Un mes y un día

I haven't updated this in awhile but that always seems to be the story of my life with this. I just forget about it. This past weekend our program went to Sevilla, but the majority of us were too tired to enjoy the city in its entirety. This is because last week was midterms and the DELE exam. In case you have never heard me talk about the DELE, it is a fluency test we took at the intermediate level. If I pass it I will have a certificate that shows I am fluent in Spanish at the intermediate level. However, my grammar in Spanish is horrible, and because of this I don't think I passed. In fact I am 99.9% I didn't but I will not know for sure until February. At least I don't have to worry about that ruining the rest of my time here. If I don't pass I always have the opportunity to retake it at the University of Portland which I happened to live very close too. To tell you the truth, I don't think very many people in the US even know what the DELE is so it won't be too detrimental if I don't pass. It would just look good on a resume...we'll see what happens. Sevilla is a bigger city than Granada, and had a Starbucks where of course I had to stop at like I did in Madrid. Did I mention Madrid? Well that was a fantastic experience!!! I had my best meal yet in Spain at Hard Rock Cafe. I am determined to find the Hard Rock Cafe in Barcelona when I go this week. Another thing to look forward to! Well to make a long story short about Madrid I had an amazing time and did not get robbed in the process. However, I think now I have seen more coffins then I ever wanted to see. I prefer not going to anymore mosoleums or anywhere that contains dead bodies for quite sometime. Learning that the bodies in the Escorial rot in the "rotting rooms" for 25 years before being put into the coffins in the room of coffins, is not a detail I wanted to know, especially since the Grandma of King Juan Carlos I is among one of those rotting in a room that we walked right by. Definitely not a fan of that, but it was historical and interesting to learn about, despite my minor panic attack while in there.

In Sevilla we rode a 4 person bike around the park, but decided to fit all 6 of us. It was quite the adventure and we got quite a few looks as we were being the "loud Americans", but it was totally worth it. I experienced my first Christmas market in Sevilla. I learned that Nativity scenes here are a big deal and that you can custom make your own if you wish. I can't wait for the Christmas market to come to Granada! I would love to bring back Spanish ornaments. A Christmas market in Granada would also mean its almost time for me to go home!

One month and one day from today I will be back in the US with my family and friends. Most people are not looking forward to this day, but I am among the few that are. I miss my family and friends so much, especially in this last week! This last week was a rough week for me, as I had many tests to study for and didn't have my family or group of friends from home as my support system here for me. I received a package from my sorority last week and realized how much I miss home and all the people there. Don't get me wrong, I have had a great time here and have so many memories, but there comes a time where it is time to come home, and I have reached that point in my time here. I do have things to look forward to until then. This week I am going to Barcelona and get to see my best friend from home who is studying there. I can't wait! Today I also have been thinking about going to Morocco. Before I had no interest in going there but after hearing my friends talk about it and how great of an experience it would be I think I am going to do it. How many people get to say they have been to Africa? Probably a small number. I just need to figure out the rest of the details before I make a final decision.

More updates to come after my time in Barcelona!!!

Crema de Cacahuete y Platanos

I just discovered that instead of suffering through my disgusting chorizo and bread sandwiches or ham and bread sandwiches my host mom has been making me and leaving out overnight, I can take advantage of my peanut butter and adding bananas to make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, which tastes better, and I do not have the risk of contracting something from warm meat. Having meat be left on the counter for hours at a time does not appeal to me or my stomach. However, it was a sad day last night when I ran out of my Skippy peanut butter from the US. I was told before I came here Spain does not have peanut butter but luckily I have seen it in the supermarkets, and when I return from Madrid or even tomorrow, I plan on purchasing another jar. As I made my sandwich yesterday, my host mom just stared at me with interest, because she does not get how peanut butter can taste good on everything from bread, to bananas, to possibly even carrots?? But...I am American and we put peanut butter on everything and I explained this to her. Needless to say, I just finished my sandwich and it was delicious! Hopefully I won't be going back to chorizo and ham for awhile.

This Thursday I leave to go to Madrid for 5 days with my program, which I am really looking forward to and nervous for. I am nervous because our advisor gave us a list of all the terrible things that can happen to us while we are there from being robbed or getting lost in the red light district behind the restaurant we will be dining in multiple times. To avoid these catastrophes I think I will be wearing my money belt continuously, because it should be pretty hard to get to. As for my camera, I have to figure out a way to hide it somehow on my body, but I guess I will figure that out when I get there. We are going to be going to the Museo del Prado which is a famous art museum, as well as the Escorial where some of the past kings are buried. It is also Halloween while we are there and we plan on doing something fun for that as well!

