, and if you actually made it this far, hey, now I know who my true friends are. I will try not to have such sparse updates. They may be fewer and farther between than every day, as things settle down and we all develop a routine, but to be fair to you, because i love you all so much, I will try and update things, you know, as they actually happen.
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Day 8,537
I've decided I'm going to stop counting the days. It's too hard, I can't keep track. So today is Sunday, and it's incredibly difficult to believe that we've only been here for a week. The past 7 days of my life have been the best I've ever had. I can't begin to explain all the amazing places I've been, all the cool people I've talked to, or any of the insane nights I've had. And it's only been a week.
I feel compelled to update you all, but there is nothing specific to say. I could iterate how amazing of a time I'm having, but mere words won't suffice. Much like my photos will never look as beautiful as the real view. I wish I could pack up my life and move here permanently. It's a long way away and I shouldn't even be thinking about it, but I know I won't want to go home in just three short months. I don't say this often, but my dad was right. I should have come in the fall and stayed here for a year. A semester will never be enough time.
Yesterday was the santander versus some other city game. I met some friends at about 9:30 and we walked over to the stadium. I sincerely regret not going to the game, but we went to a nearby bar and watched it on tv. I really hate football, but I have to admit that last night's game was really fun, mostly thanks to the atmosphere surrounding it. These people go wild when there's a game. Racing (Santander's team) scored twice near the beginning, but the other team caught up fairly quickly. The score stayed at 2-2 up until the very last minute, when Santander scored a third time. We walked past the stadium after the game and the energy was palpable. The way back to my side of town is through a tunnel that is about 600 or so meters long, and walking back through was SO much fun. Tons of people waving flags or jerseys, and every car that passed honked its horn and cheered out the windows. Our throats were sore from cheering and my friend Bobby even complained that his hands hurt from clapping so much. Spaniards are serious about their football.
So of course we had to go out afterward to celebrate the victory. There are usually no cover charges here in espana, and the bars don't usually close until after three or four, which makes bar hopping an all-night adventure. Es un poco peligroso, pero no me importa.
I've said this before, but my favorite times are when we get to hang out with the ERASMUS students. There's never a dull moment, because they're all so foreign in more ways than one, so there is never a shortage of conversation. Not like talking to Americans, because I cant very well ask them when/how they learned English, what they do for fun, and if they've ever been to America, because I know the answers to all those questions. I really wish I could live like this forever.
We've begun to plan our trips a bit. I know a lot of us are planning on going to Dublin for saint patrick's day, and I just booked a flight to Paris with one of the girls here. I absolutely can't wait to go back to Italy. Italy was my favorite place to visit, and it's not just because of the italianos, who, admittedly, contribute significantly. I didn't have a travel tip prepared for today, but I just thought of one just now:
Travel Tip #5:
You must visit Venice and some point in your life. And you should probably do it soon, because I'm pretty sure global warming has its crosshairs set, and it's ready to pull the trigger any decade now. Sooner than we might think, Venice will be become the next lost city.
I am so strange. Everything I just said, what a weird way to word all that. Lo que sea. That means "whatever." I learned that yesterday. Ah, there are so many things I plan to bring back to the states. Siesta being the number 1 priority. America, this is important. We have to jump on this siesta bandwagon, I PROMISE you will ask yourself how you ever went without it. (but americans are too much in love with their jobs, so alas, siesta will never catch on over there. But por eso, this next one will-) Second on my list of things to bring back is "sunnies," which is not, strictly speaking, as much Spanish as it is Australian, but it will replace sunglasses. Listen, we're Americans. We got shit to do. We don't have time to say "sunglasses." That's a whole three syllables, people. Think about how much more productive we can be when we drop it down to two. and after that, it will evolve into just "suns." It will be fucking great.
Okay, I'm done now. I'll think of more things I want to bring back and write about them.
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
I feel compelled to update you all, but there is nothing specific to say. I could iterate how amazing of a time I'm having, but mere words won't suffice. Much like my photos will never look as beautiful as the real view. I wish I could pack up my life and move here permanently. It's a long way away and I shouldn't even be thinking about it, but I know I won't want to go home in just three short months. I don't say this often, but my dad was right. I should have come in the fall and stayed here for a year. A semester will never be enough time.
Yesterday was the santander versus some other city game. I met some friends at about 9:30 and we walked over to the stadium. I sincerely regret not going to the game, but we went to a nearby bar and watched it on tv. I really hate football, but I have to admit that last night's game was really fun, mostly thanks to the atmosphere surrounding it. These people go wild when there's a game. Racing (Santander's team) scored twice near the beginning, but the other team caught up fairly quickly. The score stayed at 2-2 up until the very last minute, when Santander scored a third time. We walked past the stadium after the game and the energy was palpable. The way back to my side of town is through a tunnel that is about 600 or so meters long, and walking back through was SO much fun. Tons of people waving flags or jerseys, and every car that passed honked its horn and cheered out the windows. Our throats were sore from cheering and my friend Bobby even complained that his hands hurt from clapping so much. Spaniards are serious about their football.
So of course we had to go out afterward to celebrate the victory. There are usually no cover charges here in espana, and the bars don't usually close until after three or four, which makes bar hopping an all-night adventure. Es un poco peligroso, pero no me importa.
I've said this before, but my favorite times are when we get to hang out with the ERASMUS students. There's never a dull moment, because they're all so foreign in more ways than one, so there is never a shortage of conversation. Not like talking to Americans, because I cant very well ask them when/how they learned English, what they do for fun, and if they've ever been to America, because I know the answers to all those questions. I really wish I could live like this forever.
