Lazy Weekend

I apologize for the lack of blogging this weekend-- it's been pretty lazy with not much to report!

We're still on our school break (February 19-March 1) so most of my friends are still traveling. I love having time to unwind and decompress, but I'm definitely ready for people to start getting back! My friend Gina is here and we met up for ice cream last night which was awesome. It's always so good to get to see her!

Something interesting about the last few days was that I learned about Lent traditions in Spain. Spain's an extreeeeemely Catholic country, so I assumed that finding a place to get ashes and explaining my abstinence from meat on Fridays would be no big deal. Right? Wrong!

I spent about forty five minutes looking online for places to get ashes on Wednesday and couldn't find anywhere! I also spent a good chunk of the day walking around the streets and couldn't find a single person with ashes. It's just not that important in their culture here. I also tried to feel out the whole no meat issue with Rosario but she wasn't getting it. She's Catholic, too, so I was walking that fine line of trying to explain that I haven't had meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, or any of the Fridays during Lent for as long as I can remember while not offending her and calling her a bad Catholic. It ended up not really getting through, so I guess I'm going to be eating meat on Fridays this Lent... I'll try to make up for it later in the year. That's one of the really hard things about living in a host family. You can only eat what's put in front of you, and you really have no control over what it is. On the plus side, it is making me much less of a picky eater! I also did try to explain my potential shellfish allergy to Rosario and I'm really not sure how well it got through because she offered me shrimp about four times the other night. My plan of attack is to just examine my food veeeeery carefully and stick to the bread if the main dish looks fishy.

Another exciting update is that Lauren and I have her visit planned out and 75% booked! We're going to spend one day in Granada, two days in London, two days in Dublin, and five days in Puerto de la Cruz in the Canary Islands :-) I'm SO excited!! 

Five days till Paris! And three weeks from today, Matt gets here!!

the dude abides.

First off all, this entry has nothing to do with study abroad. I should also warn everyone that what I’m writing may very well come across as trite, overly dramatic, sappy, etc. But this is the most important blog entry I’ll write and a topic that means so much to me that I can’t censor myself. Okay, that’s your warning :-)

Today is a hard day. Yeah, it’s hard because my dad left this morning, but there’s a lot more to it.

Today marks four years since we lost my cousin Dane. I keep trying to figure out a follow-up sentence to that, but I can’t think of one.  I thought of starting it, “Dane was [insert adjective here],” but no adjectives seem to describe him quite right. He was the best. He was the guy who would make you laugh until you weren’t even making sounds anymore and tears were streaming down your face. He was the guy who could do something so original and clever that you would just look at him and wonder how he could have possibly thought of it. He was the guy who made everyone feel good about who they were because he appreciated individuality and valued self-respect and confidence. He was the guy who was exactly who he was without a thought of what people would think because he knew that being himself was all he had to be. He was the cousin who helped you look for your white and black polka dot hairbow at the park until you found it because he knew how much you loved it. He was the guy who didn’t hold grudges. He was the high schooler who let his ten-year-old cousin paint the nails of all six of his toes blue when he had a broken foot and a cast that exposed the painted nails.  He was the guy who cared more about his family and friends than anything else in the world. He was the BEST.

I truly believe that Dane lived more in the 23 years of his life than many people live in 100 years. He told my mom one time that he thinks that nobody should be upset about something for more than three days. Give yourself three days to be upset, mad, hurt, whatever, but then move on. He didn’t waste time worrying about trivial stuff. He just lived his life.

The day Dane died, I knew my life would never be the same, so I made a promise to try to make it better. I knew I had two choices. In the moments when we got back from the hospital, we were sitting around my living room and amidst all of the confusion, tragedy, and anger that we were feeling, I knew that Dane would be so disappointed if we let his death break us. So in that moment, I promised myself that I would be better. I would be a better person, I would forgive more easily, I would value life more, and I would live twice as hard for my cousin who died way too young.

I try to live up to this. I know that sometimes I get off track, but I do try to live up to the promises that I made to myself and to Dane that night. And I’ve decided that my Lenten promise for this year is to follow that path. The world was and is a better place for having had Dane in it, and if I can be even a little bit more like him, I know I can start to make an impact.

One of my favorite memories of Dane was the summer before he died. We were having a wedding shower for Arne and Beth and Dane and I were getting the house ready for it. We were doing a big clean-out and were making trips to Amvets to drop off clothes and toys. While we were driving, Dane started blasting Travis Tritt’s “Great Day to Be Alive” and the two of us drove down Route 83 singing the song at the top of our lungs. The song still brings back such good feelings and has really gained new meaning since Dane’s death. I like to listen to it when I'm missing him-- it's really uplifting and makes me smile rather than making me sad. Dane wouldn’t want anyone to be sad, he would just want us to get up and do something.

Before I left for Spain, Dane’s mom, my aunt Jenny, gave me his signature t-shirt to bring with me. It sits on the shelf of my closet and every time I look at it I think about my amazing cousin. I’m on a crazy adventure right now and I know the ability to do something this far out of my comfort zone came from Dane. Life is precious and fragile… you have to grab for all the gusto in the world.

