THE TEST (one busy week).

I have to be honest and preface this entry with a boring warning. Hah. It has been a busy week, but not a very exciting one.

Last Thursday, some of the students in my program and I went a large police station (kind of downtown) to apply for our residency cards! The station sat just behind this ancient prison, which was surprisingly pretty. The police station itself was an eery reminder of the California DMV, a.k.a. my hell. Thankfully, one of our directors, María Jose met us there to walk us through it. Everyone was super rude and grumpy, as most of the goings-on there were traffic-related, or had to do with citizenship, etc.

The worst part of it? All we needed to bring was our passports, and some simple documents María Jose brought for us. I did not, i repeat, DID NOT need that stupid Apostille of Hague I drove all over Southern California to get! Yes, the Spanish Consulate in the U.S. stamped it and kept a copy, but the big deal was that I would need it IN Spain for residency. Also, I didn't need my Medical Certificate! LIES LIES LIES. Whatever. I'm almost at the point of residency. We all just need to sign something and turn in our fingerprints and we are temporary residents! :)

I brought some of dad's CHP patches, but I didn't end up giving any away as the station was chaotic and annoying. Hah. I'm saving those bad boys for the streets. But I did give one to one of my roommates, Miguel. Is training to be a National Policeman in Spain. He has his motor test this Friday, so I figured he could use some luck. Thanks, Dad for the patches! They will be given to the noblest folk only.

Friday, we all went out to a discotequa we like called Mae West. We're becoming more and more Spanish. Last time we were out until 4:30 a.m., this time we were out until 5:30 a.m. Improvement! But the rest of my weekend was dull.

I studied for the majority of it (took a movie break here and there). And crammed more on Monday for the final exam I had on Tuesday. Stack of vocabulary cards (I added about 75 more after this photo was taken).

I am in the advanced Preparatory Class so I cam automatically enrolled in the advanced CLM (Centro de Lenguas Modernas) classes, but I wanted to improved for my own sake. I just found out I got an 87% B+ on one half the test, but I do not yet know what I got on the other half of the test, or my class grade. I am content thus far.

So now I have a 4 day weekend! There is a National Strike today (called La Huelga General) and the transportation systems have slowed significantly because of it and many forms of transportation are now being over-used tomorrow. So we might not get to travel as far as we'd like. However, we are going to the bus station today or tomorrow to get tickets to go to Portugal for 5 days in October when we have a long weekend. :)

It's about time for some food! I love you all. As they say in Spain:

¡Un Beso!

Camping in Carzola!

Wow. Definitely one of my favorite experiences in Spain thus far!

This past weekend, our CSU IP program had a group excursion to Úbeda to explore/learn about the history and then to Carzola for some serious outdoorsy-ness. I love being outside. I like running. But I'm not too coordinated, as we all know. That being said, I ROCKED this weekend and harnessed my inner Northern Californian for some major hiking, etc.

First of all, Friday night, my landlords threw my roommates and I a mojito party to welcome us to the home. We got to know our roommates (Spaniards, Italians, Americans, etc.). Around 1:30 a.m., our Spanish roommate Miguel took us a to a discotequa called "Mae West" where we enjoyed our free drinks with entry until about 3:45 a.m. After a trip for some late night chawarmas (delish) we headed home and crashed at about 4:30 a.m. We had to get up at SEVEN A.M. Needless to say, it was an ugly, ugly morning.

After a 2 hour bus ride, our group of about 30 study abroad students arrived at Úbeda and beheld its glorious history. (I grasped some of it despite my exhaustion). The town really is gorgeous. This statue is memorial for those fallen in the Spanish Civil War; 1936-1939:


This is a beautiful cathedral called (I believe), "Catedral de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora de Baeza." It took my breath away.

Once we arrived at Carzola in the mountains, we practically had scurvy from the long bus ride. We still had the energy to laugh at our dinky cabin. But we loved it oh so much!

After lunch, we mustered up the strength for "Arbólisimo"! This is Spanish for those obstacle courses up in the trees. It was amazing! As I said, coordination is not my strong point, nor has it ever been. But! I think my long legs really helped me out this time because I flew through this thing. And luckily, unlike the other women in my family, heights don't bother me at all.

Chelsea and I getting strapped in:



Ziplining! Mom will love this. Remember "super chica" in Costa Rica? Hah!