We've begun to plan our trips a bit. I know a lot of us are planning on going to Dublin for saint patrick's day, and I just booked a flight to Paris with one of the girls here. I absolutely can't wait to go back to Italy. Italy was my favorite place to visit, and it's not just because of the italianos, who, admittedly, contribute significantly. I didn't have a travel tip prepared for today, but I just thought of one just now:
Travel Tip #5:
You must visit Venice and some point in your life. And you should probably do it soon, because I'm pretty sure global warming has its crosshairs set, and it's ready to pull the trigger any decade now. Sooner than we might think, Venice will be become the next lost city.
I am so strange. Everything I just said, what a weird way to word all that. Lo que sea. That means "whatever." I learned that yesterday. Ah, there are so many things I plan to bring back to the states. Siesta being the number 1 priority. America, this is important. We have to jump on this siesta bandwagon, I PROMISE you will ask yourself how you ever went without it. (but americans are too much in love with their jobs, so alas, siesta will never catch on over there. But por eso, this next one will-) Second on my list of things to bring back is "sunnies," which is not, strictly speaking, as much Spanish as it is Australian, but it will replace sunglasses. Listen, we're Americans. We got shit to do. We don't have time to say "sunglasses." That's a whole three syllables, people. Think about how much more productive we can be when we drop it down to two. and after that, it will evolve into just "suns." It will be fucking great.
Okay, I'm done now. I'll think of more things I want to bring back and write about them.
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Day 8??
I had my first taste of absinthe last night, and I have just one question: why? Why? Why would anyone want to ingest such a chemical? No, seriously, I'm asking. Why?? I just don't understand. After just one shot, I spent about 10 minutes in the bathroom waiting to vomit. Thankfully, I never did, but you can't be too safe. Seriously guys, today's travel tip is:
Travel Tip #4:
Don't drink the absinthe.
Okay, so things have settled down a bit. While we haven't started formal classes yet, we've gone on a few day trips to keep us busy. It's been, let's be real, kinda boring, but we've been able to spend a lot of time with the other international students, which is cool. You know what I heard? I heard that someone heard from someone that the school us Americans are going to is like the equivalent of an ivy league back in the states. I know, i know, it's such a reliable source, so it must be true. Ivy league or ECU, I'm in Spain and I would probably be taking the same A-for-effort-yay-you-spoke-Spanish type classes either way.
What else can I ramble about? I'm a bit cold. My señora keeps it cold in the apartment because I guess it's expensive to heat the place. I think it's going to rain later today. That would depress me if I were still in wilmington, but I'm not. I'm in Spain. It's still kind of unreal. I apologize if I seem a bit spacey, I'm still pondering why anyone of sound mind would willingly drink absinthe. It just doesn't make any sense. None at all.
Alright, everyone, tengan un buen dia. I think I'm going to find something productive to do with my day.
"el Mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Travel Tip #4:
Don't drink the absinthe.
Okay, so things have settled down a bit. While we haven't started formal classes yet, we've gone on a few day trips to keep us busy. It's been, let's be real, kinda boring, but we've been able to spend a lot of time with the other international students, which is cool. You know what I heard? I heard that someone heard from someone that the school us Americans are going to is like the equivalent of an ivy league back in the states. I know, i know, it's such a reliable source, so it must be true. Ivy league or ECU, I'm in Spain and I would probably be taking the same A-for-effort-yay-you-spoke-Spanish type classes either way.
What else can I ramble about? I'm a bit cold. My señora keeps it cold in the apartment because I guess it's expensive to heat the place. I think it's going to rain later today. That would depress me if I were still in wilmington, but I'm not. I'm in Spain. It's still kind of unreal. I apologize if I seem a bit spacey, I'm still pondering why anyone of sound mind would willingly drink absinthe. It just doesn't make any sense. None at all.
Alright, everyone, tengan un buen dia. I think I'm going to find something productive to do with my day.
"el Mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Day Something
Sorry I haven't written for a couple days but, as promised, I'll catch you up. We had our first day of school on tuesday and, as I said before, we took a placement test. I didn't feel good about my entrevista, or interview. I don't know why, but I kinda blanked. Which is stupid, because I've spoken with a lot of different people in spanish and this shouldn't have been any more difficult. I was asked simple questions like, is this your first time in Europe, where did you go, how long, so forth. The last question was what my favorite color was. When I responded with "Amarillo" (yellow), she thought that was so strange and now I think I know why. We got an email later that day telling us that we'd been split into two groups, Amarillo and naranja (orange). And guess what? I'm in the Amarillo group (so you know that's the smart group). So now I understand why she thought it was strange that my favorite color was yellow.
Anyway, after the exam, we all went home and ate and siesta-ed. I think, I'm not sure, because the days are starting to run together, I had to go back to a certain plaza for another walking tour of the town. After that, three of us went shopping for essentials that we'd been living without but could no longer do so. There was a conveniently placed bar across the street, and one of the girls asked if I wanted to stop and get a beer. I said yes, simply for the novelty of being able to just "stop and get a beer."
The next day, yesterday, we met at the school before being taken on another tour of the campus by our Spanish mentor, Fernando. I think that's his name... Anyway, then we ate lunch and got on a bus to go see a bunch of stuff. After a really long and freezing cold boat ride, we were done for the day. Pictures can be seen on my facebook (soon, I promise).
After docking, a bunch of us wanted to go out for tapas, thanks to our sub-standard lunch. We finally found a place to eat, and then I went home to have a late siesta while a few others went to shop more.
