A lot has happened in the two days since I last blogged! Yesterday everyone doing the intensive spanish month took a placement test to see what level we should all be in. This was the first (and maybe only) time that we were all in the same place at the same time and I was surprised to see that there were at least 100 (and probably more) people there. Most everyone that I heard, talked to, and encountered was American, speaking english, and from a university program. Going into it, I didn't really know what to expect because they said that gap year students come and take these courses but I didn't realize that the CLM is actually a very big study abroad destination for a lot of universities. While waiting for the test to begin I did find a few other stragglers, who like myself are not here with any particular program and therefore did not have a group to cling to.
So we began the test with a 40 minute written section first. The questions went from easiest to hardest and we needed to use some complex grammar to answer some of the harder questions, but it was all just talking about ourselves... so therefore not very difficult (I suppose writing essays in spanish basically every day for Señora Finch paid off). And then we had an hour to answer 80 multiple choice grammar questions. So also not very hard because it was multiple choice... and again I had a grammar drill sergeant to prepare me. I was pretty sure I got quite a few wrong, but just decided to turn it in without checking my answers because I forgot how tiring taking tests is. The part I was most worried about was the Oral because speaking is pretty difficult, but actually they just called us in one by one and talked about our exam and what level we should be in.
While waiting for the oral part, I learned that there are 9 levels, so I was thinking/shooting for 4 or 5. Maybe 6. But then he called me up and we had a conversation and talked about my exam and he laughed at my answer to one of the questions that asked our current worries and emotions which was basically that I wouldn't make friends because I'm here alone. I told him that I was also worried because I can read and write much better than I can speak, and he was like "okay, I'll put you in level 8 then." ..... I was shocked. Asked if he was sure/serious. He was. So there I am feeling pretty pleased with myself but also thinking that the lower levels must be really low, etc.
Now you get to have a good laugh, today I went to my classes (which will be from 10-2 every weekday for this month, pretty sweet) and I scurry into the first session thinking I am running late, but no to worries because there were only 4 people there at that moment and the professor ended up arriving 20 minutes late (typical for Spain). So as the rest of the 9 in total people arrived we were all talking and introducing ourselves in Spanish. For 6/9 of the students, spanish is their first language. I repeat, spanish is their FIRST language. Not spain spanish, but still. Then there is an Iraqi woman in the class who also speaks as if she were a native. So that leaves me and this other girl who is also good at Spanish, but less intimidatingly so. I have very little doubt that I am the worst at speaking in the class, but I might know the most grammar. Aside from this overwhelming feeling of not being mexican, the classes were really fun and the teachers seem really cool!
Back to the daily routine, I need to get used to the whole waking up to go to classes again and with enough time to eat breakfast... that one is majorly important because we don't eat lunch until 3! And dinner is very small so if I forget about or do a granola bar breakfast, lunch is essentially 3 meals. Which leaves my American body with much hunger. There is an expression here that goes something like "eat breakfast like a noble, lunch like a king, and dinner like a beggar." I told my host family that in the U.S. that pretty much every meal is like that of a fat king and queen.
So finally for a quick pet and water update. Tortuga real name is actually Donna Flor. Luna is such a little tease, I feel like we are constantly playing cat and mouse. But I'm not sure who is the cat and who is the mouse. Just now she comes into my room with her little red ball in her mouth and drops it at my feet and kind of paws it around so I pick up the ball and try to get her excited but she just stares at it disdainfully like "what is that juvenile thing you hold?" so I throw the ball at her and nimbly moves out of the way and takes her ball onto the porch. I next start petting her and make another attempt to pick her up to which she starts screaming and brings out the claws. She leaps from my grasp and onto the ledge of the seven story building where she knows I can't follow her, leaving the beloved ball behind. As soon as my back is turned she returns and collects her ball, hides in the dead tomato plants and we eye each other cautiously. She then disappears anticlimactically and is now back in my room after she must have done her usual loop: my balcony --> building ledge --> other balcony --> inside apartment --> back into my room through inside door.
Last thing before I sign off to go to sleep, without even realizing it, I picked the city with the best water in all of Spain! Granada gets water from the Sierra Nevada mountains so it is actually mountain fresh and tasty. The CLM building where I have all my classes also has drinking fountains!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Luna the sneak and Tortuga the freak
I have now been in Granada for a week! And living here with Gloria and Rafael for 4 nights. They are both really nice and cool so that is great. When I first arrived there was an 18 year old girl from Ukraine living here and she seemed really cool (and really good at Spanish! she assured me that the couldn't speak really at all when she got here, so that was definitely a nice thing to hear) but unfortunately she left the morning after I got here and now I have her room (which is good because this is definitely the best room, with it's own balcony and "farm").
