WOOOHHH!!! FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES!!! I guess everyone already knows I'm a bit of a dork, but you know you're a dork when the highligh of your 5 month vacation to a foreign country is the studying... But you know, it's more than just that. I'm excited to actually have a schedule again. I've spent two weeks here, and I feel like we have things to do but nothing is mandatory, nothing is concrete, and nothing is like.... real life. Plus I've spent this week, well and all summer... doing basically nothing. So I'm excited to get back to being busy me again. Busy me is usually also a happier me, aside from the occasional emotional breakdown.
So my class schedule would ideally be, Grammar Class Monday Through Thursday 845-945 (Language), Class at the Universidad 1030-1130 (sexology -- don't ask) and IES class 1230-2 (immigration class) Monday Wedneday, IES class 11-1230 (Lorca Lit Class) Tuesday Thursday, IES class 630-8 (internship class) Wednesday Night, Internship 5-8 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday nights (Spanish and Latin American Government Municipal Group). NOW the odds of this happening right now are pretty much slim to none. Right now, all I have going for me is the Language class, the Immigration class and the Lorca class. I may or may not have an intership, a class at the University, or another IES class, or a functional schedule. But you know in Spain, nothing really stresses anyone out! For everything, "TRANQUILA GUAPA, no pasa nada." So I'm trying not to worry so much.... although if you know me at all, you know im freaking out.... a little... a lot....
Anyway the three classes that I am taking I'm really enjoying, the Language class is a good balance of easy and challenging, although now mostly easy for me. My grammar is what needs the work, not really my speaking, but I'm sure we're getting to it pronto (soon). Neither my Lorca or my Immigration classes are going to be easy, but its in the subject area of my major and what I want my career to be in, so you know I'm just eating it up. I'm still really hopeful about my internship, it would be so sweet, but as I can only work in the afternoons, it's not really as likely :( I'll certainly keep you updated on how everything works out.
On a more personal note, here are some things I would like to remember:
1. Schawarma: A Spanish food, known to most Spaniards as late night food, and is a combination of a pita, and a burrito, and is delicious.
2. We live in el barrio (neighborhood) Realejo, and it is an old Jewish neighborhood. For those of you who do not know your jewish history, they were hated in Spain for a long time too! And were discriminated against, treated poorly, couldn't get jobs etc. Ironically this is now the nice part of town, and so every time I walk home a statue of a Jewish prophet (all dark brown metal but with gold colored shoes?) greets me as a walk home. We always say, "I love that little Jewish man, he knows where I'm going."
3. I've lost weight here! Most of you are probably rolling your eyes at this but I'M excited, so whatever to you! Anyway they eat a lot of red meat here, especially pork, which I do not, and so I've been living mostly on fruit, vegetables, and freshly baked bread. I nearly cry for joy every time we have chicken, twice since I've been here.
4. If you asked me how I was adjusting to Spain your answer would vary depending on any of the following: if I'm out at a bar, if I'm dancing, if I'm hungry, if I'm in class, if I'm speaking Spanish, if I'm speaking English, what time of day it is, the general placement of the furniture in the room, the temperature outside, how many people I have talked to today. I go back and forth a lot. I obviously miss home, especially my family and friends from school and home, especially my sister, and meg, who I feel would love it here, and would certainly help me keep my sanity. Other times I am in love with this country and the language and the people, and can't imagine leaving. Other times I resent it for their lack of fast food restaurants, grass, and parking lots. Other times, I'd give anything to be home in the states doing what I already know how to do. Other times, I feel so lucky and special to have an opportunity like this, and that I'll learn so much, and I can't wait to explore. And other times, I am all of these, in which case I try to sleep, as it is far to trying on my brain to comprehend myself. To quote Harry Potter, "One person couldn't feel all that at once. They'd explode."
Although, ALL IS WELL and I am loving it here, and missing everything from home, but not letting it stop me from living it up. More soon, it's almost lunch time... and I thought I saw some patatas fritas!
Yours.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Can't read my pooooookkkkkerrrr faccceee!!!
Well, contrary to popular hopes, I'm still not feeling up to par today. I'm hoping that I don't have the swine flu, or en espanol, la Gripe A (Gree-pay), but as I've only been running a low grade fever, I think I'm in the clear. Although, we are supposed to have a group field trip this weekend, meaning tomorrow, to Ronda and Sevilla that I don't know if I'm going to make. Plus, I could use a little me time anyway. Regardless, I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I'll keep you posted.
Now to finish up last week....
Last saturday, I'm pretty sure I left this day out, we were all exhausted from the night before, and returning home at 6am, and I had my heart set on tapas and bed -- note, that this was my same plan the night before. Mariesa, Clare, Michi and I went to have tapas with Cristina, Maria, Alba, Jose and his girlfriend Natalia at a bar near the Plaza Trinidad, but I don't remember the name. After this we left to go to Hannigans Uno, near Plaza Nueva, and Cristina, along with all the other Spaniards left around midnight. I was about to turn in when I remembered I was supposed to meet Smiley, Abby, Rogo, and Robyn for the night, although the had been on their way for over an hour. We stood out in the street waiting for them until almost 1am, what are friends for huh Smiley?, and then Smiley and I had a heart to heart outside about how difficult it can be to adjust to a new culture, to miss home but not enough to impede you from having fun, how easy it can be to fall into the negativity of others around you, how easy it can be to become frustrated with those around you, especially when you're actually frustrated with yourself. Anyway, underneath this sob story is the fact that I am sooooo thankful to have Smiley here. Just the fact that we know each other from home and can be honest with each other about anything and know that there's no judgement, no sharing, no first impressions to be making is more comforting than I can possibly explain. Despite the crazy things that have already happened to us both with Kappa this year, I can honestly say that I know there's still quite a bit of love and caring in our sisterhood. And having a Kappa sister like her here, especially in this very difficult transition, is reasuring to say the least. When I see her, it's kind of like I've remembered halfway through the day that it's Christmas! And can't believe I've gone so long without remembering! How could I possibly forget it was Christmas?? THERE YOU ARE! Anyway long story short, Smiley rocks my world.....
Annnnnnndddd because of this, I let her talk me in to going to Granada10 for the night, where we rocked it solo with Rogo, Robyn and Abby from about 2-3 until a bunch of other American students showed up. In good form we staked our claim in the back left corner of the dancefloor, poker-facing it up Cy-Style and dancing in a combination of hip hop, salsa and the robot all night. Chris Lash, who helped me for about an hour while I looked for Christmas as she had disappeared with a Euro-boy temporarily (or so I'd thought at the time, this did not actually happen, although I feared that it had), was very nice to me and is a lot of fun, and I am very happy for the lucky girl who may be holding his hand the rest of this trip, if it should happen... and whoever she may be :) Anyway, we didn't end up getting home until 5:30am again! But it was totally worth it, I had an amazing time. Only problem was I spent all day charging my camera, took the battery out, through my camera in my purse, was totally ready to rock the film fest when I realized I never put the battery back in.... I found it sunday morning sitting smack in the middle of my desk.... some place obvious... where I would clearly remember it....
