Portugal!

This past weekend was one of the craziest, most exhausting, incredible experiences of my life. There's no way I can fit everything I did into a blog post, but I'll try my best to recount it all. Along with a group of friends, I traveled to Sagres, Portugal for a weekend of adventure and fun.

We left on Friday afternoon, and drove about 4 hours from Sevilla to the cliffs of Sagres, where we were just in time to watch the sunset over the ocean. It was beautiful, and would become pretty typical that weekend. Climb some cliffs, get amazing views of the ocean, and watch how beautiful it was when the sun set. After our hike (and lots of pictures), we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

Our hotel was surprisingly nice, which I say as someone who lives on a student budget and really just expects enough space to sleep. It had a kitchen, bathroom, and beds set up in the bedroom and living room, so me and my friends weren't all packed in a small room. There was even a balcony overlooking the pool. And no hate to my bed here, but I could have slept in that bed forever, it was SO comfortable.

Sagres is definitely a summer beach town, and since it's no longer summer, it was pretty deserted. We still found a restaurant/bar to go to that night, and I was so excited to get a hamburger and fries. After we were done dinner, it turned into a bar and we stayed there for the night, which was kind of inevitable since there were no other bars in town. It was a night of crazy ideas, one of them being that tying sheets together and scaling our balcony to get to the pool could not possibly end badly. Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I didn't end up going through with it.

Saturday morning we got to sleep in, hang out and relax by the pool, and have a barbecue at the hotel before heading out for the day's more intense activities. Since our group was so large, we split into two and my group first went to a breathtaking beach to swim, play volleyball, and hang out before it was time for rock climbing and cliff jumping. My friend Emily and I ended up playing volleyball for at least 2 hours, with people we met from all over Europe. It was so much fun.

Finally, it was our turn to go and we drove about 5 minutes to a lagoon where we would be jumping and climbing. The cliff we were climbing was right next to the ocean, so even when I was dying halfway up the rocks, I could still look behind me and appreciate the amazing scenery. Rock climbing was so fun, and I got the highest in my group, even though I didn't make it to the top. After we were done climbing, it was time to cliff jump. I was pretty excited, because this is something I've always wanted to do, and what better place to try it than Portugal?

As it turns out, I think I'd be a bigger fan of cliff jumping in a lake, or anywhere where there weren't monstrous waves. I was the third and last person to jump in my group because right after Emily and I jumped, the waves became enormous and swimming from where we jumped back to shore was incredibly difficult and dangerous. The actual jumping was the most exhilarating thing I've ever done, and I'm so glad that I didn't chicken out, but getting stuck in the riptide and smashed by waves was also pretty terrifying.

That being said, we all survived and it was just another memory to add to this adventure. After jumping, we hiked out to what was once thought to be the End of the World to watch the sunset. I feel like there should be a limit on how many times I say something was absolutely beautiful, but I promise that I said it just as much in real life as I keep saying it now.

Saturday night we went out for dinner again, and Emily and I shared steak, which let me tell you I have been craving since America, and it did not disappoint. It also didn't hurt that they added fried potatoes on the side. Yum. We went back to the hotel and went out again that night, which was just as crazy and fun as our Friday night, but without any attempts to climb down walls.

Sunday was surfing day! Having never tried surfing before, I can now appreciate just how hard it is. I stood up (barely) and immediately fell back off. I would also say that we glided more than surfed, since we only caught white waves. It was still so much fun, and despite how exhausting it was, I had a blast making a fool out of myself. I will say that they make carrying a surfboard look so easy in the movies, and I, along with the bruises on my hip, are here to tell you that it is really, really hard.

We went on one last cliff hike to get another breathtaking view, and then it was off to one more lunch before we made the drive back home. I, along with the other 3 girls in my car, immediately passed out and slept for most of the ride. Our poor driver was probably not amused. We woke up for the last hour and had fun playing American music for him, though.

All in all, Portugal was too beautiful for words to describe, and I'm so lucky that I got to experience it with some amazing people. I have more bruises than I can count and sore muscles, but it was completely worth it.

Putting the "study" in study abroad

Well, it had to happen eventually. Wednesday I started my regular, semester-long classes at Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla. I'm taking 5 classes, either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday - which means no class on Fridays, YES. I'm pretty excited about that particular development.

I'm taking a Spanish language class, History of Spanish Art, Contemporary Spanish Politics, The Road to Democracy in Spain, Greece, and Portugal, and Intercultural Communication in Context. Luckily, all the classes fulfill Northeastern requirements for me when they're transferred back, and I'll be done with my International Affairs minor after this semester!

UPO is a little further away than I'm used to, especially since I've only ever walked to my classes at Northeastern. It's a 10 minute Metro ride, but I'm considering renting a bike from UPO so that I can ride back and forth from class instead to save money and also start working off all the Spanish ice cream I can't stop eating!

