Here's a video of what Emily, Andy, Dan and I were looking at as we simultaneously fell in love with Pamplona yesterday:
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Perfection
So I think today I can honestly say that I've fallen in love with Pamplona. It's a simple, classic, beautiful, city that is just so perfect for this orientation. Emily, Andy, Dan and I went on a walk today to check out some of the shopping in the center of town. Emily bought a dress, but I'm pretty sure that we'd all agree that the highlight of the walk was when we ended up at the Plaza de Castillo. It's this giant open square with beautiful old buildings enclosing it, and it has a giant gazebo in the middle. We were walking towards it when we started to hear music, and we realized that there was a full orchestra/band concert going on. The four of us were sitting on a bench, looking at the buildings and people, listening to the music, and admiring the beginning of the sunsetting. We probably sat there for about 20 minutes, and I think we were all just experiencing one of those moments, where everything just feels right.
I think another reason that this afternoon was so perfect was due to the fact that it was right after a 2 hour nap (gotta love the siestas here). The 2 hour nap was completely necessary though due to the fact that I got approximately 3.5 hours of sleep last night. It was our first thursday here so we all wanted to go out, and experience some true Pamplonian (totally made up that word) night life. We started back at that bar that we went to the other day. We promised the bartender, Tote (pronounced Toe-Tay), that this would from now on be our starting bar. It was a lot of fun this time because there were more people, aaaannd they had Karaoke!! I did not go up and sing, but about half of the group did which was a lot of fun to watch. After a little bit we were all ready to move on and go to this club called "Boca Boca" which the girls who went to Spain last year had told us about. Of course though, no one had any idea how to get there, so we asked Tote for directions. He was having a little trouble giving us clear directions, especially due to the fact that we know NO street names. Thankfully Tote is one of the most patient, and nicest men we've met, and actually walked us from his bar to the club. Like actually left the bar, to walk with us and show us how to get to Boca Boca. It was awesome. Anyways, we got into Boca Boca and quickly realized it was a major sausage fest (aka- about 70% of the population was men). While this may not have been favorable for the three guys in a group, I'm pretty sure we all had a really fun time. I have to say though that the Spaniards are verrry outgoing, and it's nice to have our 3 boys with us sometimes. Anyways, it was a lot of fun to dance to the spanish music, and I'm pretty sure I burnt the same amount of calories that I did when I went for my 20 minute run earlier in the day. We left Boca Boca around 3:30 and got back to the hotel around 4. It was a late night, but my internal clock was so thrown off because there were still so many people out at the time! cRaZy Spaniards...
Well, I should probably be going to bed soon because I have to get up early for our excursion to France tomorrow! We're going to visit the city where el Camino de Santiago starts. To get some Spanish history feel free to google it, and then if anyone cares to join me on a part of it, lemmmeee know!!
I think another reason that this afternoon was so perfect was due to the fact that it was right after a 2 hour nap (gotta love the siestas here). The 2 hour nap was completely necessary though due to the fact that I got approximately 3.5 hours of sleep last night. It was our first thursday here so we all wanted to go out, and experience some true Pamplonian (totally made up that word) night life. We started back at that bar that we went to the other day. We promised the bartender, Tote (pronounced Toe-Tay), that this would from now on be our starting bar. It was a lot of fun this time because there were more people, aaaannd they had Karaoke!! I did not go up and sing, but about half of the group did which was a lot of fun to watch. After a little bit we were all ready to move on and go to this club called "Boca Boca" which the girls who went to Spain last year had told us about. Of course though, no one had any idea how to get there, so we asked Tote for directions. He was having a little trouble giving us clear directions, especially due to the fact that we know NO street names. Thankfully Tote is one of the most patient, and nicest men we've met, and actually walked us from his bar to the club. Like actually left the bar, to walk with us and show us how to get to Boca Boca. It was awesome. Anyways, we got into Boca Boca and quickly realized it was a major sausage fest (aka- about 70% of the population was men). While this may not have been favorable for the three guys in a group, I'm pretty sure we all had a really fun time. I have to say though that the Spaniards are verrry outgoing, and it's nice to have our 3 boys with us sometimes. Anyways, it was a lot of fun to dance to the spanish music, and I'm pretty sure I burnt the same amount of calories that I did when I went for my 20 minute run earlier in the day. We left Boca Boca around 3:30 and got back to the hotel around 4. It was a late night, but my internal clock was so thrown off because there were still so many people out at the time! cRaZy Spaniards...