Sunday we passed the entire day passed out. We slept until 12, got up and had lunch, I showered and we took a 5 hour siesta (on accident!) but the same. Anyway, I felt fine all day Sunday, and got ready for our first day of classes. Mariesa and I went out for dinner, as well as churros and chocolate, but called it an early night. It was the first day that it actually was cold at night. That's right folks, it get's C.O.L.D. in Spain. I had on my little black London cardigan and was freezing on the walk home! I could hardly believe it. It had been close to 85-90 throughout the week, and earlier that day. I had originally thought I'd brought way too many sweaters, but now I am nervous. It is interesting to try to dress for Spainish weather. It's 55 in the morning, 80 by 11, 90 from 2pm-6 and then back to 60 by 8, 50 or lower anytime after midnight. Also it may or may not rain. So basically, it you're prepared for every season every time you leave the house, you should be fine. Anyway more of the first week of classes soon!!! Until then,
Yours
Now to finish up last week....
Last saturday, I'm pretty sure I left this day out, we were all exhausted from the night before, and returning home at 6am, and I had my heart set on tapas and bed -- note, that this was my same plan the night before. Mariesa, Clare, Michi and I went to have tapas with Cristina, Maria, Alba, Jose and his girlfriend Natalia at a bar near the Plaza Trinidad, but I don't remember the name. After this we left to go to Hannigans Uno, near Plaza Nueva, and Cristina, along with all the other Spaniards left around midnight. I was about to turn in when I remembered I was supposed to meet Smiley, Abby, Rogo, and Robyn for the night, although the had been on their way for over an hour. We stood out in the street waiting for them until almost 1am, what are friends for huh Smiley?, and then Smiley and I had a heart to heart outside about how difficult it can be to adjust to a new culture, to miss home but not enough to impede you from having fun, how easy it can be to fall into the negativity of others around you, how easy it can be to become frustrated with those around you, especially when you're actually frustrated with yourself. Anyway, underneath this sob story is the fact that I am sooooo thankful to have Smiley here. Just the fact that we know each other from home and can be honest with each other about anything and know that there's no judgement, no sharing, no first impressions to be making is more comforting than I can possibly explain. Despite the crazy things that have already happened to us both with Kappa this year, I can honestly say that I know there's still quite a bit of love and caring in our sisterhood. And having a Kappa sister like her here, especially in this very difficult transition, is reasuring to say the least. When I see her, it's kind of like I've remembered halfway through the day that it's Christmas! And can't believe I've gone so long without remembering! How could I possibly forget it was Christmas?? THERE YOU ARE! Anyway long story short, Smiley rocks my world.....
Annnnnnndddd because of this, I let her talk me in to going to Granada10 for the night, where we rocked it solo with Rogo, Robyn and Abby from about 2-3 until a bunch of other American students showed up. In good form we staked our claim in the back left corner of the dancefloor, poker-facing it up Cy-Style and dancing in a combination of hip hop, salsa and the robot all night. Chris Lash, who helped me for about an hour while I looked for Christmas as she had disappeared with a Euro-boy temporarily (or so I'd thought at the time, this did not actually happen, although I feared that it had), was very nice to me and is a lot of fun, and I am very happy for the lucky girl who may be holding his hand the rest of this trip, if it should happen... and whoever she may be :) Anyway, we didn't end up getting home until 5:30am again! But it was totally worth it, I had an amazing time. Only problem was I spent all day charging my camera, took the battery out, through my camera in my purse, was totally ready to rock the film fest when I realized I never put the battery back in.... I found it sunday morning sitting smack in the middle of my desk.... some place obvious... where I would clearly remember it....
The Poker Face... Complements of Cy Mistry
Sunday we passed the entire day passed out. We slept until 12, got up and had lunch, I showered and we took a 5 hour siesta (on accident!) but the same. Anyway, I felt fine all day Sunday, and got ready for our first day of classes. Mariesa and I went out for dinner, as well as churros and chocolate, but called it an early night. It was the first day that it actually was cold at night. That's right folks, it get's C.O.L.D. in Spain. I had on my little black London cardigan and was freezing on the walk home! I could hardly believe it. It had been close to 85-90 throughout the week, and earlier that day. I had originally thought I'd brought way too many sweaters, but now I am nervous. It is interesting to try to dress for Spainish weather. It's 55 in the morning, 80 by 11, 90 from 2pm-6 and then back to 60 by 8, 50 or lower anytime after midnight. Also it may or may not rain. So basically, it you're prepared for every season every time you leave the house, you should be fine. Anyway more of the first week of classes soon!!! Until then,
Yours
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Que Almuerzo Bueno!
Okay, so on a quick side note, Mariesa and I just got done with the coolest lunch ever! Our senora, Trini has a brother who lives in France , and we think he may have a boyfriend? who is also a frenchman, named Fransqua (France-swah). So Trini's brother, Antonio, speaks only Spanish and French. And his friend, Frasqua, speaks only French and English. And Mariesa and I speak only Spanish and English. And Trini and her mother speak only Spanish! So whenever Trini or her mother said something, Antonio translated it into French. And whenever Fransqua asked something of Mariesa and I, we would translate it into Spanish for the rest of the table. And whenever Antonio would say something to us that we didn't understand, Fransqua would translate it into English for us. And then whenever Trini's mother spoke, Trini and Antonio would have to translate her horrible Granadino accent into real Spanish, and then we would translate it into English for Fransqua!! It was soooo coool!!! I felt very European amist everyone speaking three (or four if you count the Granadino Spanish as a language, which I do since I can hardly understand it) throughout the entire meal, everyone asking everyone else to pass something in one language or another. We communicated mostly by pointing and a variety of language names. For example "Can you pass me the water/ agua/ eau (ooh and ugh combined)?" Definitely something I'll never forget. I don't think I stopped smiling and laughing the entire meal, which in good Spanish tradition, lasted nearly 2 hours. Wooh! Viva la vida europea!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
AY! MURCIELAGO!
Murcielago - Kaitlyn y Mariesa
Hay un murcielago en el cuarto
'El no puede escapar
Llamamos jose para quitarlo
Solo querremos bailar
Para mis amigos de ingles...
There's a bat in our room
He cannot escape
We called Jose to get rid of him
We only want to dance :)
Friday, September 11, 2009
Umm, I'm at a triangle in the road? Annnd there's construction...
OH! My goodness, I am already a week behind in updating this blog and I've only been here a week and a half! I would be writing in it more but every time I get online I spend all my time talking to Paul! who calls me regardless of the hour (sorry baby but you know it's true). Anyway, I vow to continue to blog.
So, an overview of last week, with a highlight of the most important events and/or things to remember and/or embarrassing Kaitlyn stories.
Monday, September 7th
Group field trip to Cabo de Gata! Although we were supposed to meet at 7:45am, myself Mariesa and our madre's daughter's American student Madeline spent over an hour wandering lost around Granada, a decision of mine which left us a 15 minute walk off the map. By the end of this trek, in which I am calling our IES staff bus member Jose every 2 minutes trying to tell him what streets are around me while looking at the wrong section of the map and never considering looking in another section of the map, we had to be picked up at a restaurant literally 5 minutes from our house. The Palacios del Congresos, our meeting point, was another 5 minutes from there. We walked in the wrong direction for 30 minutes. To this day, we still do not know where the Palacios del Congresos is, and are indeed supposed to meet there for another group trip to Ronda and Sevilla this Friday. Wish us luck!