Mondays and Wednesdays I start my day at 9am, which means getting up before the sun here in Spain. It's an early start, but I really love my 9am Spanish Politics class and the professor, so it's worth it! After that I have a break until 12, when I have my Road to Democracy class. It's a really interesting subject, but I'm not a fan of the professor so far, so hopefully it gets better. After that I have my Intercultural Communication class, which is taught by a Spaniard, so it should be full of interesting discussions about differences in cultures. I'm done by 2:50, just in time to go home for lunch and then take a siesta.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't start until 10:30 (sleeping in!) and I only have two classes, right in a row - History of Spanish Art followed by my Spanish language class. I'm not a big art person, so we'll see how the art class goes, but I really like my Spanish class and professor so far. I'm done for the day by 1:20.

College here is definitely different from the USA - it's a place to go take classes, rather than a place to live for 4 years, but they do still have sports teams, extracurriculars, and lots of resources for students, especially the International Student Center for confused Americans like me. Everyone seems really nice, and the Spanish students start classes next week, so it will be exciting to see what UPO is like with everyone on campus.

Classes

The reason that I came to Spain mid-August when most study abroad programs begin sometime in September was to improve my Spanish. Living with a Spanish family was immensely helpful, but I was also enrolled in a CIEE Intensive Spanish class to help me get ready for this semester. For three hours a day, I spoke only in Spanish and did enough work in two weeks to fill an entire semester. It was challenging and difficult, but it was also so helpful. I've only been here for three weeks, but there's already been a notable difference in how comfortable I am speaking Spanish, both with my host family and random people on the street.

The most intimidating, but also probably useful, part of the class were the two presentations we did about the people who live in Sevilla. For the first presentation, we worked in pairs to interview Spanish university students about their lives here. Working up the courage to approach them was by far the hardest part of this project. My partner and I were careful to look for people who seemed nice and unlikely to laugh at our bad Spanish. That being said, everyone we talked to was so nice and willing to help us with this project. When we presented, we also did so entirely in Spanish for 10 minutes, which was challenging but encouraging at the same time. It made me happy to know that I could do it.

For our second presentation, we had to work by ourselves and interview a worker from someplace in Sevilla. I chose to go down to a magazine/candy/etc kiosk (think of those places in the mall, or an entire convenience store in one little stand) right outside my apartment because my senora told me that the man working there was very nice. I purposely went during the siesta so that no one else would be out on the streets to make me more nervous than I already was! The man, named Fernando, was really helpful and kind and my presentation went fine. Even though they were nerve-wracking, I'm glad that we had to do those two presentations.

But now my Intensive class is done (yay!) and tomorrow is my Spanish language placement test at Universidad Pablo de Olavide, where I'll be taking my regular classes for the rest of the semester. Wednesday is the official first day of classes there. Even though I don't find out my schedule until Tuesday, I have a rough idea of classes I'll be taking. Definitely a Spanish language class, a History of Spanish Art class, and then some combination of Contemporary Spanish Politics, Democracy in Portugal, Greece, and Spain, and History of Spain. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm excited to get involved in classes and extracurriculars over there.

I still want to get a post up with pictures of all the beautiful places I've seen so far, so hopefully that will come sometime in the next couple days. Thanks for reading!

Comida, Siestas & Fiestas

Well, here I am! My Spanish experience so far has been nothing short of amazing. It seems like I've lived here for months instead of weeks. So much has happened, and I've been so busy that I keep forgetting to post here, so I'll try to give a quick overview of my life here.

I live in a homestay with a Spanish family, which is honestly one of the greatest things that has happened to me so far. Ana is a single mom with three kids: Carlos (14), and two twins, Maria and Irene (10). They are adorable and I love them so much. They crack me up every single time I talk to them. Ana makes amazing food every meal, and gives me lots and lots of ice cream for dessert. Yum.

The hardest thing to get used to with the food is how late people in Spain eat! I have class starting at 10am, so I eat breakfast around 9, which is fine. But then we usually don't eat lunch until 2:30 or 3, so a snack in between has become necessary. I usually go for an apple. Then dinner doesn't happen until 10 or 11. For my American self, it seemed crazy at first, but I was surprised by how quickly I got used to it.

My favorite part of the day is definitely siesta time. From 2-6, the entire city of Sevilla pretty much shuts down. This is the hottest part of the day, and a lot of businesses close during this time. Once I went out on the main street around 4pm and I am not exaggerating when I say that I was the only person out, and after a few minutes I understood why. It gets HOT here. I lived in Haiti all summer, and I can say with 100% confidence that it's hotter here.

The other part of life that's crazy is how late people stay out! Most Spanish people don't hang out at their houses or their friends' houses. Since entire families live in small apartments, everyone socializes outside on the streets. People will go out for tapas or drinks on weeknights until 1 or 2 am. Tapas are a wonderful thing - they're smaller, appetizer-sized dishes, so you can get a bunch and share, plus you get to try so many different foods! They're also so cheap, which is a definite bonus.

And when we went out last weekend, I didn't get home until 6am, which was definitely a shock to the system. Bars in Boston close at 2am, so we rarely stay out later than that, but here a lot of bars don't open until 1 or 2, and there were still a lot of people still out and dancing at 5:30am when I left! I guess that's when a siesta helps you out.

It really is surprising how little time it takes to adjust to a new schedule. I already feel completely comfortable in my homestay and with my routine here. Hopefully later this weekend I'll get out a blog about my Spanish class, and all the absolutely breath-taking places that I've visited so far in Spain!