The weekend after the end of Spring Break, USAC took us on a (free) day trip to Javea and Altea, as well as Cabo de San Juan, where there is a great viewpoint after a short hike.
In Javea, there is a very pretty church, and I wanted to shoot something in front of it. Due to how the restaurants near it were set up, as well as a lack of places to sit (Mike doesn't have a guitar strap so he can't stand and play), I had Mike sit on a road blocker. Although it is hard to see, the church is in the background.
Mike and I discussed before this what song he should play, and how it would have to fit the church theme. He mentioned Stairway to Heaven, and I thought it would be brilliant.
Enjoy.
Showing posts with label USAC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USAC. Show all posts
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Volcanoooooo!
If you haven't already heard, a volcano erupted in Iceland (This is probably the only news item that us USAC students knew/cared about before you people over in the USA...we feel pretty isolated news-wise). Why this is important news: almost all air travel in Western Europe has stopped. Yes, that's right...even dinky airplanes like RyanAir are cancelled.
I had plans to go to London this past weekend, but I couldn't go due to all the travel cancellations.
Of course, that was also the last few days of our Spring Break, which means USAC students are stranded all over Europe! One even in Iceland...although I heard that those Icelandic people aren't too affected...it's only the ash-laden lands over in my direction that are affected.
That being said, of 60 students in the program, 30 are MIA. Good thing Luis kept tabs on where everyone went before they left.
Yesterday in my Seminar class, only 2 were missing...but today in Business, 4 out of 9 were present. And Lourdes, my Business professor, who is also Carly's grammar teacher, said that the grammar class had 2 of 15 students present. It stinks because we have to still go to class, even though we are clearly passing the time doing nada as people get back.
I have a friend stuck in London, a couple in Berlin, a couple in Amsterdam, one near Milan, a few in Athens, and several others sprinkled around. Of course, their Spring Break is extended indefinitely...until flights start to go up again. Some have caught buses back home (35 hour bus rides or longer), but others are choosing to stick it out and see when they can take the next flight. Many airlines say they will start up tomorrow, but others say that they won't until Thursday. We'll have to see.
What sucks the most is that with all this time off, all I want to do is use it to travel. But there's a catch-22 with that...
I had plans to go to London this past weekend, but I couldn't go due to all the travel cancellations.
Of course, that was also the last few days of our Spring Break, which means USAC students are stranded all over Europe! One even in Iceland...although I heard that those Icelandic people aren't too affected...it's only the ash-laden lands over in my direction that are affected.
That being said, of 60 students in the program, 30 are MIA. Good thing Luis kept tabs on where everyone went before they left.
Yesterday in my Seminar class, only 2 were missing...but today in Business, 4 out of 9 were present. And Lourdes, my Business professor, who is also Carly's grammar teacher, said that the grammar class had 2 of 15 students present. It stinks because we have to still go to class, even though we are clearly passing the time doing nada as people get back.
I have a friend stuck in London, a couple in Berlin, a couple in Amsterdam, one near Milan, a few in Athens, and several others sprinkled around. Of course, their Spring Break is extended indefinitely...until flights start to go up again. Some have caught buses back home (35 hour bus rides or longer), but others are choosing to stick it out and see when they can take the next flight. Many airlines say they will start up tomorrow, but others say that they won't until Thursday. We'll have to see.
What sucks the most is that with all this time off, all I want to do is use it to travel. But there's a catch-22 with that...
Monday, March 8, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
My new nickname.
There are so many people in this USAC program, that it's just plain HARD to remember everyone's names.
I mean, there is "hot as balls" girl who oh-so-crudely refers to everything "as balls." Example: cool as balls, hot as balls, gross as balls, etc etc.
There is leggings girl, who trades the option of wearing jeans on a daily basis to wearing leggings, whether there be a skirt or shorts to go with it...or not.
There is soccer maniac kid, who (in the first USAC-organized soccer game in February) took his cleats and soccer knowledge and got a little too intense and thus caused many people to secretly despise him.
Etc, etc.
Some nicknames are good, some are bad, some are neutral.
My friend Carly was talking to a USAC-er the other day about me, and she was like "Melissa? Which one is Melissa again?" Carly described that I had dark hair, I was from Chicago, and so on, and the girl's face lit up with recognition as she said "OHHHH! You mean the girl with the weird accent!"
I mean, there is "hot as balls" girl who oh-so-crudely refers to everything "as balls." Example: cool as balls, hot as balls, gross as balls, etc etc.
There is leggings girl, who trades the option of wearing jeans on a daily basis to wearing leggings, whether there be a skirt or shorts to go with it...or not.
There is soccer maniac kid, who (in the first USAC-organized soccer game in February) took his cleats and soccer knowledge and got a little too intense and thus caused many people to secretly despise him.
Etc, etc.
Some nicknames are good, some are bad, some are neutral.
My friend Carly was talking to a USAC-er the other day about me, and she was like "Melissa? Which one is Melissa again?" Carly described that I had dark hair, I was from Chicago, and so on, and the girl's face lit up with recognition as she said "OHHHH! You mean the girl with the weird accent!"
Monday, March 1, 2010
Granada pics have captions now!
I am not sure if you already checked out the link I posted for my Granada pics
(here: http://picasaweb.google.com/108023025018790851796/GranadaWithUSAC# )
But if you did, check it again because I put up captions. The album is now complete!
(here: http://picasaweb.google.com/108023025018790851796/GranadaWithUSAC# )
But if you did, check it again because I put up captions. The album is now complete!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
On the radio
I signed up this semester to do an internship with USAC.
How it works is I fill out an extensive list of things I like to do, I write a letter about what I like to do, then submit a resume.
On my list of things I like to do/interests, I wrote a mountain of things:
-work with kids
-art
-music
-TV
-radio
-cooking
This was back in November or so.