Dane, thanks for teaching me about life. Thanks for teaching me what’s important and for showing me how to be a good family member. Thanks for showing me that it’s okay to be myself and that people who appreciate you will come into your life and make it so much richer. Thanks for being one of the most formative influences on the sixteen years I got to have with you. Thanks for teaching me the best way to live. I love you and I miss you.  

oh god we miss you, our friend

oh so patiently

 

Jack takes Europe: Days Four through Six

Roma :-)

Colosseum

Making a wish at the Trevi Fountain

Spanish Steps (not the new sunglasses-- Didn't want to ruin them/lose them/scratch them/break them the first day!)

Okay, so I have to apologize for being a blog delinquent the past few days. I’ll try to make this one pretty long to make up for it :-)

So Saturday was our trip to the Vatican, which was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life. We walked over to the steps in front of the Musei Vaticani (Vatican museum) and met up with our tour. This tour was really well set-up and I highly recommend them to anyone going to Rome. It was an English-speaking tour guide (and not “English speaking” like a lot of tours you find—this girl was from Washington, D.C. and has been living in Rome for four year). There were 14 other people on the tour, so it was a nice size. We also got headsets and our guide had a microphone so we could wander off a little bit and still hear her. Very good planning on their part.

We went in the museum and started our tour by going through rooms with different paintings and sculptures. We also went into the courtyards and learned about different architectural things and the significance of things that we never would have thought of. (Fun fact #1: All of the white sculptures that we associate with ancient Rome used to have brightly colored paint on them, but the paint wore off over the years.)

We also got to see the Papal apartments, which were very cool. They were all decorated by Raphael and the art on the walls was absolutely incredible. My favorite was School of Athens which is one of Raphael’s famous works. It’s a scene of a lot of different philosophers and innovators talking and working. The really cool thing that we learned is that Raphael made people he admired the inspiration for the different people. For example, his Plato has Leonardo DaVinci’s face because he was a huge fan of DaVinci and wanted to honor him. My favorite part, though, was that he gave Michaelangelo’s face to one philosopher who was notoriously arrogant and bad-tempered. Apparently Michaelangelo was a really mean, cocky guy and that he and Raphael did not get along at all.

After the Papal apartments, we got to go into the Sistine Chapel. It was absolutely gorgeous and even cooler than I could have imagined. It was really weird to think that Michaelangelo didn’t even know how to paint when he started painting the ceiling. He just kind of went for it and created that. Maybe he had a right to be a mean, cocky guy. In the Sistine Chapel we also got to see where the Cardinals meet to elect the new Pope. We got to stand where they put the fireplace during the elections and got to look up at the window that the smoke comes out of to signal if a new Pope has been elected. That was definitely one of the highlights.

After the Sistine Chapel, we went to St. Peter’s Basilica. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. It’s the biggest church in the world (the length of two football fields) and is just incredible. We got to go by St. Peter’s tomb, which is in the middle of the church. Above his tomb are inscribed (in Latin) the words “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,” the words Jesus said to Peter that ended up starting the Catholic Church. So, so, so, so cool to see. When we were done with St. Peter’s, the Vatican tour was over and we decided to go get some dinner and then head back to the hotel.

The next day, we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, and headed out for another day in Rome. We got off the hotel’s bus and starting walking to the Spanish steps. On the way, we passed the Gucci store. Now, there is this one style of Gucci sunglasses I’ve wanted for about two years, but I always tell myself that they’re impractical and that I shouldn’t get them. But we were at Gucci. In Rome. And they had them. So I bought them. Very unlike me, but I’m glad I did it!

After shopping, we went to the Spanish steps, sat on them for awhile, and then went to the Trevi Fountain and made some wishes by throwing coins into the fountain over our shoulders. The fountain was really pretty and much bigger than I expected. Then we got some lunch and started heading over to the Colosseum. The Colosseum was enormous and a very, very neat thing to see. We were laughing at the number of men dressed as gladiators around it, trying to earn some money by letting people take pictures with them.

The next day was Monday, which was a big travel day. We flew from Rome to Madrid and then from Madrid to Granada. It was an awesome trip, but it feels good to be back to familiarity. It won’t surprise anyone to know that I love continuity and familiarity. It’s exciting that Granada’s starting to be familiar and that I’m getting more and more settled as time goes on.

