I know that I haven't updated in a while, I've been a little busy (lie). I actually have about half of another blog written, but this week I've been studying too much to finish it. But here's a short one for you:
Since my last update (march? Wow...) I haven't traveled very much, but I did go to Madrid for a few days. I saw a bullfight, Guernica, the rest of the Prado Museum, and el Museo Reina Sofia. I watched Barcelona play Madrid in a bar full of soccer fans, and ate melon-sized calzones in the street with cheap spanish wine. I also shared a room in a hostel with a Taiwanese girl who spoke: Finnish, English, Taiwanese, Spanish, and was working on Arabic (I think she was a robot).
I bought the Punch Brothers album Punch and, having spun it repeatedly for a month, now want to buy a mandolin. This desire probably won't last until I return to the States, but a man can dream.
I've begun to plan the summer trip to the rest of Europe with Coren. If things go as planned, it will be bonkers, and I don't use that term lightly.
After a quick head count, I quickly realized that I have agreed to let around 15 people stay in my apartment during San Fermín (the running of the bulls). Should be interesting.
My hearing has completely returned, thanks to all of you who wished me good health.
Everything else is pretty normal, save for a few stories that are better left untold on the internet. You can expect more blogs later, it's a little late at the moment. I hope to speak to some of you soon, it's been too long.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
What?
For the past two or so weeks the hearing in my left ear has gone from slightly muffled to almost deaf, causing me endless annoyance and physical irritation. I can barely hear/understand English let alone Spanish. But what is killing me is that I cannot clearly hear my own voice, it's amplified in my head and very drowned out, so that when I speak all that I hear is a muffled mixture of syllables, which makes it very hard to speak Spanish clearly.
I've been to two different doctors, the first told me that it was an infection, and the second that it was a fungus. I just started antibiotic pills today (amoxycillin) so hopefully things will start picking up in a few days.
Besides this, everything is gravy. Vacations have just started, and I have yet to decide where I want to go, or if I should even travel in this condition. Regardless, practically everyone is gone and I'm anticipating being fairly bored with the crappy weather that we are having. If the weather clears up (and my ear) I really feel like just going by myself somewhere for a little photography trip.
Wish me luck, if I go deaf you are all going to have to learn sign language....
I've been to two different doctors, the first told me that it was an infection, and the second that it was a fungus. I just started antibiotic pills today (amoxycillin) so hopefully things will start picking up in a few days.
Besides this, everything is gravy. Vacations have just started, and I have yet to decide where I want to go, or if I should even travel in this condition. Regardless, practically everyone is gone and I'm anticipating being fairly bored with the crappy weather that we are having. If the weather clears up (and my ear) I really feel like just going by myself somewhere for a little photography trip.
Wish me luck, if I go deaf you are all going to have to learn sign language....
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Further Ramblings...
I'm going to review some common problems and learning-techniques that I have stumbled upon in L2 acquisition (learning a second language). This is to help out any friends who intend to study abroad, or have an interest in learning another language. Keep in mind that it has only been around 2 months that I have been in my target language country, and I'm not backing any of this up with research or linguistic studies; I'm just talking off the top of my head and discussing what I have found helpful.
First of all, you often forget that learning a language involves four branches. People tend to focus on the active branches, which are Speaking and Writing. Most people know that even these two are completely different, and require individual modes of thought processes, AKA you may be able to write well but are incapable of speaking fluidly. The passive branches, Reading and Listening, are sometimes ignored and seen as just another part of the active branches: Ex. "If I learn to speak without pause, my listening ability will come simultaneously, automatically."
Do not think this way. After a month of furiously scribbling notes while, at the same time, trying to listen to a speed-talking champion of a professor, and then struggling to switch my mode of thought as I have to suddenly respond to a question, I can say that each of these activities requires your brain to switch gears in varying and, sometimes, contrasting ways. It made me realize just how lazy you can be with your L1, not only in the thought process but phonetically, too.
