update on shower situation

it's what i thought. apparently there's a box in the kitchen cabinet where you gotta switch a switch or something i dunno how to work it but i'll have to learn just in case. i enjoyed a nice warm shower this afternoon [insert big smiley face here]

pictures from everything and in between

1st batch of pics...check out my photos on fb...grazie

la discoteca

After our first week here, we decided to go all out Friday night. We hit up MoMo (order 2 drinks and the 3 is free...so 5 euro for 3 drinks of estrella galicia) with the whole group...so us Americans from the LC, the other American Sam, and the Arabs. we thought the 10 of us walking around was a bit much, well this group was at least 20 haha. so we chilled at Momo (i say Momo's...its an english habit). i usually stick with the group that speaks spanish but switch back and forth between groups for either spanish and english cuz sometimes you just need a break. as hard at it is sometimes, i enjoy talking to the guys our age who don't know english cuz then you're forced to use spanish. but i like talking the with people who know both spanish and english cuz i learn more when i don't understand the spanish because they are able to explain it with some english or provide an english translation. ok so after Momo we hit up the karaokee bar around 2 am because the discoteca still wasn't open. i submitted Man in the Mirror to sing but we left to early...oh well, i'll have to try that another time. la discoteca was SO much fun!!! first off, chicas get in free while the guys have to pay 5 euro to get in haha [insert smiley face with tongue sticking out]. they play a lot of english/american music here. there was quite a bit of Shakira going on too. didn't get home til 630 am. originally our plan was to stay out late enough so we could et breakfast. but literally that would mean like 10 am cuz nothing is open early on a saturday morning here because stayin out til 630am is part of the culture here. and we figured it out. we're on the same time schedule but there are 3 hours late with everything. i'm not used to the eating schedule tho because i still wake up at a normal time to go to class so its a bit off but i've started to snack. Aimee will tell you that i'm ALWAYS hungry cuz we sit next to each other in class and my stomach is always growling haha.

facebook

my facebook has been set to spanish for the past several months for some prep ha but boy i just love chatting with los árabes en español on fb chat...que bueno jaja

seriously. i would die for a chilled shower at this point

i've had one, yes ONE warm shower here thus far. it's day 8. that means i've had 6 chilled showers and today was ice cold. i seriously have no idea how this water system works. sometimes i can get it to warm a little, but today, NOPE, nothing but ice cold water. this morning i only washed my hair cuz i couldn't do it. before going out 2nite tho i sucked it up and showered in it. i think your body naturally warms itself after being frozen with cold water.

Pura thinks i'm crazy haha

So i've told Pura that I have this internship Friday mornings. but i think she forgot that I've told her about it haha. So i have to be there by 8:20 this morning so i woke up at 6:30 to take my ice cold shower. actually i couldn't do it so i sucked it up and only washed my hair this time. but anywho. i left the house by 7:50 am cuz i didn't know how long it would take me to get cuz when Gene showed us the way we stopped multiple times. i got there a little bit early but watevs. Pura finally learned i'm very puntual. Unlike Teddy who has showed up late to class countless times already haha i won't forget thursday morning when he came in "hola clase!" and he proceeded to show our profesora the girl's number he got the night before haha he wouldn't shut up...it was hilarious. sorry off topic. but yeah. she was shocked at how early 6:30 am was. and then i told her i get more sleep here than i do normally. so i proceeded to tell her that at school i have early morning softball and conditioning and she thinks the US is muy loca!

el primero día de mi empresa

WOW. so i walked in and was greeted by the door person (idk what you call them...its wasn't a secretary i don't think so idk) i was talking with her for a bit and then the principal walks in thank god (aka Alice's mom) and she correctly informed the greeter person what it is exactly i'm doing at the school. Then i was greeted by an English professor who started talking in English to me. It took me awhile to answer her back cuz i was in Spanish mode and i was caught off guard with the English haha. the first class was la economia en gallego so i didn't understand a word. but it was fun cuz we walked over to el mercado tradicional. i'm gonna have to get back over there and take pics cuz it was SO cool. like outta the movies. there were flowers, meat, fish (some of which were still alive. i think it was shrimp pero yo no se). haha at one point i was just staring at the leg/hooves of one of the animals (meat that was skinned and ready to buy) and la profesora (se llama Marisa...she's pretty cool) was commenting on my reactions the whole time haha. all the other classes of the day were math. level 2 & 3. 2 was in castellano so i understood some...as in i learned/picked up how to say a few mathematical terms in espanol.  the boys were adorable haha. everyone wanted to practice saying hi to me in English. one of the boys in the last class that i had met the other day when i was being showed around said hi to me in english and was super excited (adorable) had to stand the rest of the class lol

mandatory service (50 hours)

B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T. pardon my language. the spanish department designs the whole progam for us here. on top of this new idea of an intership, which i think is a good opportunity and will look great on a resume. and it gives us something to do. it's awesome that it's in our field (major). we need 100 hours total for this. 85 hours in the field and 15 in meetings with a profesora. now ON TOP of this. we are being REQUIRED to do 50 hours of volunteering (service). going into this, we knew about the internship, HOWEVER, not one person had ANY idea about this MANDATORY service we have to do here. it was totally SPRUNG on us during orientation the other day. the least they could have done is respect us and provide us with this information before we agree to the program, at least before we leave the country. several emails have been written and sent but we're waiting to hear back from Gene when she receives the information.

