Everything That's New in Granada!

Natilla: a pudding-like desert specked with cinnamon!

A typical meal at Ana's house: fried potatoes, fried eggs and a salad, with bread of course!

A close up of the potatoes: cooked in olive oil of course!

Hola Mis Amigos:

So I don’t have any new travel information like the last few blog entries, which I am glad about because I am travelled out for now! I hung out in Granada over the weekend, ate crepes, went on a few runs and bought myself some clothes and shoes out an outdoor market (really cheap!). It was a nice and relaxing weekend in my hometown.

Today I started my volunteering at El Carmelo, which is a private school for kids in Granada. They have English classes everyday for about an hour. So that is where I come in! I got to go to Bart’s English class of 14 and 15 year old Spaniards. It was loads of fun. For an hour the students asked me questions (in English of course) about the USA, my favorite basketball team and player (I said Brandon Roy of the Trail Blazers of course) and a bunch of other stuff about me and American teenagers. They were super interested about what we did on the weekends and what our favorite music is! They also know who Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez are!! For those of you who don’t, they are two players on the Trail Blazers that are from Spain. (I know one of them got traded recently but I don’t remember which one :/). So that was pretty cool that they had actually heard of Portland’s basketball team. They also knew what Rookie of the Year was when I explained how Brandon Roy had won Rookie of the Year because Pau Gasol of the Lakers won when he was a rookie (Gasol is from Spain). It was a really amazing experience to be in the classroom and to be helping these kids with their English and to be sharing my American experience with them. Luckily they like Americans! I think they are fascinated by our way of life. One girl said she didn’t like Americans because they eat fast food!! FUNNY!! Especially because there is a Burger King about two blocks from my house here in Granada. Ah, how the American influence penetrates Spain. Also, one kid asked me if I liked Zapatero (president of Spain) or Obama better. I said Obama of course, but I just thought that was so funny! They know so much about American politics it’s crazy! I knew nothing of Spain politics when I got here. So I get to go every week for an hour and work with the students from now until I leave in December. They are going to be starting work on a play in English that I am going to help them with. Then in December, before I leave, they are going to perform it! How fun!!

Also, I joined an intramural basketball team! It is made up of a bunch of my friends from the program here. We haven’t had a game yet and our attempt to practice over the weekend failed because we couldn’t find a place to play, but I am excited for it! It should be lots of fun and pretty chill. I think we have games once a week for the rest of the time here. Fun!

Ok, so I lied, there is one picture for today’s entry. Ana’s cooking!! I decided to take a picture of this meal because it is my favorite so far. Fried potatoes and green peppers with fried eggs! It is delicious and a very typical Spanish meal. In El Carmelo, the kids asked me my favorite Spanish dish and I told them this one. They all knew what I was talking about and nodded in agreement. It’s a good one and it’s super easy to make. I could even do it! Look out mom, when I come home I am totally making it for you guys! Also she made us a desert called Natilla: it’s similar to pudding and it’s delicious! Yum! There is a picture of that too. Oh and we always have salad which normally consists of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers but today there was also avocado!! I LOVE avocado or in Spanish, aguacate!!! Yum!

Here is the plan for my life the next week or so: This week I have classes and the usual. Next week the same, except on Thursday I leave for Madrid with my program for 5 days. I am excited to go because everything is planned for us! I don’t have to do anything but show up! After Madrid, more school and of course some fun! We found a bowling alley that is really close to El Carmelo, so I think my friends and I are going to go bowling this weekend!!! I had no idea they would have a bowling alley in Granada!! Crazy! But the next few weeks and the week after Madrid will be pretty intense school wise because I have a big presentation coming up along with midterms and the DELE exam on Nov. 13 (yes the DELE exam is on Friday the 13th). The DELE, for those of you who don’t know, is a test that is recognized by the Spanish government, which qualifies you as a Spanish speaker. Hopefully I will pass…fingers crossed!

I miss you guys a lot and the Portland weather of course. It is still warm here in the afternoons and the sky is sunny and blue! Yeah even in the middle of October. The leaves haven’t changed much here yet because it’s still so warm! I haven’t needed to break out my warmer clothes yet! Anyways, I hope all is well back at home. Stay healthy: (they call the Swine flu here Gripe A…some people have had it but I haven’t heard about a major outbreak). I will stay healthy too J

Peace,
Annie

Valencia y Intercambio

The Camel in the parade!

More pictures of the parade.

Parade--Super cool costumes!

Paella!!

Me at the beach!

Flamenco--it was amazing!

The view from the tower in the city.

Another view of the city!

La Ciudad de Las Ciencias.

La Ciudad de Las Ciencias.

Hello All!!

So I went to Valencia over the four-day weekend. It was a little rough getting there cause it was a long bus ride but overall the trip was worth it. On Friday it was the Valencia festival day so there was a parade. It was uber cool! The costumes were amazing and the music and dancing was phenomenal. Also there was a camel! Yeah I know! Wicked! On Saturday we explored the city and walked through the older part of town where all of the Churches and Plazas are located. It was really beautiful. We also went up into the tower of the Cathedral and could see an amazing view of the city. It sun also happened to be setting so it was beyond beautiful. On Sunday we went to La Ciudad de Las Ciencias. Basically it is a part of Valencia with a bunch of science museums and such. The buildings themselves are works of art! We tried to go to the Aquariam there but it was way too crowded and we didn't have tickets ahead of time. So instead we went to the beach. And ate Paella!! It was amazing!