Well, I should probably be going to bed soon because I have to get up early for our excursion to France tomorrow! We're going to visit the city where el Camino de Santiago starts. To get some Spanish history feel free to google it, and then if anyone cares to join me on a part of it, lemmmeee know!!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Pictures
Hi everyone! For those of you that don't have facebook, I'm including a link where you can look at my new pictures without having to log-in or make a "page". I'm not quite sure how it works, but let me know if there are any issues!
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=14130990&l=422bf05fca&id=504455057
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=14130990&l=422bf05fca&id=504455057
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Livin la vida perfecta
So I've only been here for, what...4 days? It seems like so much longer! The apartment actually feels like ours, the bathroom is messy and strewn with thick black hair, fine blond hair, and some red locks sprinkled in there, and I've taken my 2nd trip to the grocery store/super-walmart called CarreFour.
Classes started on Monday with a placement test, a tour of the school, and then our culture class. There are 2 levels, and I was put into the higher one. I was a little nervous but it's really not too bad at all. We have our grammar + conversation class from 9:30-11:40 where we just do a lot of worksheets and exercises. It's nice that the class is only 6 people, and we all know each other pretty well by now, so we all feel comfortable admitting when we're confusing and asking our professor (Miguel) questions. After the grammar and conversation class, everyone joins up back together for a culture/daily life class. It's really interesting in the past 2 days we've learned about a thing called botellón which pretty much sounds like people going to a park, bringing their own mixed drinks and pre-gaming outside together. I guess there have been some issues though because with the internet, people have been planning these giant, like 1000 people botellónes, which the government isn't a huge fan of.
Last night we got ourselves on the Spain schedule...and I think we're all still recooping from it. It was Drew's birthday, so we went to a REAL restaurant instead of the one that is in the hotel. I got squid and was definitely the bravest one with my choice, we also had sangria to drink (mmmm!). James (who's going to Coruña with me) and I shared a table with Julian, our director who just might be the most adorable man in the world. He's honestly the sweetest and cutest little guy ever. So we had to speak Spanish the entire dinner, but we learned some slang and cool phrases. Best part of the night? We left the restaurant and my friend Emily really needed to use the bathroom, so we found this really cool, modern looking public toilet out side. So she goes into it, but comes out because she couldn't find the toilet paper. We sent her back into it though, and all of the sudden she yelled OHHH MY GOD!!! IT'S RAINING ON MEEEE!! And she came running out. I almost peed my pants on the street! Julian came over trying to help, but she was so flustered that she couldn't even speak Spanish haha. We realized it was self-cleaning so she went in one more time. I guess the light inside went out though? And there was soap but no water? She was such a mess, and I was soo amused.
Anyways, after that whole ordeal we attempted to find a bar/club, anything to celebrate Drew's birthday, but it was prettty hard considering it was a Tuesday. Julian tried his best, and we ended up at a bar which had approximately 4 other people in it. It was still fun though, especially when I joined in on Dan and James' chat with the bartender. It was cool to listen to him talk, and get a real feel for the Spanish people. Anyways we finally left around 1:30 and got back to the apartment around 2. Waking up at 8:00 the next day? Not fun. At all.
I just woke up from a siesta (nap) about 45 minutes ago, and in 15 mins I'm heading off to a wine tasting. Does life get any better?
