Orientation is Over!!!

So I'm finally done my orientation class. Well, I guess tomorrow I'll officially be done. I took my final exam this morning and our class is meeting tomorrow to go over the exam and then one of our professors, Lola, is taking us out to get a Pionono? Pionini? I don't know! It's her favorite pastery. She was talking about pasteries last week because she had 5 pasteries one day and then somehow she decided that she was going to take us to a specific pastery shop to try them! Her favorite though is a cinnamon bun from the US, but you can't find those in Spain. I do miss Hannaford Cinnamon buns....Mmmm...

The orientation test was alright. I hope I did well on it. I think I was the only one here to study for it? I mean, I know others did but I was looking at my Spanish stuff all weekend when I was in my room. Sometimes I'm such a loser....

This weekend was a fun but relaxing weekend. What did I do Friday? I'm not really sure. I walked around Granada with my friend Sarah. We keep looking for shoes to buy and it's great cause they have a lot of sales happening. The shoes keep getting cheaper and cheaper but when I finally decide on a pair that I like I can never find them in my size :(

The cathedral near our hostel

The park where I run every day - El Parque Garcia Lorca

On Saturday I ran for quite a while in the park and then came back to take a nap. A lot of people from the dorm went to the beach that morning but I didn't realize they were leaving as early as they did. Friday night I had decided I wouldn't go and that I'd wait until it got warmer but Saturday I woke up and wanted to go. However....they left...and I had no idea... But that's alright. Saturday night Sarah and I went to a tea house and had some tea and then walked around the city some more.

Sarah and I at the tea house

The next day I woke up and went hiking a group of students from AIFS. That was a lot of fun. We went up a mountain and it was just really neat. It was cool (temperature-wise) to start off but when we got walking it started to get really hot. We stopped at an area with many futbol fields and it overlooked some mountains. We stayed there for half and hour and ate our lunch before we continued on with our hike. I had a delicious egg bocadillo from our hostel. Mmm....

I'm on top of the world! Nah - just at the spot where we ate our lunch

Walking along the mountain

Later that afternoon a bunch of us went up to the Albayzin and then I came back and studied! Whoo! That was my weekend. I don't know what I'm up to for the rest of the day. We leave for Madrid in two days (Wednesday) and then on Saturday I'm leaving for Paris! It's so weird to think that I'm going there.

Oh! We got our laundry back. I think I've figured out how it works. They take our laundry on Monday to be washed. Monday or Tuesday is when they actually wash it and hang it out to dry. They bring back most of it on Friday afternoon and fold it for us and leave it upstairs so that we can go through and pick out what is ours. But like I said, sometimes we're missing a few things. My sweaters and pants came back the Monday or Tuesday a week later, but this week we got our missing clothes back that Saturday. I feel much better knowing now that we will get our clothes back, it just may not happen all at once.

Vermont in Granada

WE HAVE A BEN & JERRY'S HERE!!!!

We went walking around this morning and found one! I was so excited! I got a waffle cone with Phish food. I couldn't help it. With the exchange rate it was probably the most expensive ice cream cone ever but hey..... it tasted amazing.

The Albayzin

Hello Again!!!

As I mentioned in my post yesterday we got to go to the Albayzin. The tour itself was a little boring. I didn't really listen to my tour guide because I couldn't really hear her. I was focused more on all of the buildings around me.

A plaza in the Albayzin near a church

We went to a lookout and were able to see a great view of the city of Granada as well as the Alhambra!

The lookout in the Albayzin with the Alhambra in the background

We ate lunch there which consisted of bocadillos (sandwiches) that were prepared for us earlier. My sandwich was a baguette with some sort of meat that looked like pepperoni but didn't quite taste like pepperoni. It was good anyway.

After lunch a bunch of people wanted to find the caves on the side of the hill but we were unsuccessful. I was happy about it because at that point I was in need of some water. The temperature got up to 67 yesterday. It was quite warm being on the hill with the sun shining down on us.

We returned home and I took a half hour siesta. All of the walking that I had done during the last few days had really caught up with me. I think I realized this morning at 4 AM why I'm so tired during the day. We have a salsa bar right outside our hostel and our windows aren't that great so I get to hear everyone when they're outside of the bar. That, and people ride around on motorcycles all night which I think is also waking me up.

After my nap I ran for 15 miles. I don't know how I did that, especially since it was around the same ol' park the entire time. I got to take a shower and that's when I found out that we actually had gotten our clean laundry back! I hurried upstairs to search for my clothes but unfortunately I'm missing three things. I'm missing my Nike running pants, a black sweater and a brown shirt - both of which I had just bought before I left for Spain. So Monday I'll have to let the staff know that I don't have half of the clothes that I had packed. Luckily I've gone shopping and have clothes to last me now.

We went to a tea house last night. That was a new experience but I liked it. It was nice and relaxing in a way. We returned home quite early compared to many of the other people from AIFS. A lot of them went to a discoteca, which is like a club. They don't open until 12am and they stay open till 7am. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to last the night if I went there. It was just nice to come back here and get some more sleep.

So I'm not quite sure what I have planned for the rest of the day. A few of us will probably go for a walk, maybe around the Alhambra again. I need to look at places to stay while I'm in Paris. It's weird to think that I'll be going there in 2 weeks!

Hot Water

So we lost our hot water again this week. Last week we were out for 3 days, and the same with this week. We finally got it back yesterday. It was so great to be able to take a shower again. For the past three days I had been washing my hair by leaning over the tub. It was quite chilly! We still haven't gotten any of our laundry back that we gave the staff here on Monday and it's now Saturday. I'm not sure if I'll ever see those clothes again. Well, I probably will, but I just wish I had clean pants right now. I only have one pair of jeans to wear... I had to go buy them on Wednesday not knowing how long I would be without clothes.

Let me think back to what I've done this past week. I'm still taking my orientation class. I found out that I'm not going to be getting the credit I need for this class. If I had placed in the Advanced level it would have counted towards my minor but of course I didn't place there and I wasn't sure if I should move up or not. The reason why I didn't move up was because I was afraid to take the Advance classes once our real classes start up. The intermediate classes that I'll be taking will all count towards my minor, except for one class that we're required to take. I'm a little angry about it because I've taken two classes at UVM already that are the equivalents of this one. When I get back to UVM next fall I'll still have to take a Spanish class :(

This morning we are going to the Albayzin. We're going on a walking tour that should last about two hours and then we have the rest of the day to do what we want. I think I'm going to have to go running for 2 hours to get ready for the marathon in Rome. I need to start putting in longer days with mileage. I've been trying to run every day that I can. I've only been running in one park but I want to explore the city. The reason I don't explore it is because there are so many stop lights. Once I get started I have to stop again to wait for the traffic. I see no point in doing that so I run lap after lap in the tiny park.

At the end of this month, after our exams for the orientation classes, we're spending 3 or 4 days (I can't remember) in Madrid and then we have 5 more days to go where we want. A bunch of us booked flights for Paris because they were cheap so that's where I'll be going in the beginning of February! That should be fun. The only hard part is finding a cheap, but good place to stay in while we're there. It would be nice to stay in a hotel if I could find one cheaper than a hostel but that's probably what my afternoon (after my run) will be devoted to.

Yesterday I spent 4 hours shopping. I didn't know that shopping could make me so tired! I love the clothes here! I've been looking for some shoes to walk around in and you would think that since there's a shoe store like every 50 feet that I would find a pair that I like. But nope. I can't. But it's good to know that I'm not the only one. A lot of girls are going through the same thing. I love that Spain is having all of their sales right now because I can buy a shirt for like 4-5 euros that would cost like 20 bucks in the US.

Well, I should probably get ready for our tour. I hope to have pictures of it that I can post on here afterwards. Hasta luego!

The Alhambra

On Saturday our group AIFS got to go to the Alhambra. I had been there in 2004 but it was raining back then. When I went this Saturday it was probably the most beautiful day we've had here. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but it was a little chilly.

We went on a tour through most of the Alhambra. I loved being able to look out to the whole city of Granada.

One week Down

So it's already been a week since I left Milton and quite a bit has happened. We spent two days in London and that was a lot of fun. It was great because I could speak the same language as them, however, knowing how bad the currency exchange was, it made it hard to want to spend any money. Everything was priced the same but when I converted the prices in my head it made me sad to know that I paid $16.00 for a hamburger meal at TGIFridays.

