Update

Yes. I have been a horrible blogger lately.

I guess I´ll update you all briefly. I leave today for my travels during Semana Santa.

Two weekends ago I was in Mallorca and it was a great relaxing weekend.
Last weekend we did a little bit of the Camino of Santiago and it was incredible. I´ll upload some pictures when I have time.
This past thursday there was a general strike all over Spain. It was an interesting experience.
And today I leave for Madrid and I´ll spend a couple of days there, a day in Toledo, maybe a day in Segovia, and then the rest of the week in Barcelona.

I promise that when I get back from Semana Santa I will upload some more pictures and write more about my experiences. I have been busy lately and I enjoy my time outside that I don´t spend too much time on my computer!

Have a great Easter everyone and I miss you all at home! I can´t believe I almost have only a month left here...

Sorry y'all

I haven't been updating this as much lately. Well, I'm leaving for Mallorca (Majorca) today and I'll be there till Tuesday. It'll be nice to spend a couple of days by the beach. I'll keep you all updated when I get back!

Cocina Gallega

The international students learning about making traditional Galician food.

Only in Spain...

Would I have chocolate con churros for dinner and then dessert after. I though it was weird when we have breakfast for dinner in the States, but dessert for dinner is starting to cross a line. However, I cannot turn down chocolate, so I guess I'll let this slide

HOW...

is it March already? I can't believe it.

The weather here in Santiago has been incredible this week. It has been in the 60's and sunny. This is rare for Santiago around this time of the year. I'm also wondering when the rain is going to arrive, because we have yet to experience the infamous rain of Santiago. I came to Santiago expecting rain all the time, but so far it has only rained significantly like two or three days here since I arrived.

Last friday was a good ole' time with the group. We went out with a "tuna," a group of musicians that travel around Europe wearing fancy cape things (there is probably some specific name for those). We basically had our own personal band as we went from bar to bar. Only in Europe would I have an experience like that.

Wednesday we went on a tour of the university's old building. It was interesting and I learned a lot about the history of USC. We also got to climb a tower in one of the building and get an awesome view of Santiago.

My Spanish has been "fatal" this week. For some reason I can never say what I want to say. I usually hear my errors once I say them and correct myself, pero hombre, I hope that next week is better.

Sevilla

I guess I should inform you all about my experience in Sevilla... but before that I am going to reflect....
I have decided that I should just accept that fact that a trip for me can never go smoothly. As I stroll down memory lane I notice a number of trips gone wrong. There was the time when my family was in Maryland and our pontoon boat ran out of gas in the middle of the Chesapeake bay. Then there was the time when my family's van broke down in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. And as I have informed you recently, there was the fiasco of trying to get to Porto, Portugal. Well now I can add Sevilla to my collection of travel nightmares. I do not what problem I have. For some reason no trip can go smoothly. I can only be thankful that nothing horribly bad has happened. Anyways time to tell my story.....

It all started out fine. I woke up on time, met my friends on time, and made it to the airport in Santiago with plenty of time to spare. It was an early flight, but I was so excited that I did not mind having to wake up early. The flight was great. It was short and I managed to sleep during most of it. We then arrived in Sevilla and headed for the bus. We got off at the last bus stop, close to the center of the city, and started to make our way towards the hostel. This almost sounds too easy, right? Right. We got lost. We somehow ended up in the opposite direction and decided to give in and take a taxi to the hostel. Think things would be alright there? You're wrong. They did not have our reservation. Well we had some luck (hard to believe, right?) and the room we apparently did not reserve was still open. We then went up to our room and settled in and it was actually a very nice hostel(the Living Roof, in case you want to know of a place to stay in Sevilla).

Once we had everything all set in our room we decided to venture out into the beautiful city of Sevilla. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everything was perfect... but not for long. We found our way to the cathedral (incredible) and admired its beauty. While gazing at the fine details of the architecture, a woman approached me. Being my naive self, I thought that this woman was all good. Wrong, wrong, very wrong. First she gave me a plant (thank you! but I'm going to throw this away once you leave), then she started reading my palm (ok, this is weird), then she grabbed my other hand (this is getting annoying), and then she started asking me for five euros (oh no woman, you just crossed a line). When I told her that I did not have any money (no way I'm paying for that), she started shaking her hand at me and saying "FIVE, FIVE." I finally gave her two euro so she would leave me alone.

