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!  :-)