The first day we were all pretty tired after getting off of the plane. We were met at the airport and taken to our hotel rooms. We were in a huge hotel but with tiny rooms. My roommate and I decided to explore the city and met up with some more people from AIFS. That night we had a reception with all of the students. After the reception we went out for dinner (where I had my $16.00 hamburger meal) and explored the city some more around Picadilly Circus.

The next day was for site-seeing. We went on a three hour tour (without a shipwreck) around the city. That was a lot of fun. Our tour guide, Heather, was so much fun and really funny. She kept cracking jokes during the tour. It turns out that she leads the Harry Potter Fan Club on tours around London. We got to see most of the famous buildings in London which was cool.

Big Ben - We got to hear him ring

Me with the London Bridge in the Background

After that we could explore the rest of the day on our own. A bunch of us had lunch and then went to the British Museum. We then took the tube Platform 9 and 3/4 where Harry Potter was filmed. After some photos, we hopped on the tube again to Abbey Road. A bunch of the guys made us take their pictures over and over as they tried to perfect the walk across the crosswalk and dodge traffic at the same time. I feel bad for anyone who has to travel on that road with all of the tourists there.

Harry Potter!!!!! Platform 9 and 3/4

On Sunday we woke up bright and early - 3:45 am to be exact - to get on our plane to Granada. It was so great flying into Malaga and seeing all of the trees and beautiful land/buildings. I was shocked to walk off the plane and experience warm air again. When I left VT it was like 6 degrees. Spain was easily in the 60s. I was not expecting it to be quite so warm out. We took a bus ride a little over an hour to Granada and the 10 of us "dorm dweller" people were led to our new homes for the next 4.5 months. I was surprised to find out that we were living in a hostel instead of the typical American Dorm. I thought we'd be more on campus but it really looks like we live in an alley. When the stores are closed it looks quite sad down our street, which is what it looked like on Sunday when we arrived.

I unfortunately haven't taken any pictures while I've been in Granada and I'm not sure why. I love the city, however it's quite small. It makes running quite hard but I go to a nearby park and do laps around it. Every afternoon a bunch of kids meet there to go running so it makes me feel safer to know that little kids are allowed to run there. The streets here are so tiny! Motorcycles whizz by you so quickly and you always have to look around you to make sure that a car isn't heading your way.

It's hard to not be able to communicate with many people here. Today I went to Zara, one of my favorite stores, because this is the month when all of the stores have "rebajas", or sales. Anyway, I forgot my school folder in one of the dressing rooms and I forgot the word for folder. It was a little difficult to explain to the lady why I needed to get back in there. It was still there though everything was alright.

The food here is really good! I love having breakfast for some reason. We get coffee and then have toasted baguette halves where we put on butter and then strawberry marmalade. MMMmm MMmm. Delicious. And believe it or not I haven't tried any of the chocolate they sell here. I've been eating the stash that I brought from home. And I've only stopped at the pastry shop once, and that was yesterday. I really haven't been able to eat that many desserts. I also tried a clementine yesterday for the first time in quite a few years and I enjoyed it a lot!

I was told to come here with an open mind and to try everything (food) at least once. And that is what I am doing. But I think that I'm going to get ready for bed. For some reason I've been awfully tired today. Adios!

Only Two More Days

Ahhh it's so hard to believe that it's already time for me to leave for Spain. I remember a year ago thinking about traveling abroad and I had no idea if I was going to or where I was going to go. I'm not even sure why I picked Granada as it was probably my least favorite city when I went to Spain back in high school. But Granada it is, and I'm sure that I'll have fun no matter what.

I'm not doing too well with the packing. I've only cleaned up a tiny portion of my room. Tom says that it looked like an atomic bomb went off in there because when I moved out of my apartment I just dropped my stuff and left it.

Tomorrow I have a busy day ahead of me. I have to run around and make sure I get my last minute errands finished and that I have everything ready for my dad for when I'm gone. It's going to be so strange not to see everyone this next semester. I don't know anyone who is going to be going to Spain. I have no idea what to expect from the whole experience.

But I suppose that I should get packing instead of writing this. However, I just wanted to write something on here because it looked boring without a post. Hopefully I'll be able to update this thing often while I'm gone and you guys can see what I'm up to. Feel free to email me at any time while I'm gone, as that'll probably be the best way to get in contact with me. My email is dcloutie@uvm.edu.

Have fun everyone. For those that I didn't get to see/say goodbye to, I'm really sorry! I'll see you all in May!