first week of classes...check.

my first week of classes has now come to an end. i think i'm going to enjoy them all with the exception of las variedades...but all is good en la ciudad de Santiago de Compostela : )

la lluvia y el sol

(the rain & the sun)
its rains everyday. but i learned the other night from the Peruvian that's lived here for 2 years (Jose) that for every week of sun you get, you get a another week or so of rain so its a bit predictable. i don't think it's predictable literally like someone was saying but it's legit. one of the mom's was saying that it usually rains everyday up and thru febrero and then we start to see a lil bit of sun in march, more in abril, y entonces mucho en mayo (the month we come home...on the 8...so we won't have TOO much time to enjoy it but we'll see)

hello spanish, goodbye english

on our way home today after cafe y tapas, i was talking with Aimee and asked her a question about what a word means. in spanish sometimes i'll something something along the lines of "¿que significa este palabra?" well i asked her in eligsh and asked "what's the significance of the word ___" and in reality i would never ever say that. i'm proud of myself. this is prof that i'm starting to think more in spanish : )

my sense of direction

i'm horrible with directions. ok not horrible but it take me awhile to get to know a place and if i'm not driving or am with a group of people who know where they are going i'm either not paying attention where i am going or we go too fast for me to visualize where we are. i walked to school all by myself yesterday (i sound like a little kid jeez haha) and started recognizing where i am on the map in my head and how to get places. it was a bit hard at first cuz the streets do not run staight and they curve like crazy. but after today i have a pretty goood grasp around these lands. the old town need some work yet but otherwise i'm set ; )

vosotros vs. Uds

All thru high school and in college, we never learned the form of "vosotros" because it's only used in Spain. Well I'm in Spain now....awesome. With a program thru a school that doesn't even use vosotros in order to prepare us. Cool. It's not like it's a huge disadvantage or anything cuz it's not too bad to catch on if you know your stems but still it still throws me off a bit sometimes.

first day of classes

gahh there is so much to write about i'll come back to this later for now

la música americana

idk if i heard right or not, but i'm pretty sure i heard spanish music for the first time being played today walking home from school. i'm astounded with how much american ok maybe English music would be better cuz ew're not all from the US. but no joke, lady gaga and all the pop hits are played in the stores and i've even heard them on TV and the radio too. i think i've heard just about all the current songs that i like here...weird. i did not expect to see as much English as i do here. i wanted to ask Lucia (the daughter of Pura, mi mama) about that and if she understands it or not but  haven't really had the chance yet but i can't wait to have that discussion.

wat up spain?

Last night was a TON of fun! We met up with a Peruvian (Jose, whom by the way is smokin!) that a kid back at school met here and he brought a friend Dani : ) After all these tours with some of our profesores y los chicos. We went to Momo's last night for some drinks with just about the whole group. Played some flippy cup and just hung out. After you buy 2 of the same drinks, you get the 3rd for free (when you bring up your receipts). I had una estrella galicia (the cheap beer). I'm not really a fan, but after the first bottle I didn't mind it. The waiter was awesome. He provided us with some free shots and took them with us haha. The shots on the house tipped me over quite a bit. I think I had a little too much fun if ya catch my drift whoops.

I just got back from an AWESOME time!!! At 5 our group of international kids had to meet at 5pm in the town (my favorite part!). I, however, was exhausted after las clases and decided to take una siesta durante la siesta haha. Well, I set my alarm for a 20 min nap but instead it ended up being an hour cuz apparently the alarm did not go off. I woke up to Becky's phone call at quarter after thinking it was the next morning and I was late for class. So i was half an hour late, but no one besides los estudiantes de Loras College noticed so it's cool. My bad. So 2 of the profesores showed us the town parts of town (we were shown around the new part 2 days ago...like where to buy phones and that kinda stuff).

don't be crampin my style

OK. While I'm here studying in Spain I have an internship at the high school with one of the profesoras de matemáticas.  Let me give you a visual here. First off, I'm a huge fan of the old parts of town so this just makes it even better. This school is SO cool...it's older than the city of Santiago de Compostela!!!! (...right up my alley...pictures yet to come!) The building is huge. There's about 8,000-10,000 students from little kiddies to high schoolers. It's SO Hogwarts style...it's awesome! I'm going to get lost. Anywho. So Gene (whom as of today I know we're going to become best friends) walked us over to the school to meet with our professors. I was SO relieved that the 3 of us (me, Teddy, & Alice) with Gene sat down with our professors to arrange schedules cuz knowing me I would be very lost and not be following what was happening. So after sorting out the horas and whatnot (cuz we need 100 hrs of practica and 85 working, 15 of meeting with one of my professors) hrs of service (50 hrs...no one is happy about it...that NO ONE told us about!!!), we each split up and went with our professor to learn more about what we would be doing for the semester with our internship. We walked and talked around the whole maze of a school and she assured me she would  pick me up at the entrance, gracias a Dios! First she showed me la clase de economia that I would be observing in for the first hour very Friday (so I can fit all these hours in). You continued to her classroom and she showed me how they teach some of there classes, por ejemplo, math class is taugh in "gallego" aka the other language of Spain. She asked if I would be able to explain how to do this math and yeah I could, but I told her I don't know mathematical terms in Spanish, yet alone Gallego. I asked a few questions and she proceeded to tell me wonders. I thought I'd just be observing in this math class. Oh no Kelly. You are wrong. Only in the beginning. I told her I didn't know math terms in Spanish but she said once I learn them I'll be explaining stuff and helping student...YIKES!! (option 3 will have been very well explored.)