There was also a lady from California here and I'm not sure how old she was, but I have made an educated guess that she was 34 or 35. The California girl (was unforgettable, daisy dukes bikinis on top....not really) took me to a flamenco performance with one of her friends and that was really exciting. The performance was also on top of a hill facing the alhambra so we got to see it all lit up. On Thursday she showed me a few key places in the town, such as el Corte Ingles which is basically like a macy's type store that also has a supermarket (so a little like a walmart I suppose but classier and smaller). She was really nice, but left Friday morning so currently there are no other boarders here. Hopefully the Japanese girl will come? She might be coming for a different program, or not coming at all, so we will see.
Friday I had a productive morning by purchasing minutes for my phone here (whooo) and then walking over to CLM to ask a few questions. I hoped to be with the same receptionist as last time, but instead I happened to get the person who my mom and I had been e-mailing from the U.S. so that actually worked out perfectly! I also wanted to know if I could find a teacher or conservatory to take flute lessons with or participate in an orchestra or something while I'm here, and she just happens to have a son that plays flute so she called his teacher and this teacher happens to know the teacher that I had heard of and tried to contact before coming here. So I didn't get anything finalized, but basically the world seems to have this going in my favor.
Yesterday I was here alone because Gloria and Rafael went to a wedding in another town, so I decided to explore the town a bit and go to el Corte Ingles and buy some lettuce (believe it or not they don't really have many salads with lettuce here... and I was craving a salad for some reason). So anyway, I bought a head of lettuce and a large bag of baby greens (and a bag... they don't give you grocery bags for free here) for under 2.5 euros. I suppose I don't pay very close attention to the lettuce prices back at home, but that seemed cheap to me.
Anyway, I made myself a nice salad and that was all fine and dandy, but what you probably really want to know about is the title of this blog post. So here comes the interesting part (sorry to every english teacher I have had for waiting until 5 paragraphs in to get to the subject).
Luna the sneak is the "adorable cat" I mentioned in my last post, and Tortuga the freak is their little pet box turtle. So Luna is without a doubt the sneakiest cat I have ever encountered. She is a small cat, but fully grown. We are working on our friendship, but I don't think she is used to having people like her, because both the california and ukraine girls despised her for creeping around so much. In this penthouse, the windows don't have screens and the doors to the porches are just open all the time to keep airflow (bugs don't seem to be a problem), so Luna will just climb/walk all around the ledges on this 7 story high building and enter from a window outside or from my porch when least expected. It can be pretty freaky to suddenly see her reflection in my computer screen leaping into my room. I've been petting her slowly more and more every day, and so far that's good but yesterday I thought we had reached the level where I could pick her up, so I did and she made me bleed as a result. She will also just sit outside my door meowing like a mad woman with her little ball, and I go out and try to play with her and she gets defensive of her ball and gives me the stink eye. So at this point, you could say we are more like frenemies.
But now it gets exciting as Tortuga the freak becomes a third player in our games. This morning I was eating cereal on the outside main porch as I have every morning when Tortuga (I'm not actually sure if he has a name... but I like to call him that) starts walking towards me at his slow pace. I think I might want a pet turtle now because he is sooooo adorable. He investigates my toes and here I am thinking how cute he is and reaching down to maybe pick him up when he gets "scared shitless" (literally). Who knew that turtle poop could smell so bad... it was reminiscent of the rat lab when they would get scared and have diarrhea. ANYWAY, Tortuga keeps walking along and then I decide to make friends so go over to him and offer my hand, he bites my fingers and I see his pink little tongue which is unreasonably cute. I decide to feed him some of the lettuce I bought so I go get the crunchy snack and my camera to take a picture (I am doing a photo a day thing, and so far it has been working out quite well but I usually end up with too many good photos each day... that will probably change as everything becomes more routine, and I may end up with a lot of selfies and food pictures come month 4 here...BUT at the end I want to make a photo collage with them or something.)