Today also marks 6 weeks in Granada. In some ways, it’s gone by really fast, and in other ways it feels like I’ve been here forever. I’ve got a lot of great stuff coming up, though, so hopefully the time should be fast and exciting! Next weekend, I go to Paris for four days! I am so excited to get to see Meghan and the Hartsells and my friend Carolyn!! That should be a great trip. I’m really glad we planned it for then, because that weekend is Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day at U of I, and it’s going to be a hard day to be away. Don’t get me wrong, I’m making some awesome friends here that I love to death, but I still really, really, really miss my friends back home!! And days when something really fun is going on down at school are definitely the hardest to be away. I think I’m gonna try to tell myself that I would have to work on Unofficial anyway and it wouldn’t be thaaaat fun for me. Right? Keep telling myself that? :-)

The weekend after Paris, we have a school-sponsored trip to Córdoba, which is a city around Granada. It’s just a day trip on Friday, but it should be fun and pretty interesting. Then a week after that, Matt comes to visit!! It’s going to be so so so great to see him! After Matt comes, I’ve got about five days before my cousin Lauren comes to visit! I have to figure out our travel plans for sure this weekend, but we’re thinking we’re going to do a few days in Ireland and then a few days in the Canary Islands, with a few days in Granada on either side of traveling. The Canaries are Spanish-owned islands in the Atlantic, and they’re apparently amazing! Lauren will be here until the 14^th of April, and then I’ve got a week and a half until our trip to London, which should be awesome (I mean seeing Les Mis on the West End is awesome enough in itself for me!) Then I’ll have two weeks of school, a farewell weekend, and then I’ll be coming home!

It should be a really great eleven weeks. It’s so nice to have things that you are really excited about to look forward to. Study abroad is really cool, but it can be really overwhelming if you don’t break it up with visits and little trips, so it’s really beneficial to plan things. My friend Brittany, who I’ve known since the days at The Lane School and who was in my sorority, studied in Granada two years ago, and that was the advice she gave me. It was the absolute best advice I could have gotten. If I didn’t have these things to look forward to, I’d probably be completely overwhelmed, but they’re making it much easier and allowing me to really enjoy the experience. So that’s my study abroad tip for the day!

Okay, well I think I’ve followed through on my promise to make this entry a long one—perhaps a little excessively long! (Sorry!) Hope everyone’s doing well—Miss everyone back home!

Pictures from the Vatican

St. Peter's Square at sunset

Me in front of St. Peter's tomb in the Basilica

My dad and I in front of St. Peter's Square

Raphael's School of Athens

My dad in front of the Holy Year Door, which is only opened every 25 years (every Jubilee year). We decided we're coming back in 2025 to walk through it.

Here are some pictures of the trip to the Vatican to tide the blog over until I can write a full blog entry :-)

Jack takes Europe: Days Two and Three

Fountain in Granada

My favorite part of the Cathedra-- "avemaria" is inscribed right over the entrance

Granada's Cathedral

Our paella!

My dad's first torta de chocolate... that was the legit face he made. Told you they were that good!

We have arrived in Rome safe and sound! It was a long day of traveling, but traveling with my dad is always a great time.

First, I'll backtrack to yesterday. After I posted, we went to the Plaza Bib-Rambla for lunch. We ended up eating at this great little restaurant and split paella and some wine. It was an awesome lunch! The paella was, surprisingly, the first paella I've had in Spain, and I loved it. Although I think I may have discovered that I'm allergic to shellfish, so that may have been my last seafood paella, unfortunately! Hopefully I'm not allergic and can keep eating it-- it's too good!

After lunch, we walked by the cathedral, which never stops amazing me. My friends and I walk past it every time we go out and we always inevitably end up stopping in our tracks and staring at it for a few minutes. It's absolutely breathtaking. I was so glad I got to show it to my dad. The only bad thing about the cathedral area is that gypsies loiter there 24/7. I had forgotten to warn my dad about them, but he was (luckily) savvy enough the be weary of women trying to give him sprigs of rosemary. The common gypsy trick is to give a "free" sprig of rosemary to somebody, then grab their hand and read their palm. So the rosemary is free, but the palm reading will cost you. If you try to give them one or two euro, they will scream at you that coins are bad luck and that you need to give them paper money. The smallest paper bill is 5 euro (read: about $7.50). So sneaky! We were definitely glad to escape the gypsy area.

We then walked down to the river to watch the sunset and botellón (botellón (bow-tay-OWN), v. to buy alcoholic beverages at a supermarket, convenience store, or alimentación and drink them outside. Perfectly legal in Spain, and considered economically responsible). We went to the Mercadona and bought some little bottles of vino tinto for dad and a bottle of sangria for me and went and sat on a bench by the river and a fountain and had a great time just sitting, relaxing, and talking. It was such a great night and was exactly what we wanted to do. Nothing too fancy, nothing too tiring, just sitting and enjoying being able to be together in Spain. Right up our alley! After botellóning, we went back to the hotel, relaxed, and went to bed early.