^^^My friend managed to capture the moment
So yeah, basically I was off to a bad start. I also like to think that is when the curse of bad luck began.


^^^La Catedral

^Geovanni, Meghan, Sarah, and I at lunch
One aspect of Sevilla that fascinated me was the orange trees throughout the city. I also think of Oranges growing in some tropical place or in the countryside of Spain, but apparently they grow right in the city as well. One thing you should know is that the Oranges are not for eating. They are very bitter, and usually the only people you see eating them are clueless tourists, as a tour guide told me. After the moment by the Cathedral we went and got lunch. We ate outside and were sitting under an orange tree. We then got to experience gravity and an orange managed to fall and hit my friend Meghan (this is only a small part of our misfortunes).

^Alcazar
After lunch we visited the Palace Alcazar. It's amazing. I love the Moorish architecture and the mix between Christian and Moorish. Unfortunately, Sarah's camera broke there (the bad luck continues!). Then we participated in a free walking tour of Sevilla. During the tour a received a call from my friend Becky, who went to Edgewood with me, and made plans to meet up. I managed to find my way to our meeting spot and she then showed me around Sevilla and took to the Plaza de Espana and all I can say is wow. It has to be one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in Spain so far. After that we met up with my friend and roommate from Loras, Cole. We all then went out for dinner (paella) which was delicious. I then returned to the hostel and to my dismay, I realized that I lost 20 euro (another small bump in the road). I eventually forgot about my petty problem when I heard about the situation of Geovanni. While he was relaxing at the hostel, he discovered that his return flight was not until March (Ah, the curse!). After a period of laughing hysterically at the fact that nothing can go right for us (we were also exhausted), we decided that the best solution was to go get some wine. Unfortunately you can't buy wine from the supermarket past 10, so we went to the next best place, Burger King (the best Spanish cuisine, of course).


^^^Plaza de Espana

^^^Star Wars was filmed here
The next day just continued this epic adventure. We were going on a trip to visit Granada. We decided that the best way to get there was by renting a car. To rent a car in Spain you need to be 21 year old, and being the only one who is 21, the car rental was in my name. The fun thing about Europe is that most cars are manual, and I have no idea how to drive manual. Luckily, Sarah knows how to drive stick, so we had nothing to worry about. Well, unfortunately Sarah could not start the car, so we had to go ask the woman who gave us the car what we needed to do. This meant that I had to sit in the driver's seat because I was the one supposed to be driving. I have no idea how to start a manual, so I was basically sitting there clueless. The woman looked terrified, I think she was wondering why she let some young Americans rents a car. When she asked me if I knew how to drive manual, all I could say was "Clutch? Clutch!" By the grace of God, I managed to start the car and the woman then left us so we could embark on our journey. We and Sarah swapped seats and made our way to the streets of Sevilla. BUT WAIT, we got lost. Big suprise. After an hour of driving aimlessly around Sevilla, we found the highway we needed to be on and made our way to Granada. However, during all of this, my nerves were fried. I have never been more anxious in my life.

We eventually arrived in Granada and visited the Alhambra, another incredible building. It was a nice visit and very relaxing. The area around it is beautiful as well, so we were able to spend some time outside and enjoy the weather. After the visit, we decided to go explore the city. This required driving. It was horrifying. Sarah is a great driver, so I had nothing to worry about, but I was all nerves. And of course we got lost again. We eventually found a parking garage (not like ours in the States, the parking spots are tiny!) and went to the cathedral. We visited La Capilla Real and saw the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella. I loved that because I have always been fascinated by their lives.

^^^The beautiful city of Granada


^^^La Alhambra
The way back to Sevilla went well and we returned the car without any problems. However, I had a small panic attack when I thought I lost my passport. Of course I was just overreacting and I eventually found it right next to me. The rest of the night was fine and we had a family (kinda) dinner at the hostel.


^^^On the way back to Sevilla
The next day was a calm day. We went on another tour, had a good lunch, and I ended up meeting with Becky again. That night we went to another hostel to have paella. We were invited by some people we met during one of our tours. It was a lot of fun, I met some other tourists from Wisconsin, and we ate on a terrace with a great view of Sevilla. All in all, it was a good day.