If you have not seen a little turtle munching on lettuce, you are missing out. But as I am playing with and feeding and giving so much attention to Tortuga, my frenemy onlooking in the corner starts to get a little jealous. I turn around and Luna is standing there peering at me. She snuggles up to me like i'm the best thing since cat nip and starts like caressing my hand with her head (I don't know how else to describe it). I pet her for a while and now she followed me to my room where she is chilling. So basically if any of you in college are trying to make friends, use the jealousy tactic. It certainly worked for me ;) Oh and "Tortuga the freak" earned this name because he went over to his excrements and stared at it for a good 5 minutes.
I haven't decided what I will do with the rest of today, but tomorrow I have my placement exam and then classes start Tuesday, so hopefully my life will become a little more interesting and busy then. Hasta luego!
There was also a lady from California here and I'm not sure how old she was, but I have made an educated guess that she was 34 or 35. The California girl (was unforgettable, daisy dukes bikinis on top....not really) took me to a flamenco performance with one of her friends and that was really exciting. The performance was also on top of a hill facing the alhambra so we got to see it all lit up. On Thursday she showed me a few key places in the town, such as el Corte Ingles which is basically like a macy's type store that also has a supermarket (so a little like a walmart I suppose but classier and smaller). She was really nice, but left Friday morning so currently there are no other boarders here. Hopefully the Japanese girl will come? She might be coming for a different program, or not coming at all, so we will see.
Friday I had a productive morning by purchasing minutes for my phone here (whooo) and then walking over to CLM to ask a few questions. I hoped to be with the same receptionist as last time, but instead I happened to get the person who my mom and I had been e-mailing from the U.S. so that actually worked out perfectly! I also wanted to know if I could find a teacher or conservatory to take flute lessons with or participate in an orchestra or something while I'm here, and she just happens to have a son that plays flute so she called his teacher and this teacher happens to know the teacher that I had heard of and tried to contact before coming here. So I didn't get anything finalized, but basically the world seems to have this going in my favor.
Yesterday I was here alone because Gloria and Rafael went to a wedding in another town, so I decided to explore the town a bit and go to el Corte Ingles and buy some lettuce (believe it or not they don't really have many salads with lettuce here... and I was craving a salad for some reason). So anyway, I bought a head of lettuce and a large bag of baby greens (and a bag... they don't give you grocery bags for free here) for under 2.5 euros. I suppose I don't pay very close attention to the lettuce prices back at home, but that seemed cheap to me.
Anyway, I made myself a nice salad and that was all fine and dandy, but what you probably really want to know about is the title of this blog post. So here comes the interesting part (sorry to every english teacher I have had for waiting until 5 paragraphs in to get to the subject).
Luna the sneak is the "adorable cat" I mentioned in my last post, and Tortuga the freak is their little pet box turtle. So Luna is without a doubt the sneakiest cat I have ever encountered. She is a small cat, but fully grown. We are working on our friendship, but I don't think she is used to having people like her, because both the california and ukraine girls despised her for creeping around so much. In this penthouse, the windows don't have screens and the doors to the porches are just open all the time to keep airflow (bugs don't seem to be a problem), so Luna will just climb/walk all around the ledges on this 7 story high building and enter from a window outside or from my porch when least expected. It can be pretty freaky to suddenly see her reflection in my computer screen leaping into my room. I've been petting her slowly more and more every day, and so far that's good but yesterday I thought we had reached the level where I could pick her up, so I did and she made me bleed as a result. She will also just sit outside my door meowing like a mad woman with her little ball, and I go out and try to play with her and she gets defensive of her ball and gives me the stink eye. So at this point, you could say we are more like frenemies.
But now it gets exciting as Tortuga the freak becomes a third player in our games. This morning I was eating cereal on the outside main porch as I have every morning when Tortuga (I'm not actually sure if he has a name... but I like to call him that) starts walking towards me at his slow pace. I think I might want a pet turtle now because he is sooooo adorable. He investigates my toes and here I am thinking how cute he is and reaching down to maybe pick him up when he gets "scared shitless" (literally). Who knew that turtle poop could smell so bad... it was reminiscent of the rat lab when they would get scared and have diarrhea. ANYWAY, Tortuga keeps walking along and then I decide to make friends so go over to him and offer my hand, he bites my fingers and I see his pink little tongue which is unreasonably cute. I decide to feed him some of the lettuce I bought so I go get the crunchy snack and my camera to take a picture (I am doing a photo a day thing, and so far it has been working out quite well but I usually end up with too many good photos each day... that will probably change as everything becomes more routine, and I may end up with a lot of selfies and food pictures come month 4 here...BUT at the end I want to make a photo collage with them or something.)