One problem is that the typical phrases, idiomatic expressions, or words that one initially learns in another language often have many more contextual possibilities than you realize. When you hear them used in such a way different and alien from your current understanding (AKA you had equated this word/phrase with one in your own language, but it turned out that it had many more uses in the L2 than in your L1), your brain is thrown off track as you thought that you had finally deciphered the meaning and "feel" of the word/phrase, but you are now scrambling to figure out exactly what this person is saying. This often happens when you mentally translate into your L1, so that you associate the "feeling" of the word with the same in your own language, and then find out that there are uses for this word/phrase that make no sense in your L1.
Ex (although a bad one considering I knew this before arriving): You learn the verb valer, which means: to cost, or to be worth. You learn the idiomatic expression "Vale la pena", which translates to "It's worth it". You figure you have a pretty good grasp of the verbs conjugation and usage. But one day someone says to you "Vale, pues, es que no tienes que decirlo así, vale?" And your head spins because you had no idea that "vale" can also be used as "OK" as a term of agreement.
This was initially one of the most frustrating parts of listening to professors. I would concentrate too intensely on what they were saying, glossing over every word in my head, and when they used a word that I had either not heard of before, or in a different way than I was used to, my train of thought would abruptly halt, like cotton trousers snagged on a briar. I would inevitably lose a valuable 3-5 seconds of the professors speech, and have to dig my way back into the context of the conversation. Originally, this would happen about every 10-15 seconds in class. If you do the math, at an average speed of 47.5 words per second, I would lose around 6.7 billion words in a standard hour-and-a-half class period.
This is simple arithmetic, folks, don't argue with science.
The way around this, I found, was to stop thinking. The best way I can describe it is to imagine your brain not like a sponge, which has to absorb and interpret every utterance, but as a crystal clear window, where words simply flow through and out to make room for the next group behind it. If you allow one single unknown word to cause you to miss the next 3, you are going to lose a large portion of the conversation. The maddening part is that in class, it always seems to be the most important word that you either don't know or didn't understand, and it might very well ruin the context for the next 5 minutes.
Professor: "What Marx is attempting to say here is that the bourgeois class should xhj;le7y the qpemnzx while, at the same time, mth;*&%LP. This is very important and will be on the test."
Justin: *Slowly raises revolver to face*
What was even more frustrating is learning how to respond in a timely and correct manner. I expect this to take a few more months before I am comfortably able to process what I am hearing and simultaneously formulate a response that actually makes sense. The difficult part is getting past what I will now call the "chunk" phase. This is where you have pre-written responses loaded into your head, chunks of words and phrases that you know when to use, that provoke responses from the other person that you are familiar with, and with which you become too comfortable without actually forming a sentence or playing with the language whatsoever. Often these responses are on a hair-trigger, and you will use them without even thinking of a better way to phrase your intentions.
Some may argue that this is how we talk in our L1, which may be true, but when you are actively trying to learn another language, you don't want to get lazy quite this early on.
So please, MAKE mistakes, play with the language, no one cares if you slip up. You are going to sound like a foreigner for a while, so get used to it. Which brings me to my last point....
Pronunciation and accent. Even if you know your grammar inside and out, these two little things will have natives asking what country you are from directly after "Hola." The best way to improve this is from mimicry. I found out a long time ago that I could not be lazy with Spanish pronunciation. There are no "uh's" or "eh's" or other lazy sounds, and as a language learner, you cannot speak Spanish through closed immovable lips like you can in English.
LISTEN.
Imitate what you hear, make an ever-present, conscious effort to get rid of your heavy, terrible American accent. It's probably more obvious than you realize. Watch TV and mimic the sounds, the pace of their speaking and the rhythm of the sentences. Achieving an accurate pronunciation and accent will make you sound like a native MUCH faster than correct grammar, but I suggest trying to keep the two at around the same level.