So last night a handful of us Americanos went out to a bar down the street from my apartment because a lot of the international students were meeting there to watch the Spain v. Columbia game. Which brings me to today´s travel tip:
Travel Tip #3:
Don´t get into a debate with a European (or South American for that matter) about why football is better than fútbol.
Believe it or not, I haven´t been spending much time with a whole lot of Spaniards. Yes, I live with two of them, but when I´m not home, I´m usually with the international students. Which isn´t as disappointing as it might sound. At least I´m not spending all my time with Americans. That would just be boring. It´s really cool to see all the students from all the different countries, and also to see all of us perpetuate our respective stereotypes. For instance, I have just last night validated that Italians are hot, French people all think they are better than everyone else, and Americans are stupid.
This has actually been my favorite part about my adventures so far. I love talking to all the international students because they´re here for the very same reason, that being to learn Spanish. And I get to talk to a lot of different people from a lot of different places, like France, Germany, Austria, Protugal, Brazil, Australia, and probably more that I´m forgetting. I think Americans are very interested in other people´s impressions of us. I find that whenever this is brought up in conversation, it was by one of us Americans. And what I´ve gathered is that everyone thinks we drink a lot (true), weild guns mercilessly (pretty true), eat tons of fast food (really true), and have no interest in learning a new language (unfortunately extremely, shamefully true). It is now that I´d like to tell you all that I will not return to the United States in May. I´m going to stay and live in Europe as a European. No, I´m totally kidding, but wouldn´t that be cool? But seriously, I don´t want to feel ashamed to be an American. But a lot of the time, I find myself hesitant to reveal to other students that I´m from the States. Oh, and another thing: People who live in the states, you are NOT the only Americans out there. In the states, I got so used to saying that I´m an American, because I gave up on saying that, more specifically, that I´m from the United States. People in the states somehow forgot that Canadians, Brazillians, Chileans, and most especially Mexicans are, yes, it´s true, Americans. That was a bit of a shock when I told someone that I´m American, and then they continued to inquire where I was from specifically. After I said the states, the person told me that what we consider "Americans" are arrogant to monopolize the name. Alright, before this gets too passionate, I´m going to move on to something else...Actually I think that´s it. But I don´t want to end on such a bad note. I apologize, my United States loving friends, I don´t hate my country. I just want better from it. I wish we had higher standards for ourselves, you know? Most people here know their native language, and English and usually another language. This sounds so impressive where I´m from, but it´s the norm here in Europe. One girl I met was, I think, from Brazil. So, of course she spoke Portugeuse (hope I´m spelling that right), but also English, French, Spanish, and "a little bit of" Chinese. Holy. Crap. I just wish we wouldn´t use our distance to validate our laziness. The fact that we´re far away should just mean that we try that much harder to connect with the rest of the world. Alas, I am but one girl. Who am I to change the way a country communicates with the rest of the world?
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Anyway, after the exam, we all went home and ate and siesta-ed. I think, I'm not sure, because the days are starting to run together, I had to go back to a certain plaza for another walking tour of the town. After that, three of us went shopping for essentials that we'd been living without but could no longer do so. There was a conveniently placed bar across the street, and one of the girls asked if I wanted to stop and get a beer. I said yes, simply for the novelty of being able to just "stop and get a beer."
The next day, yesterday, we met at the school before being taken on another tour of the campus by our Spanish mentor, Fernando. I think that's his name... Anyway, then we ate lunch and got on a bus to go see a bunch of stuff. After a really long and freezing cold boat ride, we were done for the day. Pictures can be seen on my facebook (soon, I promise).
After docking, a bunch of us wanted to go out for tapas, thanks to our sub-standard lunch. We finally found a place to eat, and then I went home to have a late siesta while a few others went to shop more.
So last night a handful of us Americanos went out to a bar down the street from my apartment because a lot of the international students were meeting there to watch the Spain v. Columbia game. Which brings me to today´s travel tip:
Travel Tip #3:
Don´t get into a debate with a European (or South American for that matter) about why football is better than fútbol.
Believe it or not, I haven´t been spending much time with a whole lot of Spaniards. Yes, I live with two of them, but when I´m not home, I´m usually with the international students. Which isn´t as disappointing as it might sound. At least I´m not spending all my time with Americans. That would just be boring. It´s really cool to see all the students from all the different countries, and also to see all of us perpetuate our respective stereotypes. For instance, I have just last night validated that Italians are hot, French people all think they are better than everyone else, and Americans are stupid.
This has actually been my favorite part about my adventures so far. I love talking to all the international students because they´re here for the very same reason, that being to learn Spanish. And I get to talk to a lot of different people from a lot of different places, like France, Germany, Austria, Protugal, Brazil, Australia, and probably more that I´m forgetting. I think Americans are very interested in other people´s impressions of us. I find that whenever this is brought up in conversation, it was by one of us Americans. And what I´ve gathered is that everyone thinks we drink a lot (true), weild guns mercilessly (pretty true), eat tons of fast food (really true), and have no interest in learning a new language (unfortunately extremely, shamefully true). It is now that I´d like to tell you all that I will not return to the United States in May. I´m going to stay and live in Europe as a European. No, I´m totally kidding, but wouldn´t that be cool? But seriously, I don´t want to feel ashamed to be an American. But a lot of the time, I find myself hesitant to reveal to other students that I´m from the States. Oh, and another thing: People who live in the states, you are NOT the only Americans out there. In the states, I got so used to saying that I´m an American, because I gave up on saying that, more specifically, that I´m from the United States. People in the states somehow forgot that Canadians, Brazillians, Chileans, and most especially Mexicans are, yes, it´s true, Americans. That was a bit of a shock when I told someone that I´m American, and then they continued to inquire where I was from specifically. After I said the states, the person told me that what we consider "Americans" are arrogant to monopolize the name. Alright, before this gets too passionate, I´m going to move on to something else...Actually I think that´s it. But I don´t want to end on such a bad note. I apologize, my United States loving friends, I don´t hate my country. I just want better from it. I wish we had higher standards for ourselves, you know? Most people here know their native language, and English and usually another language. This sounds so impressive where I´m from, but it´s the norm here in Europe. One girl I met was, I think, from Brazil. So, of course she spoke Portugeuse (hope I´m spelling that right), but also English, French, Spanish, and "a little bit of" Chinese. Holy. Crap. I just wish we wouldn´t use our distance to validate our laziness. The fact that we´re far away should just mean that we try that much harder to connect with the rest of the world. Alas, I am but one girl. Who am I to change the way a country communicates with the rest of the world?
"El mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Day 4
Hola todos! I wonder how long I'll continue to make daily updates? Perhaps I am spoiling you all. There will come a day when I will not be able to write, but don't worry, my beloved readers (all three of you), I will catch you up the next day. Now, let's get started with today's travel tip:
Travel Tip #2:
When in Spain, do NOT touch another person's dog. For god's sake, DO NOT TOUCH ANOTHER PERSON'S DOG.
So. Here we are, day four. I finally got a cell phone. If you want, contact me via facebook and I will give you the number. I don't know if you really want to call me that badly, though. I'm pretty sure it'll cost you an arm and maybe, depending on how long we chat, one of your legs as well.
So there really isn't much to say about yesterday. I woke up really late, at about 11. I ate breakfast and then left to go on another walk. I came back for lunch and after siesta, met up with a couple of girls to go shopping. The Spanish perspective of Americans is based solely on what they see on tv and movies, so it's all very glorified and romantic and completely false. As such, you see a lot of American cartoon characters and tv show references and hear american music just about anywhere you go. Which brings me to the point of me telling you all this, which is that, while we were shopping, we saw a few screen shirts with messages written in English that were nothing short of hilarious. The translated were so terrible, I had to take pictures. I will post them to facebook, but unfortunately, no one seems to appreciate translation mistakes as much I do. Oh well.
So after shopping and buying a phone, I went home to try and eat dinner with my señora, because yesterday when I came home, she had already eaten. After dinner, we watched a bit of the Spanish version of American idol, which would have been cooler if they hadn't been singing american songs. Then she switched it over to a telenovela, which is a Spanish soap opera. This was extremely difficult to follow, simply because there are about 8,537 main characters in soap operas and I can't even follow the plots in english soap operas. It was exhausting my brain and I went to bed around 11:30 (or 23:30 here in espana).
Today, I had to go to class. I had a tour of the university, admired some Spanish hotties from afar, then took a placement exam. After that, we went home for lunch and here I am. I think I'm going out for tapas y vino tonight, which is the Spanish version of fast food. La comics rapida.
I apologize that this entry wasn't as thrilling, but we shall speak again tomorrow.
Y recuerden ustedes:
"el Mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Travel Tip #2:
When in Spain, do NOT touch another person's dog. For god's sake, DO NOT TOUCH ANOTHER PERSON'S DOG.
So. Here we are, day four. I finally got a cell phone. If you want, contact me via facebook and I will give you the number. I don't know if you really want to call me that badly, though. I'm pretty sure it'll cost you an arm and maybe, depending on how long we chat, one of your legs as well.
So there really isn't much to say about yesterday. I woke up really late, at about 11. I ate breakfast and then left to go on another walk. I came back for lunch and after siesta, met up with a couple of girls to go shopping. The Spanish perspective of Americans is based solely on what they see on tv and movies, so it's all very glorified and romantic and completely false. As such, you see a lot of American cartoon characters and tv show references and hear american music just about anywhere you go. Which brings me to the point of me telling you all this, which is that, while we were shopping, we saw a few screen shirts with messages written in English that were nothing short of hilarious. The translated were so terrible, I had to take pictures. I will post them to facebook, but unfortunately, no one seems to appreciate translation mistakes as much I do. Oh well.
So after shopping and buying a phone, I went home to try and eat dinner with my señora, because yesterday when I came home, she had already eaten. After dinner, we watched a bit of the Spanish version of American idol, which would have been cooler if they hadn't been singing american songs. Then she switched it over to a telenovela, which is a Spanish soap opera. This was extremely difficult to follow, simply because there are about 8,537 main characters in soap operas and I can't even follow the plots in english soap operas. It was exhausting my brain and I went to bed around 11:30 (or 23:30 here in espana).
Today, I had to go to class. I had a tour of the university, admired some Spanish hotties from afar, then took a placement exam. After that, we went home for lunch and here I am. I think I'm going out for tapas y vino tonight, which is the Spanish version of fast food. La comics rapida.
I apologize that this entry wasn't as thrilling, but we shall speak again tomorrow.
Y recuerden ustedes:
"el Mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Monday, February 7, 2011
Day 3
So, I think I´m going to try something new. Every day, you guys get a travel tip from me. Some of them might apply only to Spain, but I´m sure most of them will be relevant in most of southern Europe. So whether you´re traveling or plan to travel, these might be a tid bit useful. And if not, they´ll be comedically tragic at my expense, so you should read them anyway.
Today´s travel tip:
If you´re crossing a one-way street in España, you should probably still look both ways.