I have come to realize that on the weekends, people don't sleep here. The night life does not even begin to start until around 2 or 3 am, which is the time everything is ending in the US. Therefore, these 5 and 6 am mornings on the weekends have been kind of rough on my sleeping schedule, but worth it in the end...I mean I only have less than 2 months to make the best of everything here! Speaking of only having less than 2 months...I have a lot to accomplish in the next few weeks. The morning after we come back from Madrid I am giving a presentation on Olive Oil, so I have to have this all completed before Thursday morning. Luckily I have a partner so my work is not as much as it would be if I was presenting alone. I have my outline, and just have the power point and actual practicing of the speech to go! Not to mention we have an exam 3 days after my presentation...so I have to start studying for that as as well. The week after next is Mid-terms aka Examenes Parciales. I have an exam in each class for 2 hrs so I hope to do well on them! The Friday after mid-terms is our huge DELE exam that could certify us as fluent in Spanish if we pass. Right now the grammar part is what is killing me, but hopefully my grammar class in the next few weeks can prepare me for what I am going to endure on the DELE exam. I am nervous for it because I really would like to pass, considering I want to be able to teach the basic level of Spanish when I become an elementary school teacher. I had my practice interview today which is the oral part of the exam, and it went better than expected. The lady conducting the interview said I had good fluidity and interaction with her which is surprising considering I think my Spanish is horrible. I just had a few grammatical errors that I need to work on, but that is to be expected considering grammar is the part I am not passing on the exam yet. 2 weeks to improve it though!!! After the DELE we leave for Sevilla on Saturday for one night, the following weekend I go to Madrid and get to visit one of my best friends from high school who is studying there. After Barcelona I have a weekend in Granada, and then the following weekend we have a 5 day break before finals where I also will be staying in Granada due to the cost of traveling expenses to go anywhere else. Then, finals begin and the day after finals end I finally get to go home!!! So in reality this next month and a half is going to fly by incredibly fast...I hope, because I am so ready to come home now. After receiving a wonderful care package yesterday from my parents, I began to miss home even more. I have been here over 2 months which is a long time away from my family and friends. I cannot wait to get back to WU but I am nervous about starting up classes in English again. I am a Rhetoric major which involves a lot of writing, and I am scared it is going to be difficult to adjust back to applying theory to write 10-15 or even 20 page papers, but I know I am not the only one who has gone to a foreign country to come back and undergo the same transition.

I was talking to my mom yesterday about the oil here, because I have been doing a lot of research lately on olive oil due to my upcoming presentation. I realized when I get back to the US my body may undergo some difficulties adjusting back the horrible oil we use. Olive oil is so much more healthier for your body and I have not experienced any health problems like I do when I am home in the US. On the bright side, maybe this will force me to cut out eating fried food in its entirety which will be difficult considering the cook in my sorority tends to make a lot of friend food, or food with a lot of grease. I guess we will see what happens.

Oh I forgot to mention my little adventure I had yesterday trying to acquire a flu shot. I have asthma and therefore I am at a higher risk of contracting the flu, so I usually receive an annual flu shot. My advisor said I was able to go to a local pharmacy to receive one but he left out one minor detail...they don't inject them there. My host mom went with me, which was very helpful considering the adventure I had after the pharmacy. I bought a flu shot thinking, oh I am just going to sit down, they will inject my arm and I will be on my way...WRONG!!! I purchased the shot to find out afterwards you have to go to a separate clinic to have it injected. This was all very confusing to me, as it was all explained in Spanish. My host mom took me to 2 different clinics to see if they could help me. Keep in mind it was the siesta hour, so EVERYTHING was closed, as I was carrying around my little bag with a box of the influenza virus. Finally, she took me to her clinic which happened to be open. The receptionist was very nice and got me in right away and I did not feel a thing when the nurse injected me. It was just a stressful thing to go through considering in the US I just go and have it injected by the same person in the same place. My host mom said I need to come here every year to receive one since it didn't hurt at all like it does after I get one in the US. I think it is a great excuse don't you?