Today was our travel day. We flew from Granada to Madrid, then changed airlines in Madrid, had a bit of a layover, and then flew from Madrid to Rome. When we got here, we checked into our hotel, which is AWESOME! We checked out the concierge lounge (we are concierge lounge/regency club/executive lounge/whatever it's called rats every time we stay in a hotel with one... our plans on our trip to Hawaii when I was 14 revolved around when they put out the chocolate chip cookies) and then went upstairs to get some dinner at one of the hotel's restaurants. I have to say, it was one of the best meals of my life. We had amazing bread with olive oil, a bottle of red wine, and then I had swordfish for my entree and my dad had filet. For dessert, our server wheeled over a cart with cakes and tarts on it and asked us which we would like. I chose the chocolate cake, and my dad chose a tart with vanilla custard and pineapple. The best part about this desert cart is that she put one (small) piece on a plate, then asked us if we'd like another. Ummmm, double dessert? Yes, please! So we each had a double helping (which, in all honesty and at the risk of sounding like the grammar teacher I can't stand, was about the size of a normal American dessert), and LOVED it. It's about four hours later now and I'm still completely stuffed. I'm loving Italian food!

Tomorrow, we've got a tour planned of the Vatican and then are planning on doing some more exploring of the city. I can't wait to see Rome! I'll make sure to put up a lot of pictures in the blog tomorrow.

Jack takes Europe: Day One

I know I've said it eight thousand times, but it is SO great to have my dad in Granada! We've had so much fun so far and I know the rest of the trip is going to be just as awesome.

Yesterday, I met my dad at the hotel after I got done with class. I was SO excited to see him (I don't think a class has ever lasted so long in my life-- I couldn't wait to be done reading about Latin American romanticism and to get to see my dad)! So we hung out at the hotel for awhile, then headed out to get some lunch. After lunch, we went to Café Fútbol for some churros con chocolate (yummm!) and then got my dad a Cuban cigar at the cigar shop in Puerta Real. Then we came back to the hotel for a nap and to get ready for the night. The hotel is awesome and has the coolest shower I've ever seen in my life. I decided that I needed to take a forty-five minute shower to take advantage of the fact that there was water pressure, more than one temperature setting, and no time limit! It was the best shower of my life... especially after five weeks of garden hose-esque showers!

After siesta, we went over to my piso for dinner with Rosario and the kids. It was so much fun and a really interesting dynamic because of the language barrier. We had some great pasta and salad for dinner, and Rosario made flan for dessert. Spainards love to entertain and are always very concerned about their guests being happy, so she insisted on using an entire can of whipped cream on the flan... we got a big kick out of that. My dad brought Rosario and the kids gifts and they were obsessed with them-- it was really cute! Rosario loves the beach (talks about it all the time) so my dad brought her a thing of sand and seashells from Miami. Maria got Hannah Montana pens, and Carlos got a little American Airlines airplane that makes the take-off and landing noises. Carlos loves planes and wants to be a pilot when he grows up, so he was absolutely ecstatic. He spent the whole night flying the plane around the apartment and telling my dad how cool it was. So cute!

After dinner, we went to BADos (our favorite tapas place) for some tinto de verano. Alé, our favorite bartender (the one who let me bartend one night when I told him I work in a bar) gave us our drinks for free because he said it was a special day because my dad was visiting-- sometimes the people here are so nice! After that, we took my dad to Dolce Vita, which is one of our chuipterias (shot bars). We had an oatmeal cookie shot and a gingerbread shot, which were both delicious, and we taught him the "arriba, abajo, al centro, al dentro" toast ("up, down, in the middle, to the mouth") My dad got to meet a lot of my friends, which was great!

Today, I had class and came back with torta de chocolate for us. My dad wants everyone to know that it's even better than he imagined. It's just so good! Now we're going to head out for some lunch and a walk by the river!

My dad's hereeee!

Tinto de verano at BADos

Carlos and the plane my dad brought him

All of us at dinner (in the dining room of the piso)

Okay, so I had a post earlier and somehow it got deleted.... hmmm....

So here are a few pictures from my dad's visit so far and I promise a very detailed blog entry will be coming tomorrow. It's SO great to have my dad here!

Dad's on his way!!!

I CANNOT believe that my dad's on his way to Granada right now!! This is SO exciting! I absolutely cannot wait to see him!

I've been telling Rosario and the kids that he's coming and they're very excited, too. Rosario told me that she can tell how excited I am and made us cheeseburgers for dinner to celebrate. Normally when we have cheeseburgers, we don't have buns (Spanish cheeseburgers don't have them), but today she went to a special store to get hamburger buns to make the meal more American. My favorite was Carlos' reaction "SON EXACTAMENTE COMO LAS DE BURGER KING" ("they're exactly like the ones at Burger King"). I asked Rosario if it would be ok if my dad came over to meet the family and see the piso, and she got more excited than I've seen her the whole time I've been here. She immediately asked me what he likes to eat and drink because she wants to cook us dinner. I'm so excited that my dad will get to see all of this and try some of Rosario's cooking.

Care Package #2!