placement

Today we took a written test....fue muy fácil (easy).  I can't tell you how much I rely on my high school Spanish.  Thank you Señora Kowalski...you have no idea!!! All those prompts and conversation stuff we did...I would be no where without all that practice. Very confident in my responses on the written portion.  Apparently, not everyone answered the question right, but I'm good, no worries : )  I just got outta my interview (oral portion).  She had to repeat herself a few times just to make sure I understood  what she was asking but overall I thought it was pretty easy too. So we'll see if I'm in the intermediate high or intermediate low. IDK.

la siesta & la comida

I'm loving the BUILT-IN NAP deal. But my poor hungry body cannot take the long hours without craving food!!!  Por ejemplo, this morning I had breakfast at 9 am and then didn't get outta class until 2 pm so I made it home around 2:30 pm -ish give or take a bit. This is siesta time...from the end of class until 5pm when stores open up again (so like 2-5pm i guess). All through class all I could think about was food, food, FOOD!!! I come home to a HUGE lunch. I can't keep doing this. No food, LOTS of food, no food (starving!), LOTS of food. Ain't no good...no good at all. I'm used to eating like every 3 hours or so and never being starving nor full...i like being content, and i have yet to feel content here.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day.  And then dinner is really anywhere between 8 and 10 pm. Today is the only day I've had dinner before 9pm so idk the program all that well yet but so far that's how it's lookin.

Pura loves to feed me. We usually have some type of soup, then the main course (which includes at least 3 different selections like chicken, potato, some really good bread which she makes sure to always have lots of for me haha etc...). After having my plate loaded with this food and asked if I want more, she proceeds to ask if I'd like some fruit or yogurt. And well yeah of course I do! Not making fun by no means, but the way los españoles pronounce the word yogurt is just tooo precious and adorable. I couldn't imitate if I even tried.

it's raining...shocker...or not

Yesterday was the first day here that I've seen sun en Santiago. It's ALWAYS raining. Ok when I say rain, I mean it's either hardcore raining or misting.  Generalmente, it's a good mist. If I was at home or school, I would def not be using una paragua este tiempo but seeing as how I live farthest from everything and everyone and everyone else uses una paragua for this weather well una paragua doesn't sound too bad. Soooo walking around the city takes strategy with everyone's paraguas (umbrellas).

Directions take me awhile, especially since all these streets curve every which way and there's forks at like every corner.  So during the day, since it was nice yesterday, I took advantage of it and just walked around the city trying to scope things out and become a little more familiar with how to get places on my own. I would enjoy another day, preferably when it's not raining, to go out by myself and explore because that'll be the easiest way for me to learn where everything is and how to get places. I need to wander solo.

Orientation Day (Mon & Tues)

I'm sure something I could write about will happen today...thus far my life is ANYTHING but dull.

La catedral

we went to noon mass there today...all in Spanish with Latin mass parts. But I agree with Teddy, I'd like to go to mass where I can understand what is going on so I can get something out of it.  It was a good experience tho.

Arriving en España

Well the flight wasn't too bad.  Although it was easily recognized that I was Americano. I sat next to a Spaniard. But we did meet various people studying abroad in Spain so we exchanged numbers in case we decided to visit each other's areas.

Gene (the director person who is responsible for Loras College students) picked up us from the airport. Fortunately it wasn't raining, but the skies were pretty darn grey.  The poor bus driver had to carry all of our luggage back and forth on the bus. She looked like she was struggling a bit. WHOOPS!  As soon as we got on our nice and compact bus, it started to "pour" good thing I packed mi paragua (umbrella)! Gene called out our names. I was called 2nd pero Pura, mi mama espanola, was not anywhere to be found.  All of the other parents were there waiting at the school.  I felt like I was being adopted.  In a way I was.  Just imagine a bus full of small and cute puppies (yes, that would be us) and you have all these parents outside waiting to see which one of us will be theirs for the next 4 months.  I would be living with this woman and her husband for the next 4 months. So ya know, out of all people this would happen to me of course. Mi mama did not show up after multiple phone calls were made. So I got to see and wait en la oficina de Gene (quien es responsable para los estudiates de Loras College).  Finalmente, my familia espanola came to pick me up.  We had dinner (noodles and chicken broth, chicken, and potatoes).  Then I was asked if wanted a nap, but I was doing better since our connecting flight. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out cold and didn't wake until right before landing. I showered and unpacked most everything and found my casa nueva en el mapa that I was given.