Sorry for the long post, I kind of got on a roll. Questions, thoughts, concerns? Criticism? Anything?
First of all, you often forget that learning a language involves four branches. People tend to focus on the active branches, which are Speaking and Writing. Most people know that even these two are completely different, and require individual modes of thought processes, AKA you may be able to write well but are incapable of speaking fluidly. The passive branches, Reading and Listening, are sometimes ignored and seen as just another part of the active branches: Ex. "If I learn to speak without pause, my listening ability will come simultaneously, automatically."
Do not think this way. After a month of furiously scribbling notes while, at the same time, trying to listen to a speed-talking champion of a professor, and then struggling to switch my mode of thought as I have to suddenly respond to a question, I can say that each of these activities requires your brain to switch gears in varying and, sometimes, contrasting ways. It made me realize just how lazy you can be with your L1, not only in the thought process but phonetically, too.
One problem is that the typical phrases, idiomatic expressions, or words that one initially learns in another language often have many more contextual possibilities than you realize. When you hear them used in such a way different and alien from your current understanding (AKA you had equated this word/phrase with one in your own language, but it turned out that it had many more uses in the L2 than in your L1), your brain is thrown off track as you thought that you had finally deciphered the meaning and "feel" of the word/phrase, but you are now scrambling to figure out exactly what this person is saying. This often happens when you mentally translate into your L1, so that you associate the "feeling" of the word with the same in your own language, and then find out that there are uses for this word/phrase that make no sense in your L1.
Ex (although a bad one considering I knew this before arriving): You learn the verb valer, which means: to cost, or to be worth. You learn the idiomatic expression "Vale la pena", which translates to "It's worth it". You figure you have a pretty good grasp of the verbs conjugation and usage. But one day someone says to you "Vale, pues, es que no tienes que decirlo así, vale?" And your head spins because you had no idea that "vale" can also be used as "OK" as a term of agreement.
This was initially one of the most frustrating parts of listening to professors. I would concentrate too intensely on what they were saying, glossing over every word in my head, and when they used a word that I had either not heard of before, or in a different way than I was used to, my train of thought would abruptly halt, like cotton trousers snagged on a briar. I would inevitably lose a valuable 3-5 seconds of the professors speech, and have to dig my way back into the context of the conversation. Originally, this would happen about every 10-15 seconds in class. If you do the math, at an average speed of 47.5 words per second, I would lose around 6.7 billion words in a standard hour-and-a-half class period.
This is simple arithmetic, folks, don't argue with science.
The way around this, I found, was to stop thinking. The best way I can describe it is to imagine your brain not like a sponge, which has to absorb and interpret every utterance, but as a crystal clear window, where words simply flow through and out to make room for the next group behind it. If you allow one single unknown word to cause you to miss the next 3, you are going to lose a large portion of the conversation. The maddening part is that in class, it always seems to be the most important word that you either don't know or didn't understand, and it might very well ruin the context for the next 5 minutes.
Professor: "What Marx is attempting to say here is that the bourgeois class should xhj;le7y the qpemnzx while, at the same time, mth;*&%LP. This is very important and will be on the test."
Justin: *Slowly raises revolver to face*
What was even more frustrating is learning how to respond in a timely and correct manner. I expect this to take a few more months before I am comfortably able to process what I am hearing and simultaneously formulate a response that actually makes sense. The difficult part is getting past what I will now call the "chunk" phase. This is where you have pre-written responses loaded into your head, chunks of words and phrases that you know when to use, that provoke responses from the other person that you are familiar with, and with which you become too comfortable without actually forming a sentence or playing with the language whatsoever. Often these responses are on a hair-trigger, and you will use them without even thinking of a better way to phrase your intentions.
Some may argue that this is how we talk in our L1, which may be true, but when you are actively trying to learn another language, you don't want to get lazy quite this early on.
So please, MAKE mistakes, play with the language, no one cares if you slip up. You are going to sound like a foreigner for a while, so get used to it. Which brings me to my last point....
Pronunciation and accent. Even if you know your grammar inside and out, these two little things will have natives asking what country you are from directly after "Hola." The best way to improve this is from mimicry. I found out a long time ago that I could not be lazy with Spanish pronunciation. There are no "uh's" or "eh's" or other lazy sounds, and as a language learner, you cannot speak Spanish through closed immovable lips like you can in English.
LISTEN.
Imitate what you hear, make an ever-present, conscious effort to get rid of your heavy, terrible American accent. It's probably more obvious than you realize. Watch TV and mimic the sounds, the pace of their speaking and the rhythm of the sentences. Achieving an accurate pronunciation and accent will make you sound like a native MUCH faster than correct grammar, but I suggest trying to keep the two at around the same level.
Sorry for the long post, I kind of got on a roll. Questions, thoughts, concerns? Criticism? Anything?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Goals
I would like to talk a bit about my reasons for being where I am right now. Well, my reason. I didn't come here to experience a new culture, although I love that it's included; I'm already spoiled here with the food and the siesta. For those of you who aren't aware of this idea, let me explain:
Mondays-Saturdays, from around 2:30 pm - 5:00 pm, everything closes down. Shops, grocery stores, banks, cafeterias, offices....you cannot get anything done in this time period. This is when you go home, and you take a nap.
Well, at least that's what I do. Oh, and on Sundays, it's like this all day.
Second, I did not come here to "find myself". I honestly feel like I know myself well enough, at least as much as one can at this age, and that I've done enough soul-searching in the states. What's more: You cannot run away from yourself and your problems. I understood before I left that any problems, doubts, self-consciousness or insecurity would not magically dissipate upon arriving in a romantic European location; this is the stuff of badly written dime-novels that your mom used to read.
If you ever think that moving to Europe or New York or some far away fairy land will complete you and your life and put everything in it's right place, wake up.
While meeting new people from different places and experiencing Spanish culture is a huge part of my life here, they are all superseded by one, central goal:
To understand and speak Spanish.
I'm not even sure if I can explain why this is so important to me, all I can say is that it has moved beyond some curiosity to acquire another language, and into an incessant itch, a deep-seated need to be able to fully express myself in another tongue. And, though Spanish may be at the top of the list, it is not alone.
Fluency is not something that is easily attained. Some people minor in Spanish, and after taking a conversational class or two, proclaim "Yeah...I know Spanish." This aggravates me to no end. It is a fairly easy language to learn, coming from an English background. The phonetic layout makes pronunciation incredibly simple. There are a lot of cognates, tons. But the fact that people already claim to "know" or "speak" a language solely from taking a few college courses demeans the whole reason why I am here.
Being a little more closed off from the rest of the world, many Americans don't understand this. Let me explain: I meet people every day that speak three or more languages (and I do mean "speak", not "have a vague idea of how to form a sentence"), and it's not even a thing. It is much easier, being from Europe; you can take a $40 plane ride and be surrounded by German, French, English, Arabic, what have you. In the states we often attempt to learn a language to better our chances for a job. In Europe, they learn languages as a freaking hobby.
And of course, everyone here speaks at least some minimal English, so I can't even feel special in that regard.
What I'm saying is this: I'm getting my ass kicked over here trying to pick this language up. The mixture of the extremely thick accent, different vocabulary, and general slang have made obsolete my years of practice. When I walk out of a class, not having understood one full complete sentence, and a native tells me "Man, this class could be difficult", I realize how far I have to go and how little time to do it in.
And I love it. Even though I feel exhausted sometimes, I already can see an amazing amount of progress, and I'm ecstatic for what another 10-11 months will bring.