Tuesday, September 8th
Wednesday, September 9th
Again two-a-days classes! This is killing me! We meet for more orientation lectures for an hour before comencing with the usual torture. We finished our language class at 2:15 and headed home for lunch and the siesta, which we avidly took advantage of. As I recall we walked past a beautiful panderia (bread bakery), which smells delicious every time we walk past it that makes me crave lunch anymore than I already do from going from 8-3 without eating. I am a 3 year old, and need to eat every 2 hours. After class, I had a brief "culture shock" meeting, which felt a little too uncomfortable for sharing since we still don't know each other, and then Mariesa and I skipped a group walking tour to buy a straightener, groceries, clothes at Zara and return home for tapas. Wednesday night we began our four night extravaganza for our first weekend in Granada. Wednesday night (i can hardly remember its been so long) i went out with my roommate Mariesa and a bunch of people in our program to a discoteca called granada10 thats pretty close to our house. It was ladies night AND Cuban night, and so we had a great night. Nothing of consequence happened besides our attempt to feign complete sobriety on the walk home. 1 Euro chupitos you know? Cristina couldnt come because she had to do things in the morning, but we had a lot of fun. Of course I danced the night away but they do it a lot calmer here, no body grinds and if you are dancing dirty, they know you are probably American. Anyway we stayed at the discoteca til around 230 and then came home around 3, we had class the next day and a part of our placement exam.
Thursday, September 10
Friday, September 11
So, an overview of last week, with a highlight of the most important events and/or things to remember and/or embarrassing Kaitlyn stories.
Monday, September 7th
Group field trip to Cabo de Gata! Although we were supposed to meet at 7:45am, myself Mariesa and our madre's daughter's American student Madeline spent over an hour wandering lost around Granada, a decision of mine which left us a 15 minute walk off the map. By the end of this trek, in which I am calling our IES staff bus member Jose every 2 minutes trying to tell him what streets are around me while looking at the wrong section of the map and never considering looking in another section of the map, we had to be picked up at a restaurant literally 5 minutes from our house. The Palacios del Congresos, our meeting point, was another 5 minutes from there. We walked in the wrong direction for 30 minutes. To this day, we still do not know where the Palacios del Congresos is, and are indeed supposed to meet there for another group trip to Ronda and Sevilla this Friday. Wish us luck!
Cabo de Gata
We spent the rest of the day hiking 14 km in the desert with 20mph (kph?) winds on the beach blowing sand all over you so hard that it hurt, currents so strong that a different Jose (Jose joven) had to drag me away from the rocks (the whole swimming area was less that 100feet long), and a sunburn on the back of my neck and t-shirt. Although I passed the entire day speaking (or trying to speak) Spanish with Cristina, which was great and really really fun, as not having seen her in nearly 48 hours I was coming down with Spanish fever in her absence. So much so that two Tulaney's who are Kappa's as well were shocked when I spoke to them in English about the city nearby and exclaimed "Oh my god! I totally thought you were Spanish this whole time! Are you American?" The curly hair I'm sure didn't help but wooh me!!! Soy espanola!!!!
Tuesday, September 8th
IES Orientation commences again at 9am, this time with two lectures from the staff and 3 hours of language class. After the siesta we had another language class from 5-8, when they say intensive they mean it. Anyway though, we still have the same teacher who keeps the class interesting, to say the least and she lets us play games and explore la Plaza Nueva (where shcool is) and take coffee breaks and so it's all good. We had a quick meeting about internships as well, called pra'cticas, which I am very much looking forward to and excited about. Other than this, I don't think anything of consequence happened that day. Probably just a lot of talking to Paul. :)
Wednesday, September 9th
Again two-a-days classes! This is killing me! We meet for more orientation lectures for an hour before comencing with the usual torture. We finished our language class at 2:15 and headed home for lunch and the siesta, which we avidly took advantage of. As I recall we walked past a beautiful panderia (bread bakery), which smells delicious every time we walk past it that makes me crave lunch anymore than I already do from going from 8-3 without eating. I am a 3 year old, and need to eat every 2 hours. After class, I had a brief "culture shock" meeting, which felt a little too uncomfortable for sharing since we still don't know each other, and then Mariesa and I skipped a group walking tour to buy a straightener, groceries, clothes at Zara and return home for tapas. Wednesday night we began our four night extravaganza for our first weekend in Granada. Wednesday night (i can hardly remember its been so long) i went out with my roommate Mariesa and a bunch of people in our program to a discoteca called granada10 thats pretty close to our house. It was ladies night AND Cuban night, and so we had a great night. Nothing of consequence happened besides our attempt to feign complete sobriety on the walk home. 1 Euro chupitos you know? Cristina couldnt come because she had to do things in the morning, but we had a lot of fun. Of course I danced the night away but they do it a lot calmer here, no body grinds and if you are dancing dirty, they know you are probably American. Anyway we stayed at the discoteca til around 230 and then came home around 3, we had class the next day and a part of our placement exam. Thursday, September 10
Cristina, Abby, Smiley and Yo at Paddy's
Again orientation from 9-10am. Again language class from 10-2pm. Again lunch from 2-5, including a very long siesta, and a shopping outing with a new friend Ann at a shopping center near the Burger King (the most popular meeting point I've heard so far) before our written placement exam for the language classes. Then thursday night, i went out with Cristina to a pub down the street from my house called Paddy's (notably, I had become so confused by the Spanish accent that by this point I had confused the name of this pub with the Spanish interpretation of Paris) and after that we went to another pub across from there called hannigans dos (you will hear me talk about this pub again, there are two, one next to granada10 -- uno -- and the other near my house -- dos). Later we went to hannigans for kareoke night and one of the guys, Jake, who is a Beta and hilarious (along with every other American 40 seconds into the song) sang "I want it that way" by the backstreet boys. It was great, but my voice was gone all the next day from screaming it with cristina. Anyway after that cristina and i left to go to granada 10, which was pretty empty because it was early (like 2am, which is exceptionally early by Spanish standards) and most of the students had exams for summer courses the next day. After a while we went to get food and then called it a night, and by called it a night I mean I stayed up skyping with Paul and facebooking until 430am.