Also, I'm going to try and do a "learn a Spanish word" per blog. So today's word is:Tikis-Mikis (pronounced tee-kee-smee-keys). This is a VERRRYY colloquial term that means a "picky eater". I absolutely love the word, and am going to try and use it every single day that I am in Spain. I can't see it getting old any time soon...
Here are some pictures of my apartment and the casca vieja of Pamplona, which is like the old neighborhood.
Classes started on Monday with a placement test, a tour of the school, and then our culture class. There are 2 levels, and I was put into the higher one. I was a little nervous but it's really not too bad at all. We have our grammar + conversation class from 9:30-11:40 where we just do a lot of worksheets and exercises. It's nice that the class is only 6 people, and we all know each other pretty well by now, so we all feel comfortable admitting when we're confusing and asking our professor (Miguel) questions. After the grammar and conversation class, everyone joins up back together for a culture/daily life class. It's really interesting in the past 2 days we've learned about a thing called botellón which pretty much sounds like people going to a park, bringing their own mixed drinks and pre-gaming outside together. I guess there have been some issues though because with the internet, people have been planning these giant, like 1000 people botellónes, which the government isn't a huge fan of.
Last night we got ourselves on the Spain schedule...and I think we're all still recooping from it. It was Drew's birthday, so we went to a REAL restaurant instead of the one that is in the hotel. I got squid and was definitely the bravest one with my choice, we also had sangria to drink (mmmm!). James (who's going to Coruña with me) and I shared a table with Julian, our director who just might be the most adorable man in the world. He's honestly the sweetest and cutest little guy ever. So we had to speak Spanish the entire dinner, but we learned some slang and cool phrases. Best part of the night? We left the restaurant and my friend Emily really needed to use the bathroom, so we found this really cool, modern looking public toilet out side. So she goes into it, but comes out because she couldn't find the toilet paper. We sent her back into it though, and all of the sudden she yelled OHHH MY GOD!!! IT'S RAINING ON MEEEE!! And she came running out. I almost peed my pants on the street! Julian came over trying to help, but she was so flustered that she couldn't even speak Spanish haha. We realized it was self-cleaning so she went in one more time. I guess the light inside went out though? And there was soap but no water? She was such a mess, and I was soo amused.
Anyways, after that whole ordeal we attempted to find a bar/club, anything to celebrate Drew's birthday, but it was prettty hard considering it was a Tuesday. Julian tried his best, and we ended up at a bar which had approximately 4 other people in it. It was still fun though, especially when I joined in on Dan and James' chat with the bartender. It was cool to listen to him talk, and get a real feel for the Spanish people. Anyways we finally left around 1:30 and got back to the apartment around 2. Waking up at 8:00 the next day? Not fun. At all.
I just woke up from a siesta (nap) about 45 minutes ago, and in 15 mins I'm heading off to a wine tasting. Does life get any better?
Also, I'm going to try and do a "learn a Spanish word" per blog. So today's word is:Tikis-Mikis (pronounced tee-kee-smee-keys). This is a VERRRYY colloquial term that means a "picky eater". I absolutely love the word, and am going to try and use it every single day that I am in Spain. I can't see it getting old any time soon...
Here are some pictures of my apartment and the casca vieja of Pamplona, which is like the old neighborhood.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
First night update
First Spanish meal:
A huge bowl of peas with some ham in it
A huge thigh and drumstick of chicken
French Fries
**The Kicker**
Activia Yogurt for dessert
A huge bowl of peas with some ham in it
A huge thigh and drumstick of chicken
French Fries
**The Kicker**
Activia Yogurt for dessert
Arrival!
So as we speak I am sitting in my hotel/apartment in Pamplona, Spain. I'm still not quite sure that it's setting in that I will be in Spain for the next 10 months. I'm sure it'll kick in sometime, as in when I am not completely exhausted from 12+ hours of traveling! So let me explain that, and EVERYTHING that went wrong.