Don't think for even one second, that because you have taken 12 years of language classes, that you can even order a coffee without some confusion. If you want to learn a language, awesome, but: do it right. Travel and immerse yourself. Work on your accent. Don't think in your mother tongue and translate in your head. If you don't at least try these things, it won't be worth jack in the real world.
It is hard work, it is mentally and sometimes physically taxing, and some days you would kill to be able to express yourself fully without having to warm up your Spanish like a damn diesel engine; but above all, it is one of the most rewarding things you could ever experience when you finally have a real-life interaction, be it an hour long conversation, or an "excuse me" on the bus, without even consulting your mother-tongue.
This is why I am here. More to come later.
Mondays-Saturdays, from around 2:30 pm - 5:00 pm, everything closes down. Shops, grocery stores, banks, cafeterias, offices....you cannot get anything done in this time period. This is when you go home, and you take a nap.
Well, at least that's what I do. Oh, and on Sundays, it's like this all day.
Second, I did not come here to "find myself". I honestly feel like I know myself well enough, at least as much as one can at this age, and that I've done enough soul-searching in the states. What's more: You cannot run away from yourself and your problems. I understood before I left that any problems, doubts, self-consciousness or insecurity would not magically dissipate upon arriving in a romantic European location; this is the stuff of badly written dime-novels that your mom used to read.
If you ever think that moving to Europe or New York or some far away fairy land will complete you and your life and put everything in it's right place, wake up.
While meeting new people from different places and experiencing Spanish culture is a huge part of my life here, they are all superseded by one, central goal:
To understand and speak Spanish.
I'm not even sure if I can explain why this is so important to me, all I can say is that it has moved beyond some curiosity to acquire another language, and into an incessant itch, a deep-seated need to be able to fully express myself in another tongue. And, though Spanish may be at the top of the list, it is not alone.
Fluency is not something that is easily attained. Some people minor in Spanish, and after taking a conversational class or two, proclaim "Yeah...I know Spanish." This aggravates me to no end. It is a fairly easy language to learn, coming from an English background. The phonetic layout makes pronunciation incredibly simple. There are a lot of cognates, tons. But the fact that people already claim to "know" or "speak" a language solely from taking a few college courses demeans the whole reason why I am here.
Being a little more closed off from the rest of the world, many Americans don't understand this. Let me explain: I meet people every day that speak three or more languages (and I do mean "speak", not "have a vague idea of how to form a sentence"), and it's not even a thing. It is much easier, being from Europe; you can take a $40 plane ride and be surrounded by German, French, English, Arabic, what have you. In the states we often attempt to learn a language to better our chances for a job. In Europe, they learn languages as a freaking hobby.
And of course, everyone here speaks at least some minimal English, so I can't even feel special in that regard.
What I'm saying is this: I'm getting my ass kicked over here trying to pick this language up. The mixture of the extremely thick accent, different vocabulary, and general slang have made obsolete my years of practice. When I walk out of a class, not having understood one full complete sentence, and a native tells me "Man, this class could be difficult", I realize how far I have to go and how little time to do it in.
And I love it. Even though I feel exhausted sometimes, I already can see an amazing amount of progress, and I'm ecstatic for what another 10-11 months will bring.
Don't think for even one second, that because you have taken 12 years of language classes, that you can even order a coffee without some confusion. If you want to learn a language, awesome, but: do it right. Travel and immerse yourself. Work on your accent. Don't think in your mother tongue and translate in your head. If you don't at least try these things, it won't be worth jack in the real world.
It is hard work, it is mentally and sometimes physically taxing, and some days you would kill to be able to express yourself fully without having to warm up your Spanish like a damn diesel engine; but above all, it is one of the most rewarding things you could ever experience when you finally have a real-life interaction, be it an hour long conversation, or an "excuse me" on the bus, without even consulting your mother-tongue.
This is why I am here. More to come later.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Funky.
Last night we all had a pre-game at my apartment with a LOT more people than we had expected, we had to use cereal bowls to drink sangria and Calimocho. Have I said anything about Calimocho yet?