I think this is all for now. Like I said, I have a busy few weeks coming up, so I might not get around to updating this for awhile, but I will at some point after Madrid to let you know how that experience went!!! Wish me luck, and that I come home with everything I went with!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to someone's house and meet a few Spanish people. This is what I have been missing in my experience here. I have been told I should be making Spanish friends to improve my Spanish speaking abilities, however finding and making Spanish friends is harder than it seems. I have been to discotecas a few times and have gone to tapas bars, to try and encounter Spaniards, but to be honest they seem to have no interest. This past weekend we went to a discoteca and there were a group of Spaniards dancing by themselves, and a group of us American's by ourselves. There were not a lot of people at the discoteca during this time, and instead of trying to meet other people the Spaniards would not give us any attention, even one of my friends asked if they wanted to come over by us. Overall, that is part of the Spanish culture I am lacking...Spanish friends. I have attempted to but it just isn't working out. I have a meeting with a Spanish speaking student tomorrow where I will speak Spanish to him for awhile and he will in turn practice his English on me. We call it an "intercambio" partner. Maybe he will be able to introduce me to some of his Spanish friends.

I have taken the advice of people who have studied here before and traveled to places in Spain to learn more about Spanish culture. With my program I have gone to Ronda, Córdoba, and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, I leave the weekend after next for Madrid, and I am also going to Sevilla and Barcelona. I have also seen many things in Granada including the Alhambra, and have hiked in the Sierra Nevadas. Because I have done this I feel I am more integrated with the culture. I feel like I have experienced Spanish food and traditions such as the siesta and different meal times. I feel like I am lacking the cultural experience of watching flamenco dancing and having Spanish friends. I plan to go to a flamenco show soon, and like I said I am definitely working on meeting Spanish friends. I could have gone to a bull fight a few weeks ago to even broaden my cultural experience, but chose not to attend because of what it entails. I don't think my stomach could handle seeing 6 bulls be stabbed back to back. I am not a big fan of blood, and for this reason I didn't want to go. When I go to Madrid or Barcelona I wish I could attend a soccer game, because that is another cultural aspect of Spain. However, this week I am starting to play inter-mural indoor soccer with my program, as part of our university. I am looking forward to it but the last time I played soccer I accidently broke someone's shin, so I am hoping this isn't going to be very competitive. Also this week, I start volunteering at an elementary school with 11 and 12 year olds once a week. Since I want to become an elementary school teacher I feel this is going to be a great experience, because not only will I have the chance to improve my Spanish by communicating with students and teachers, but I also will get to see how teaching at a young age differs here compared to the US.

I think by becoming involved in these activities this week I will be able to open myself up more to the culture and hopefully gain some Spanish friends in the long run!

Wow I really need to update this

I realized I haven´t updated this in over a month and feel like I need to do this now. A lot has happened in the last month. I finished my first month of intensivo Spanish class, lost my roommate, and have traveled many places in between. So to start off with losing the roommate. At first I had a great relationship with my host mom...we both did at first...but after time my roommate and host mom started to have issues. Their personalities did not match up well and everything my roommate did my host mom would yell at her about it, but not at me if I did the same thing. It was hard adjusting to the new types of food she makes and and she is very picky about various things. This may be getting a little too far, but hey this is my blog and can say what I want I guess. My roommate was also not White, but Filipino which many people including myself could be a reason why she was treated differently than me. I say this because before I left the US I assumed that all races would be accepted here as for the most part they are in the US, and especially because Granada is so close to Morocco. I have found this is not the case and rascism is much more prevalent here than in the US. For example, going into clubs you are judged by the way you dress, act, and the people you are with. I just got back from France last week and when you cross the border into Geneva, Switzerland people from customs automatically take a car aside who has an Aftican American inside, or if the person looks at all suspicious. We have 2 Asians in our program and some people´s host mom´s have asked why is there a Chinese man here? Does he speak English? Why isn´t he in China? Or the way in which they describe people of another race such as making hand gestures to descirbe the man with the ¨Asian eyes¨. To me this has been sad to see but I have come to understand that it is all a part of the culture and I just have to accept it.

It has been hard not having a roommate, but it also has its advantages. I have my own room with extra space, my own bathroom, and I am forced to Speak Spanish all the time with my host mom. I miss having another American there to talk to, and we had a good relationship, so it is difficult not having someone to walk to school with anymore, and sometimes having to eat dinner alone. It is a growing experience and I think it is making me a stronger person.