Allow me to tell you about my day yesterday. I woke up about 9, ate breakfast, and then was promptly shooed out of the house by mi señora. She told me i had to walk around. So I did. I left around 11am, and I started to say "I´ll come back at 2 for lunch," but she stopped me halfway and told me to come back whenever I pleased. However, when I came back, she had a place set for me at the table. That´s one thing about the Spanish. Meals are always eaten together, and lunch is the biggest meal of the day. We were told before we left the states that you should never miss a meal without letting them know beforehand, because it´s expected of you that you eat with them. I´m beginning to see what they meant, because I made sure to be home around 1:30 because we usually eat at 2. And sure enough, I see that there´s a place for me at the table. I love being right all the time.
Okay, back to my day. So I left at 11am and walked for about 2 and a half hours. Saw the sights/took pictures/attempted to construct a mental map, that sort of thing. (I think I´m going to start posting a "find of the day" kinda thing too. I need to figure out a way to upload my photos, first, though...) After siesta, I went to the Ayuntamiento, which is a City Hall of sorts, and met up with the rest of the group. We then had the director of the program give us a walking tour of downtown. You know what everyone keeps doing? Bragging about how the streets were constructed in a grid, and it´s all crap. In america, when we say grid, we mean GRID. I´ll give them that the streets are more grid-like and organized than most of the older cities in Europe, because those are insane. But these are vaguely geometric. So callate sobre los calles tontos. (That means shut up about your stupid streets.) Okay anyway, back to the walking tour. It started at 5, and went until 7. Then we all tried to figure out which bar we could go to to watch the Superbowl, and we found one way way downtown. Like, in the slums. It seemed fine, except that it was about a 30 minute walk from where we originally met (the city hall) and that was about a 15 minute walk from where we all live. So let´s calculate, shall we? By 2 o´clock, I had walked about 2.5 hours. Add 2.5 for the walking tour of downtown, then another hour for time it took us to walk to the bar to see where it was and walk back. By 9pm, I had walked a total of about 5 hours. I ate dinner and then mentally prepared myself to walk another hour or so.
We all met en la plaza about 10:30, and were excited to learn that there was a party set up for us at a club nearby. It was an awesome experience because we got to meet the other international students that are also here to learn spanish. After the game (yay packers), Most of us didn´t want to go home, so we went to the beach. I had been to the port, but not the shore. Even though it was freezing, I couldn´t help reminding myself that I was on the beach...in Spain. Never ceases to amaze. I probably won´t have any complaints for the next three months because I just keep telling myself, "Hey sherri, guess what...You´re in Spain." A few of the guys we met were from Germany. They´ve been in Santander studying Spanish for about a year. I got into a good conversation with one in particular, named Felix. His first language was German, his second English. And for the past year, he had been learning spanish. I love the European school system, because when they learn new languages, they do it right. I firmly believe there is no better way to learn a language than immersion. When I went to Austria, I met a group of Spanish students (not students of spanish, students from spain) that was there to learn German. I think that´s so cool. It was such a new concept to me, because in the states, when we want to learn a new language-which most of us never do-we go to class. When Europeans want to learn a new language, they go to that country. At one point in your schooling, you just go to a country and live there for a while. It makes me feel isolated in the United States, you know? It´s not like we can venture into Canada to learn Canadian. It´s just not a very practiced method of learning. I wish it was, but again, we are muy lejos (distant).
Sidenote- forgive me for the random use of Spanish. I always said there might not be enough room in my head for more than one language. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was going crazy. I'm beginning to think in Spanglish. It's like my brain can't decide which language it wants to use. Hopefully it's just the transition from thinking in English to thinking in spanish.
Anyway, back to Felix. Perhaps it was the cervezas, and maybe (i´d like to think) it´s because I´m getting better at Spanish, but throughout the conversation, I couldn´t even tell which language we were speaking. We switched back and forth from english to spanish, talking about our experiences learning new languages and studying outside our home countries. I hate to say this, but he might be better at Spanish than I am. Which is shameful, because He´s only been studying it for a year, and I´ve been studying for 5 years. But then again, I wasn´t living in Spain. I had never even been to Spain. So I think my level of speaking is appropriate. I also got to talk to a really nice girl from Mexico. It's extremely reassuring to be able to hold a conversation with someone in spanish. we keep hearing over and over that we, being the group of us Americans, need to speak Spanish to each other, but something about what the student teacher we met last night said really drove it home. And all he said was that our biggest problem was that we speak English to each other. There's something very daunting about the way he worded that. Because we're all here for the same reason- to learn Spanish. We only have so much time, and I can't speak for everyone, but I don't want to waste a second of it. One of the girls justified using only English by saying, well, it's only the second day. And I told her tomorrow, she'll be saying it's only the third day. And Saturday will only be the first week. If you justify your actions now, you will be doing so for the rest of your life. If you can't admit your faults now, what makes you think you'll be able to tomorrow? Or the next day?
I'm afraid this entry has taken a turn for he worst. So, more about last night. The Mexican girl i talked with told me that I spoke better Spanish after a couple beers, which is funny but understandably true. I know Spanish better than a lot of my peers. It's not the best, and it's far from perfect, but I can certainly hold a conversation. My problem is that I'm extremely timid. My fear of saying something wrong keeps me from practicing. Which, I know, I know, is a little bit counter-intuitive. That being said, after a cerveza or two, I became more fearless and ended up talking quite a bit in spanish.
So I guess I lost track of time, but now that I think back, it makes sense. The fame started at midnight and went on for I don't remember how long. Then we went to the beach and we there for a while, and when we left, we lost a member of our party and it was thing whole crazy ordeal. As we were walking home, I asked what time it was and mr. Student teacher guy, whatever his name was said that it was 5:37. I had to look at his watch to believe it. I suppose I had to have one crazy night in Spain, right?? At least it was before classes start. I'm just glad my señora wasn't awake when I got home...