Today was a pretty ordinary Monday-- had my two classes, went to the gym, and came home for dinner and homework. The best part of the day, however, was getting my second care package from home! My parents sent me makeup, magazines, and maps of Rome and London, plus Nature Valley peanut butter granola bars and pretzels-- both of which I've been missing! Isn't it kind of strange that pretzels don't exist in Spain? We tried to explain them to Julia the other day in Grammar and she looked at us like we were crazy. She then proceeded to ask us if they were terrible for our health like everything else that we eat. I think the only reason I don't like Julia is because of how mean she is about food. She apparently only eats fruits and vegetables and tells us how fat Americans are and how we shouldn't eat any sweets and how one time she tried a little peanut butter and she had a stomachache for the rest of the day because it was so fattening. Um, ok? (I should also add that after one particularly preachy class, six of the eight of us went to get tortas de chocolate in protest. It was the best torta de chocolate I've ever had) I should also put the disclaimer on this rant that people discussing other people's eating habits is a total pet peeve of mine. Eat what you want, but don't criticize what anyone else chooses to eat. It's none of your business and it shouldn't really matter to you. And if it does, keep it to yourself. (Ok, rant over! I promise that's the meanest I'll be on the blog :-))

This time tomorrow, my dad will be on his way to Granada! I CANNOT wait for him to get here!!

Feliz Día de San Valentín

Sunset over the river

The river before sunset... This is the highest the water's been in years

Me, Alli, Kristin, Breezy, and Sarah 

It's been an awesome weekend! The weather this weekend could seriously not have been more perfect (mid-60s and sunny every day)... absolutely gorgeous! We planned some great stuff and I had such a good time! On Friday after I posted, Alli and Breezy and I went on a little tapas crawl. We decided to kind of wander around our neighborhood and look for some new places. We stumbled upon some good ones and had a ton of fun. 

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, which we all knew was going to be a pretty homesick kind of day. Even though it's not that big of a deal (oh man if I had been gone for Thanksgiving or Christmas I would have had to have been slipped a sedative to get through the day), it's still just kind of hard to be away from home on a day like that. So, we decided to plan a fun day and try to make the absolute best of it. Breezy, Alli and I went shopping in the morning and then went home for lunch and siesta. We met up after siesta with Kristin and Sarah and the five of us went down by the river (a really really pretty part of down that we don't get to very often) to sit and watch the sunset and take pictures and just hang out. We stopped at the Mercadona (grocery store!!) next to the river and picked up some snacks and drinks and had an awesome time just chilling out and enjoying the city. After the sun went down and we all got pretty hungry, we went to Telepizza (Spain's fast food pizza that is SO GOOD!) and got some dinner. We then all went home to get ready for the night.

While I was getting ready (sans light bulb-- my light bulb burned out on Thursday night and I just now got a replacement. No pasa nada?), I found out that the Valentine's Day gift I sent to Matt had been opened and emptied. I had sent him a Real Madrid soccer jersey and some chocolate and he got an empty box in the mail. What a bummer! I guess it's a lesson learned about shipping stuff. After finishing getting ready, I headed out for the night with Breezy and Alli-- we met up with some other girls on our program and had a great night out. 

Today, I got up around 10:30, walked around (bought my lightbulb haha), and went to mass at the Cathedral. I ended up running into Christy, Michelle, and Jill there which was fun. Mass was really cool and really intense. There were fifteen altar servers (all male and ranged in age from probably 6-20), two deacons, and three priests. It was a really cool mass and I'm really glad I went. Afterwards, I walked home with Jill in the gorgeous weather, made it in time for lunch, then crashed and took a long nap. After I woke up, I headed out to get myself a donut at Dunkin' Coffee (why not, right?) and then came home and got to skype with my mom and dad plus Mar Mar and my aunts Susie and Jenny. It was SO great to get to see them! And we're at T-minus three days until my dad's visit! I am SO excited I can't even begin to explain. It's going to be so great to see him and to have a taste of home and to get to show him all the places I've discovered here.

We just finished dinner and I think the rest of the night is going to include an essay on Don Quijote and finishing up The Holiday. I bought it on iTunes this morning and am loving it. We watched it a lot freshman year in Beth and Carolyn's room, so it's got good memories attached to it. iTunes is so awesome for studying abroad-- I've been able to keep up with my three favorite shows: The Bachelor, The Office, and Jon and Kate plus 8. Gotta love it!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! 

65 and sunny :-)

GORGEOUS day in Granada... those are the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background

We are finally getting that great weather that they promised us! After literally a month of cold and rainy days (every day), the past two days have been in the 60s and BRIGHT sunshine! It's been so great! Today, I slept in, lounged around, and then went on a walk around the city (sans coat!), shopped, and explored. It was one of those days where I had to take a step back and realize how cool it is to be here. 

In other news... MY DAD COMES ON WEDNESDAY! I'm SO SO SO excited to see him and to be able to show him around Granada (and we're going to go to Rome, which is a city I've always wanted to see). It should be an AWESOME week! I just can't even put into words how excited I am. I love my dad!

I went out last night with Breezy, Alli, Kristin, and Sarah and had an AWESOME time! We're gonna go out again tonight and then we're all going to get Telepizza (Spain's fast food pizza) tomorrow for Valentine's Day. It should be a great weekend!

My First VLOG!

Okay, so I decided to have a little fun today and make a video blog for today's entry. Hope everyone likes it!!