Then, once I got here (and as Luis promised in a previous email) we got to talk about the details. He chatted with a person at the nearby radio station and he was pretty sure he could get me an internship there. He told me this two weeks ago (the day before classes started, on Tuesday), and I got excited.
THEN, on Thursday, he secured it. For SURE I will be doing this internship, he said. I just had to work out the schedule. I could choose to get 1, 2, or 3 credits for the class, and since I didn't want to take this boring narrative class I was enrolled in, I chose to take the 3 credits for the internship. To do that, I needed to work 9 or 10 hours a week.
I planned it all out with a woman in the foreign language office that USAC is located in, and she was all happy about it. Luis was all happy about it, too. Apparently he has been telling Larissa (admin. asst. in the USAC office) how great it is. And I was happy too, of course!
So I figure that it is an internship, which typically means "being in the professional environment" and "filing" and "attending meetings" and whatnot. Basically, pretty boring stuff.
But the first day of the internship, which was last Monday, Luis got a cab with me to the station to show me where it was. He introduced me to Loly, the program director. Then I got to meet the staff, which was about only 6 people, and watch the soundboard guy record an interview that the other program director was doing with someone over the phone.
Loly got to explaining, and she was like "you can do whatever you want here! Just let me know what you want to do, and we can make it happen. Do you write? Yes? You want to write a program to air? How about a program about a girl from Chicago in Spain, and all the cultural differences?"
Thus, my radio show was born! Yes, MY RADIO SHOW. How is it so simple for me to secure a FANTASTIC internship here in SPAIN, when I have to go through an interview process and nervousness and anxiety of doing the same thing back in America? Apparently, you just need to go to a country where you don't speak the language in order to do something AWESOME.
So Monday was just a basic overview of what I was doing, and Loly took down my contact info. Tuesday is when the "real work" began. I wrote my first entry, which could be on WHATEVER I WANTED, so I chose food. I wrote about differences in food, restaurant culture, portions, etc. I only work 2 hours on Tuesdays, so I basically used the whole time to write it.
Wednesday I came in and made some corrections. Then I printed it and went over it with Loly for grammatical errors. There were TONS. But it seems like she knows English, since she was able to figure out what I was trying to say by my word-for-word translations. I learned that I need to re-read my work a billion times over before going to Loly with it (she was totally nice, don't get me wrong, but I felt like a fool when I was going over stuff that I should have caught myself).
After I corrected what I hoped was all that needed to be fixed, I got in the studio to record it. Yes, that's right, I am one of those people who can say "I got into the studio to record it" now. And I recorded it. It was terrible. The essay I wrote was in Spanish, by the way. And I have to read it, in Spanish of course. First of all, I figured out that I can't read numbers correctly. Two hundred becomes two thousand. Milliliters becomes something completely unrecognizable.
But I recorded it once through, then I listened to it 5 or 6 times, reread the script, etc etc. Then I recorded it again. Still not up to Lin Brehmer's style. I don't know how I sound in a foreign language (other than bad)! Loly recorded herself reading it, so I could listen to her excellent Spanish and try to fix mine.
Meanwhile, when Loly read my comments about how I thought there wasn't bacon-wrapped dates here, even though they are in the Spanish restaurants in the states, she was like "um, they totally ARE here" and I was shocked. My family in San sebastian LIED TO ME. Then, one of the soundboard guys ran to get food and bought me some! And they were DELICIOUS.
And when I was eating bacon-wrapped dates and re-reading my writing a hundred times over, I also was peeking over to the studio, where 5 or 6 University students were recording a segment called Generation E (or something like that) where they just sit around and chat about current events and whatnot. Loly saw my wandering eye and said "you could record with them in that segment, if you want. Wanna do it next week?" I was like "whoa there sally, let's hold our horses. Clearly I can't write coherently in a foreign language, yet you expect me to record a live conversation of me confusing some words for others, as well as giving 'can you repeat that' responses to everything? I don't think so." But it came out more like "maybe I'll watch, then try next week!"
I am so excited to do that, though, because then I will get to meet kids my age who go to my school, and who are SPANIARDS!
Seriously folks...why should I stay in the states when the dream internship was here all along!?
How it works is I fill out an extensive list of things I like to do, I write a letter about what I like to do, then submit a resume.
On my list of things I like to do/interests, I wrote a mountain of things:
-work with kids
-art
-music
-TV
-radio
-cooking
This was back in November or so.
Then, once I got here (and as Luis promised in a previous email) we got to talk about the details. He chatted with a person at the nearby radio station and he was pretty sure he could get me an internship there. He told me this two weeks ago (the day before classes started, on Tuesday), and I got excited.
THEN, on Thursday, he secured it. For SURE I will be doing this internship, he said. I just had to work out the schedule. I could choose to get 1, 2, or 3 credits for the class, and since I didn't want to take this boring narrative class I was enrolled in, I chose to take the 3 credits for the internship. To do that, I needed to work 9 or 10 hours a week.
I planned it all out with a woman in the foreign language office that USAC is located in, and she was all happy about it. Luis was all happy about it, too. Apparently he has been telling Larissa (admin. asst. in the USAC office) how great it is. And I was happy too, of course!
So I figure that it is an internship, which typically means "being in the professional environment" and "filing" and "attending meetings" and whatnot. Basically, pretty boring stuff.
But the first day of the internship, which was last Monday, Luis got a cab with me to the station to show me where it was. He introduced me to Loly, the program director. Then I got to meet the staff, which was about only 6 people, and watch the soundboard guy record an interview that the other program director was doing with someone over the phone.
Loly got to explaining, and she was like "you can do whatever you want here! Just let me know what you want to do, and we can make it happen. Do you write? Yes? You want to write a program to air? How about a program about a girl from Chicago in Spain, and all the cultural differences?"