So that was basically Valencia. It's a pretty big city so it was hard to see in only a few days but we did our best. I am glad to be back in Granada and back at home with Ana! She is the sweetest. She made us this amazing desert when we got back! Yum!

So backtracking a little, last Thursday I met with my intercambio for the first time. I have mentioned this program before but it's been awhile! Intercambio is when I meet up with a Spainard who is studying English. The goal is to meet up about once a week for about an hour and talk half the time in Spanish and half the time in English. My intercambio's name is Virginia and she is 19 and studying Spanish at the University of Granada. She is super nice and friendly! Libby and I went together cause intially there was suppossed to be another girl that was going to meet up with the both of us. It was tons of fun! We talked for about two hours! She talked slower for us so we can understand and overall our Spanish was pretty good. We had to talk slowly for her in English so she could understand us. I think we are about on the same level so it's nice and the conversation flows well. I think we talked more in Spanish because she was having trouble talking. She said for her it's much easier to read and write than it is to talk. That is the same for me but it is easier to talk now that I have been living in Spain and speaking Spanish everyday. We are going to meet up again this week. She even invited us to go to some of her classes with her at the University when we have free time. And she invited us to play Karaoke at her house!! Hopefully we will get to do that cause it sounds like so much fun!

Classes are going good. Just the usual. Which is never a bad thing. There is less homework here which is nice, but that also means that most of the grade is based on tests. I'm not too worried about the classes though. They are interesting and fun so far!

This week shoudl be pretty normal and boring. I am actually glad!! The last few weeks have been crazy!

More later,

Annie

Pais Vasco (Basque Country): San Sebastian and Bilbao

Me in Bilbao looking out over part of the Guggenheim Museum and a cool spider sculpture.

The flower dog in front of the Guggenheim Musum.

One of the millions of cool sailboats in San Sebastian.

One of the phenomenal views of San Sebastian and the Canatbria Sea.

Me on a boat in the Cantabria Sea.

The sea crashing onto the rocks.

The group overlooking San Sebastain.

Me overlooking San Sebastian.

Me in front of the marina with all of the sailboats.

Me at the beach!

Hello All,

This has been a whirlwind couple of weeks. After my exams I went to Pais Vasco (in Northern Spain) to the cities of San Sebastian and Bilbao. San Sebastian is probably the prettiest coastal city I have ever been too. The rolling green hills covered in trees serve as an Ireland-like background to the white sandy beaches and blue, blue sea. The city sits on the coast of the Cantabria Sea, which seems to go on forever. The weather was beautiful for most of the days and I even spent an afternoon sunbathing on the beach, in October! Crazy! We hiked up to a few viewpoints to see the entire city and surrounding area. It was a view I will always remember and was so beautiful I had to take about a million pictures! We also went on a boat ride out into the Cantabria Sea--it was really cool! The boat undulated a lot because it was almost like the ocean! The waves were big! There were sailboats everywhere: in the marina, anchored in the inlet and even out in the sea. Again I took a million pictures of the sailboats (Dad: you would have loved it! There were so many really cool sailboats!) My friends and I stayed in a Pension, which is a really cheap hostal, in San Sebastian for five nights. One of the evenings, Kathryn and I went for a run along the boardwalk looking out over the beach and the sea. It was gorgeous and such an amazing feeling. The sun was setting among the clouds and I had just gone on an intense run...one of the coolest feelings I have ever had.

For one of the days we took a day trip to Bilbao, which is another city in Pais Vasco about an hour away. In Bilbao is the famous Guggenheim museum. It was pretty cool--really modern--but the second floor was closed because it is the end of tourist season and they were changing exhibits (Tourist season normally runs until the end of September). But it was cool anyways. My favorite part was probably the huge dog made of flowers in front of the museum. I liked San Sebastian the best though because of the sea, the view and the beach! The beach makes everything better!

When we got back from Pais Vasco on Tuesday, we started classes the next day. I am taking the Spanish Culture class I have been taking from the beginning, POE (which is a Spanish speaking, writing and grammar class), Spanish Art from Baroque to present and Politics/Government of the European Union. I am pretty excited about all of the new classes, and I am happy because for POE I have Ana (she was my intensive professor and I really like her). I did well on my test for Intensivo and for Culture. Whew! No more tests for awhile now…yay!

To continue with my crazy schedule, early Friday morning I am leaving with Libby, Kathryn and Kailey for Valencia because we have a four day weekend. I am excited. Another fun adventure. We are taking a bus there and staying another Pension. I will write all about it when I get back next week!

After the trip to Valencia it's time to focus on classes for a few weeks. At the end of October into early November I am going to Madrid for about 5 days with the program. Then more school and maybe a few weekend trips here and there. Time is flying as usual...I can't believe it is already October. Yesterday we learned about some volunteer opportunities and I think I am going to help out at a school in Granada that teaches little kids English. I thought that would be fun to use my Spanish skills and my English ones too! Maybe it will inspire the teaching bone that is hidden somewhere in my body...who knows.

Anyways, I miss you all very much, but I am having a really good time.

More later,

Annie