Okay, hasta mañana, todos!!
"el Mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Today´s travel tip:
If you´re crossing a one-way street in España, you should probably still look both ways.
Allow me to tell you about my day yesterday. I woke up about 9, ate breakfast, and then was promptly shooed out of the house by mi señora. She told me i had to walk around. So I did. I left around 11am, and I started to say "I´ll come back at 2 for lunch," but she stopped me halfway and told me to come back whenever I pleased. However, when I came back, she had a place set for me at the table. That´s one thing about the Spanish. Meals are always eaten together, and lunch is the biggest meal of the day. We were told before we left the states that you should never miss a meal without letting them know beforehand, because it´s expected of you that you eat with them. I´m beginning to see what they meant, because I made sure to be home around 1:30 because we usually eat at 2. And sure enough, I see that there´s a place for me at the table. I love being right all the time.
Okay, back to my day. So I left at 11am and walked for about 2 and a half hours. Saw the sights/took pictures/attempted to construct a mental map, that sort of thing. (I think I´m going to start posting a "find of the day" kinda thing too. I need to figure out a way to upload my photos, first, though...) After siesta, I went to the Ayuntamiento, which is a City Hall of sorts, and met up with the rest of the group. We then had the director of the program give us a walking tour of downtown. You know what everyone keeps doing? Bragging about how the streets were constructed in a grid, and it´s all crap. In america, when we say grid, we mean GRID. I´ll give them that the streets are more grid-like and organized than most of the older cities in Europe, because those are insane. But these are vaguely geometric. So callate sobre los calles tontos. (That means shut up about your stupid streets.) Okay anyway, back to the walking tour. It started at 5, and went until 7. Then we all tried to figure out which bar we could go to to watch the Superbowl, and we found one way way downtown. Like, in the slums. It seemed fine, except that it was about a 30 minute walk from where we originally met (the city hall) and that was about a 15 minute walk from where we all live. So let´s calculate, shall we? By 2 o´clock, I had walked about 2.5 hours. Add 2.5 for the walking tour of downtown, then another hour for time it took us to walk to the bar to see where it was and walk back. By 9pm, I had walked a total of about 5 hours. I ate dinner and then mentally prepared myself to walk another hour or so.
We all met en la plaza about 10:30, and were excited to learn that there was a party set up for us at a club nearby. It was an awesome experience because we got to meet the other international students that are also here to learn spanish. After the game (yay packers), Most of us didn´t want to go home, so we went to the beach. I had been to the port, but not the shore. Even though it was freezing, I couldn´t help reminding myself that I was on the beach...in Spain. Never ceases to amaze. I probably won´t have any complaints for the next three months because I just keep telling myself, "Hey sherri, guess what...You´re in Spain." A few of the guys we met were from Germany. They´ve been in Santander studying Spanish for about a year. I got into a good conversation with one in particular, named Felix. His first language was German, his second English. And for the past year, he had been learning spanish. I love the European school system, because when they learn new languages, they do it right. I firmly believe there is no better way to learn a language than immersion. When I went to Austria, I met a group of Spanish students (not students of spanish, students from spain) that was there to learn German. I think that´s so cool. It was such a new concept to me, because in the states, when we want to learn a new language-which most of us never do-we go to class. When Europeans want to learn a new language, they go to that country. At one point in your schooling, you just go to a country and live there for a while. It makes me feel isolated in the United States, you know? It´s not like we can venture into Canada to learn Canadian. It´s just not a very practiced method of learning. I wish it was, but again, we are muy lejos (distant).
Sidenote- forgive me for the random use of Spanish. I always said there might not be enough room in my head for more than one language. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was going crazy. I'm beginning to think in Spanglish. It's like my brain can't decide which language it wants to use. Hopefully it's just the transition from thinking in English to thinking in spanish.
Anyway, back to Felix. Perhaps it was the cervezas, and maybe (i´d like to think) it´s because I´m getting better at Spanish, but throughout the conversation, I couldn´t even tell which language we were speaking. We switched back and forth from english to spanish, talking about our experiences learning new languages and studying outside our home countries. I hate to say this, but he might be better at Spanish than I am. Which is shameful, because He´s only been studying it for a year, and I´ve been studying for 5 years. But then again, I wasn´t living in Spain. I had never even been to Spain. So I think my level of speaking is appropriate. I also got to talk to a really nice girl from Mexico. It's extremely reassuring to be able to hold a conversation with someone in spanish. we keep hearing over and over that we, being the group of us Americans, need to speak Spanish to each other, but something about what the student teacher we met last night said really drove it home. And all he said was that our biggest problem was that we speak English to each other. There's something very daunting about the way he worded that. Because we're all here for the same reason- to learn Spanish. We only have so much time, and I can't speak for everyone, but I don't want to waste a second of it. One of the girls justified using only English by saying, well, it's only the second day. And I told her tomorrow, she'll be saying it's only the third day. And Saturday will only be the first week. If you justify your actions now, you will be doing so for the rest of your life. If you can't admit your faults now, what makes you think you'll be able to tomorrow? Or the next day?
I'm afraid this entry has taken a turn for he worst. So, more about last night. The Mexican girl i talked with told me that I spoke better Spanish after a couple beers, which is funny but understandably true. I know Spanish better than a lot of my peers. It's not the best, and it's far from perfect, but I can certainly hold a conversation. My problem is that I'm extremely timid. My fear of saying something wrong keeps me from practicing. Which, I know, I know, is a little bit counter-intuitive. That being said, after a cerveza or two, I became more fearless and ended up talking quite a bit in spanish.