After our tree-ing (as Martín calls it), we went for a short hike in the beautiful Sierra Nevada. The moon was out, but the sun was shining golden light on the mountain tops. Fantastic!

And I spotted some deer! Grandma will love this. :]

And the BEST part of the entire adventure was definitely the canyoneering! There is a beautiful river called Guadalquivir running through the mountains in Carzola. We had the opportunity to hike through it. This "hike" entailed walking through it, climbing up and through its rocks, swimming in the very deep areas, repelling down waterfalls and steep rock structures, as well as leaping off 15+ feet cliffs and waterfalls and plunging into the water below. This was, by far, my favorite outdoor experience of my life. I can't explain how excited we all were. I had the guts to volunteer to go first on many. The feeling of being in the air was spectacular!

So first, we had to don our gear. Wetsuits all around, running/hiking shoes (mine are still drying), and a helmet. In Spanish, a helmet is called a "casco." Now, let me tell you how difficult it is for the students in Granada to understand the stunted Spanish that Andalucian Spaniards speak. Remember how I told you they cut off the last syllable of words as well as the "s" sound? Well, they told us to put on our "cahcohs." We all looked like idiots asking each other, "What the heck is a 'cahcoh'?" Finally, Martín said, "casssscos!" and we knew right away we were in trouble. Imagine doing all the crazy stuff we were about to do and having all the safety rules, and where to put your hands in feet, explained to you in THIS kind of Spanish. Obviously we did alright since no one died. Hah.

Having some issue with my wetsuit:

Thank God for Daniel's waterproof camera! Unfortunately, there are no pictures of my jumping off the cliffs as I always went at the beginning and the go-to man for pictures was behind me. Natasha, Cheetoh (my "plane" buddy) and I:

A group shot of us after a huge jump:


And amazing experience, indeed! :]

Classes, Mail, and Rain.

I think I got all the classes I wanted! I had to argue a bit with the director. (Side story that will not be posted here. Ugh.) But my Granada director María said that I was the first CSU IP student to complete the registration process and she is going to the Secretaría later this coming week and will email me if there are any problems (but there shouldn't be). Woo-hoo! I have class Monday-Thursday, and each class is 2 hours long, twice a week. Here are the courses I am taking this semester:

-Literatura de España; Renacimiento y Barroco (Spanish Literature: Renaissance and Barroque)
-La imagen de la mujer en la literatura española (The Image of the Woman in Spanish Literature)
-Civilización y Cultura Españoles (Spanish Civilization and Culture)
-Introducción a la lingüística (Introduction to Spanish Linguistics)
-Producción Oral y Escrita (Spanish Oral and Writing Skills II--a required course for the Estudios Hispanicos, which is the advanced level I am in.)

It's going to be 15 units of immersion, but I think I can do it. :]

Also! I got a package from my mom today. Man, she rocks! She sent me the Spanish Verb book and dictionary I lamely forgot, the HOLY Apple World Adapter Kit (which I also should have bought before leaving), a cocktail dress and skirt I wanted (to save money on clothes here for a bit anyway), and she surprised me with peanut butter (expensive/difficult to find here), DOUBLE STUFFED Oreos, spices, and tea! She WOULD sneak something cooking related in there, but I am so happy she did! I love you, Mom. :]



I made the mistake of opening the package in class (since things are sent to my school for safety) and when I got the spices, my teacher said, "¡¿Tu mamá te envió drogas?¡" Which means, "Your mom sent you drugs!?" And she started laughing. I said, "¡No! Pues... Son drogas a mi mamá porque ella es una cocinera!" Meaning, "No! Well... They're drugs to my mom because she's a chef!" And my teacher went off on how cool it was that my mom cooked. It is true. It's pretty rad. Again, you rock mom. Despite that you're trafficking marijuana now.

Also, when I left school today, it was raining and it was so beautiful. It wasn't raining hard but it smells wonderful out! My first Spanish rain. And for the record, the rain in Spain does NOT stay mainly in the plains. Hardy har har.

Finally, when I came home, my landlord Tony was playing a song from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack and it made me so happy. 'Tis a good day.

I love you all!