Four Weeks!

Well, the most exciting update of the past two days is that I bought a new coat! I love my red coat, but having to wear it almost all day literally every day for four weeks got to be too much. I also realized that it looks like I'm wearing the same outfit in all of my pictures. Meg and Caitlin studied abroad in Ireland this past summer and warned me that I would get sick of my coat, and I really do understand now! In any event, I managed to find a really cute and cheap khaki trenchcoat at a little store on my walk to school yesterday. I'm loving the change of pace :-)

I also went grocery shopping again today. There is something about grocery shopping that just makes me so happy (I'm a nerd, I know!), so I'm pretty lucky to live right above a Mercadona (Spain's version of a Jewel). I bought some cereal bars and some health cookies, although the cookies taste so good I'm starting to doubt how healthy they are! 

We had swordfish for dinner, and I fell in love with it. It is SO GOOD! I'm totally expanding my tastebuds and starting to eat like an almost 21-year-old instead of like a toddler. For lunch I had some sort of stew with lima beans, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, and chorizo. A month ago I would have picked the two chunks of chorizo out and called it a day, but I really enjoyed it! (This will be really exciting for anyone who's ever sat with me in the AGD kitchen while I attempt to pull every onion and chunk of tomato out of Darrick's four cheese ziti).

Today marks four weeks since my arrival in Granada and three months till I return to the US! 

Three Continents in Three and Half Weeks! (The Morocco Post)

So this trip was incredible. It was such an eye-opening experience and really made everyone appreciate our lives so much. The first day, we left Granada at 1:15 and drove three hours to Algeciras, making sure to include a rest stop in Málaga (where all of us fell in love with how warm and sunny it was and how gorgeous the beach looked from the highway). We arrived in Algeciras around 4:30 and waited around to board the ferry. The ferry was so different than I expected. I pictured us all standing around for an hour, but this thing was luxurious! There were couches and a lounge and a snack bar and an observation deck-- pretty nice! We sat around for about a half hour and decided to go on the deck for the second half of the trip so we could see Africa's coastline and take pictures of the sunset over the Mediterranean. It was absolutely beautiful. 

We then arrived in Ceuta, the port city in Africa, and got off the ferry, got onto the bus, and had to go to the border to get our passports stamped. On the bus, we were introduced to our tour guide for the next day. I can't remember his real name, but he told us to call him Michael Douglas because that's who he looks like (ummm... not so much, buddy. Sorry!). He was pretty funny, calling us his family and telling us that he loved us every five seconds ("Do you love me? Because I love you.") He taught us a few Arabic words to use during our stay, like "shokran" (thank you), "la" (no) and "salam walakem" (hello). He also decided that he was going to do the tour the next day in both Spanish and English. We all tried to tell him that we didn't need the English translation, that we were all used to hearing constant Spanish and that it was really ok, but he insisted. I have to admit that I kind of giggled every time he spoke English simply because he sounded EXACTLY like Martin Short playing Frank Eglehoffer in Father of the Bride. All I could think was "This tuxedo is navy blue" and "Welcome to the '90s, Mr. Banks" over and over again. 

In any event, that night we checked into the Dream's Hotel (yes, with the apostrophe. The hotel that belongs to the dream?) and had our dinner there. Dinner was great and our accomodations at the hotel were spectacular. I roomed with Kristin, and we were so excited to have nice comfortable beds and a big TV that got an English channel. We were so excited to watch Charmed and Friends in English and even got to catch some of Letterman! It was awesome. 

The next day, we went to Tetuán, which is a really old city that tourists just don't really go to. Our tour was well organized, with a tour guide and a few bodyguards, so it was safe for us to get to go see it. We walked through the medina, which is the ancient part of town. We saw outdoor markets with fish, fruit, vegetables, beans, olives, and chickens (I have this intense, really irrational fear of birds, so I was definitely grabbing Kristin's arm for dear life around those stores). What was even worse than the live chickens, though, was the fact that they would just kill the chicken right there and send it home with someone. Don't get me wrong, I love my grilled chicken sandwiches and will not be becoming a vegetarian any time soon, but that was a little intense to see! It was really interesting to see how these people get their food. They just come to these markets and buy what they want on the street. It was pretty dirty and really didn't smell good, and it just made you wonder how safe the food was that people ate on a daily basis. 

We also saw a rug show in Tetuán, which was pretty cool. Morocco has the second best rug market in the world (second to Persian rugs), and it was amazing to see the craftsmanship on all of the rugs. They also told us that the rug industry is starting to die because all of the rugs are made by women, and Morocco is starting to give women more and more rights. As the women go to school and start becoming more involved in other parts of society, the artisan population is dwindling. 