Now onto the first month of intensivo and starting classes for the semester. The education system is definitely different here, and I really miss the mannerisms of US Professors. I had 2 intensivo professors, 2 hrs for each professor. My first professor was very upbeat, funny, and would nicely correct your mistakes when you said something wrong. She was also the professor who didn´t know the Sun was a star, and told us there are only 5 continents instead of 7, but that is another story. Apparently continents are not a universal thing people learn all around the world. Everyone has a different perspective. my second professor on the other hand was more serious. One day in class I asked her to repeat the answer to a question but she yelled at me in front of the class for not making the correct sentence, and continued to tell me ¨this is intermediate level Kendel, we form full sentences here¨but of course that was all in Spanish. Long story short, she made me feel like a complete idiot when all I needed to do was add one more word to make it right. In the US if I were to make a mistake like that I feel the professor would be a little more patient with me. I mean, I am here to learn Spanish and of course I am going to make mistakes. If I didn´t make mistakes and already mastered the language what would be the point of being here right? Anyways, I somehow made it through the intensivo finals and actually ended up doing really well in the class. However, I went to take the level test and did not advance to the advanced level, also known as Hispanicos. I really wanted to be in advanced but have realized that it is best I am in the level I am in because I don´t want to be taking classes that are too hard for me...plus in the intermediate level I am required to take a grammar class, as well as an oral class, and since my grammar is what is killing me on the tests, I guess it is a good thing I am taking it. I hope it will help me prepare for the DELE that I have to take in a few weeks, I haven´t been doing well on the practice exams for that and am trying my best to improve. Whatever happens in the end happens for a reason and I can only do the best I can do.

I went to France last week to visit an exchange student I had 4 years ago in high school, and got to meet and stay with her family for 6 days. It was a blast! Her mom only speaks Spanish and French, and since I was with her mom a lot while my friend was in school, I was forced to continue speaking Spanish even in France. She lives in Annecy, France by a huge lake. It is the cleanest lake in Europe and second cleanest in the world, therefore it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! I would love to live there someday, but I guess I would eventually have to learn French to do that. I went shopping, went to bars and had tasted a cherry beer called Kriek which I really hope the US will have when I turn 21. That is another thing...coming back to the US and still having 4 months to wait until I am legal...that will be one thing I miss about Spain and Europe. There are so many things to do here, you can never be bored...in the US you have to be 21. My friend´s parents took me to see many things, including Chimborey, the first capital in France, and to the French Alps to a cheese factory where I had the best cheese ever! France definitely has better cheese than Spain, that is for sure. I was sad to leave but hope my family and I can all go back and visit her again soon! I want to go back and go to Paris, I never made it there.

Yesterday at 4:30 am I made it back from Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. That was also a lot of fun, but I realized I only had 16 hrs sleep in 4 days, so I am extremely tired. I saw where the Apostle James the Great is buried and went to the Cathedral there and saw the largest incense holder in the world be swung at a mass...what a thing to be famous for right? It was definitely interesting.

Now I am about ready to go to class so I better end this update. I hope this will make a few of you more satisfied now that I have updated it. More later this week I promise!!!

Spain day 3

Its the end of the third day in Granada and I still haven't adjusted to the time change. It is also extremely hot here and that does not help any. I have had fun exploring the city and have done a lot of walking! Everyone here either walks everywhere or drives vespas around. The streets are really narrow and I have done my best not to get hit yet. I love my host mom and roommate and live in a great apartment in the center of the city. There is tons of shopping on my street and only 15 minutes away from the university which is also very convenient. Today we took a tour around the major places in the city and got to see part of the Alhambra but I hope to see more another day! We already have an excursion this Saturday to Ronda and a group of us are hoping to get to the Mediterranean on Sunday. Its been difficult getting used to speaking Spanish all the time...my roommate and I speak Spanish with our host mom a lot but are still getting used to the idea we are not supposed to speak English in order to not draw attention to ourselves. We went to a major shopping store today called Corte Ingles which is really similar to a Macy's but has a supermarket in the basement. It is also really expensive. Tapas bars are fun to go to and they are really inexpensive considering you get an appetizer for free! My roommate and I have also had a hard time adjusting to the eating here. Our host mom is really into healthy things and does not prepare large portions like we are used to in the United States, but today was a better day. We actually had a large lunch which is supposed to be the main meal of the day. Anyways that is all for now. So far its been a great experience!

Figuring this thing out

So I am not sure if I even created this blog correctly. I think I accidently created 2 accounts. Ooops. But I read my study abroad assignment sheet and saw that I could create and use a blog while I am in Granada, Spain so I chose to do it. Well here it is for those who would like to follow. I leave in almost 24 hours! I can't believe summer has gone by this fast but I am looking forward to my new adventure and hope to keep in touch with as many friends and family as possible!