Calimocho = 1 part wine, 1 part coca cola. Sounds gross, but it's actually pretty tasty. Especially from a bowl.
We all then went to our standard Thursday night club, atxiki (really small bar with tons of macho spanish douches). But after 30 minutes, our friend David (from Spain) invites us to a jazz club with jam sessions, so of course I'm down.
We arrive and david hops up on stage and lays down some bass and then guitar, with some solid sax player and a flashy drummer. David then invites me to play.
At this point I'm a little tipsy, nervous because these guys are playing jazz standards that I've never heard of, and the drummer that had just played showed up everyone.
But as I plop down in the throne, after the bass player has turned a few leafs in his fakebook, I hear him play around with the bass line from no other than Herbie Hancock's 'Chameleon'. So at this point I'm pretty excited because they couldn't have picked a song that I knew better, or an easier song to play to, really.
The sax player leans over to say something to me, his face contorted in thought to find the right words to tell me what or how I should play, and finally says:
"Funky."
I nod, smile and say "Herbie Hancock?"
*Thumbs up*
Needless to say it was really fun, even if I was a little rusty, and afterwards I gave the house drummer a gracious thanks and had a small conversation with him about the jazz scene in Pamplona, which apparently has a pretty nice school of music.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Here are a few pictures that I snapped this past weekend, please visit my flickr to see them full-sized, as they look like crap in this blog.
The last one is the view from my apartment. Woot.
Best things about Spain so far:
-Girls asking me what "Shawty" means in English.
-Chang saying "HUUWOOOW!"
-Beer in the school cafeterias
-Coffee
Worst things about Spain so far:
-Pretending to understand political philosophy in very fast colloquial Spanish and then being called on....
-Trying to understand how their classes work
-Paying 2 euro every time I want to use the internet in this cafe
Friday, February 13, 2009
Better.
Today has been much better so far. I got up fairly early and got some shopping done, breakfast with coffee and fresh bread ( I freaking love buying fresh food every day). The weather is awesome today, blue skies and it's slightly warmer. If I had more time I would have gone on a photography excursion.
I finally found a cafe with internet really close to me, one that works anyway (Wifi pronounced "Wee Fee"). Although I feel obligated to buy a coffee or beer every time I walk into one of these places, so I spent quite a few euros trying out internet in different places until I found this one. I drink way too much coffee over here.
The spanish is still getting better, it's much easier to understand people now, except the owners of my apartment. They are both in their 80's with very thick accents, and they won't slow tongues for anyone. Not to mention that any time that we ask a question, they bicker and give us completely different answers, in retrospect it's pretty funny.
I'd really like everyone to message me with times that they could skype, like general hours and days that would be good, and I'll see if I can manage it at this bar. Just facebook me, respond here, or email me at jmw5f@mtsu.edu
Classes start next week, I'm slightly nervous because my advisor meeting isn't until the 19th, so I have no idea what to do until then.
We had a house warming party the other night with a bunch of erasmus kids (P.S. you can buy a bottle of wine over here for 0.80 euros which is about $1). This part of the city is really awe-inspiring, it's extremely old yet very clean, and there are sooo many little cool shops. I plan to go out this weekend somewhere new and take a lot of pictures, you guys should get to see some soon.
Lemme know whats up with you guys! Facebook me or something, how's murfreesboro?
I finally found a cafe with internet really close to me, one that works anyway (Wifi pronounced "Wee Fee"). Although I feel obligated to buy a coffee or beer every time I walk into one of these places, so I spent quite a few euros trying out internet in different places until I found this one. I drink way too much coffee over here.
The spanish is still getting better, it's much easier to understand people now, except the owners of my apartment. They are both in their 80's with very thick accents, and they won't slow tongues for anyone. Not to mention that any time that we ask a question, they bicker and give us completely different answers, in retrospect it's pretty funny.