Friday, September 11
A sad day by any American standards, but as we are not celebrating any other traditional American holidays or events (no Labor Day, no September 11, no Thanksgiving), there was little if any recognition of the day. And by little I mean, Mariesa and I commented that it was September 11th, awed by the fact it had been 8 years, and then hurried to class, late as usual. More orientation stuff, but only class until noon! And then everyone had the oral part of their placement exams. Mine was at 1:15 so I just got coffee and waited on the rooftop terrace with Smiley, Clare, and Rogo. My oral exam went horribly, I was sick from my migraines as well as the lack of sleep and my interviewer had a horrible granadino accent (comparitively the South Carolina accent of Spain). But it ended up working out, I am in the second highest level despite the malentendimiento (misunderstanding) and all is well. BUT friday night was Ahhhh-mazing, although it didn't start out that way. I was so tired and mariesa and I were just going to go out for tapas and then come home, but of course, we walked by hannigans dos on our way back, where all of our friends were and they convinced us (after two shots and a mixed drink) to go out to another discoteca called Mae (my) West, which is about 25 minutes from my house. So, of course! we went and grabbed our heels and went with everyone to mae west around 2. Still early, but this club was very spanish -- like granada10 is more touristy ya na? -- anyway it was so fun!! I danced my little booty off, mostly solo or with smiley and a little bit with our Spanish friend Jose (I swear they are all named jose) So anyway we didnt end up leaving until 530am and then walked home with Michi so i didnt get home until 6. It was a crazy fun incredible night! And there are tons of pictures so check out my facebook. Anyway the fourth night we went out was Saturday, but right now I'm looking at getting 7 hours of sleep and have another full day of IES classes tomorrow!
Yo, Abby, Michi, Jon, Clare, Smiley and Jake; at Hannigan's Dos
So until very very soon,
Yours
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Mira! Las Talcones Altisimas!
My first full day in Granada was this Saturday, and oh what a day it was. We woke up very early to start our language classes, and by early I mean we left our casa at 8:30am for class at 9. Our senora walked us there, and of course we should have been paying mucho mucho attention to where we were going, but of course we were so worried about trying not to screw up our Spanish that we could hardly think about anything else (a point, which sadly, we would only remember later).
Our profesora is Imma, short for Immaculada, but snce she is only 27 she does not think her name is very cool, or en espanol, chulo. She is very funny, young, and tiny, and brings a lot of enthusiasm to our class discussions, which now consist most of an intensive crash course in Spanish vocabulary and verbs. For most of us, myself included, the problem is not that we cannot speak Spanish, because we all certainly can speak it. The problem is more that we don't know how to say what we want to say, and by the time, at least for me, that I figure out how to say that thing in my head to contribute to the conversation, the group has moved on to another topic. I am hoping that this will improve with time, as I'm sure it will for my fellow classmates as well, but for now I am so bombarded with information that I'm very unsure of how much is actually sticking.
Around noon, Javier, our program director, came to take us on a very short tour of the IES staff and building which is 4 stories, one of stairs and an exit, two of classes, offices, and a library, and one with a terrace, computers, mailboxes, and a student hang out center. We received our IES student ID's and also our schedules. For now I am only signed up for one class this semester, but I am hoping this will change very soon. Mostly in Spain, nobody really worries about whether or not they will get something done, and this is a totally new experience for me. I have to say it is rubbing off on me a little, but mostly because there is nothing that I can do to change it, and being in panic mode for a week straight would require far more energy than I have to offer at present.
After classes finished we left for lunch and the siesta, which always happens from 2-5. After sleeping, but not enough, and eating, but too much, we met back at 7 for a tour of the city and la Alhambra with our small class -- of about 20 students -- and our teacher Imma. The walk, or paseo, was supposed to last for almost two hours, and it did, but it was most certainly worth it. We walked slowly but far, into the hills surrounding the city to a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL view of the sun setting behind the Alhambra and the Generalif, two grand Arabic palaces from ancient times, famous in all of Spain and the world. Granada is probably most well known throughout the world for the Alhambra palace. After that we walked back down through the more than picturesque quaint Spanish cobblestone streets, gates covered in ivy, stone walls partially broken halfway through, tiny streets with tiny cars, and people everywhere, walking talking sitting drinking laughing. We walked along the river in front of la Alhambra, which there seems more like a mote and prepared to return to IES. However, Imma had more in store for us. We claro (of course) had to walk through the mercado and the plaza, where the people of the town gather every Saturday night to dance, mostly older people, to a small band. Also, claro, we had to dance, awkwardly and in big groups with American tennis shoes and t-shirts. I am sure no one thought anything of it.
After this we returned to the casa to change for the noche. Of course we were in such a hurry to go out with Mariesa's new Spanish amiga Maria, who helps out with IES and attends the local universidad, that we didn't even consider stopping for tapas. No instead we hurried back to change and called Mariesa's very best friend (and with very good reason) Clare and her new housemate Michi. Despite the fact that I was more than grumpy, starving, suffering from jet lag, and feet already hurting, my roommate, who is perhaps one of the coolest people on this trip, and also one of the most excited to be here, decided we should go all out that night, to which of course I merrily agreed. How many times are you is Spain? When we finally left together, note in 4inch heels, black tiny dresses and big curly hair, it was almost 11pm, and our Spanish amigas had already had tapas and were headed to the bars.
After walking in on one of the 100's of bachelor parties happening this weekend in Granada at at tapas bar called San Miguel, and being yelled at by loud drunk Spanish bachelors for a whopping 10 seconds, we decided to try somewhere else. Still being annoyingly grumpy from the no food-sleep-rest thing I had going on, I insisted we eat at the restaurant next door. Not only was the food terrible at this delightful selection of mine, in the rest of Granada when one orders a drink, of whatever type, one also receives a free tapas. At this place, of course, we did not, and had to pay for both our food and drinks. Great. Great job Kaitlyn.
However, the night was soon to improve. After eating here we went to meet up with Mariesa's friend Maria and also, probably a combination of 15 American student from our trip at a bar nearby. Here I met Cristina, a stunningly beautiful really nice 22 year old, recently graduated from la universidad, and a very good friend of Maria's. After Michi ordered margaritas for me, Mariesa, Clare, Madeline and herself, and after trying to talk (although I am not sure the extent of my success) with Cristina and Maria for maybe a half hour, most of our American friends and our Spanish friends -- maybe ten of them also, including Jose, que nos llama Jose joven, even though he is not that much younger than Jose viejo, maybe 5 years, or so, who also helps us out at IES.
After this, que noche buena!!! We went to another bar named after the type of art that was inside, that was also blue lighted. Here we went with only our group of 5, Maria, and her friends Alba and Juan. Juan, another universidad student and sadly the only guy, taught me how to tango! A little, and I do it very poorly, but at least now I can take something home with me from Spain besides my poor attempts also at the language. After that, went to a tantra bar where we got a free shot, really big shot, of rum and lemon something delicious, where we danced with our Spanish and American friends, and with Andy, who is very fun, and loves to dance, which is very entertaining for all the ladies. After this bar, because it was almost 2, we decided to go to the discoteca, Granada 10. Apparently 2 is a very early time to arrive at the discoteca, because our large group of Americans and maybe 10 other Spanaird were the only people there until 3:30am. But oh what fun we had! We danced the night away in a big circle, switching between American and Spanish songs every 2 or 3 minutes, singing and laughing and failing to speak coherently in any particular language. Around 3:30, my talcones were hurting me so bad that I could hardly feel my feet, and Mariesa had been sitting on a couch nearby for about 15 minutes, heels halfway off. When we decided to leave, Cristina and Maria were very concerned, wondering why we were going home so early! Although I couldn't believe it, apparently any night that ends before 5:30 or 6am, was an early, and probably boring and or bad night.
The walk home was so painful, that once we got past the main road, Mariesa and I took off our shoes and walked barefoot, an act of disgusting behavior and social suicide. But we couldn't help it, and honestly I'm not sure it was much better without them, my feet hurt so bad by then. However, after this, we arrived at home, washed our then blackened feet bottoms, and swore up and down we would never tell our madre that we walked home without shoes in the streets.
Sunday we passed with lots of sleep, until 12, lots of reading on the bench at the pool in our apartment building, and lots of eating. Sunday night we went out for tapas with Clare, Michi, Smiley, Abby, and two more girls whose names, among probably 60 others, I still cannot remember but were very nice. After tapas, we tried a great Italian helado place, which was only great at the time, and for Mariesa and I was not so great when we returned. After that we called it an early night, although it was still 1am before we went to bed. We prepared ourselves for a busy, fun and exhausting day in Cabo de Gatas Monday. Or so we thought. But again, I have written myself into the early hours of the night, and again, have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning. And so, until soon.
Yours.
Our profesora is Imma, short for Immaculada, but snce she is only 27 she does not think her name is very cool, or en espanol, chulo. She is very funny, young, and tiny, and brings a lot of enthusiasm to our class discussions, which now consist most of an intensive crash course in Spanish vocabulary and verbs. For most of us, myself included, the problem is not that we cannot speak Spanish, because we all certainly can speak it. The problem is more that we don't know how to say what we want to say, and by the time, at least for me, that I figure out how to say that thing in my head to contribute to the conversation, the group has moved on to another topic. I am hoping that this will improve with time, as I'm sure it will for my fellow classmates as well, but for now I am so bombarded with information that I'm very unsure of how much is actually sticking.
Around noon, Javier, our program director, came to take us on a very short tour of the IES staff and building which is 4 stories, one of stairs and an exit, two of classes, offices, and a library, and one with a terrace, computers, mailboxes, and a student hang out center. We received our IES student ID's and also our schedules. For now I am only signed up for one class this semester, but I am hoping this will change very soon. Mostly in Spain, nobody really worries about whether or not they will get something done, and this is a totally new experience for me. I have to say it is rubbing off on me a little, but mostly because there is nothing that I can do to change it, and being in panic mode for a week straight would require far more energy than I have to offer at present.
After classes finished we left for lunch and the siesta, which always happens from 2-5. After sleeping, but not enough, and eating, but too much, we met back at 7 for a tour of the city and la Alhambra with our small class -- of about 20 students -- and our teacher Imma. The walk, or paseo, was supposed to last for almost two hours, and it did, but it was most certainly worth it. We walked slowly but far, into the hills surrounding the city to a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL view of the sun setting behind the Alhambra and the Generalif, two grand Arabic palaces from ancient times, famous in all of Spain and the world. Granada is probably most well known throughout the world for the Alhambra palace. After that we walked back down through the more than picturesque quaint Spanish cobblestone streets, gates covered in ivy, stone walls partially broken halfway through, tiny streets with tiny cars, and people everywhere, walking talking sitting drinking laughing. We walked along the river in front of la Alhambra, which there seems more like a mote and prepared to return to IES. However, Imma had more in store for us. We claro (of course) had to walk through the mercado and the plaza, where the people of the town gather every Saturday night to dance, mostly older people, to a small band. Also, claro, we had to dance, awkwardly and in big groups with American tennis shoes and t-shirts. I am sure no one thought anything of it.
After this we returned to the casa to change for the noche. Of course we were in such a hurry to go out with Mariesa's new Spanish amiga Maria, who helps out with IES and attends the local universidad, that we didn't even consider stopping for tapas. No instead we hurried back to change and called Mariesa's very best friend (and with very good reason) Clare and her new housemate Michi. Despite the fact that I was more than grumpy, starving, suffering from jet lag, and feet already hurting, my roommate, who is perhaps one of the coolest people on this trip, and also one of the most excited to be here, decided we should go all out that night, to which of course I merrily agreed. How many times are you is Spain? When we finally left together, note in 4inch heels, black tiny dresses and big curly hair, it was almost 11pm, and our Spanish amigas had already had tapas and were headed to the bars.
After walking in on one of the 100's of bachelor parties happening this weekend in Granada at at tapas bar called San Miguel, and being yelled at by loud drunk Spanish bachelors for a whopping 10 seconds, we decided to try somewhere else. Still being annoyingly grumpy from the no food-sleep-rest thing I had going on, I insisted we eat at the restaurant next door. Not only was the food terrible at this delightful selection of mine, in the rest of Granada when one orders a drink, of whatever type, one also receives a free tapas. At this place, of course, we did not, and had to pay for both our food and drinks. Great. Great job Kaitlyn.
However, the night was soon to improve. After eating here we went to meet up with Mariesa's friend Maria and also, probably a combination of 15 American student from our trip at a bar nearby. Here I met Cristina, a stunningly beautiful really nice 22 year old, recently graduated from la universidad, and a very good friend of Maria's. After Michi ordered margaritas for me, Mariesa, Clare, Madeline and herself, and after trying to talk (although I am not sure the extent of my success) with Cristina and Maria for maybe a half hour, most of our American friends and our Spanish friends -- maybe ten of them also, including Jose, que nos llama Jose joven, even though he is not that much younger than Jose viejo, maybe 5 years, or so, who also helps us out at IES.
After this, que noche buena!!! We went to another bar named after the type of art that was inside, that was also blue lighted. Here we went with only our group of 5, Maria, and her friends Alba and Juan. Juan, another universidad student and sadly the only guy, taught me how to tango! A little, and I do it very poorly, but at least now I can take something home with me from Spain besides my poor attempts also at the language. After that, went to a tantra bar where we got a free shot, really big shot, of rum and lemon something delicious, where we danced with our Spanish and American friends, and with Andy, who is very fun, and loves to dance, which is very entertaining for all the ladies. After this bar, because it was almost 2, we decided to go to the discoteca, Granada 10. Apparently 2 is a very early time to arrive at the discoteca, because our large group of Americans and maybe 10 other Spanaird were the only people there until 3:30am. But oh what fun we had! We danced the night away in a big circle, switching between American and Spanish songs every 2 or 3 minutes, singing and laughing and failing to speak coherently in any particular language. Around 3:30, my talcones were hurting me so bad that I could hardly feel my feet, and Mariesa had been sitting on a couch nearby for about 15 minutes, heels halfway off. When we decided to leave, Cristina and Maria were very concerned, wondering why we were going home so early! Although I couldn't believe it, apparently any night that ends before 5:30 or 6am, was an early, and probably boring and or bad night.
The walk home was so painful, that once we got past the main road, Mariesa and I took off our shoes and walked barefoot, an act of disgusting behavior and social suicide. But we couldn't help it, and honestly I'm not sure it was much better without them, my feet hurt so bad by then. However, after this, we arrived at home, washed our then blackened feet bottoms, and swore up and down we would never tell our madre that we walked home without shoes in the streets.
Sunday we passed with lots of sleep, until 12, lots of reading on the bench at the pool in our apartment building, and lots of eating. Sunday night we went out for tapas with Clare, Michi, Smiley, Abby, and two more girls whose names, among probably 60 others, I still cannot remember but were very nice. After tapas, we tried a great Italian helado place, which was only great at the time, and for Mariesa and I was not so great when we returned. After that we called it an early night, although it was still 1am before we went to bed. We prepared ourselves for a busy, fun and exhausting day in Cabo de Gatas Monday. Or so we thought. But again, I have written myself into the early hours of the night, and again, have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning. And so, until soon.
Yours.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
IES has a strict "No Hawaiian Shirt" Policy
The first three days in Spain have been packed with orientation, walking, exploring, speaking spanish, and trying to remember the names of 78 new people, and have seriously lacked all things involving eating, excessive drinking, sleeping, bathing, organization, and fluency in any particular language.
We had to wake up really early, like 8am, which is of course 2am at home, to have breakfast and start orientation. We split into two groups for the day, and we started with Javier, who is the cutest most helpful director to ever exist in the history of study abroad programs. We first talked with him about cultural differences between Americans and Spaniards. For example, in America, it's rude to walk in front of someone when they are looking at the peanut butter in the grocery store. In the words of Javier, there is a relationship with the peanut butter, and it is not to be interrupted. For Spaniards, personal and public space are virtually nonexistent. For example, a Spaniard may bump into you four times in 2 minutes and doesn't need to say anything, like sorry, or excuse me, or anything. In America, people have a personal space bubble. In Spain, this bubble does not exist. At all. Furthermore, in America people wear sports clothes and no shoes, probably 50 per cent of the time. In Spain, people only where sports clothes when they play sports, and also shoes must be worn in the house at all times. It's the opposite of the U.S., to not wear shoes is almost insulting. For Spain, they have a very strange relationship with the floor, not with the food in front of them. After an hour of that, we had a quicker talk with Natalia about health safety and well-being. Thankfully, Granada is a very safe city, and apparently as long as we're safe we shouldn't have any problems. Also, Spaniards don't really drink in excess. Here, alcohol is associated with eating and with being social, and not with getting drunk. In Spain, people don't get drunk ever. And if you are drunk people are very concerned about you and your overall health. I think that it is actually a pretty good policy.
After a quick snack in which Rogo, Smiley and I hid in the corner because we were too tired, jet lagged, and antisocial to attempt to hold a conversation with anyone, we returned for more meetings. Again, we met with Javier to continue discussions about what we will be doing in the next week and about Spain in general. After that we had another meeting with Natalia about homestay protocol before having lunch, and waiting to get on the bus to Granada!!
Smiley and I were both on the blue bus, which was the last to leave, and so we and Madeline decided to walk to the beach, on the Mediterranean, because I didn't get to see it after my flight from hell. The beach was only a ten minute walk from the hotel, during which of course I made everyone speak Spanish. I do not think they appreciated it.
Also, it is true that the beaches here really are topless. Not completely, but kids, old ladies, teens, whatever, everyone is pretty much topless, and very open about it. It was certainly interesting. And I'm sure we were actually the ones looked strange in our shorts, white shirts, orientation folders and flip flops. We returned after about 45 minutes of sitting awkwardly with such limited vocabulary that we passed most of the time in silence. Finally on the bus to Granada, I started to feel better although I was terrified about meeting my madre.
After an hour and a half bus ride, we arrived to meet our familias. Our madre is amazing. She's a 54 year old widower with grey hair and always a big smile. She's thin, loves walking and speaks slowly so that we can understand her. We passed the rest of the night eating, checking out the city from the roof top terrace of our apartment complex, and unpacking enough to function. We stayed up late, being unable to fall asleep the second night (as it was 6pm at home) and talking, in Spanish about how excited we are.
But for now, it's time for lunch and having slept through breakfast this morning, I'm super hungry. So, until soon.
Yours.
We had to wake up really early, like 8am, which is of course 2am at home, to have breakfast and start orientation. We split into two groups for the day, and we started with Javier, who is the cutest most helpful director to ever exist in the history of study abroad programs. We first talked with him about cultural differences between Americans and Spaniards. For example, in America, it's rude to walk in front of someone when they are looking at the peanut butter in the grocery store. In the words of Javier, there is a relationship with the peanut butter, and it is not to be interrupted. For Spaniards, personal and public space are virtually nonexistent. For example, a Spaniard may bump into you four times in 2 minutes and doesn't need to say anything, like sorry, or excuse me, or anything. In America, people have a personal space bubble. In Spain, this bubble does not exist. At all. Furthermore, in America people wear sports clothes and no shoes, probably 50 per cent of the time. In Spain, people only where sports clothes when they play sports, and also shoes must be worn in the house at all times. It's the opposite of the U.S., to not wear shoes is almost insulting. For Spain, they have a very strange relationship with the floor, not with the food in front of them. After an hour of that, we had a quicker talk with Natalia about health safety and well-being. Thankfully, Granada is a very safe city, and apparently as long as we're safe we shouldn't have any problems. Also, Spaniards don't really drink in excess. Here, alcohol is associated with eating and with being social, and not with getting drunk. In Spain, people don't get drunk ever. And if you are drunk people are very concerned about you and your overall health. I think that it is actually a pretty good policy.
After a quick snack in which Rogo, Smiley and I hid in the corner because we were too tired, jet lagged, and antisocial to attempt to hold a conversation with anyone, we returned for more meetings. Again, we met with Javier to continue discussions about what we will be doing in the next week and about Spain in general. After that we had another meeting with Natalia about homestay protocol before having lunch, and waiting to get on the bus to Granada!!
Smiley and I were both on the blue bus, which was the last to leave, and so we and Madeline decided to walk to the beach, on the Mediterranean, because I didn't get to see it after my flight from hell. The beach was only a ten minute walk from the hotel, during which of course I made everyone speak Spanish. I do not think they appreciated it.
Also, it is true that the beaches here really are topless. Not completely, but kids, old ladies, teens, whatever, everyone is pretty much topless, and very open about it. It was certainly interesting. And I'm sure we were actually the ones looked strange in our shorts, white shirts, orientation folders and flip flops. We returned after about 45 minutes of sitting awkwardly with such limited vocabulary that we passed most of the time in silence. Finally on the bus to Granada, I started to feel better although I was terrified about meeting my madre.
After an hour and a half bus ride, we arrived to meet our familias. Our madre is amazing. She's a 54 year old widower with grey hair and always a big smile. She's thin, loves walking and speaks slowly so that we can understand her. We passed the rest of the night eating, checking out the city from the roof top terrace of our apartment complex, and unpacking enough to function. We stayed up late, being unable to fall asleep the second night (as it was 6pm at home) and talking, in Spanish about how excited we are.
But for now, it's time for lunch and having slept through breakfast this morning, I'm super hungry. So, until soon.
Yours.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Don't make me turn this plane around!.... Oh.
Finally made it to Espana! Although getting here was nothing short of a nightmare. After leaving my mom at the airport balling my eyes out at 2pm, I finally made it past security and into my gate in the Louisville airport. My flight from Louisville to Philly was basically painless, aside from the fact that my 15 lb backpack was too fat to fit under the chair in front of me. Coincidently, I sat directly across from a fellow Kentuckian, soon to be fellow estudiante de Granada, named Herbie, who is from Danville. We talked through most of the flight, and shortly thereafter I found myself panicking about arriving. We had connecting flights at gates in the same terminal, but not much time in between so we both hurried on, hoping to grab dinner before our (what should have been) 7 hour flights. Herbie flew from Philly to Zurich, luckily and so missed out on the impending fun.