Thus, my radio show was born! Yes, MY RADIO SHOW. How is it so simple for me to secure a FANTASTIC internship here in SPAIN, when I have to go through an interview process and nervousness and anxiety of doing the same thing back in America? Apparently, you just need to go to a country where you don't speak the language in order to do something AWESOME.
So Monday was just a basic overview of what I was doing, and Loly took down my contact info. Tuesday is when the "real work" began. I wrote my first entry, which could be on WHATEVER I WANTED, so I chose food. I wrote about differences in food, restaurant culture, portions, etc. I only work 2 hours on Tuesdays, so I basically used the whole time to write it.
Wednesday I came in and made some corrections. Then I printed it and went over it with Loly for grammatical errors. There were TONS. But it seems like she knows English, since she was able to figure out what I was trying to say by my word-for-word translations. I learned that I need to re-read my work a billion times over before going to Loly with it (she was totally nice, don't get me wrong, but I felt like a fool when I was going over stuff that I should have caught myself).
After I corrected what I hoped was all that needed to be fixed, I got in the studio to record it. Yes, that's right, I am one of those people who can say "I got into the studio to record it" now. And I recorded it. It was terrible. The essay I wrote was in Spanish, by the way. And I have to read it, in Spanish of course. First of all, I figured out that I can't read numbers correctly. Two hundred becomes two thousand. Milliliters becomes something completely unrecognizable.
But I recorded it once through, then I listened to it 5 or 6 times, reread the script, etc etc. Then I recorded it again. Still not up to Lin Brehmer's style. I don't know how I sound in a foreign language (other than bad)! Loly recorded herself reading it, so I could listen to her excellent Spanish and try to fix mine.
Meanwhile, when Loly read my comments about how I thought there wasn't bacon-wrapped dates here, even though they are in the Spanish restaurants in the states, she was like "um, they totally ARE here" and I was shocked. My family in San sebastian LIED TO ME. Then, one of the soundboard guys ran to get food and bought me some! And they were DELICIOUS.
And when I was eating bacon-wrapped dates and re-reading my writing a hundred times over, I also was peeking over to the studio, where 5 or 6 University students were recording a segment called Generation E (or something like that) where they just sit around and chat about current events and whatnot. Loly saw my wandering eye and said "you could record with them in that segment, if you want. Wanna do it next week?" I was like "whoa there sally, let's hold our horses. Clearly I can't write coherently in a foreign language, yet you expect me to record a live conversation of me confusing some words for others, as well as giving 'can you repeat that' responses to everything? I don't think so." But it came out more like "maybe I'll watch, then try next week!"
I am so excited to do that, though, because then I will get to meet kids my age who go to my school, and who are SPANIARDS!
Seriously folks...why should I stay in the states when the dream internship was here all along!?
Friday, January 22, 2010
Intercambio
A few days ago I signed up to get an Intercambio, which is a Spaniard they match you up with so you can practice talking in Spanish with them.
Just yesterday I got the slip with his name and number.
Sarah got hers, too, and his name is Javier.
I really have high hopes for my intercambio. I hope to look back on this experience, maybe even write a memoir, just so I can title it, "His name...was Federico."
Just yesterday I got the slip with his name and number.
Sarah got hers, too, and his name is Javier.
I really have high hopes for my intercambio. I hope to look back on this experience, maybe even write a memoir, just so I can title it, "His name...was Federico."
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Fotos! Fotos! Fotos! Part 2
Park that runs along the water
HUUUGE trees in this park
Parque de Canalejas: that is what it's called
If you ever look up a pic of Alicante, this might be what you see, L'Explananda
Every single tile was hand-laid
Private casino...by invite only!
First four kings' initials were A, L, L, and A, which is interesting because it spells the word for God in Arabic...and they have a strong Moorish history. By the way, this is the coat of arms for Alicante.
The ayuntamiento in El Barrio
Old part of town
Palm trees are everywhere!
Heading up to the Santa Cruz area. Super Cute
Isn't it lovely?
You can see the castle from Santa Cruz
Church in Santa Cruz
Mike, Morgen, Steve, Sarah and Me atop the Barrio Santa Cruz
Morgen, Sarah, Mike, Me, Steve and Allie in Santa Cruz
Steve and Sarah being kids
Sarah is a great photographer...this is overlooking Alicante from halfway up the castle
Sarah again!
Way up top at the castle. Lots of seagulls.
The Mediterranean
Some tombs or something at the castle.
Again, the Mediterranean, but looking to the right instead of to the left, as in the previous picture
Steve and Carly at the castle
More castle
Sarah, Drew, Steve, Me, and Carly posing in an action scene at the castle
Sarah, Steve, Me, Carly, and Drew at the castle
Sarah, Carly and I spell USA!
This castle is over 600 yrs old
Overlooking ALICANTE
Steve, me and Carly pose with the cannons
Parking for motorcycles!
A little window overlooking the city
castle against the sunset
Me sitting on the ledge of the road up to the castle. You can see the bull ring off to MY left.
Monday, January 18, 2010
It only kills your liver, no big deal.
The past week or so I have had a bit of a cold. I thought it was just allergies or something, but it turned into swollen tonsils (which really aren't that big of a deal since I get them ALL THE TIME). Since I am technically enrolled as a student at the University of Alicante, I can benefit from their free health care provided by the school!
So I went to the equivalent of a wellness center on campus (I have never been to one at Loyola, so I don't know what it's like back in the states) which seemed very professional. There were 3 or 4 doctors there, wearing lab coats, thin-framed glasses and fuzzy-grey Santa beards, so you know they were legit. After a little bit of a wait, I had my turn.
By the way, originally Luis (the program director for USAC) was going to take me and the other kid (who had a high fever for a couple days) to the doctor, but he was less familiar with what I had so he insisted Larissa take us (another USAC office worker) in case there was anything "private" or "womanly" that needed to be explained in Spanish. I insisted that all I had was a sore throat and a runny nose, but he insisted Larissa go.
So I let Larissa come into the room with me so I could communicate better with the doctor and in turn understand his instructions. He looked in my throat and said I had a small cold, not related to allergies. I told him that I lived with a little boy who seemed to have a runny nose and cough, so I probably caught it from him. He seemed to agree. He wrote me a prescription for this medicine that dissolves in water, told me to take it 1, 2 or 3 times a day depending on how I felt, and then I was done.
Apparently I didn't need the prescription. Larissa said it wasn't necessary, but with a written prescription it would be cheaper.
So onward to the pharmacy part. I walked in to the nearest pharmacy (they are on every street, marked by a large neon green flashing cross) and it smelled like cigarettes.
Cigarette smoke is something you love to smell in a place of health.
So I gave her the prescription and she got me the tablets. Then she asked if I needed anything else, so I got ibuprofen to ease the swollen tonsils (I assumed the other prescription meds were antihistamines for the nose and watery eyes). Then I got Kleenex (by the way, I have yet to see BOXES of kleenex anywhere! only little purse packets!), and some stuff called Lysopene or lizopene or something that are these minty tablets that relieve a sore throat (like cough drops). And it all was only 10 euro.
These tablets I got with the prescription need to be dissolved in water, and they are just like alka-seltzer tabs. But instead of putting it in 8oz of water like the instructions say, I put it in about an ounce of water and down it like a shot. Who wants to drink 8 oz of disgusting fizzy lemon water with a ton of small sips? This is a lot less painful.
So I was taking those tabs, along with the ibuprofen I got, with breakfast for the next few mornings.
I didn't get a chance to talk with my mom (who is a nurse) about these drugs I was taking, so I just took them once a day. I felt a little better, and I didn't have as much of a runny nose.
But then I talked with my mom, and figured out what I was taking. The fizzy tabs were the equivalent of acetaminophen, one gram. That one tab I took with breakfast was the equivalent of two extra-strength Tylenol tabs, or almost 4 regular Tylenols.
And the ibuprofen I was taking was the equivalent of three regular advils.
So I was waking up in the morning, eating breakfast, and taking three advils and four tylenols.
After I figured that out, I only took the ibuprofen.
I talked with my friends about it and asked them what they think would happen if one took too many painkillers like that. Mike said with a laugh, "it just wreaks havoc on your stomach and liver. No big deal."
And also I have been drinking coffee on occasion. The coffeemaker in my host family's house makes one cup at a time. I have been pressing it to make one full cup of coffee, only to realize that that is 4 espressos, or four whole cups of coffee.
Luckily my host parents have been making me normal cups up until recently.
But I am sure that's great for the stomach, too.
So I went to the equivalent of a wellness center on campus (I have never been to one at Loyola, so I don't know what it's like back in the states) which seemed very professional. There were 3 or 4 doctors there, wearing lab coats, thin-framed glasses and fuzzy-grey Santa beards, so you know they were legit. After a little bit of a wait, I had my turn.
By the way, originally Luis (the program director for USAC) was going to take me and the other kid (who had a high fever for a couple days) to the doctor, but he was less familiar with what I had so he insisted Larissa take us (another USAC office worker) in case there was anything "private" or "womanly" that needed to be explained in Spanish. I insisted that all I had was a sore throat and a runny nose, but he insisted Larissa go.
So I let Larissa come into the room with me so I could communicate better with the doctor and in turn understand his instructions. He looked in my throat and said I had a small cold, not related to allergies. I told him that I lived with a little boy who seemed to have a runny nose and cough, so I probably caught it from him. He seemed to agree. He wrote me a prescription for this medicine that dissolves in water, told me to take it 1, 2 or 3 times a day depending on how I felt, and then I was done.
Apparently I didn't need the prescription. Larissa said it wasn't necessary, but with a written prescription it would be cheaper.
So onward to the pharmacy part. I walked in to the nearest pharmacy (they are on every street, marked by a large neon green flashing cross) and it smelled like cigarettes.
Cigarette smoke is something you love to smell in a place of health.
So I gave her the prescription and she got me the tablets. Then she asked if I needed anything else, so I got ibuprofen to ease the swollen tonsils (I assumed the other prescription meds were antihistamines for the nose and watery eyes). Then I got Kleenex (by the way, I have yet to see BOXES of kleenex anywhere! only little purse packets!), and some stuff called Lysopene or lizopene or something that are these minty tablets that relieve a sore throat (like cough drops). And it all was only 10 euro.
These tablets I got with the prescription need to be dissolved in water, and they are just like alka-seltzer tabs. But instead of putting it in 8oz of water like the instructions say, I put it in about an ounce of water and down it like a shot. Who wants to drink 8 oz of disgusting fizzy lemon water with a ton of small sips? This is a lot less painful.
So I was taking those tabs, along with the ibuprofen I got, with breakfast for the next few mornings.
I didn't get a chance to talk with my mom (who is a nurse) about these drugs I was taking, so I just took them once a day. I felt a little better, and I didn't have as much of a runny nose.
But then I talked with my mom, and figured out what I was taking. The fizzy tabs were the equivalent of acetaminophen, one gram. That one tab I took with breakfast was the equivalent of two extra-strength Tylenol tabs, or almost 4 regular Tylenols.
And the ibuprofen I was taking was the equivalent of three regular advils.
So I was waking up in the morning, eating breakfast, and taking three advils and four tylenols.
After I figured that out, I only took the ibuprofen.
I talked with my friends about it and asked them what they think would happen if one took too many painkillers like that. Mike said with a laugh, "it just wreaks havoc on your stomach and liver. No big deal."
And also I have been drinking coffee on occasion. The coffeemaker in my host family's house makes one cup at a time. I have been pressing it to make one full cup of coffee, only to realize that that is 4 espressos, or four whole cups of coffee.
Luckily my host parents have been making me normal cups up until recently.
But I am sure that's great for the stomach, too.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Worst Trip Ever.
So apparently the group flight from LA to London (for the Madrid tour) had some major issues. First it was delayed. Then when they got to London (super early in the morning), their connecting flight to Madrid was cancelled to to weather. They had to wait in the airport for several hours. The group of affected students went together to the British Airways Kiosk and demanded that they be put on the next flight. They got tickets for the 10am or something like that. They waited until that time, then checked the screens only to find that it too was cancelled. Then they finally took the late evening flight and arrived in Madrid at 2am the following day, with little to no sleep for the past two days.
Then, when they got to Madrid, all of those students from the group LA flight found out their luggage was lost. Every single person, including 7 people here in Alicante, a few in Bilbao, and a few in the San Sebastian program, has been living on what they brought in their carry-on for the past ten days or so.
So, in the end, what I am trying to say is, THANK GOODNESS IT WASN'T ME!
Read the following email (that we got today) from the Spain Director of USAC (who is stationed in Reno)
Hola Spain students,
I am so happy that everyone is settling into your new lives in Spain and that most of you are getting your lost luggage back. I’m very sorry for all the chaos this spring, but unfortunately, weather leaves us in unpredictable situations sometimes.
I want to let you know that if your luggage was lost, there is a good chance that you can be reimbursed for the clothing you had to purchase to make up for what you didn’t have (usually between $300 and $600 but varies on the each airline’s rules). For those who lost your luggage, you will want to file your own claim directly with the airline.
If you were on the group flight through Travel Cuts, you will file this claim with British Airways at: www.britishairways.com or locally with Iberia Airlines in Spain. You will want to use your claim number to receive any reimbursement. They will ask you many questions about your luggage and may ask for any receipts of purchases. I do strongly recommend to do this (even though it is a pain) so you can get some money to help you with the added expenses you went through.
Let myself or your Resident Director know if you have any questions. I hope you all are doing well and settling into your new Spanish lifestyle. I hope this was merely a rocky start to a wonderful semester!
Johanna Bailey
Program Advisor: Spain, Malta, Ghana & India;
Then, when they got to Madrid, all of those students from the group LA flight found out their luggage was lost. Every single person, including 7 people here in Alicante, a few in Bilbao, and a few in the San Sebastian program, has been living on what they brought in their carry-on for the past ten days or so.
So, in the end, what I am trying to say is, THANK GOODNESS IT WASN'T ME!
Read the following email (that we got today) from the Spain Director of USAC (who is stationed in Reno)
Hola Spain students,
I am so happy that everyone is settling into your new lives in Spain and that most of you are getting your lost luggage back. I’m very sorry for all the chaos this spring, but unfortunately, weather leaves us in unpredictable situations sometimes.
I want to let you know that if your luggage was lost, there is a good chance that you can be reimbursed for the clothing you had to purchase to make up for what you didn’t have (usually between $300 and $600 but varies on the each airline’s rules). For those who lost your luggage, you will want to file your own claim directly with the airline.
If you were on the group flight through Travel Cuts, you will file this claim with British Airways at: www.britishairways.com or locally with Iberia Airlines in Spain. You will want to use your claim number to receive any reimbursement. They will ask you many questions about your luggage and may ask for any receipts of purchases. I do strongly recommend to do this (even though it is a pain) so you can get some money to help you with the added expenses you went through.
Let myself or your Resident Director know if you have any questions. I hope you all are doing well and settling into your new Spanish lifestyle. I hope this was merely a rocky start to a wonderful semester!
Johanna Bailey
Program Advisor: Spain, Malta, Ghana & India;
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Un dÃa increÃble
Today was EVENTFUL!
See, I knew this whole "doing nothing" thing would change after the other students returned from Madrid.
So, just like I went on the Madrid tour last year, some of the students in the program this year went, too. Today was the day they got to meet their landlords or their host parents. In San Sebastian, we just went from our hotel (from orientation) straight to the houses/apartments via taxis. Here, it was a huge production. Luis, the program director, would announce a student's name, then introduce them, in front of the group, to their host parents. It was pretty funny, because the first girl went to her host mom and hugged her for a full minute, squeezing her like she missed her so much (when in actuality, this was the first time they ever met!). I technically didn't have a reason to be there, since I obviously already know my host family, but I wanted to see some of the other students in the program.
So, I went to this meeting in hopes that I wouldn't stand out so much as an americana in the streets of Alicante. To accomplish this, here is what I had to wear...my knee-high heeled boots with dark jeans tucked in, my hair down and curly, and my red plaid jacket, a wool version of this one:
So european. And guess what!? No weird stares that scream "you are SO americana." Only stares from lecherous men.
But when I was waiting at the flower shop for the USAC kids to arrive, i chatted with my host mom (in spanish of course) and when the kids arrived and were asking around, I spoke spanish to them. I think that some of them thought I was spanish. I think my clothes were just THAT GOOD. Plus I think they were confused that I said I was living in Alicante already (if only for 2 days).
But anywho, Rocio and I walked home with a host mom who lives close with a student from USAC. Tomorrow we'll meet up to walk to the flower shop again to take a bus to campus.
For lunch, Rocio made paella. And I watched. I will be an EXPERT by the time cooking class begins! She thought it didn't turn out well because the rice was a but hard. But i thought it was wonderful. And PS to my parents: what you should get for a souvenir is a paella. That is the pan paella is made in.
Then, as she was cooking, her friend (that she met through a friend), a Cuban girl who lives a few blocks away, came over for lunch. It was nice to meet new people. Especially because she is young and very pretty: ERIC, attention. And she is a physics or a science teacher for a special school for slower students. Pardon my wording...I spoke a LOT of Spanish today sin descanso and the translations to english to spanish to english are a bit weird.
Then, after Rocio, carlos, y Suyin (la chica) ate, Dante came home with his aunt (maria) and uncle (javi) who he'd been spending time with all day in the mountains to see the snow. They showed us pictures and Dante was throwing the snow and having a great time in all of them. When he gets really excited and happy, he stomps in place and then screams with a grin. In some of the video the aunt took on the camera, Dante was doing just this. And he was so cute: he didn't know that the snow was so cold, so he would throw it, then shake his hand violently to try and get rid of the cold feeling. And i don't know what would be the translation of this in English, but apparently he was calling the snow "blanco" instead of "blanca" (la nieve is feminine, so the adjective needs to end in an 'a'), which rocio thought was cute.
When the guests were over, they were all talking about the snow (the news channel was on). Let me digress for a moment: the people are reacting crazily to the snow in Spain. Like, of the two days of news I have watched on TV, about 70% has been about the snow in various parts of Spain. Either there is no important news, or this is the most important news EVER. The same footage they have shown for the past few days.
Suyin thought it was especially funny that there was footage of San Sebastian in La Concha (the name of the main beach) where there was snow on the sand, and people were skiing, but then in the background you can see people surfing. I think everyone has seen this footage by now, because even the woman who lives down the street with the USAC student mentioned it. I think from the way news dedicates its coverage to the topic of snow so much, everyone who has watched the news in the past WEEK has seen this.
Then, after lunch, around 5 or so, we went to a friend's birthday party. I was really excited when Rocio invited me, because first of all I would have been bored as hell waiting at home, and secondly, I wanted to see other little kids and converse with more people.
So we went to the party, which was outside of Alicante (so we drove). Dante passed out in his little car seat, his poor little head whipping around at every bump. We flipped between a few stations on the radio, one of which was the sound of broken glass and a train. I don't understand it. It was just a long recording of someone breaking glass, then it transitioned to a train on tracks, then we went to another station for a while, then came back to it and it was still a train noise. Rocio said there was different kinds of music, and this was just broken glass and trains. I don't really know if I would regard that as music, but it was interesting to listen to.
We arrived at the house and the party was in the basement, where there were about 12 kids of ages 1 to 9 or so. The birthday boy was turning 2. And I am pretty sure he NEVER spoke. And he was staring at me most of the time. With the not talking thing, it was kinda creepy. His paleness contributed to the creepiness.
But Dante was having a great time, playing with the birthday boy's gifts, like the mickey mouse rolling backpack. He just carried it around in circles, then rolled it around in circles, then when it (and he) fell on the ground, he just clutched the bag really close, rolling around on the ground.
The kid also had lockable rollerskates like this, with spiderman on them:
And the spaniards call him SPEE-dur-man.
And Dante called the skates (which are patines) patones, even after his mom kept correcting him. so cute.
But Dante loved those, even though he needed his mom's help to skate around. He wouldn't take them off. And then he found the toy cars. (he has 20 or so here at home) He got really excited, and when he gets excited with the toy cars, he parks them. No, he isn't like a normal kid who wants to roll them, race them, ride them, make them go all over the place. No. He loves toy cars so he can park them. He even has a toy parking garage for them. No, not a race track. A parking garage. So tranquil.
There was a girl there, about 5 or 6, who had her dog with her, a baby version of Lola (my host family's dog). Like, super tiny. And she carried him around EVERYWHERE. Rocio kept saying "pobrecito perro!" (poor dog) because the kids just kept chasing it and picking it up and putting it in baskets and grabbing it and screaming its name (which was Bob by the way) over and over again. The dog was beyond exhausted. And the way they pronounce Bob is more like "bow" as in, tying a bow, but with a b at the end. Like Bohb. Not Bahb. Bohb.
So the kids are chasing this little guy:
yelling "bohb! bohb! bohb! bohb! bohb!"
After a while, me being me, I was playing with the little kids' sand art, which by now was one brownish pink color that they were pouring into a bear-shaped bottle. I was helping scoop the sand with them when Carlos and Rocio said jokingly "melissa wants to stay...she likes it here!"
I also learned that they speak a second language here in Alicante, much like they speak Basque in San Sebastian. Here it is called Valenciano. And I found out that the people from Valencia only call it this, even though it is the exact same as Catalan (the second language in Barcelona, which is a mix of French and Spanish). Weird, right?
Then at dinner tonight, I asked how many students they have hosted and they said I was the 5th or 6th one. The girl who was here when I was in San Sebastian was named Julianne, and I actually have met her! And we took a picture together!
(that's her in the middle!)
I only knew Kristen and Josh (the girl I am very affectionately sitting next to, and the only boy in the picture), but when they came to visit San Sebastian last year, they brought some friends. One of which was the ex-student who lived with my current host family. Weird!
After dinner I got to play with Dante and Darth Tater. I made a game of it by holding up a body part, then asking him which one it was. I held up the tongue and was like "what is this? an eye? an arm? a foot? A nose? a tongue?" and he would respond to all of them "no," even tongue, so I would say another body part and come back to tongue, giving him a chance to say the correct one. But no, he just said no all the time until I would just say "yo dante, it IS a tongue."
Also, I learned that Rocio and Carlos each have more than one cell phone. Phone plans are expensive, so they bought one phone that has cheap calls in the evening, and one with cheap calls during the day, so they can make cheap calls all the time!
And thinking about and talking about my semester abroad makes it seem so much closer than it really was, which is weird. I feel like the summer and fall just disappeared, and it was only a month ago when I was in SanSe.
See, I knew this whole "doing nothing" thing would change after the other students returned from Madrid.
So, just like I went on the Madrid tour last year, some of the students in the program this year went, too. Today was the day they got to meet their landlords or their host parents. In San Sebastian, we just went from our hotel (from orientation) straight to the houses/apartments via taxis. Here, it was a huge production. Luis, the program director, would announce a student's name, then introduce them, in front of the group, to their host parents. It was pretty funny, because the first girl went to her host mom and hugged her for a full minute, squeezing her like she missed her so much (when in actuality, this was the first time they ever met!). I technically didn't have a reason to be there, since I obviously already know my host family, but I wanted to see some of the other students in the program.
So, I went to this meeting in hopes that I wouldn't stand out so much as an americana in the streets of Alicante. To accomplish this, here is what I had to wear...my knee-high heeled boots with dark jeans tucked in, my hair down and curly, and my red plaid jacket, a wool version of this one:
So european. And guess what!? No weird stares that scream "you are SO americana." Only stares from lecherous men.
But when I was waiting at the flower shop for the USAC kids to arrive, i chatted with my host mom (in spanish of course) and when the kids arrived and were asking around, I spoke spanish to them. I think that some of them thought I was spanish. I think my clothes were just THAT GOOD. Plus I think they were confused that I said I was living in Alicante already (if only for 2 days).
But anywho, Rocio and I walked home with a host mom who lives close with a student from USAC. Tomorrow we'll meet up to walk to the flower shop again to take a bus to campus.
For lunch, Rocio made paella. And I watched. I will be an EXPERT by the time cooking class begins! She thought it didn't turn out well because the rice was a but hard. But i thought it was wonderful. And PS to my parents: what you should get for a souvenir is a paella. That is the pan paella is made in.
Then, as she was cooking, her friend (that she met through a friend), a Cuban girl who lives a few blocks away, came over for lunch. It was nice to meet new people. Especially because she is young and very pretty: ERIC, attention. And she is a physics or a science teacher for a special school for slower students. Pardon my wording...I spoke a LOT of Spanish today sin descanso and the translations to english to spanish to english are a bit weird.
Then, after Rocio, carlos, y Suyin (la chica) ate, Dante came home with his aunt (maria) and uncle (javi) who he'd been spending time with all day in the mountains to see the snow. They showed us pictures and Dante was throwing the snow and having a great time in all of them. When he gets really excited and happy, he stomps in place and then screams with a grin. In some of the video the aunt took on the camera, Dante was doing just this. And he was so cute: he didn't know that the snow was so cold, so he would throw it, then shake his hand violently to try and get rid of the cold feeling. And i don't know what would be the translation of this in English, but apparently he was calling the snow "blanco" instead of "blanca" (la nieve is feminine, so the adjective needs to end in an 'a'), which rocio thought was cute.
When the guests were over, they were all talking about the snow (the news channel was on). Let me digress for a moment: the people are reacting crazily to the snow in Spain. Like, of the two days of news I have watched on TV, about 70% has been about the snow in various parts of Spain. Either there is no important news, or this is the most important news EVER. The same footage they have shown for the past few days.
Suyin thought it was especially funny that there was footage of San Sebastian in La Concha (the name of the main beach) where there was snow on the sand, and people were skiing, but then in the background you can see people surfing. I think everyone has seen this footage by now, because even the woman who lives down the street with the USAC student mentioned it. I think from the way news dedicates its coverage to the topic of snow so much, everyone who has watched the news in the past WEEK has seen this.
Then, after lunch, around 5 or so, we went to a friend's birthday party. I was really excited when Rocio invited me, because first of all I would have been bored as hell waiting at home, and secondly, I wanted to see other little kids and converse with more people.
So we went to the party, which was outside of Alicante (so we drove). Dante passed out in his little car seat, his poor little head whipping around at every bump. We flipped between a few stations on the radio, one of which was the sound of broken glass and a train. I don't understand it. It was just a long recording of someone breaking glass, then it transitioned to a train on tracks, then we went to another station for a while, then came back to it and it was still a train noise. Rocio said there was different kinds of music, and this was just broken glass and trains. I don't really know if I would regard that as music, but it was interesting to listen to.
We arrived at the house and the party was in the basement, where there were about 12 kids of ages 1 to 9 or so. The birthday boy was turning 2. And I am pretty sure he NEVER spoke. And he was staring at me most of the time. With the not talking thing, it was kinda creepy. His paleness contributed to the creepiness.
But Dante was having a great time, playing with the birthday boy's gifts, like the mickey mouse rolling backpack. He just carried it around in circles, then rolled it around in circles, then when it (and he) fell on the ground, he just clutched the bag really close, rolling around on the ground.
The kid also had lockable rollerskates like this, with spiderman on them:
And the spaniards call him SPEE-dur-man.
And Dante called the skates (which are patines) patones, even after his mom kept correcting him. so cute.
But Dante loved those, even though he needed his mom's help to skate around. He wouldn't take them off. And then he found the toy cars. (he has 20 or so here at home) He got really excited, and when he gets excited with the toy cars, he parks them. No, he isn't like a normal kid who wants to roll them, race them, ride them, make them go all over the place. No. He loves toy cars so he can park them. He even has a toy parking garage for them. No, not a race track. A parking garage. So tranquil.
There was a girl there, about 5 or 6, who had her dog with her, a baby version of Lola (my host family's dog). Like, super tiny. And she carried him around EVERYWHERE. Rocio kept saying "pobrecito perro!" (poor dog) because the kids just kept chasing it and picking it up and putting it in baskets and grabbing it and screaming its name (which was Bob by the way) over and over again. The dog was beyond exhausted. And the way they pronounce Bob is more like "bow" as in, tying a bow, but with a b at the end. Like Bohb. Not Bahb. Bohb.
So the kids are chasing this little guy:
yelling "bohb! bohb! bohb! bohb! bohb!"
After a while, me being me, I was playing with the little kids' sand art, which by now was one brownish pink color that they were pouring into a bear-shaped bottle. I was helping scoop the sand with them when Carlos and Rocio said jokingly "melissa wants to stay...she likes it here!"
I also learned that they speak a second language here in Alicante, much like they speak Basque in San Sebastian. Here it is called Valenciano. And I found out that the people from Valencia only call it this, even though it is the exact same as Catalan (the second language in Barcelona, which is a mix of French and Spanish). Weird, right?
Then at dinner tonight, I asked how many students they have hosted and they said I was the 5th or 6th one. The girl who was here when I was in San Sebastian was named Julianne, and I actually have met her! And we took a picture together!
(that's her in the middle!)
I only knew Kristen and Josh (the girl I am very affectionately sitting next to, and the only boy in the picture), but when they came to visit San Sebastian last year, they brought some friends. One of which was the ex-student who lived with my current host family. Weird!
After dinner I got to play with Dante and Darth Tater. I made a game of it by holding up a body part, then asking him which one it was. I held up the tongue and was like "what is this? an eye? an arm? a foot? A nose? a tongue?" and he would respond to all of them "no," even tongue, so I would say another body part and come back to tongue, giving him a chance to say the correct one. But no, he just said no all the time until I would just say "yo dante, it IS a tongue."
Also, I learned that Rocio and Carlos each have more than one cell phone. Phone plans are expensive, so they bought one phone that has cheap calls in the evening, and one with cheap calls during the day, so they can make cheap calls all the time!
And thinking about and talking about my semester abroad makes it seem so much closer than it really was, which is weird. I feel like the summer and fall just disappeared, and it was only a month ago when I was in SanSe.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Intro to Otra Vez: otra viaje a España
Hola!
As you already probably hopefully know, I am travelling to Spain once again. And I like the British spelling of "travelling" better, so deal with it, Blogger spell-check!
When I went back to school in the fall of 2009, of course I was disappointed to be back from Spain. When I am abroad, everything is new and exciting. Like,
"Look at the weird labels of things!"
"Why are Americans so ugly in comparison to Europeans!"
"Why did I just say that when there are three Spaniards with mullets/rat tails?"
"look, the Spaniards walk with their hands behind their back, even though it looks awkwardly uncomfortable!"
Then you come back to the USA, and everything is just as it was, and so much less exciting. The way people hold their hands while walking no longer keeps your interest.
I heard a rumor that you couldn't study abroad your final semester. I talked to my counselor, and it was untrue! She was like "you are done with your major, your minor, your core...why NOT!?" So I took her advice.
So, the search for a location was ON. At first, I was considering Ireland, Scotland, or England, since I could obviously speak English there. Other countries with a new language (Germany, France, Italy) didn't interest me because I knew whatever I learned about the language would quickly be forgotten. Plus, I would be unable to converse with people on the streets without a pocket translator. But, I missed most of the deadlines for these locations.
So, of course, Spanish-speaking countries came into play. I liked the USAC program before, so I wanted to do it with them again. I heard from various sources that IES was a harder, more intensive program. Not to say I want to slack, but this fall 2009 semester was HARD and I didn't want my final semester in college to be hell. So I looked at Costa Rica and Alicante (Spain). Costa Rica's course offerings were basically in the field of rainforestry (really, how many classes can you take on that?) so I looked at Alicante. I could do an internship there and take a business course or two (so I have some basic background in the topic for future endeavors) so the choice was made: Alicante, here I come.
Also, I may post some things now and then to the old blog at www.melissainspain2009.blogspot.com like some videos that pertain to San Sebastian. Therefore, keep on subscribing to that/checking that site!
As you already probably hopefully know, I am travelling to Spain once again. And I like the British spelling of "travelling" better, so deal with it, Blogger spell-check!
When I went back to school in the fall of 2009, of course I was disappointed to be back from Spain. When I am abroad, everything is new and exciting. Like,
"Look at the weird labels of things!"
"Why are Americans so ugly in comparison to Europeans!"
"Why did I just say that when there are three Spaniards with mullets/rat tails?"
"look, the Spaniards walk with their hands behind their back, even though it looks awkwardly uncomfortable!"
Then you come back to the USA, and everything is just as it was, and so much less exciting. The way people hold their hands while walking no longer keeps your interest.
I heard a rumor that you couldn't study abroad your final semester. I talked to my counselor, and it was untrue! She was like "you are done with your major, your minor, your core...why NOT!?" So I took her advice.
So, the search for a location was ON. At first, I was considering Ireland, Scotland, or England, since I could obviously speak English there. Other countries with a new language (Germany, France, Italy) didn't interest me because I knew whatever I learned about the language would quickly be forgotten. Plus, I would be unable to converse with people on the streets without a pocket translator. But, I missed most of the deadlines for these locations.
So, of course, Spanish-speaking countries came into play. I liked the USAC program before, so I wanted to do it with them again. I heard from various sources that IES was a harder, more intensive program. Not to say I want to slack, but this fall 2009 semester was HARD and I didn't want my final semester in college to be hell. So I looked at Costa Rica and Alicante (Spain). Costa Rica's course offerings were basically in the field of rainforestry (really, how many classes can you take on that?) so I looked at Alicante. I could do an internship there and take a business course or two (so I have some basic background in the topic for future endeavors) so the choice was made: Alicante, here I come.
Also, I may post some things now and then to the old blog at www.melissainspain2009.blogspot.com like some videos that pertain to San Sebastian. Therefore, keep on subscribing to that/checking that site!
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