So I guess I lost track of time, but now that I think back, it makes sense. The fame started at midnight and went on for I don't remember how long. Then we went to the beach and we there for a while, and when we left, we lost a member of our party and it was thing whole crazy ordeal. As we were walking home, I asked what time it was and mr. Student teacher guy, whatever his name was said that it was 5:37. I had to look at his watch to believe it. I suppose I had to have one crazy night in Spain, right?? At least it was before classes start. I'm just glad my señora wasn't awake when I got home...
Okay, hasta mañana, todos!!
"el Mundo es un libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Day Two
Hola, todos. I´m learning how to navigate this spanish keyboard. Slowly but surely.
So yesterday, I wrote an entry, but I was about to go to bed and also I was writing on my iPod. As such, I now am typing on a laptop and can write a proper entry.
I arrived yesterday about 2. My señora, Julia, (pronounced who-lee-uh, don´t get it twisted) met me there and took me, via taxi, to her apartment. At times like these, I am grateful (greatful? i miss spell-check...) for my previous experience in Europe. When I stayed with a family in Switzerland, I was expecting a lot more, like the shamefully spoiled American teenager that I was (and let´s be real-still am). It was a family of two children and two parents, and they lived in an apartment that the average American college student might live in alone. So coming here yesterday, to my señora´s tiny apartment, was totally expected. Obviously, it may seem way too small for any American´s standards, but I´m okay with it. It´s downright charming. I´m glad I learned about European standard of living before coming to live here. I´ve mentally prepared myself to take shorter, colder showers, walk a whole lot more, use the lights a WHOLE lot less, live in a smaller space, wear more layers indoors because they don´t use the a/c like we do, and all that other stuff.
Anyway, after we got back, we ate. Then we both slept. After that, she took me out to see the town a little bit. There´s a café next door called 942, and we stopped there and had thoroughly spanish coffee and watched the fútbol game between Santander and Barcelona. (Go santander.) We were winning for the first half, then Barcelona caught up. With a thrilling neck and neck race of 1-1, we left and walked toward the sea. Which is awesome, because it´s only about 2 blocks from the apartment. I know it´s the city and it was a Saturday night, but it was so lively. So many people just walking the streets and what not. One thing that was really cool was, when she was showing me where we were on the map, she said, "Aquí es donde vivimos," which means "This is where we live." Where WE live. How freaking cool is that? Perhaps I am easily impressed.
I don´t think my señora gets much exercise because we walked just about 2 blocks and she said she was tired and we took the bus home. Before going back to the apartment, we went back to 942 and watched the end of the game. We walked slow and stopped to take pictures and talk to people, so even though we walked a short distance, it took us about 35-40 minutes. And guess where the game was? Still at 1-1. Don´t tell the Spaniards i said this, but that game is so boring. Why do people care?? Nothing matters. The crowd cheers and goes crazy when the players even get close to the goal, but here´s the deal: It´s hard to control where the ball goes, it´s so easy to intercept the ball, it´s so hard to get a goal, and it´s so easy to block the goal. Result? No one scores anything. For hours, no one will score anything. Nothing. At all. The game last night went into like 37 overtimes and still, there was a tie. I mean, it seems after a while, they just give up. "Well, you all suck and you´ll never accomplish anything, so let´s just call this one a draw. Pack it in, let´s go home." One good thing about fútbol, however: all the players are extremely, extremely good looking. It´s like there are 2 requirements for making the team: be good at soccer, and be really sexy.
Though it´s only day 2, I feel like I´ve learned a lot. Maybe not about the language (yet), but about the culture. People say that they are less polite, and in some cases, meaner than we are in the US. But i think i´ll have to disagree. They´re not mean, they´re not impolite, they just have different standards for what is polite or mean. What I´ve noticed is that when walking the streets, they don´t smile and usually avoid eye contact with strangers, which, as a girl who grew up in southern America, is extremely hard for me. I´m used to not only making eye contact and smiling at complete strangers, but even saying hi, or "how are you?". Aparantly, extended eye contact or smiling at a stranger, especially men, means that you want to sleep with them. I´ve only been in Spain for about 24 hours, but I´m pretty sure that there are at least 100 Spanish men who think I tried to seduce them. Oh well...permanant damage there. Another thing I´ve noticed, is that no one, NO ONE, cares about driving or parking laws. I mean, seriously. Not a single shit do they give. I knew this from before, but it never ceases to make me laugh. Next time I see one, I´ll take a picture and post it to facebook. These people park wherever is convenient, and I mean wherever. This may mean popping a curb or maybe even parking in the middle of the street. Or, like I saw earlier today, right in the middle of an intersection. Yes, you read that correctly. Also, I´m trying to cope with the idea of being a more aggressive pedestrian. I´ve noticed that if you´re not assertive, you probably won´t get to cross the street. Ever. Really.
Anything else I think of, I´ll write in tomorrow´s update. Okay, have a good day everyone. I´m about to take my mid-afternoon nap and it´s strange to think that you all are just starting the day. See you in 3 months.
"El mundo es un libro y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
-Sherri
So yesterday, I wrote an entry, but I was about to go to bed and also I was writing on my iPod. As such, I now am typing on a laptop and can write a proper entry.