A Rock Show and Park Day

Last night, there was a free rock festival in Granada called "Zaidín Rock 10." The headliner was a band called Barricada. Chelsea figures they're the Spanish Aerosmith; a bunch of old dudes just jammin' away and everyone-young and old (some very old)-knew the lyrics. It was pretty huge. I'd say it was a grungy Coachella, but not as dirty as a metal festival. Haha. There were carnival rides and fried food stands just like any good festival. I approved.

The girls on the way to the RAWK show:


Barricada performing:


By the time we got home, it was an early Spanish evening at approximately 3:30 a.m. So as usual, we slept until the afternoon and had a lovely breakfast/lunch at home. Then we caravanned over to a park dedicated to Federico Garcia Lorca. I read a few of his plays in Comp Lit 400 with a professor who became my major adviser so I was pleasantly surprised to see the Lorca name at the entrance. There were these hilarious exercise contraptions that we all leapt on:


There were gorgeous rose gardens (which I definitely felt at home in):

Left to Right: Arisa, Natasha, Chelsea, Alex and Brandon.

We brought a blanket and a bottle of wine and just relaxed in the park for a couple hours:


After a bit, we all agreed on tapas and traveled back to a busy area near our house called Plaza Nueva. We took a side street and tried a place with decently priced tapas in HUGE portions. The bar is called La Bella y La Bestia (Beauty and the Beast). I'll leave you all drooling with these photos. :]



I miss you all!

Mi gente y mi comida.

Hola!

So I stopped by my director's office today to pick up my Spanish student ID card and man do I look fabulous in my picture! Haha. They had to hand cut the background off the sides of my head and (Ava will love this) my mane looks like that of a ferocious lion. But I have it! As well as my student insurance card/information and a group picture! I don't have access to a scanner, so I took a picture of the photo and will present its poor quality to you here. (And if any of you don't know, you can double click the photos to expand them so you can see details):



The woman standing all the way to left is our director, Maria and her assistant below her, Maria Jose. My friends Natasha and Alex are to my left. I'm center back if you can't spot me. SURPRISE! Tall people in back. Chelsea and Arisa are in front with their legs to their chests. Brandon is being creepy in the back to the left with the sky blue shirt. Kira, from SF State is sitting in the bottom right. And Christina and Jason (also from SF State) in the back to the right in the floral tank top and bright blue shirt.

Also! I went grocery shopping today. I bought four full plastic bags (I need to get green bags!) and yet the most expensive thing I bought was honey at 3,25 euro. Yeah. We definitely found THE place to shop. I paid a total of 29,40 euro for the whole sh-bang and it was beyond worth it:



So I had to get the Frosties for breakfast. My friends and I doing the communal thing for milk which Spaniards DO NOT refrigerate and that is just weird. Hah. I've got some mint tea and honey. Canned red sauce for the pasta and canned garbonzo bean soup for my desperate-non-cooking evenings. Peaches, apples, and baby spinach. Yogurt, eggs, butter and Havarti cheese with sliced turkey. Some frozen pasta dishes (also for times of desperation). Peach juice (amazing). Onion and garlic powder (necessary to my life) and two fresh baguettes which were criminally cheap. They were warm when I bought them. (My mom is dying right now.)

Natasha and I carried our bags a good half a mile and up a hill so it is definitely siesta time. But I had to post this factual/informative little entry first.

I love you all!

Estoy haciendo amigos.

Making them amigos daily.

So last night when got home from dinner, we found that Tony (one of our landlords/handyman) baked us all cookies on little individual plates. :] And we added our landlords on Facebook (or as they say, "faaazeboooook"). One accepted immediately and demanded we begin speaking in Spanish on our walls. Don't worry, I'll translate as best I can. :]



Also, at the break between my brutal four hour daily language class, we go to a bar down the street and get cafe con leche for 1,20 euro and toast for ,70 euro. Sweet deal. But the best part is I saw my barista after class, smoking outside his bar and he said, "¡Hola chica! ¡Hasta luego!" It made me so happy! He knows us now! (He better, we've been there every day thus far supporting said establishment.)

Anyway. I am back to the phone store today to figure out this international calling thing and see if it will cost me a million dollars to receive calls. We'll see!

¡Buenas!

Lo que he visto.

(Where I've been!)

So I have started a map to keep track of all the places I have visited. Hopefully, it will only grow the longer I am in Europe!

Here is how it looks thus far: