Caracoles

After siesta yesterday I met up with a girl to go get our phones. I'm not really sure if mine works or not. Then we met our class at the plaza for a little history tour (en espanol, claro) from Isabel, who is our "local teacher", around the more historical part of Ubeda. It was beautiful. All of the sudden we reached the part of town that overlooks the olive groves with the mountains in the background and the whole group just stopped and stared in awe. On our way back into the main plaza (kind of like a downtown) we stopped and had tapas at a little tapas bar. Isabel ordered us all cerveza y caracoles. Yeahhhhh. They don't taste half bad, but the fact that I'm eating something's face kind of creeped me out, along with the fact that they're pretty much the chewiest meat you'll ever eat and you have to swallow it whole. The guy at the tapas bar kept telling us to just "suck it down". Uh, no thanks dude. So they serve it to you in like this little shot glass looking thing and you're supposed to drink the broth halfway then pour it out into the plate that the give you and eat them from there. You literally suck the snail out of the shell and then toss the shell back into the shot glass thing. Not my favorite tapa.

Juliet, Kenzie, Me and Amanda

How caracoles are served

And then they just stare at you...

After the plaza we went our different ways and I came home. Luckily, Amanda lives right up the street from me so we walk everywhere together. My madre made me a pizza for dinner. The pizza is on like a thick tortilla like bread and the tomato sauce tastes different. Almost sweeter, without any spices. The cheese here is better, too. (When madre is making lunch, she gives Danny and I cheese as a treat while we wait.) Then she put ham on it. The ham is SO good, but SO salty. After dinner, I sat and talked with Danny, mi hermano, for awhile, making good use of Google Translate and Spanglish. Then I took a shower, skyped with a friend, kind of did my homework and then passed out!

Today I woke up at 8 and then got ready and went to school. Amanda and her madre waited outside for me and we all walked to school (her madre's work is on the way). Her madre invited me to lunch tomorrow, which is kind of a big deal since lunch is their biggest meal here. Kind of like getting invited to a family dinner. We had class from 9 until 1:30 but the school has un receso a las 11. So basically we get a little "recess" at 11 for 30 minutes. It's basically a snacktime. These people eat SO much and they're all still so skinny! I don't get it!! In the second part of class we met our "companeros" that we'll be helping teach English while they help us with Spanish. I hope we get to keep our partners because I worked with two really nice girls that I actually had a good amount in common with. After school, Amanda and I walked home and stopped and played on the swings on the park we walk past. Then I got home just in time for almuerzo and today it was some delicious pasta with some kind of sausage and cheese in it. It was awesome. Now it's siesta and I was going to try and catch up on some homework since we have a lot for the weekend and it's all in another language. One of my classes is literally an "English class" but in Spanish. You know, grammar, phonetics, that kind of stuff. We don't have anything else to do today but Amanda and I may go walk around the market or the plaza for awhile after siesta. Adios!

Siesta

Right now is siesta and my tummy’s full of paella and some delicious salad thing and bread but before I take a food coma I thought I’d blog. This morning I woke up at 8:30 and it felt like I had slept for about 5 minutes. I was going to take a shower but couldn’t figure out how to work it and everyone else was still asleep. So I finished unpacking and slowly got ready for school. When my madre woke up, she came and asked what I wanted for breakfast. I told her any food was fine and she said that she would make toast. Well, my friends, toast here gets decorated with both olive oil and strawberry jelly. It was delicious but kind of heavy for breakfast. I ate the two pieces she gave me and the next thing I know she’s putting more on my plate. I didn’t want to offend her so I ate one and then politely told her I was full before I threw up. (I only told her I was full.) I also got fussed at for wanting water to drink. So I had some milk. Apparently you don’t drink just milk. You have to add sugar or colacao, which is kind of like Nesquick powder.

After breakfast, my brother walked me to school. We were just shown around the school and told what was expected of us from their end. The school is interesting. There are kids there aged from like 5 to 16 or 18. It’s so weird that they’re in school now even though it’s technically summer. They don’t really get a break. When we were walking around outside I got a little bit jealous of the really cool playgrounds (and yes, playgrounds. Plural.) that they have at the school. They also have this little driving track, that kind of looks like go-carts, but more realistic to a street. There are policia that teach the children how to drive at like age 8. Maybe 10. But still, take that Driver’s Ed. They need it though, the roads here are CRAZY. Which brings me to my next adventure: trying to find the “walmart”. A couple of us wondered over there after class and whenever we finally found it I literally must have walked around with my jaw dropped. This place is like a whole mall within a store. Absolutely zero exaggeration. Like I’m talking, there’s even a pet store, complete with real live animals in it. Speaking of animals, I’ve realized that everyone who has a dog here has a little dog. Possibly because most people live in apartments. The dogs even look different though. And they speak Spanish. Anyways, we walked around there and I was going to get a phone but who knew that you have to have your passport to do that because it’s my only valid form of identification here. I’m going back after siesta with some other girl who also needs to get one.

I got a little lost after we split walking home from the store. It’s because the streets here have like 5 or 6 different ways that they run so you can’t “just go straight” even though that’s what you need to do. There also aren’t visible street signs. They’re on the sides of the first building on the street. Sometimes. Luckily I figured it out before I walked more than a block or two out of my way. I worked on my homework a little bit and then lunch was ready about 2:30. They feast for lunch. I couldn’t eat it all. I also went to take my dishes to the sink after I ate and got fussed at. I think I can handle that. The adults here definitely like to cater to children. And by children, I mean anyone under the age of 25. I’m getting more comfortable in my poor Spanish skills. My brother and I have been communicating using spanglish, which seems to work somehow since we both only know parts of the other language. I’m also getting great at miming. My parents will correct me if I say something wrong and they can tell I get frustrated. I was trying to explain to them how we don’t really learn grammar and speaking, we just learn like vocabulary. Well my internet just went out but luckily I can save this as a word document to post later. I’m about to siesta; this might quickly become my favorite part of the Spanish culture.

What day is today even?

Well, today has been the longest day ever... I still haven't actually slept since boarding the plane in Wilmington and I'm pretty much delirious. We got to Atlanta and ate some food while we were waiting to connect to Madrid. They started boarding the flight an hour before take off. It was one of those planes with 3 rows across with 3 seats in each row. I slept for a little then woke up when they served dinner, which was basically a tastier lean cuisine and watched Tangled while I ate and then watched Country Strong and then I fell back asleep until breakfast. Then for the hour after breakfast was served I watched the little plane fly across the screen and get closer and closer to Madrid.

After we landed in Madrid, we passed through customs. I don't think the guy even looked to see if my face matched my passport. Then we found a little expresso place and jacked ourselves up on some Spanish coffee and pastries while we waited for the last two of our group getting here today to join us. Then we took the metro (and we had to switch lines like 4 times, fuck that shit, dude) and then we ended up near some park which is supposed to be like the central park in New York City equivalent in Madrid. And here's why switching lines on the metro sucks: you have to carry your 60+ lbs of luggage up and down like 3 flights of stairs. Each time you change. Between that and the walking that we did today, I better look like a supermodel when I wake up tomorrow. So we finally get to the place that we're going and we lock our bags into these cubby things at the train station right across the street from the park. Then we set out and explore for a few hours. There's only one train out to where we are so we had to wait for it to come at 3:30ish. We split up and Amanda, Kenzie and I went walking to the park. Up a fucking mile long steep hill. We get in the park and it's just more of an uphill climb so we stop over in the lawn and all 3 pass out for like an hour taking a little nap using our bookbags as a pillow. You have to remember that we're from flat, flat Wilmington. Whenever we all finally woke up we decided we were hungry and went to go get some food. We decided on some ham and cheese tortillas. And to all you people thinking like taco tortillas...wrong, these are like potato omlettes. We were going to order cerveza or vino but decided we'd never stay awake if we did.

Taking a nap in the park!

Jamon y queso tortilla!

We met back with everybody back at the train station and then got on the train to come out here. First I was so intrigued by the new scenery I was staring out the window, despite my serious lack of consciousness and the world around me and then eventually gave in and fell asleep like everyone else. Also, culture shock. This woman decided to breast feed her little baby on the train, and wasn't modest about it at all. AT ALL. I also noticed people don't really wear sandals and they think it's odd that we all had toe nail polish on. Anyways, so we get to the train station 4 hours later and our families start to come pick us up. I now know what it feels like to be a puppy in a pet store while you're just waiting for someone to pick you out.

My familia finally arrives and it's my padre and my brother. Madre was waiting at the apartment. They're very nice people but our ability to communicate effectively is seriously lacking. Madre already worries that I don't eat enough and I can tell she gets upset when I don't know what she's saying to me. I need to work on that. My brother is nice. He's 22 and done with college. He's learning English, so we're helping each other out. We went for a little walk around town after dinner so he could show me how to walk to school in the morning. It's nice that the whole town is very walkable and everyone is very friendly. I'm so glad that it's walkable because riding in a vehicle here is like teasing death. I've never seen so many crazy traffic circles and weird ways to get onto roads in my life.

Well, I can't even think straight anymore and my feet hurt and I still have to unpack all my things before I can sleep. Tomorrow we get to sleep in and class starts at 10 rather than 8 because we're just having orientation. I'm so thankful for that. Except I still have to get up and shower and eat breakfast before I leave. My family has wifi so I'll probably get to be online alot more than I thought I would. I have a million people that I have to skype, I feel like I need a sign up sheet! Well, it is now after midnight over here, which is weird because it's like 6 at home.

I'm leavin on a jet plane!

I'm sitting in the airport with two girls from my trip waiting for our departing flight to Atlanta. First of all, ILM is the smallest airport ever. I got my stuff out of the car, said goodbye, checked in, checked my bag, and went through security in about 15 minutes. I looked at my ticket and there wasn't a gate on it so I just walked down THE hallway...turns out there's only 4 gates in this airport. So now I'm here super early and I'm just chillin eating the sandwich I got myself for breakfast.

It hadn't really hit me until this morning that I'm actually leaving the country. I kind of mosied around while I packed last night and I hope I remembered all the essentials. I kept waking up during the night last night thinking of things that might happen or things I need to remember to put in my bag. Even this morning it didn't seem that real. As soon as I got past the security and sat down by myself I just started crying. Just like 3 tears. But still, so pathetic. I don't know if it's because I just saw the last familiar person to me for 5 weeks or just the fact that I'm going somewhere I've never been by myself. I guess I'm a little scared. I've never been in another country and I'm not feeling that good about my Spanish speaking. As much as I'm scared about it, I'm really excited too. I love new places and I know there's a whole world out there just waiting for us to arrive! We get in at 7:25am local time, which will seem like 2:30 in the morning to us. We have a nice little layover from the time we get in Madrid until when we can catch the train that we need to get to where we're going. We're going to store our bags and then go explore Madrid for a few hours! We won't get to our homes and new families until later that night and I'm pretty sure I'll be exhausted and will probably pass out for the night! Hopefully adjusting to the time change won't be too bad.

I may update in Atlanta, but chances are we'll be trying to collect all members of our group meeting up there and making our connecting flight. Therefore, the next time I do this blog thing may not be for a while, seeing at how I'm not sure when I'll have internet next. Just assume I've made it safe and sound. But just in case, I've registered with the US Embassy already online and they should be keeping tabs on me! The impatienceness is setting in hardcore, how I'm going to make it through a 2 hour flight and then a 9 hour flight is beyond me. Luckily the nice little hum of the plane engines usually does the trick and I should take a pretty solid nap. If not, I hope they're playing good movies on the flight!

Today is the day!

I leave for the airport in about an hour and a half. I'm starting to get a little nervous...hope I've packed everything! And by starting to get a little nervous, I'm freakin out.

Dos Terremotos! Ah!

So I thought I would check out the Spanish news and see what's going on there. Apparently there's been a couple of earthquakes in Lorca. Lorca is about 3 hours east of where I'll be. Eso no es bueno. Now I'm nervous. I live on the east coast in the US for a reason. We can see a hurricane forming, good luck trying to figure when there's an earthquake coming. I hope there's not any while I'm there! Trying to read the news in Spanish is also reminding me of how much of the language I've forgotten. Time to start praying to the spanish gods! I know once I'm submerged in it and it's my only choice I'll pick it back up, but for the first fews days I will definitely sound like an idiot. or una americana estupida. whatevs.

ONE WEEK!

In a week I will be on a plane on my way to Madrid...it's kind of nerve-wracking but mostly it's hard to contain my excitement! Gotta finish some last minute things here stateside and pack it all up, then I'll be on my way! Woooo hooooo!

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Well it seems that everyone is Spanish today...er, well, atleast Mexican! Totally two different cultures! Given light of recent situations (Osama bin Laden being killed) there seems to be a severe increase in security abroad. So much that the U.S. Department of State decided to release this Worldwide Travel Alert. Faaannnnntasticcc. We had a meeting about our trip the other day and it went fairly well. There's 8 other people traveling with me so we'll get to know each other real well. I'm a little bit anxious to find out who my familia will be, I hope they like me! Ubeda is a really small town so I'm excited to experience that culture. It seems like we're going to have a lot of fun, between having classes and mixing with local Spainards who will be learning english from us as we learn spanish from them, and our afternoon and weekend excursions. I'm still super rusty on my spanish but I'm sure once I'm submerged in it I'll have no choice but to recall it! Back to studying for finals for me...less than 2 weeks until my plane takes off! Yay!

65 Million Dollars

Yep, that's around how much the British Royal Wedding cost. It was beautiful. Everything from Westminster Abbey to the loyal British folks waving their little flags around (well, maybe the people weren't beautiful, but the support they were giving was!) Literally, a wedding for a princess. You might be sensing a little jealousy in my voice (voice? er, writing?). You would be right. Princess Kate was drop-dead gorgeous in her wedding gown and you could just see the massive amount of love going on between her and Prince William. Now, you might be wondering what the royal wedding has to do with my trip to Spain. Well, let me tell you.

The week after my program ends I'll be headed to London for a week to see my friend Kate who will be studying abroad there. (And no, she's not the new princess.) I'm glad I decided to go even though it'll be a trek to get there. Wimbledon will be going on while I'm there and we're going to try to see Zac Brown Band and Kings of Leon in concert at Hyde Park since that'll be going on while I'm there as well. Honestly, the thing I think I'm most excited for is the English accent. Like let's be for real, who doesn't want to listen to that all day long? I also can't wait to pretend I'm in Harry Potter. Maybe I'll find the castle that is Hogwarts in the movies... OR maybe I'll find the real Hogwarts and get accepted! But for real, I'm so excited for London fundon after Spain!

Potential House Shopping

I've always wanted to live in the castle at Walt Disney World but I might have found another contender for my princess housing. One place I want to try and go to is La Alhambra. It's in Granada (still in Andalusia) and is absolutely stunningly georgeous with the mountain peaks of the Sierra Nevada behind it. Here is a picture of it:
It's name literally translates to "red fortress" because it reflects the red clay that it's made out of. It was actually built while Spain was still under Muslim rule. It's apparently Spain's numero uno attraction and gets more than 2 million visitors annually. The architecture is what most people go to see. It was restored after the Spanish reconquest of southern Spain in 1492 (isn't that the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue? Coincidence?) An earthquake damaged it in 1821, but it was restored again. Napoleon tried to level it in 1812 but he failed.

The big architectural highlights include some columns, cursive epigraphy, ceramic tiles, horseshoe arches and water. Yes, I too, was a little skeptical about how water can be used as architecture. Well, apparently it's used "musically" (whatever that means) in canals (there's canals IN the palace?!), and also visually in some reflecting pool.

Serious y'all, go to this website and if you can't translate it, atleast look at the pictures!

I take off in a plane towards the Eastern World in 3 weeks! Ahhh!

Flamenco 101

Good thing I was urged to do this blog because I have NO idea about important things in the culture that I'll soon be immersing myself into.

Fun fact of the day: Flamenco Dancing is HUGE in Spain and even bigger in Andalusia.

The music is mostly Arabic but there are hints of Greek dirges (somber songs) or Jewish chants, as well as some Flemish and traditional Castillian. As for the dances there's a taste of Hindu sways and Roman mimes. Basically, no one knows where this dance actually originated. There are so many variations and styles of it! However there are 4 "stylistic pillars" that differ mainly in rhythm and mood: TonA, SoleA, Fandango and Seguiriya. There's usually clapping and a guitar playing. I'm trying to figure out what these dance performances might be equivalent to in America. I may have to get back to you on that one once I experience it. It's all about emotion and feeling the emotion through the performances.

On a boring sidenote, I'm getting a little bit antsy about not knowing anything. We haven't had a meeting like we were supposed to and I have no idea what the people I'm going with even look like, let alone their personalities. I guess the plan as of now is that we just show up in the Madrid airport and are like "oh hey, you look like you're from Wilmington, maybe I should go with you." Something tells me that isn't going to cut it. I know I'm atleast on the same flight from Atlanta to Madrid with the program leader and one other girl so I won't be totally alone. I got an email today from the person who's coordinating our program from SAFA and the Spain side. They want more info on me so they can match me with the "perfect family." I feel like this is a pretty important "about me" that I have to send in. I can't just make up a dating ad like "this is Sarah, she's 20 years old and enjoys seeing new places and spending time with her friends." No. This has to be legit. "this is Sarah, she likes most food but will be a little cautious if it has a weird texture, also, she hates to fold her clean laundry and put it away, so sorry about that." They have to know the "real me" right off the bat...kind of scary. I already let them know on the last questionnaire that I'd prefer a family with younger children and pets and no smoking, you know, all the important things. Hopefully I hear more within the next few days so I can plan better!

Happy Easter!

First off, Happy Easter! (Romans 6:8-11) and second off, I failed on the second day of this blogging thing. HA! Sorry for anyone actually hoping to get updates on my life in real time while in Europe! But I'll continue with my fun facts since, well, they're fun. I'll even give two since I missed a day.

1. The town's name is used in the spanish figure of speech for "to go off on a tangent" which is "andar por los cerros de Ubeda" or literally translating to "to walk around the hills of Ubeda" ... if these hills are epic enough for a common phrase I can't even imagine the exercise I'm going to get while I'm there.

2. Ubeda is apparently known for it's pottery, Renaissance/16th century (are those the same thing??) architecture and it overlooks the olive groves of Guadalquivir valley. Here's a video of some scenery.

I'll take "blog" for 100, Alex.

I hate blogging because 1) I'm not really going to remember to update this thing and 2) is anybody even actually reading it? But after the encouragement of many friends and family, I'm going to try and blog while abroad since I can't really keep everyone in the loop through phone calls/texts/skype. Plus, it'll probably be fun to look back on after my trip is over. I figure it's probably easier to figure out how to do this while in America, so I may be just a little ahead of myself. I'm super excited to go on this trip but I'm also a little bit nervous. I've never been THAT far away from home and certainly not without anybody that I know! I hope no crazy Europeans creep on the poor little American girl and I end up like in that movie Taken! In an attempt to keep updating this thing and also learn something about the place where I'm going (because let's be honest, it's me and I've done about zero research) I'm going to post a fact about it everyday until I leave! So I'll start with some basic geography. Ubeda is a city in the Jaen province of the autonomous community of Andalusia in Southern Spain. (note to self: figure out how to type accent marks)