1. So we were supposed to take a plane from Boston to D.C buuut that got delayed to the point that we would have missed our connecting flight to Madrid. So the extremely grumpy woman at the gate (named B.J...really) got us all onto a flight to Newark, NJ and then a direct flight from Newark to Madrid.
2. Woo! We got onto the flight to Newark! My two fellow seat mates were most likely reigned the King and Queen of PDA (public displays of affection). I honestly felt as though I was third-wheeling on a date. They were kissing, rubbing, hugging, hands all overing each other as I awkwardly sat next to them. At least I had the aisle?
3. We are finaallly going to Spain!! Naturally the seat in front of me has this weird box thing stuck to the bars of the chair, so I'm not able to put my backpack under the char in front of me. In addition to pissing off the flight attendants, it makes it a little uncomfortable for the next 6 hours. After watching Shawshank Redemption for the first time (shout to Mike Fask) I was able to slip into a nice slumber. A couple hours or so later I woke up though to the noise and lingering stench of a baby who had vomited on, what seemed to be everything (seats + parents included) on everything in the row right behind me.
4. After getting to Madrid and chilling in that airport for a good 4 hours, we were finally on our way to Pamplona. It was honestly the shortest flight of my life, 25 minutes in the air, and introduced me to the smallest airport of my life. The taxi drivers also had some very interesting faces as they looked at our copious amount of luggage, and their eco-friendly very small cabs. It all worked out though, and we were able to get to the hotel without leaving anyone on their own!
While traveling was extremely tiring, I do have to say that I feel very lucky that I have a lot of experience with it in the past. The actual traveling, airports, and flying were never things that I had even though to worry or stress out about. I could tell that this is not something that everyone else had the luxury of feeling. Another good feeling? Being able to talk solely in Spanish with the man at the Iberia ticket counter (except for when he quickly said aisle or window, and completely threw me off). Hopefully I'll be able to keep up my confidence with this whole language/travel thing and everything will continue to work out just fine! There were definitely a lot of bumps and hold ups on this journey, but we all made it here just fine and all in one piece, which is all that matters!
1. So we were supposed to take a plane from Boston to D.C buuut that got delayed to the point that we would have missed our connecting flight to Madrid. So the extremely grumpy woman at the gate (named B.J...really) got us all onto a flight to Newark, NJ and then a direct flight from Newark to Madrid.
2. Woo! We got onto the flight to Newark! My two fellow seat mates were most likely reigned the King and Queen of PDA (public displays of affection). I honestly felt as though I was third-wheeling on a date. They were kissing, rubbing, hugging, hands all overing each other as I awkwardly sat next to them. At least I had the aisle?
3. We are finaallly going to Spain!! Naturally the seat in front of me has this weird box thing stuck to the bars of the chair, so I'm not able to put my backpack under the char in front of me. In addition to pissing off the flight attendants, it makes it a little uncomfortable for the next 6 hours. After watching Shawshank Redemption for the first time (shout to Mike Fask) I was able to slip into a nice slumber. A couple hours or so later I woke up though to the noise and lingering stench of a baby who had vomited on, what seemed to be everything (seats + parents included) on everything in the row right behind me.
4. After getting to Madrid and chilling in that airport for a good 4 hours, we were finally on our way to Pamplona. It was honestly the shortest flight of my life, 25 minutes in the air, and introduced me to the smallest airport of my life. The taxi drivers also had some very interesting faces as they looked at our copious amount of luggage, and their eco-friendly very small cabs. It all worked out though, and we were able to get to the hotel without leaving anyone on their own!
While traveling was extremely tiring, I do have to say that I feel very lucky that I have a lot of experience with it in the past. The actual traveling, airports, and flying were never things that I had even though to worry or stress out about. I could tell that this is not something that everyone else had the luxury of feeling. Another good feeling? Being able to talk solely in Spanish with the man at the Iberia ticket counter (except for when he quickly said aisle or window, and completely threw me off). Hopefully I'll be able to keep up my confidence with this whole language/travel thing and everything will continue to work out just fine! There were definitely a lot of bumps and hold ups on this journey, but we all made it here just fine and all in one piece, which is all that matters!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
4 Days...
So, I have 4 days until I leave for Spain. Which means no more weekends in the United States until, possibly, Christmas!? This is kind of unreal right now. Today my friend Erin and I took a roadtrip up to Holy Cross, with the rule being that on the drive up, we would only speak in Spanish. She's going to Spain for fall semester, and we figured that it would be a good way to wipe off some of the cobwebs, and practice using the language we'll be surrounded by very soon. I'll be honest, it was kind of weird at first, but I would say within a half an hour, we were both feeling pretty good about it! Even when we got to school, we both found ourselves responding with "si" instead of yes for a little bit.
It was really nice to get up to Holy Cross one more time. It was weird to see the campus so empty, and notice the changes that they'd made around campus. Erin had never been so it was fun to show it off a little, and try and explain the confusing way the Holy Cross will give 1 building 4 different names (I'm talking to you Brooks, Smith, O'Kane, and Fenwick). I also got to see a few friends, Mike who's leaving for NY this fall, Kerry who's about to jump into the real world working down in Philly, and Joe who's up there was a football manager. I've been lucky enough to see all of these amazing people, and a few other of my Holy Cross friends this summer, but it was definitely sad to realize that this was the actual goodbye.
Saying bye to Joe was what really got me thinking, and probably what made me come back to update this blog. In typical Joe fashion, with his fantastic Mass accent, he told me to do something crazy in Spain. He didn't really have any specific ideas, but just...do something crazy. See, I feel like what I'm doing is already pretty crazy. Now I realize that "study abroad" is not some new-fangled super-rare idea that few people understand. But still, the closer that August 20th gets, the clearer it is that I'm doing this just for me. I'm not a Spanish major, so I'm not doing it to fulfill any requirements, and as of right now I don't really see myself in a career where fluency in Spanish is necessary. I'm doing this to experience something new, travel with friends, gain some independence, and master a language that I've been studying for half my life (if you count the first few years of songs, dances, numbers and colors). While I'm sure I'll be doing some cRaZy things next year, I feel like just getting on that plane on Friday is pretty high up there on my list.
It was really nice to get up to Holy Cross one more time. It was weird to see the campus so empty, and notice the changes that they'd made around campus. Erin had never been so it was fun to show it off a little, and try and explain the confusing way the Holy Cross will give 1 building 4 different names (I'm talking to you Brooks, Smith, O'Kane, and Fenwick). I also got to see a few friends, Mike who's leaving for NY this fall, Kerry who's about to jump into the real world working down in Philly, and Joe who's up there was a football manager. I've been lucky enough to see all of these amazing people, and a few other of my Holy Cross friends this summer, but it was definitely sad to realize that this was the actual goodbye.
Saying bye to Joe was what really got me thinking, and probably what made me come back to update this blog. In typical Joe fashion, with his fantastic Mass accent, he told me to do something crazy in Spain. He didn't really have any specific ideas, but just...do something crazy. See, I feel like what I'm doing is already pretty crazy. Now I realize that "study abroad" is not some new-fangled super-rare idea that few people understand. But still, the closer that August 20th gets, the clearer it is that I'm doing this just for me. I'm not a Spanish major, so I'm not doing it to fulfill any requirements, and as of right now I don't really see myself in a career where fluency in Spanish is necessary. I'm doing this to experience something new, travel with friends, gain some independence, and master a language that I've been studying for half my life (if you count the first few years of songs, dances, numbers and colors). While I'm sure I'll be doing some cRaZy things next year, I feel like just getting on that plane on Friday is pretty high up there on my list.
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