- had another intercambio
- met a bunch of german friends
- visited Lisboa (lisbon), Portugal (tried to visit castles in Sintra, una Catedral, tour of the city, a fortress, etc.)
- visited Córdoba (la Mezquita)
- visited Granada (la Alhambra, FREE tapas with a drink)
- enrolled (and taken a bunch) of SEVILLANA dance classes (type of flamenco specific to Sevilla)
- gone hiking (senderismo)
- visited Carmona (nearby pueblo with some ancient roman ruins)
- started volunteering at UNICEF (all i do is fold sweatshirts--i'm hoping it'll get better...)
- taken exams (ughh! studying in spain doesn´t work)
- done ANOTHER intercambio in the form of a photography competition
- played an infamous game of SPOONS with my german friends in which it came down to "fighting for my country"--the u.s. won ;)
- gone to a private flamenco club with authentic performances
- said a lot of things incorrectly that ended up being funny
- spent time with a lot of people from all over--spain, germany, france, holland, australia, italy
- started reading the mind of my friend jennie, with whom i spend all my time with. we can now have conversations without words. scary.
- and a million other things....and all in spanish!!! (well, most of them)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
SOOOOO MUCH--demasiado!!!
A lot of time has passed since I last wrote on this...TOO MUCH!!! In that time I´ve:
Monday, March 2, 2009
Intercambio!!
Last week I had an intercambio--which literally means exchange. In this case, it was a language exchange. I was running late to meet with my intercambio, Lola, who I had emailed and set everything up with. I was a bit nervous because it´s better to do these things in groups--afterall, you´re meeting a stranger--but I knew we´d be going to a packed place. Anyways, when I got to the gates of the university, our meeting place, there was a group of maybe 8-9 people there and they asked if I was Meredith--my intercambio!!! So then I did a lot of cheek kissing, the customary Spanish greeting, and met Lola, Carmen (TONS of Carmens here), Rosa, Álvaro, Pablo, Rocio, Esteban, y Brittany (she´s an American here from New Paltz--how weird?!).
So we ended up going to this place that has 1 euro food and drinks but is always completely packed on miercoles b.c. of the promotion. Anyways, we hung out there and I got to know some of them and once we ate, we left and went to another bar in Santa Cruz, another barrio (neighborhood) behind la Catedral. That place was also packed but there was room to breathe, so we stayed and I got to know some of the other people better too. Steven (Esteban) is actually studying to be a pilot and leaving to go to Dayton Beach this summer. Two of the girls, Rocio and Rosa are going to Inglaterra to be au pairs too. Pablo is OBSESSED with America and sang me the national anthem, God Bless America, and any othe rpatriot or R&B song (Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion??) you could think of. Anyways, they invited me to go out with thme on Friday to a discoteca (club), which was pretty exciting.
So after parting, I met up with my roommate and at the bocadillo (sandwich) our housemom had prepared for me in another restaurant. My roommate was with a bunch of people from our program and some guys studying in Portugal so then I met a bunch of them and talked all in Spanish until we left. It was pretty funny though since only one of them knew Spanish (he was from Spain). The others were from Brazil (¡¡!!). One of them told me that he´s working on learning French but doesn;t need to learn Spanish because he already understands everything since it´s a mix between the two, and we talked for a while. The one who was Spanish said that I spoke well and it was really fun having a lengthy conversation with him. And then the other one--I kept forgetting that he didn;t speak Spanish, but I was in Spanish mode so I´d say something and keep talking and then realize that I needed to speak in English (they all knew English of course--everyone does or is trying too!).
Last Wednesday, was a busy day--I also had a private tutorial with Pedro, one of the guys from the office, and I visited el Museo de Bellas Artes with ISA on a guided tour. The musuem was good but long and a lot to take in all in Spanish. Our guide was really nice but spoke soo fast and the art was all very religious and redundant after a while (for me). The tutorial was really helpful-just more practice with reflexive verbs, indirect and direct object pronouns--FUN stuff. I was worried about my pronunciation but Pedro told me it was fine but what I do need to work on --and what I learned that night--is that I just need more confidence. So I´ll work on that too!
ay! miércoles!
So we ended up going to this place that has 1 euro food and drinks but is always completely packed on miercoles b.c. of the promotion. Anyways, we hung out there and I got to know some of them and once we ate, we left and went to another bar in Santa Cruz, another barrio (neighborhood) behind la Catedral. That place was also packed but there was room to breathe, so we stayed and I got to know some of the other people better too. Steven (Esteban) is actually studying to be a pilot and leaving to go to Dayton Beach this summer. Two of the girls, Rocio and Rosa are going to Inglaterra to be au pairs too. Pablo is OBSESSED with America and sang me the national anthem, God Bless America, and any othe rpatriot or R&B song (Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion??) you could think of. Anyways, they invited me to go out with thme on Friday to a discoteca (club), which was pretty exciting.
So after parting, I met up with my roommate and at the bocadillo (sandwich) our housemom had prepared for me in another restaurant. My roommate was with a bunch of people from our program and some guys studying in Portugal so then I met a bunch of them and talked all in Spanish until we left. It was pretty funny though since only one of them knew Spanish (he was from Spain). The others were from Brazil (¡¡!!). One of them told me that he´s working on learning French but doesn;t need to learn Spanish because he already understands everything since it´s a mix between the two, and we talked for a while. The one who was Spanish said that I spoke well and it was really fun having a lengthy conversation with him. And then the other one--I kept forgetting that he didn;t speak Spanish, but I was in Spanish mode so I´d say something and keep talking and then realize that I needed to speak in English (they all knew English of course--everyone does or is trying too!).
Last Wednesday, was a busy day--I also had a private tutorial with Pedro, one of the guys from the office, and I visited el Museo de Bellas Artes with ISA on a guided tour. The musuem was good but long and a lot to take in all in Spanish. Our guide was really nice but spoke soo fast and the art was all very religious and redundant after a while (for me). The tutorial was really helpful-just more practice with reflexive verbs, indirect and direct object pronouns--FUN stuff. I was worried about my pronunciation but Pedro told me it was fine but what I do need to work on --and what I learned that night--is that I just need more confidence. So I´ll work on that too!
ay! miércoles!
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