The next day we had to wake up at 4:30 to catch our flight back the Santiago. It was rough waking up then, but we made it back just in time for class.

It was a good trip. I loved Sevilla and I was very happy to see my friends, but I just hope my next trip does not include so many issues as this one.
(All the pictures in this blog were taken by Karen Rose, my camera died during this trip)

I Love Santiago

That's all I have to say. I am going to miss this city like none other when I leave.

Time to update this...

Yeah, I have been a bad blogger lately. I guess I should update you all on what has been going on.

These past couple of weeks have been crazy, fun, busy, stressful, and memorable. This post is mostly going to focus on two weekends ago, February 11 and 12.

In my program we had three Brazilian students: Matheus, Daniel and Izaura. Well, last Wednesday, Feb. 15, was Matheus and Daniel's last day in Santiago. To celebrate their last weekend here in Galicia, we decided to rent a car and explore Galicia. On Saturday we started our journey by heading to Lugo. Lugo is a very cool town. The old part of the town is surrounded by a very well preserved Roman Wall. It is quite incredible to see. You can walk along the top of the wall and get some wonderful views of Lugo. A number of people run along the path on top of the wall.

After Lugo we went into the countryside and visited some castros, the remains of a very old settlements in Galicia. The Galician countryside is beautiful. Very green and mountainous. I love being out in the country. I love Santiago but its nice to be away from all the business once in a while. After the castros we went to A Coruna. We went to the Torre de Heracles and spent time by the sea. We returned to Santiago that night so we could rest for the journey on Sunday.


We went to Ourense on Sunday. It was a nice city, but I prefer Santiago and A Coruna over it. Then we went back into the countryside and visited a very old monastery. It was up in the mountain and was absolutely beautiful. I can't describe it words but I can show it in pictures.


It was a fantastic weekend. So many memories were made and we laughed even more. It was sad to see the Brazilians leave. They were two very cool guys. Very friendly, kind, and funny. The group won't be the same without them. The night before they left we all went to dinner. It was a nice goodbye.

This past week has been Carnaval. It's pretty much like Halloween. People get dressed up in costumes and party, but it isn't just for a day, it last a week. We went out one night in costumes and it was a lot of fun.

This past weekend February 19-21, I went to Sevilla. That is a whole other story that I will post about later this week. All I can tell you is that everything went wrong. I am fine and I did enjoy the city, but now I could write a book on what not to do while travelling.

La Comida

Voy a hablar un poco sobre mi comida favorita de Galicia:

Los Grelos and Caldo Gallego: Los grelos son parecidos a espinacas, Caldo=Sopa
Lacón con grelos: Grelos, jamon cocido, chorizo, patatas.
Orellas: Un poste tipico de Galicia durante Los Carnavales.

Dear Sheila

Hey Mom,

I think you have competition for being my favorite cook. Marina comes in a close second.

Love,
Josh

Has it been four weeks already??

Man, tomorrow will mean that I have been in Santiago for four weeks now. I cannot believe it. The time has been flying by, but in some ways it feels like I have been here for ages.

This week has been somewhat of a quiet week. I had my volunteering on Monday, Tuesday was just a day of hanging out, Wednesday I had my first test, and Thursday I had my internship and saw the Descendants (w/George Clooney), and this morning I had my internship again. The movie was great and I actually understood most of the movie. I guess that shows that my comprehension is improving. I really like my internship. I get to look up all these international events and a lot of them are very interesting. Grupo Compostela is an organization that promotes higher education and relations between international universities. I'm starting to think that this might be a sort of organization I would like to work for in the future.

So yeah, another week in Spain has come and gone, and even though there have been dull moments, I'm still loving it!

Porto!!

Ah, I guess its time to share about my experiences in Porto, Portugal. I've been a little lazy so far this week.

Before I talk about the city, I have to talk about the journey to Porto. We were going to take the train to Porto but in order to get to Porto we had to take a train to the Spanish city of Vigo and then from Vigo to Porto. The odds were not in our favor and unfortunately the train to Vigo was full. This made our journey quite the challenge. We went on a wild dash to the bus station hoping we could catch a bus to Vigo that would allow us to catch the train to Porto. Once again the odds were against us and the bus only had 6 seats left and we were a group of 10 (4 from Loras, 3 from Brazil, two from Randolph College in Virginia, and one from Tennessee). This caused a period of agony and frustration. We had booked a hostel in Porto and we had no way of getting there and we wouldn't get there until Saturday. After much deliberation, we decided that the best thing to do was take a later bus to Vigo and spend the night there. So we went to Vigo. After walking around the city we finally found a reasonable hotel and it ended up becoming a night filled with lots of laughs and memories. We were so exhausted from all the stress and travel that we were basically hysterical.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early so we could catch the train to Porto. Alleluia! We arrived in Porto around 10 and went to our hostel. The owner of the hostel was very kind and ended up giving us a break for not showing up on Friday. We then got settled and put away our belongings so we could venture into the beautiful city of Porto.

I liked Porto a lot. There are a number of beautiful sights and old buildings. I especially loved the area around the river is absolutely beautiful.

^^Old book store in Porto. J.K. Rowling actually lived in Porto in the 90's and the city had a big influence on her and Harry Potter. The bookstore was one of the places of inspiration. The inside of the bookstore is incredible, unfortunately we could not take pictures of the inside.

Saturday was basically a day of sight seeing and wine tasting. Porto Wine is good, don't get me wrong, but it is a little too sweet for my liking. By the time it was Saturday night, we were to exhausted to go experience the night life so we went to bed.

Sunday I went to Mass with Meghan and Sarah (from Tennessee). I didn't understand a single word, but hey, I went. Mass is the same all over the world, the only thing that is really different is the language. After that we went on a free tour of the city. Our tour guide, Iris (she's Portuguese, but speaks English) was awesome. She was very friendly and ended up eating lunch with us. She also took awesome photos. It is crazy how you can meet these amazing and interesting people abroad. I made so many memories on Sunday. I met a girl from Australia (travelling around Europe before the semester begins for her) and a man from Colombia (studying to be a doctor in Madrid). The weather was also amazing. Sunny and warm. I will never forget that day.

I learned a little bit about Portugal while I was in the country for two days. They speak a lot more English in Portugal than in Spain because the movies and TV shows from the U.S. in Portugal remain in English, they do not change them like they do in Spain. Also, Portugal does not have the money to renovate a lot of its building due to the current economic crisis. It's kind of sad because the buildings are beautiful and unique.

Well that was my trip to Porto. Forgive me for my grammar mistakes, I will check this post later.



^^The Loras Group

Porto

Leaving for Porto this afternoon. I'll be there until Sunday.

Hasta Luego!

El fin de semana!!!!!

¡No hay clase mañana! ¡Gracias a Dios! Ahora, voy a pasar el fin de semana en Porto, Portugal con otros estudiantes.

In English, there is no class tomorrow so we are all going to spend the weekend in Porto, Portugal. We leave tomorrow by train around 4.

Today in class I had a presentation and mine was about Madison. It made me miss Wisconsin a little bit, but I love Santiago so it passed rather quickly.

Meghan gave me her peanut butter today. I have been craving it for a while, so once I opened it I grabbed a spoon and ate it like that. Alleluia.

The French

Deep down I really want to like the French girls that are staying at Marina and Paco's apartment right now, but I'm finding it easier to dislike them. They only speak French at the table and do not try very hard to speak to me. Also, today I was invited to have lunch at Elizabeth's, because she also has French students staying there, and once again they only spoke in French. They basically ignored me and Elizabeth. They also laughed with each other after every time I said something. Luckily they leave in a few days.

Like I said, I really want to like them, but right now they annoy me like none other. You are in Spain, speak Spanish at dinner!!

Las Aventuras

Today was another adventure. First of all, it was beautiful out today. 50's and sunny. Since I have arrived the weather has been fantastic. Due to the nice weather, I walked around Santiago with some of the other students and we ended up finding a park with a small river and an old abandoned church. We also climbed this hill and got an awesome view of the city. I love these adventures we have. Every day is something new. It's nice to get out of the routine we fall into. Usually I have to have everything set in a perfect order throughout the day, but in Spain I've been a little more laid back and let things go as they please. I also tried pulpo (Octopus) today, it was good, everything I eat I like, but I'll probably never get it again.

Good day.

Spanish version:
Hoy ha sido una aventura. Pensé que había visto toda la ciudad. Me equivoqué. Hay mucho más por descubrir. Por ejemplo, Geovani, Elizabeth, Karen, y yo caminamos por la ciudad y encontramos un parque con un rio pequeñito. A cerca del parque, hay una iglesia viaja y abandonada. A pesar de que está en ruinas y cubierta de pintadas, es muy bonito y pintoresco. Después de nuestro paseo, nosotros probamos pulpo (Octupus). Es bueno, pero no lo necesito comer en el futuro. Me encanta las aventuras.
^I'm sure there are some mistakes in this, just practicing.

Lessons on going out in Spain

....Cafe con Liquor= A large amount of energy, then death. But I had fun!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Hope you have a good one with the family! I'll be celebrating for you tonight.

Spanish?

¡Sí! Yo necesito escribir en español cada día. Mis errores de gramática necesitan ser corregidos, y no es posible si no escribo en español. Tengo muchos problemas con las preposiciones. No sé cuando yo debo usar “a,” “de,” o “en.” En ingles, sé cuando es necesario usar estas palabras, pero en español es un cuento muy diferente. Mi profesar me ayuda mucho. Explica muy bien.
^^^Sorry for that, needed to vent in Spanish. I don't even know if I have correct grammar, but it's worth the shot.

Anyway, I just need to get used to writing in Spanish. I mean, I have done it for years, but for some reason my grammar is always incorrect (its pretty much the same in English). As I said above, the Spanish prepositions kill me. I want to use "a" when its "en" and vice versa.

Today at lunch I learned there are number of ways to eat/cut a kiwi. I was peeling a kiwi they way I do at home, but apparently it was not correct. In Spain there is one way and in France another, but apparently my way was the worst. It was one of those moments where I was like let me do it my way.

Today was my first day at my internship. I'm interning at Grupo Compostela, an university organization. I suggest looking it up, it's a cool organization. I work in an office at one of the old university buildings in La Zona Vieja. It's awesome, as in the building. The work is just ok, but things will start to pick up once I start to understand the language more. I work with two other women and they are very friendly. They also correct my grammar, which is good because I need to be corrected. I was able to have a good conversation with them about education, even though it takes me forever to put my thoughts into words. I have a hard enough time speaking what I want to say in English, that in Spanish it is like 100 time harder. The organization is also international, so they often have to translate things from Spanish to English, so the two women would ask me a lot of questions regarding how to say a word or phrase in English. It makes me feel smart, haha, because when I speak Spanish I feel like know nothing.

I really like it here and I cannot believe that I have been here for almost two weeks now. Crazy!

Chocolate con churros

Amazing.

Manel

A band from Spain that sings in Catalan, the official language of the region Catalonia (northeast Spain, Barcelona is in Catalonia) and Andorra. Because they sing in Catalan I hardly know what they are saying. I read about them in a Spanish magazine. Check them out! They are quite good!

Long Walks

I love taking walks around Santiago, especially ones that take hours. I've been avoiding running here, but I feel these two hours walks can count as exercise.

Today, I bought the first two Harry Potter books in Spanish. I think it was wise a purchase. I'll be able to read two books that I love in Spanish, and because I know the story it will help me expand my Spanish vocabulary. They also only cost 7 euros, so it's not breaking the bank (just letting you know mother, haha).

Volunteering

Well, today was the first day of volunteering at La Residencia Volta do Castro. It's a nursing home and I will be there every Monday. It was an experience. I spent the first hour pushing a gentleman in his wheelchair up and down the hallway. Then I spent the next two and a half hours playing dominos. A lot of los mayores at la residencia only speak Gallego (the regional language of Galicia), so it was very difficult to communicate. Luckily during dominos they focus so much on the game that they barely talk, but by the end of my shift I was able to talk with two men who speak castellano. They told me they love playing dominos con los jovenes. It's nice to feel welcome! My experience also shows how the game of dominos is truly international and played at every nursing home in the world (haha). Being there also reminded me of volunteering at the nursing homes at home, the only difference was the language. Overall, it was fun and the boys at the dominos table told me I owe them more games.

Me encanta la ciudad! y A Coruña

I can't believe I only arrived in Santiago a week ago. I have done so much this past week that it seems like I've been here for quite some time. Before I left for the trip we had these pre-departure classes and the study abroad coordinators often talked about the Honeymoon Period, which is the period when you first arrive in your destination and everything seems incredible and awesome. I'm definitely in that period right now, but I don't think its going to end (at least I hope not). I get along with my group very well and there are so many other awesome international students that I almost feel right at home.

Anyway, this weekend was a blast. Friday night we went out, Saturday a few of us went to A Coruña, and last night I went out again (I didn't get home until 6, which is early in Spain). I'm not usually the one who likes to go out a lot, but its so much fun. The people are very friendly and I get to practice my Spanish. Last night we also went to a concert. It was a rockabilly group that played some classic songs from the 1950's. They were quite good and the club they played out was cool.



A Coruña is beautiful. It's a city by the ocean in the northwest corner of Spain. I loved every part of that city. They're old part isn't as nice as Santiago's, but still very cool. I love the beach and the port there. I plan on coming back when its warmer so I can hang out at the beach. I'm also in love with tortilla espanola. As my host father says, its the most perfect combination of food. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's basically an omelet. We had it yesterday at a cafe during our trip, and then I had it today with my host family. Their son Oscar and his wife and their son are here right now, they came up to visit for the weekend. Oscar's son, Oscar, as well, is two years old and loves saying "HOLA!" to me. He has a lot of energy.

Well, later today I'm going to mass at the Cathedral and then two French girls will be coming tonight to stay with my host family for a couple of days. This will be interesting!

Hasta luego!

Drinking with the parents

I have to say, my host family is great. I mean there are times where we do not seem to understand each other at all, but today after lunch Paco and Marina had me try two different types of alcohol. Usually when I'm done eating they tell me to rest or they have to do something, but today we got to hang out and talk politics and drink. Yeah, I think I'm going to like it here.

Last night...

...was awesome. I went out with with my fellow students from Loras and some of the other international students for some chocolate con churros. It was a very fun group: One girl from Brazil, two girls from Japan, a man from South Korea, another girl from Maryland, and four students from Loras. We sat and talked and had a number of laughs. We also played "icebreakers" which was Meghan's idea. We played 2 truths and a lie, and 10 fingers, but in Spanish! What an experience! The chocolate was also amazing. I finally got to satisfy my need for chocolate, because my host family is not like my family at home. In Wisconsin, my mother always has some sort of dessert made, but that is not the case here.

Tonight we will be going out again and tomorrow we are going to A Coruna! No puedo esperar!

Estoy frustrado

I hate those moments when I cannot think of a word in Spanish that I should know. Like today I could not remember the word "again" in Spanish for the life of me. Otra vez!! Duh! I know this is only the first week, but it sure is frustrating. I met some of the other international students today at class and they are very friendly. I think we are so kind to each other because we are in this foreign country trying to learn a new language. We are all in the same situation. I think its really cool that we have to communicate in Spanish to each other because we all speak a different language at home. It's great practice. I just hope to meet some of the other Spanish students here, so they can help me with grammar and vocabulary.

Well, tonight we get to go on a tour of the night life here in Santiago. Can't wait!

A long day

I don't feel like writing much today, but I finally have access to my bank account here (thank god). It didn't start working until about a hour and a half ago, so I was very frustrated throughout the day. My frustration only caused me to have a rough day of speaking Spanish. It seem to take forever for me to find the right word when I wanted to say something. Luckily I could vent to Geovanni in ENGLISH about frustration with my bank. I'm trying really hard not to speak English, but today it was necessary for my sanity.


In other news, I walked all over Santiago today with Geovanni. We ended up on the North Side of the City. Geovanni says I was bad at directions, but I wanted to get a nice long walk in because I haven't worked out in a while and I have been eating alot, haha. We stopped by the Cathedral on our way around town and this time we went in to check it out. I though the outside was incredible, but this inside is even more beautiful. I also found what time mass was at so I could go this Sunday (JUST FOR YOU MOTHER). During the walk we got to see a number of interesting sights. There is Fraggle Rock Cafe in Santiago! Talk about bringing back the past.

Tomorrow Lola, a woman from the University, is going to take us around 10 at night to get a taste of the nightlife. I am very excited because I really want to go out at night and meet other students.

Well it's time for bed. I need some rest. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Hola Todos!

I think I underestimate myself sometimes. I was so worried about not being able to communicate well, but so far it has been much easier then expected! There are times where I stand there and think "what on earth are they saying?", but otherwise I am able to pick up enough words that I can understand most of what people say. The TV is another story because it seems like they speak a million words a minute.

I really like Santiago. Everything is close and as los profesores say "Santiago es muy seguro. Uno de lo más de Europa" (Santiago is very safe. One of the most (safe cities) in Europe). I love that Santiago has bookstores all over the place, because in Madison I know of only two. You can walk everywhere and there is basically no need for me to use public transportation, and I love walking so this is no problem.

Now I want to cover somethings I have learned this past couple of days:
1. In Spain when eating a meal you do not put your piece of bread (French bread) on your plate. It's a custom Marina told about at our first dinner together.
2. Make sure your bank knows you are leaving the country. Like really let them know. I told the bank in December that I was leaving apparently they didn't bother to right that down and make sure that I am able to use my card. I need money and I still don't have access to my account!!
3. Do not drink espresso at night unless you need to stay up, because I could not sleep at all.
4. Going off the last point, make sure your waiter knows what you said. I did not order that espresso, but I drank it anyway.
5. Banks in Santiago close at 2.
6. Buy an alarm clock that works.

I have plenty more lessons but that's all I can think of right now.

¡Qué día!

Today the group and I explored Santiago. What a beautiful city. I love the old part of it. It has the narrow streets that I love, small shops, and the Cathedral de Santiago. All are beautiful. The park is also incredible. I love the trees and the paths. I hope to join all those who run through the park soon (plus I need to run off all the great food I have been eating haha).


I love talking with my host family. Marina y Paco are awesome. They have taught me so much so far, and its only been a day! I am already starting to feel more comfortable when speaking Spanish. I still have errors, but I'm able to communicate very well with them. The moments are few when we don't understand each other.

Orientation starts tomorrow and I can't wait!


Hasta luego!

I Made It!!!!!!

After a bus ride, a long journey across the Atlantic ocean, and spending numerous hours sitting at airports, I am now in Santiago de Compostela! Thank God for the safe travels. I didn't sleep at all on the plane over to London, but I could barely keep my eyes open on the short flight from Madrid to Santiago. (That picture is the sunset in Chicago while we were waiting to board.)

My host family has been great so far. In the short hours I have been here, they have already provided me with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, some tea and Spanish grammar advice. Their home is also very nice and comfortable. I think I'm going to like it here!

Now all I have do is catch up on some sleep so that I can be well rested to explore Santiago tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

Ah, a new year and a new beginning. It also means that I leave for Spain in a short few days. I cannot believe it is almost here!!! It is surreal. I've been waiting for this moment ever since high school and the fact that it is almost here is so exciting. But with this excitement comes with a lot of anxiety and nervousness. I keep on thinking that I will forget something when I pack or that the trip over could turn into a total nightmare. I just have to stay positive and be prepared. I am also nervous about my ability to speak Spanish. I felt that during this past semester my Spanish went from good to just ok or even worse. I am hoping that once I arrive in Spain I will become more confident in my speaking and my ability to speak will reach the level it once was (and hopefully by the time I arrive in the United States I will have reached some level of fluency).

Today my mother and I went shopping for some last minute travel needs and I also bought two Wisconsin coffee mugs and hot chocolate for my host family. I hope they like it!

Yesterday was Christmas with the Stauffachers. It was a great time filled with football, amazing food, and a lot of laughs. My Aunt Lori also made a video containing a collection of photos from my family's travels in Europe this past summer. Seeing those photos only made me more excited for my own travels. Anyway, spending time with my family was awesome and I will miss them all when I'm in Europe. (The picture to the left is Grandma and Grandpa Stauffacher with all their grandchildren, but missing Logan)


New Year's Eve was also a great time with some friends I don't get to see very often. My journey with Jamie for pizza at four in the morning was a hilarious and memorable moment. It was probably the best New Year's Eve I've ever had.

I guess I should wrap up now, I'm watching the Badger game and I need to start paying attention. Go Badgers.

Happy 2012 and I wish all the best!