If you have not seen a little turtle munching on lettuce, you are missing out. But as I am playing with and feeding and giving so much attention to Tortuga, my frenemy onlooking in the corner starts to get a little jealous. I turn around and Luna is standing there peering at me. She snuggles up to me like i'm the best thing since cat nip and starts like caressing my hand with her head (I don't know how else to describe it). I pet her for a while and now she followed me to my room where she is chilling. So basically if any of you in college are trying to make friends, use the jealousy tactic. It certainly worked for me ;) Oh and "Tortuga the freak" earned this name because he went over to his excrements and stared at it for a good 5 minutes.
I haven't decided what I will do with the rest of today, but tomorrow I have my placement exam and then classes start Tuesday, so hopefully my life will become a little more interesting and busy then. Hasta luego!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Granada!
We arrived in Granada on Sunday with an excellent start to our trek by getting pulled over by the policia for doing something wrong. But then we got directions from him and no ticket so it worked out. When we first got to Granada, we had put the university in as a destination point and the gps led us to a slightly dumpy part of town with nothing going on. Fortunately, this was the science center which is across town from the Language center. ;)
After arriving we sampled a few hotels, one was a no-go with a good price for 3 beds in a room, but the "beds" were more like foam on boards. Next we went to this building that looked like a castle. Awesome place, but pricy. So we settled on this cute hotel with a great location and nice rooms.
Having basically no idea where anything was, Granada seemed pretty big. So the next day after some struggling with the GPS (apparently GPSs don't work when your walking 1-2 mph, who knew?) we finally located on our crappy little map the plaza with el Centro de Lenguas Modernas. We got to the plaza without much trouble but couldn't find the building so a kind ancient lady tried to help us. Her directions were good, but hard to understand so after following them to our best ability I stopped a normal looking college student to ask for directions. She could tell I was foreign and answered in english with that beautiful American accent.
So there I am waiting with a number in line for the next available receptionist, waiting to find out my destiny for the next 4 months. I am called up and she speaks no english, so my spanish skills were put to a test. From there it all went quite smoothly and I think she was impressed. I was a little impressed with myself too. My dad was both impressed and surprised (where is the faith in my abilities??)
Next we walked off to follow the better map she gave us and to meet the host family they picked out for me.
Their apartment is 5 minutes away from the college in basically the exact middle of the city but the adress was kind of confusing so I asked a police officer which building and he pointed us to where we were in front of. We think the apartment is on the 7th floor so go to there. This is the top floor and there are only 2 unmarked doors there. At this point we are all thinking this is way too good to be true and we are probably lost. I call her number and explain that we are lost, and it's weird because as I'm talking to her I hear like an echo of our conversation through the door we are in front of. We both have the same realization and the door opens. TADA. The place is AWESOME and way too good, yet somehow true (Hopefully this isn't a Hoda situation).
My host mom Gloria says I can have the room with the "farm." The "farm" is actually a patch of mostly dead tomatoes on a balcony outside of the room that overlooks the Alhambra AND the Sierra Nevada. Gloria is really nice and speaks a little english. Her husband doesn't, but is also nie. Me being vegetarian also won't be a problem because although she loves meat, she is diabetic so more vegetarian food will be better for her (not sure how that works but hey). There also might be a japanese girl going to the University and staying with them which would be a definite plus becuase then I can embarrass myself in 2 languages! They also have an adorable cat named Luna. I don't normally use such acronyms, but OMFG/WTF how did I get so lucky???
Later that day (yesterday? wow it seems so long ago...) we drove to/along the Mediterranean coast then went for a swim on the beach. The sea was salty and freezing but crystal clear and gorgeous and really fun to swim in. There were "swarms" of jellyfish around there, as a British lady warned me and her son said he had been stung 8 times that week! I managed to evade any contact, though not everyone in my party was so lucky.
Today we went to the Alhambra, which is gorgeous, and finished the day with gelato outside our hotel (with free wifi woohoo!). Tomorrow I will move in with Gloria and my Dad and Brad (our family friend) will leave.
Tata for now!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Annnddd we're off!
Disclaimer: As I type this post please forgive any errors since I am very sleep deprived.
Anyway, after many tearful goodbyes (I miss you all!) my Dad and I took off from Willard onward to Chicago and then Madrid (for those who don't know, my dad and one of our family friends are here for the first nearly week to tour around and help me get my host family situation under control... which will happen Monday we hope!).