I'd really like everyone to message me with times that they could skype, like general hours and days that would be good, and I'll see if I can manage it at this bar. Just facebook me, respond here, or email me at jmw5f@mtsu.edu
Classes start next week, I'm slightly nervous because my advisor meeting isn't until the 19th, so I have no idea what to do until then.
We had a house warming party the other night with a bunch of erasmus kids (P.S. you can buy a bottle of wine over here for 0.80 euros which is about $1). This part of the city is really awe-inspiring, it's extremely old yet very clean, and there are sooo many little cool shops. I plan to go out this weekend somewhere new and take a lot of pictures, you guys should get to see some soon.
Lemme know whats up with you guys! Facebook me or something, how's murfreesboro?
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
uuyyysh.
Everything is broken, missing, or just not working. The only way to turn off the water in the shower is to turn off the water to the whole apartment. And the water is only hot in the shower for a few minutes, and of course I woke up last. I basically haven't showered for 3 days. My new, expensive phone from home doesn't work with the SIM cards over here, and the one from verizon is too expensive I think. It also only stays charged for a few hours. Oh and the alarm doesn't work for some reason.
The heat only works in a few rooms.
I tried running my head under the faucet this morning and it was so cold that my scalp was burning for the next 5 minutes.
I tried taking a bus home the other day and almost ended up in France. For those of you who know me well, this is no surprise. That was a 2 hour adventure home that should have taken 20 minutes.
My computer doesn't work with the internet in the Wifi cafe close to our apartment, and it seems to be the only Wifi within a mile or so. Ugh. I'd really like to skype with everyone but with the time change and scarcity of internet it's difficult to even check my email.
I can't freaking wait till it starts warming up a bit here. They say it's only sunny like 3 days every month.
I think I'm just entering the difficult phase of immersion, the frustration with making myself understood, the rain and cold, the lack of privacy (this is the first time I've been by myself for even one second for a week), and not communicating with everyone back home. Not to mention that I probably smell like fish and cigarette smoke. It could be much worse though, so we'll see how I fare in a week or so.
The heat only works in a few rooms.
I tried running my head under the faucet this morning and it was so cold that my scalp was burning for the next 5 minutes.
I tried taking a bus home the other day and almost ended up in France. For those of you who know me well, this is no surprise. That was a 2 hour adventure home that should have taken 20 minutes.
My computer doesn't work with the internet in the Wifi cafe close to our apartment, and it seems to be the only Wifi within a mile or so. Ugh. I'd really like to skype with everyone but with the time change and scarcity of internet it's difficult to even check my email.
I can't freaking wait till it starts warming up a bit here. They say it's only sunny like 3 days every month.
I think I'm just entering the difficult phase of immersion, the frustration with making myself understood, the rain and cold, the lack of privacy (this is the first time I've been by myself for even one second for a week), and not communicating with everyone back home. Not to mention that I probably smell like fish and cigarette smoke. It could be much worse though, so we'll see how I fare in a week or so.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Jeez.
I could probably write a small novel about what has happened so far. I'll try to shorten it to a modest length.
Best things about Spain so far:
-Piercings
-Women with Piercings
-Pinchos
-A spanish version of Dale
-"Vale"
-Cañas
-Siesta.
Worst things about Spain:
-Snow. All day. It's so cold in the D....(coren, omar, and brian)
-Deeeeeep accents. My most frequently used word : Como?
-So cold.
-Long walks in the cold.
-Ice.
-Siesta.
I've met many people, most all of them exchange students. From the US, Germany, Italy, Australia, and France. The South Americans come this week I think. Everyone is friendly. In fact, a Spanish "Dale Meier" had a large party with all the new and old exchange students. Yes, Coren, he exists. We stayed up till probably 4am, when people were still just arriving at the bar, but I had already had wine, beer, vodka, whiskey, tequila, some mixed drink, and some other ....thing.