I arrived yesterday about 2. My señora, Julia, (pronounced who-lee-uh, don´t get it twisted) met me there and took me, via taxi, to her apartment. At times like these, I am grateful (greatful? i miss spell-check...) for my previous experience in Europe. When I stayed with a family in Switzerland, I was expecting a lot more, like the shamefully spoiled American teenager that I was (and let´s be real-still am). It was a family of two children and two parents, and they lived in an apartment that the average American college student might live in alone. So coming here yesterday, to my señora´s tiny apartment, was totally expected. Obviously, it may seem way too small for any American´s standards, but I´m okay with it. It´s downright charming. I´m glad I learned about European standard of living before coming to live here. I´ve mentally prepared myself to take shorter, colder showers, walk a whole lot more, use the lights a WHOLE lot less, live in a smaller space, wear more layers indoors because they don´t use the a/c like we do, and all that other stuff.
Anyway, after we got back, we ate. Then we both slept. After that, she took me out to see the town a little bit. There´s a café next door called 942, and we stopped there and had thoroughly spanish coffee and watched the fútbol game between Santander and Barcelona. (Go santander.) We were winning for the first half, then Barcelona caught up. With a thrilling neck and neck race of 1-1, we left and walked toward the sea. Which is awesome, because it´s only about 2 blocks from the apartment. I know it´s the city and it was a Saturday night, but it was so lively. So many people just walking the streets and what not. One thing that was really cool was, when she was showing me where we were on the map, she said, "Aquí es donde vivimos," which means "This is where we live." Where WE live. How freaking cool is that? Perhaps I am easily impressed.
I don´t think my señora gets much exercise because we walked just about 2 blocks and she said she was tired and we took the bus home. Before going back to the apartment, we went back to 942 and watched the end of the game. We walked slow and stopped to take pictures and talk to people, so even though we walked a short distance, it took us about 35-40 minutes. And guess where the game was? Still at 1-1. Don´t tell the Spaniards i said this, but that game is so boring. Why do people care?? Nothing matters. The crowd cheers and goes crazy when the players even get close to the goal, but here´s the deal: It´s hard to control where the ball goes, it´s so easy to intercept the ball, it´s so hard to get a goal, and it´s so easy to block the goal. Result? No one scores anything. For hours, no one will score anything. Nothing. At all. The game last night went into like 37 overtimes and still, there was a tie. I mean, it seems after a while, they just give up. "Well, you all suck and you´ll never accomplish anything, so let´s just call this one a draw. Pack it in, let´s go home." One good thing about fútbol, however: all the players are extremely, extremely good looking. It´s like there are 2 requirements for making the team: be good at soccer, and be really sexy.
Though it´s only day 2, I feel like I´ve learned a lot. Maybe not about the language (yet), but about the culture. People say that they are less polite, and in some cases, meaner than we are in the US. But i think i´ll have to disagree. They´re not mean, they´re not impolite, they just have different standards for what is polite or mean. What I´ve noticed is that when walking the streets, they don´t smile and usually avoid eye contact with strangers, which, as a girl who grew up in southern America, is extremely hard for me. I´m used to not only making eye contact and smiling at complete strangers, but even saying hi, or "how are you?". Aparantly, extended eye contact or smiling at a stranger, especially men, means that you want to sleep with them. I´ve only been in Spain for about 24 hours, but I´m pretty sure that there are at least 100 Spanish men who think I tried to seduce them. Oh well...permanant damage there. Another thing I´ve noticed, is that no one, NO ONE, cares about driving or parking laws. I mean, seriously. Not a single shit do they give. I knew this from before, but it never ceases to make me laugh. Next time I see one, I´ll take a picture and post it to facebook. These people park wherever is convenient, and I mean wherever. This may mean popping a curb or maybe even parking in the middle of the street. Or, like I saw earlier today, right in the middle of an intersection. Yes, you read that correctly. Also, I´m trying to cope with the idea of being a more aggressive pedestrian. I´ve noticed that if you´re not assertive, you probably won´t get to cross the street. Ever. Really.
Anything else I think of, I´ll write in tomorrow´s update. Okay, have a good day everyone. I´m about to take my mid-afternoon nap and it´s strange to think that you all are just starting the day. See you in 3 months.
"El mundo es un libro y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
-Sherri
Saturday, February 5, 2011
He llegado
Hey everyone, I have arrived in little but beautiful Santander. It's about 3:30 right now and I just ate lunch with mi Señora. Her name is Julia, she's just about as wide as she is tall, and probably the sweetest thing ever. She showed me around a little and fed me as soon as I got here. I told her that I have heard that spaniards think it's rude if you don't finish all the food they give you, and she said, for you, you are so tiny, all you have to do is say "soy contenta," (which means "I'm full") and I will understand. Then she told me that I must be tired and that i could sleep if I want. She then says, "I'm going to sleep too. In Spain, there exists a wonderful thing that we do everyday. After we eat, we sleep. This miracle is called Siesta." haha, what a character.
So yes, so far I am understanding about 85% of everything she says. Which is more than I expected I would. Talking is a bit harder than listening and understanding, but i'm certainly impressed with myself. Perhaps I'm speaking too soon.
Anyway. I was told by more than a couple People that they heard the beds and pillows were much less comfortable than ours in the states, but I am warm and have a full tummy, and my bed feels perfectly comfy to me.
Happy siesta, everyone.
"el Mundo es in libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
So yes, so far I am understanding about 85% of everything she says. Which is more than I expected I would. Talking is a bit harder than listening and understanding, but i'm certainly impressed with myself. Perhaps I'm speaking too soon.
Anyway. I was told by more than a couple People that they heard the beds and pillows were much less comfortable than ours in the states, but I am warm and have a full tummy, and my bed feels perfectly comfy to me.
Happy siesta, everyone.
"el Mundo es in libro, y aquellos que no viajan leen solo una pagina."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)