Shortly after leaving Herbie, I checked in with the desk to confirm my flight to Madrid! I was so excited, finally alone and nervous as all hell. Yet the second I turned away from the reception desk, a tiny girl chirped up behind me.... something something something "from Madrid to Malaga...." I think I spun on a dime. I almost screamed at her "ARE YOU IN THE IES GRANADA PROGRAM?!" but I managed to control myself until she finished her conversation. Her name was Heather, from Denver, and we ate McDonald's happily on the floor of the terminal gate. (Little did we know it would probably be our last American meal for a long while, and also our last time sitting on the floor, but more on that later.) We boarded quickly and without incident, and actually sat only a row away from each other. Between us was only a recent college grad, Michael, headed to Madrid to be a TA for a year. We chatted it up merrily for the first few hours, and quickly thereafter I took my tylenol PM in hopes of actually sleeping on a plane for once. I didn't make it past the smell of dinner 20 rows ahead of me 1 hour in. About 2 and a half hours in and halfway through "The Proposal" our pilot announced that one of the navigation systems (of the four on the plane) was broken and it was on the captain's side. Now, even though the plane can more than function with 3/4 navigation systems...
"Here at US Airways we don't take chances. So we are not going to Madrid. We are going to turn around and fly back to Philadelphia and see if they can fix this problem."
Great. I immediately start histerically laughing. Loudly. On a plane full of now very angry and concerned Spaniards and Americans and Italians. I found this was an inappropriate response by most global standards but what are my options? I was freaking out before I knew the plane was broken! Histeria is clearly the next alternative.
So, two hours later we arrive in Philadelphia, again, kind of. We learned shorlty after that, "At the moment we are still too heavy to land safely and need to burn more fuel before we can touch down. We should be on the ground in about 45 minutes." Somebody help me. Tell me we're not flying around in circles above the city that we left 5 hours ago? Anybody???
6 hours into the flight we land.... in Philadelphia. I repeat. I have been on an international flight, with over 200 international travelers, flying over 1,500 miles for 6 hours and have gone NO WHERE! La viaje sola puede mejorar desde aqui!
One hour later, the navigation system is fixed (note: no one was able to leave the plane, and we had to remain in our seats so that flight attendants could pass out changes in everyone's connection flights). At 12:45 am we take off from Philly. Again. I've been traveling for 10 hours and haven't even left the US. At this rate, I could have driven to Philadelphia to get on this flight. Actually one passenger left his cell phone in the airport and was able to get it back! Great for him... Horrible for everyone else. Starving, tired and on the verge of a nervous break down, I take two more tylenol PMs in hopes that this will makes things better. Turns out even with drugs I can't sleep on planes and instead had horrible nightmares about how my sister was eaten by a sperm whale sized shark on a raft and I wasn't close enough to help her and about people yelling at me that I was doing something horribly wrong in a language I couldn't understand.... Anybody seeing the signs?
We finally arrive in Madrid at 1pm local time, 7am at home. We were supposed to arrive at 8am. My connection flight has also now changed from Spanair to Iberia, two different Spanish airlines. My new flight leaves at 355pm. So we leave terminal 1, where we landed and go through customs, and leave our bags. After talking to three different people, who immediately started speaking to us in English as soon as we said "hola" told us to leave our checked luggage and go to terminal 4. So we take the 10 minute bus ride, Heather and I and Alex, a boy from Rochester also on the plane, and proceed to stand in the longest line ever for iberia service after learning our tickets did not qualify us for auto check in. After standing in this line and changing lines and meeting two more IES students, Jillian and Claire, and trying to recheck Claire's bags, we learn that since US Airways has not sent a verification letter of the change and basically, the credit card and until they do so, it's like walking away from a seat and not calling 5s. You can have it, but someone else can take it if you dont say it soon.
So it's now 3pm, I should have been in Malaga 4 hours ago and I still dont have a flight there. After hastling with the airline attendants (and learning that I cannot speak spanish, and being told "no me entiendes" so many times I thought it was on repeat somewhere) Heather and Alex are confirmed on the 355 Iberia flight, Claire is confirmed on a 420 Iberia flight and Jillian and I are confirmed on a 540 Spanair flight, which departs from terminal 2. Hello? I know Meg and Paul are reading this screaming at the computer "See! I told you! It's a sign you shouldn't be in Spain! How many more do you need?! You should be here with me!"
Jillian and I travel to terminal 2, separately I might add, we originially though she was the only one on the flight at 540pm. We stop and eat, we havent had anything since orange juice and a apple pastry in plastic and that was over 6 hours ago. We have lunch, which for me consists of a 4th a piece of cheesy bread pretending to be pizza and strange fruits soaked to the core in acid juice that literally burnt my tongue. We get to the gate. We don't board for an hour and a half. Sweet. At the gate we meet Jake, another IES granada student on the now notorious "Philly Flight," and time passes a little quicker. Although none of us has slept, eaten, or communicated well to another person in nearly 12 hours. We are only hoping that our luggage somehow makes it, although our hopes are small. If my luggage is anywhere as confused as I am it has no idea what the eff is going on. We have now been confirmed on 3 different flights from Madrid to Malaga.
Eventually we arrive at the airport in Malaga, where we meet Anne, another IES student. I decide that I have met enough people trying to get to Spain that my quota of friendliness for the day is way past full. Ayudame Dios. By some miracle sent from the Saint of Good Travel, my luggage arrives. All of ours does. We share two cabs, Jake and I in one, Jillian and Anne in the other, to the hotel, 15 minutes away. We walk in greeted by Javier, the greatest man in spain (and also the director of IES Granada). He was surprisingly happy to see us, although I cannot say the smame. Herbie comes up to me asking what happened (we were supposed to arrive together in Malaga 10 hours ago. I hit the 24 hour mark as I walk into the hotel.
We learn we are leaving for a group walking tour in 15 minutes. Great, I have time to bano and wash my face, maybe fish out my toothbrush. I meet my roomate, who is spectacular, and am slightly less than cordial. This upsets me. But I am in no mood to entertain. A walk sounds like the worst idea EVER but of course, I go. The walk lasts 2 hours, followed by tapas and sangria at a local restraunt, which i'll admit did help, but I was so tired and angry by this point I think the only thing I said at dinner was "Sangria would be great."
When we finally came back, Anne and I hoped to go straight to bed. But walking in my room I found a note from Smiley on the floor asking me to come get her. I couldn't resist. She ended up staying in our room and chatting it up until almost one am. I have to admit just having her here makes me feel so much better. Honestly on my other trips abroad it was nice not really knowing anyone. But I'd had the day from hell, and to top it all off I can't understand the language, I mean I can but my translaters are way past functioning. I needed someone familiar, someone who already knew me and who i didn't have to try to make a stellar first impression so they dont think I'm a total biatch for the next 4 months more than Christmas needs Santa.... Thank god for Smiley. She was one of the few positive things to happen to me that day... two days... who knows. I guess I'm glad here?