I'm rooming right now with a German, Niklas, with a family. The old lady's son, whos seems to be around 30, only speaks of food and women while making wide-eyed, obscene gestures. He's perfect.
I wasn't able to find spanish speaking roommates, but I am rooming with Niklas, Michelle from Australia, and Christina from New York. They are serious about learning Spanish, though, so I still plan to learn much, and next semester I should be able to find an apartment with spaniards.
Our Apartment....is.....the shit. It's in the old part of town, extremely beautiful, roomy, and fairly cheap. We all went to speak to the lady who is renting it out, and a group of 8 could barely decipher what she was saying. Although it didn't help that she and her husband couldn't agree on anything and always spoke at the exact same time.
I'm very sorry that I haven't spoken to many of you yet, not only have I been extremely busy, but my phone still does not work, and I can only use the internet in noisy cafes when I can find the time. My dad almost shat his pants when I didn't call for the first 24 hours. I start spanish classes Monday, and then have to move in to the new place while figuring out my bank account on campus and buying X number of things for the apartment. We plan on installing internet, but it might be a while.
My computer is about to die, I don't have an adapter and the plug is across the room anyways, but I'll find some more time to write this week.
I miss you all.
Best things about Spain so far:
-Piercings
-Women with Piercings
-Pinchos
-A spanish version of Dale
-"Vale"
-Cañas
-Siesta.
Worst things about Spain:
-Snow. All day. It's so cold in the D....(coren, omar, and brian)
-Deeeeeep accents. My most frequently used word : Como?
-So cold.
-Long walks in the cold.
-Ice.
-Siesta.
I've met many people, most all of them exchange students. From the US, Germany, Italy, Australia, and France. The South Americans come this week I think. Everyone is friendly. In fact, a Spanish "Dale Meier" had a large party with all the new and old exchange students. Yes, Coren, he exists. We stayed up till probably 4am, when people were still just arriving at the bar, but I had already had wine, beer, vodka, whiskey, tequila, some mixed drink, and some other ....thing.
I'm rooming right now with a German, Niklas, with a family. The old lady's son, whos seems to be around 30, only speaks of food and women while making wide-eyed, obscene gestures. He's perfect.
I wasn't able to find spanish speaking roommates, but I am rooming with Niklas, Michelle from Australia, and Christina from New York. They are serious about learning Spanish, though, so I still plan to learn much, and next semester I should be able to find an apartment with spaniards.
Our Apartment....is.....the shit. It's in the old part of town, extremely beautiful, roomy, and fairly cheap. We all went to speak to the lady who is renting it out, and a group of 8 could barely decipher what she was saying. Although it didn't help that she and her husband couldn't agree on anything and always spoke at the exact same time.
I'm very sorry that I haven't spoken to many of you yet, not only have I been extremely busy, but my phone still does not work, and I can only use the internet in noisy cafes when I can find the time. My dad almost shat his pants when I didn't call for the first 24 hours. I start spanish classes Monday, and then have to move in to the new place while figuring out my bank account on campus and buying X number of things for the apartment. We plan on installing internet, but it might be a while.
My computer is about to die, I don't have an adapter and the plug is across the room anyways, but I'll find some more time to write this week.
I miss you all.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Arrival
Today. Was. TIRING. 26 straight hours of air travel, connecting flights, finding buses, waiting for buses, connecting buses, and taxi rides.
But I made it safe and sound, as I sit here with my first friend Niklas from Germany (go figure) in an internet cafe. The city is much bigger than I expected, and very clean. I actually like the way it looks better than Madrid.
I will fill everyone in when I have plenty of time to blog, I have a busy day tomorrow.
But I made it safe and sound, as I sit here with my first friend Niklas from Germany (go figure) in an internet cafe. The city is much bigger than I expected, and very clean. I actually like the way it looks better than Madrid.
I will fill everyone in when I have plenty of time to blog, I have a busy day tomorrow.
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