So after landing in Chicago we are sitting at our next gate and I see a blurry figure (no glasses) that appears to be calling my name. I was like "wow that's funny there must be another Marie here and this person is really shocked to see her" but then who should appear but EMMA COVERDILL! As fate would have it, we were on the same flight. Crazy, right? What a beautiful sight, like a touch of light!
...moving right along, the time zone adjustment thing is weird because sleeping on the plane was next to impossible and it feels so late but back in chambana people are probably just now waking up! and instead of helping us sleep on the plane they helped us eat by giving us two meals that probably only exist on airplane time (as in not on the normal body clock schedule).
After arriving in Madrid my dad's spanish friend who lives here has been giving us a guided tour which is great because he speaks english and spanish (a big plus, everyone talks so fast here!). We began by having a traditional Spanish breakfast of toast with tomato and olive oil and salt and coffe. We then walked around and went to the Prado, which was very cool minus the mean security guard that scolded me not to take pictures even though there were no signs (really there were no signs, it wasn't just me not reading them). Then I snuck a sip of water from my backpack without realizing that it was sneaky because that's just what I do and he gave me the most twisted grin of disgust (and once again, no signs!).
We then ate lunch, and after a break will be eating dinner soon! My brain has no idea what to do with all these meals.
So, after a good portion of a day in Madrid, here are some key observations in no particular order:
1. There appears to be NO one out and about until well after 8 am
2. Rompers are a thing here
3. They have motorcycles with 2 wheels in the front and 1 in the back
4. motorcycles can literally park wherever they want
5. no drinking fountains :(
6. Everyone looks like Penelope Cruz! (not really true, but there are a lot of gorgeous people)
7. the euro to dollar exchange rate is awesome right now! (or terrible depending on how you look at it)
That's all I can think of but i'm sure there will be more to come later.
As I figure out my host family situation (I wasn't really nervous about this before, but now that I'm across the sea I am a wee bit on the nervous side. But it will all work out I'm sure!) and we make the trek to Granada I will keep you all posted, but for now hasta luego!
Anyway, after many tearful goodbyes (I miss you all!) my Dad and I took off from Willard onward to Chicago and then Madrid (for those who don't know, my dad and one of our family friends are here for the first nearly week to tour around and help me get my host family situation under control... which will happen Monday we hope!).
So after landing in Chicago we are sitting at our next gate and I see a blurry figure (no glasses) that appears to be calling my name. I was like "wow that's funny there must be another Marie here and this person is really shocked to see her" but then who should appear but EMMA COVERDILL! As fate would have it, we were on the same flight. Crazy, right? What a beautiful sight, like a touch of light!
...moving right along, the time zone adjustment thing is weird because sleeping on the plane was next to impossible and it feels so late but back in chambana people are probably just now waking up! and instead of helping us sleep on the plane they helped us eat by giving us two meals that probably only exist on airplane time (as in not on the normal body clock schedule).
After arriving in Madrid my dad's spanish friend who lives here has been giving us a guided tour which is great because he speaks english and spanish (a big plus, everyone talks so fast here!). We began by having a traditional Spanish breakfast of toast with tomato and olive oil and salt and coffe. We then walked around and went to the Prado, which was very cool minus the mean security guard that scolded me not to take pictures even though there were no signs (really there were no signs, it wasn't just me not reading them). Then I snuck a sip of water from my backpack without realizing that it was sneaky because that's just what I do and he gave me the most twisted grin of disgust (and once again, no signs!).
We then ate lunch, and after a break will be eating dinner soon! My brain has no idea what to do with all these meals.
So, after a good portion of a day in Madrid, here are some key observations in no particular order:
1. There appears to be NO one out and about until well after 8 am
2. Rompers are a thing here
3. They have motorcycles with 2 wheels in the front and 1 in the back
4. motorcycles can literally park wherever they want
5. no drinking fountains :(
6. Everyone looks like Penelope Cruz! (not really true, but there are a lot of gorgeous people)
7. the euro to dollar exchange rate is awesome right now! (or terrible depending on how you look at it)
That's all I can think of but i'm sure there will be more to come later.
As I figure out my host family situation (I wasn't really nervous about this before, but now that I'm across the sea I am a wee bit on the nervous side. But it will all work out I'm sure!) and we make the trek to Granada I will keep you all posted, but for now hasta luego!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)