Bed time now, echausted doesn't even begin to conver it. More on my first days here tomorrow. Until then.
Yours
Shortly after leaving Herbie, I checked in with the desk to confirm my flight to Madrid! I was so excited, finally alone and nervous as all hell. Yet the second I turned away from the reception desk, a tiny girl chirped up behind me.... something something something "from Madrid to Malaga...." I think I spun on a dime. I almost screamed at her "ARE YOU IN THE IES GRANADA PROGRAM?!" but I managed to control myself until she finished her conversation. Her name was Heather, from Denver, and we ate McDonald's happily on the floor of the terminal gate. (Little did we know it would probably be our last American meal for a long while, and also our last time sitting on the floor, but more on that later.) We boarded quickly and without incident, and actually sat only a row away from each other. Between us was only a recent college grad, Michael, headed to Madrid to be a TA for a year. We chatted it up merrily for the first few hours, and quickly thereafter I took my tylenol PM in hopes of actually sleeping on a plane for once. I didn't make it past the smell of dinner 20 rows ahead of me 1 hour in. About 2 and a half hours in and halfway through "The Proposal" our pilot announced that one of the navigation systems (of the four on the plane) was broken and it was on the captain's side. Now, even though the plane can more than function with 3/4 navigation systems...
"Here at US Airways we don't take chances. So we are not going to Madrid. We are going to turn around and fly back to Philadelphia and see if they can fix this problem."
Great. I immediately start histerically laughing. Loudly. On a plane full of now very angry and concerned Spaniards and Americans and Italians. I found this was an inappropriate response by most global standards but what are my options? I was freaking out before I knew the plane was broken! Histeria is clearly the next alternative.
So, two hours later we arrive in Philadelphia, again, kind of. We learned shorlty after that, "At the moment we are still too heavy to land safely and need to burn more fuel before we can touch down. We should be on the ground in about 45 minutes." Somebody help me. Tell me we're not flying around in circles above the city that we left 5 hours ago? Anybody???
6 hours into the flight we land.... in Philadelphia. I repeat. I have been on an international flight, with over 200 international travelers, flying over 1,500 miles for 6 hours and have gone NO WHERE! La viaje sola puede mejorar desde aqui!
One hour later, the navigation system is fixed (note: no one was able to leave the plane, and we had to remain in our seats so that flight attendants could pass out changes in everyone's connection flights). At 12:45 am we take off from Philly. Again. I've been traveling for 10 hours and haven't even left the US. At this rate, I could have driven to Philadelphia to get on this flight. Actually one passenger left his cell phone in the airport and was able to get it back! Great for him... Horrible for everyone else. Starving, tired and on the verge of a nervous break down, I take two more tylenol PMs in hopes that this will makes things better. Turns out even with drugs I can't sleep on planes and instead had horrible nightmares about how my sister was eaten by a sperm whale sized shark on a raft and I wasn't close enough to help her and about people yelling at me that I was doing something horribly wrong in a language I couldn't understand.... Anybody seeing the signs?
We finally arrive in Madrid at 1pm local time, 7am at home. We were supposed to arrive at 8am. My connection flight has also now changed from Spanair to Iberia, two different Spanish airlines. My new flight leaves at 355pm. So we leave terminal 1, where we landed and go through customs, and leave our bags. After talking to three different people, who immediately started speaking to us in English as soon as we said "hola" told us to leave our checked luggage and go to terminal 4. So we take the 10 minute bus ride, Heather and I and Alex, a boy from Rochester also on the plane, and proceed to stand in the longest line ever for iberia service after learning our tickets did not qualify us for auto check in. After standing in this line and changing lines and meeting two more IES students, Jillian and Claire, and trying to recheck Claire's bags, we learn that since US Airways has not sent a verification letter of the change and basically, the credit card and until they do so, it's like walking away from a seat and not calling 5s. You can have it, but someone else can take it if you dont say it soon.
So it's now 3pm, I should have been in Malaga 4 hours ago and I still dont have a flight there. After hastling with the airline attendants (and learning that I cannot speak spanish, and being told "no me entiendes" so many times I thought it was on repeat somewhere) Heather and Alex are confirmed on the 355 Iberia flight, Claire is confirmed on a 420 Iberia flight and Jillian and I are confirmed on a 540 Spanair flight, which departs from terminal 2. Hello? I know Meg and Paul are reading this screaming at the computer "See! I told you! It's a sign you shouldn't be in Spain! How many more do you need?! You should be here with me!"
Jillian and I travel to terminal 2, separately I might add, we originially though she was the only one on the flight at 540pm. We stop and eat, we havent had anything since orange juice and a apple pastry in plastic and that was over 6 hours ago. We have lunch, which for me consists of a 4th a piece of cheesy bread pretending to be pizza and strange fruits soaked to the core in acid juice that literally burnt my tongue. We get to the gate. We don't board for an hour and a half. Sweet. At the gate we meet Jake, another IES granada student on the now notorious "Philly Flight," and time passes a little quicker. Although none of us has slept, eaten, or communicated well to another person in nearly 12 hours. We are only hoping that our luggage somehow makes it, although our hopes are small. If my luggage is anywhere as confused as I am it has no idea what the eff is going on. We have now been confirmed on 3 different flights from Madrid to Malaga.
Eventually we arrive at the airport in Malaga, where we meet Anne, another IES student. I decide that I have met enough people trying to get to Spain that my quota of friendliness for the day is way past full. Ayudame Dios. By some miracle sent from the Saint of Good Travel, my luggage arrives. All of ours does. We share two cabs, Jake and I in one, Jillian and Anne in the other, to the hotel, 15 minutes away. We walk in greeted by Javier, the greatest man in spain (and also the director of IES Granada). He was surprisingly happy to see us, although I cannot say the smame. Herbie comes up to me asking what happened (we were supposed to arrive together in Malaga 10 hours ago. I hit the 24 hour mark as I walk into the hotel.
We learn we are leaving for a group walking tour in 15 minutes. Great, I have time to bano and wash my face, maybe fish out my toothbrush. I meet my roomate, who is spectacular, and am slightly less than cordial. This upsets me. But I am in no mood to entertain. A walk sounds like the worst idea EVER but of course, I go. The walk lasts 2 hours, followed by tapas and sangria at a local restraunt, which i'll admit did help, but I was so tired and angry by this point I think the only thing I said at dinner was "Sangria would be great."
When we finally came back, Anne and I hoped to go straight to bed. But walking in my room I found a note from Smiley on the floor asking me to come get her. I couldn't resist. She ended up staying in our room and chatting it up until almost one am. I have to admit just having her here makes me feel so much better. Honestly on my other trips abroad it was nice not really knowing anyone. But I'd had the day from hell, and to top it all off I can't understand the language, I mean I can but my translaters are way past functioning. I needed someone familiar, someone who already knew me and who i didn't have to try to make a stellar first impression so they dont think I'm a total biatch for the next 4 months more than Christmas needs Santa.... Thank god for Smiley. She was one of the few positive things to happen to me that day... two days... who knows. I guess I'm glad here?
Bed time now, echausted doesn't even begin to conver it. More on my first days here tomorrow. Until then.
Yours
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