After the rug show, we had lunch at a restaurant in the medina. Lunch was soup and couscous, which was delicious. After lunch, we got on the bus and headed for Tánger, which is a more modern city. The first thing we did in Tánger was ride our camels! I was SO EXCITED to get to do it! It was definitely scarier than I anticipated, but I'm so glad I did it. You had to get on the camel while it was lying down and then the man would whip the camel's legs and yell out a command and make it stand up. That was definitely the scariest part (note the picture where I'm screeching because the camel's starting to stand. Huge props to Laura Homan for her fabulous photography). We then went up to Cabo Espartel, which is where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet. It was a gorgeous view. After that, we went to the medina (again, ancient part) of Tánger to go shopping. Tánger is known for a fake purse market, so I was LOVING it (I have this intense love for finding fake purses... Canal Street in New York is one of my favorite places). I got a fake Gucci purse for traveling, and it's already coming in handy. We also had to negotiate prices, and I was able to get the guy down to a really good price by pointing out the things that didn't look authentic about the bag (a trick that Steph taught me in New York this summer!) After our long day, we went back to the hotel, ate dinner, and crashed. We were so exhausted!

Sunday, we woke up early, had breakfast, and got on the bus to go to Chef-Chaouén. Chef-Chaouén was absolutley stunning. It's located in the mountains and the whole city is painted white and bright blue. We took a guided tour and then were able to have some free time to shop. After that, we ate lunch at a hotel in the city, hopped on the bus and headed home. The trip back was really long, but it was so worth it.

After seeing how these people live, I am feeling luckier than ever to be where I am. Studying abroad isn't easy, but I'm having a great time and am so lucky to be in a place as great as Granada. What makes me even luckier, though, is to have such a great home to be able to go back to in May. It was really eye opening to see little kids pulling around donkeys, people hassling tourists with little knick-knacks trying to make a living, and women walking miles to the fuente to be able to get potable water to bring home. I'm so glad I was able to experience this culture and this way of life. It really does make you think about more about the world as a whole and makes you count your blessings. 

Here are some of my pictures of the weekend:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sally.vonderheide/Morocco?feat=directlink

Back in Granada!

I've gotten back safe, sound, and exhausted! Morocco was amazing and I can't wait to write a detailed, photographed blog tomorrow. Get ready for a long entry! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Thanks again so much to everyone keeping up with my blog-- It's SO exciting for me to see that people are reading! It really means a lot  :-)

Wednesday and Thursday

The school weeks at CEGRI fly by. I can't believe that it's already the weekend again-- I'm loving not having class on Fridays!

Yesterday was a very successful day. I was able to secure my Paris trip! I'm going March 5-8 with a few of my other friends. I'm so excited to get to see my friends Meghan and Carolyn, both of whom are studying there! It should be a great little trip-- I've always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower :-) I also planned a trip with Julia to London for April 24-26. We haven't locked everything in yet, but I'm SO excited to go! We're planning on seeing Les Miserables on the West End. For those of you who don't know, for me that's like the ultimate experience. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Les Mis and being able to see it in its original form (it opened in London in 1985 and has been there ever since) will be incredible. I'm already so excited that I've been walking the streets of Granada humming "Do you Hear the People Sing?" (haha is that one of those things I shouldn't admit to?)

Classes have started to pick up and I'm learning a lot in them. Grammar is already improving my Spanish a ton and Law is really interesting. Even Literature is pretty interesting to me at CEGRI, and I'm usually more into the linguistic areas. We just read part of El Conde Lucanor and are starting a little excerpt of Don Quijote, which I am so excited about. Both of these were favorites of mine in high school, so it will be nice to get to revisit them. 

My favorite class, by far, is Conversation. It's hilarious because all we do is sit around and talk. Right now, we're on the "traditions and customs" section and we spent the class period today talking about stereotypes of different countries. Spain isn't about political correctness, so we were all pretty taken aback by some of the stuff our teacher was saying. It's just funny to hear what is and isn't offensive to people of other cultures. We also decided to show Yanira (our teacher) "My New Haircut" on YouTube. She loved it, although I don't think she really understood it. I'm proposing we show her doglover next (If you don't know who doglover is, you MUST click on this link right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEtP9zQAOI4&feature=channel_page  ... I will gladly admit that I was doglover's twin-- in both appearance and obvious star quality-- circa 1996-1998. If you knew me at this time, I give you permission to laugh and agree. If you didn't know me, I'll host a viewing of the VonderHeide "Holidays 1998" home video once I get back to the US to enlighten you). 

I think the rest of the day holds homework, a workout and perhaps some going out. Tomorrow we leave for Morocco at 1:15pm! I don't think I'll have internet again until Sunday, but I promise to blog when I get back to Granada. Everyone cross your fingers that it doesn't rain so I can ride my camel!

Three Weeks In

Well, today marks the three week anniversary of my arrival in Granada. In some ways I feel like I've been here a year, and in some ways I look back and say ¨wow, that was already two weeks ago?¨ I think that time is going to start picking up pretty fast and I'm sure when May 11 rolls around I will have felt like the time flew by.

Yesterday was very exciting because I got a care package from home! It was so exciting to have a little taste of America (literally, a taste... I'm doing some major damage on the Mini Chips Ahoy!) It was a great pick-me-up and I'm still having fun looking at everything. The best is that my parents included a birthday gift for Maria (two books-- one on Hannah Montana and one on the Jonas Brothers). She was SO excited! I thought back to myself at her age and realized that if someone from England had sent me a book about the Spice Girls, I would have been freaking out, too. She's already used the stickers to decorate her school supplies and a poster of the Jonas Brothers is hanging on her wall.

I also decided to try out a pilates class at the gym last night. I kept chickening out and decided to bite the bullet and try it-- who cares if I look dumb, I never have to see these people again! It ended up being so much fun and a great workout. I felt so accomplished afterwards-- I had gone into a place where I was the only American and kept up with the instruction. My ear for Spanish has improved tenfold since getting here, and my verbal skills are catching up slowly but surely.

Tonight, I think we're going to try to plan out some of our other little weekend trips. I think we're going to try to go to Greece for our second break and I want to make it to London, Paris, and Sevilla for weekend trips. Also in the cards are Morocco for this weekend, Rome when my dad comes (he gets here two weeks from tomorrow!!), and two more trips to Madrid when Matt's here (which is next month!). There is also talk about going to Lagos, Portugal when it gets nice-- the beaches are supposed to be amazing!

Madrid Weekend

Palacio Royal-- Royal Palace

Michelle, Christy, and I eating lunch in Plaza Mayor

Laura and I on the steps of the Prado

Michelle, Jenny, and I in Plaza de España with Don Quijote and Sancho Panza

Madrid was the perfect trip to start off our traveling expeditions in Europe. I went with six other girls (Jill, Michelle, Laura, Jenny, Christy, and Betsy) and we had a blast. We took the bus from Granada to Madrid on Friday morning, which was super easy and a pretty nice bus ride. It took about five hours, but they played two movies (License to Wed and Monster in Law, both dubbed in Spanish!) and we were able to sleep for a good chunk of the time.

We got into Madrid, checked into our hostel, and decided to explore a little bit. We ended up going to Plaza Mayor, which is a really huge historic plaza and eating lunch outside in the square. Our waiter was this really cute little Spanish man who was really excited that we were trying to speak Spanish to him even though he spoke English. I found that, in Madrid, most people speak English but they really appreciate people trying to speak Spanish to them. 

After lunch, we walked around the city a little more, stopping by Palacio Royal and the cathedral. My favorite part of the city tour was getting to Plaza de España where there's a huge statue of Don Quijote (riding Rocinante, his horse) and Sancho Panza. Jenny and I are both Spanish education majors and both admittedly LOVE Don Quijote de la Mancha. We took some good pictures of the statue and I couldn't get the "I am I, Don Quijote" song out of my head for the rest of the day :-)

We then walked down Gran Vía, which is a street with a lot of shopping and restaurants in Madrid. We went shopping and got some coffee at little coffee shop and really enjoyed ourselves. After that, we went to the Reina Sofia, which is Madrid's modern art museum. We saw a lot of Dalí and Picasso, which I loved. I'm usually pretty dense when it comes to art, but being able to see Picasso's Guernica in person is definitely something I will never forget. Guernica was Picasso's commentary on the Spanish Civil War and the attacks on Guernica, a town in northern Spain. The painting was INSANE in person. It was enormous and breathtaking and so intricate. I'm really glad to be able to say that I have seen it.

After the Reina Sofia, we went to a little restaurant called Chic Antocha for dinner, which was really fun. The restaurant had a great atmosphere and was just what we wanted after our long day.

The next day, we went to the Prado museum, which is an art museum with a lot of important Spanish art (namely works by Velazquez and Goya). Four of the girls did the audio-guided tour, but Betsy, Christy, and I walked around for a few hours and then hung out in the café for a little bit, which was a nice time to just sit and relax.

We then went back to the hostel and took naps before dinner. We went to this really cute restaurant on Calle Amor and were able to get a lot of really great food. We went out that night, first spending some time in our hostel bar and then going to a discoteca called El Kapital. El Kapital is this enormous discoteca with seven floors. Each floor has a different atmosphere, so it really had a little something for everyone. We hung out there for about three hours and decided to call it a night and get ready for our trip back the next day.

The next day, we woke up, packed, had breakfast, and headed to the bus station to hop our bus back to Granada. It was a really fun weekend with really good people and I can't wait to start traveling more!

Next weekend, we go to Morocco (Africa!) through a trip that the school organized for us. I'm really excited to see what it's like!

Back in Granada

Quick update to let everyone know that I'm back in Granada safely. Our Madrid trip was SO fun and I will provide a thorough update tomorrow (I'll even put up some pictures to make up for the delay). Hope everyone had a great weekend.

P.S. GO ARIZONA!! (I became a Cardinals fan three weeks ago while watching the ARZ-CAR game with Matt. I decided to root for ARZ (pronounce "airs") because they had pretty helmets, were very sportsman-like, and were the underdogs in that game. My favorite player's name is Larry and he's number 11). So everyone cheer extra loud for me!  :-)