Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Beach, Beach, Beach!!

First, I will share some pictures of the beach yesterday and our walk around the city.





Today, Ryann and I went to the beach again this morning.  We went around 11 and got back to our house at 3 so we were there for a good four hours right during the sunniest and hottest time.  Ryann continuously comments on how I look like a Mexican, but then again I guess I continually comment on how she glows. HA!  We met up with some girls, Hanna and Amber, from our class and they spent a couple hours on the beach with us.  It got really hot at some points, almost where I couldn't bear it any longer but it was so beautiful and I love the sun so much that I couldn't just get up and leave.





On our 30 minute walk back to our apartment, I decided I would start keeping track of some things that I like and don't like about the culture of Spain as I walk around and start taking pictures of these things.  I already have a rather long list of things, but I believe that is will continually grow until I leave.

LIKE:
LA PLAYA!!
The slow paced way of life
The cool little shops
"Ice Cream"..more like sorbet
The weather, it never really storms here.  It's always sunny and beautiful.
The plants
The buildings
THE FOOD
Siestas!
Night life

DISLIKE:
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
How people don't move over to the side when they are walking
Being in a big city, or a city for that matter
Traffic
Crazy motorcyclists
Creepy old men that tell me I'm "Guapo" (good looking) gahhh!
Pigeons
Being away from my family and Nickolas
The loud noises right outside my window
5 minute showers

Monday, May 30, 2011

La Playa

This morning we woke up had some breakfast and headed off to the beach with Carmen.  She took us in her car to a beach that she always goes to because it's pretty.  On the way there she showed us different things in Malaga, including where her son lives and where she takes her grandkids to play at.  In Spain, the cars are tiny, but so are their parking spots.  When we found an open spot, we began to parallel park.  Soon, I felt the car jolt because she had lightly hit the car in front of her.  After doing this a couple of more times, she was parked and we were getting out of the car.  She looked at Ryann and I and told us that in Spain, thats how you park.  You have to tap the cars to know if you are parked right.  I giggled on the inside, but just smiled and said si!

Carmen was right about the beach, it was very pretty.  The sand was a lot lighter than the previous beach we had been to and the wind was blowing just enough to not make the sun unbearable.  She also told us multiple times that it was a gay beach so you feel really safe because people don't bother you-- I thought that was funny!  While we were there Carmen got up a lot and went into the water.  Every time she would come back and say, "Wattterr Wattterr" and lay back down.  Ryann and I would just smile at her.  She was so cute jumping in the waves!

Anyways, we were at the beach for a couple of hours and then came home, showered and had some chicken, potatoes and bread for lunch.  Ryann and I just woke up from and nap and we are going to go walk around and maybe look at some of the shops.

Tomorrow, since we don't have school again, YAY, we are going to go to the beach with some girls in our class.  The beach we are going to is called the Malegueta and it's only a 20 minute walk from our apartment.  I guess it's the beach that everyone goes to around here.  That should be fun.  I love going to the beach and soaking up the sun so my day will be made!   We will probably stay there for a while and ask Carmen to pack us a lunch so we don't have to walk back for lunch and then walk back to the beach again.  We have to do our homework sometime too, YUCK.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Ronda

Yesterday the ISA group made a trip down to Ronda for the day.  Ronda is a very historic city and was very beautiful.  Ryann and I had a really good time there.  Our guide was so sweet and wanted to share all of his knowledge of the city with us.  While we were there we saw a lot of really cool things.  Including: the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain, the Arabic baths that were built in the 13th or 14th century, a huge bridge built to connect the old neighborhood and the new neighborhood and many wonderful views.

The bus ride home was completely silent--everyone was exhausted.  Ryann and I arrived home and talked with Carmen and told her we would be going out for Ry's birthday.  We went to dinner at a small bar/cafe in the middle of a beautiful terrace next to the Cathedral.  I had calamaria and Ry had Croquetas de jamon and we both ordered sangrias.


While at dinner, we overheard the celebrations from the futbol (soccer) game between Barcelona and Manchester United.  It was for some cup and almost all of Spain was going crazy watching the game an cheering--especially the guys in the bar right next to the restaurant we ate at.  Every time Barcelona scored, the entire bar went crazy and they all started singing "Olaayyy olay olay olay olay Ollllaayyy olllaayyy."  It was really cool.  After dinner, Ryann and I met up with some friends and had some Sangria with them.  It was really nice.  We walked around for a bit and we found a huge celebration because Barcelona won the game and whatever cup it was back.  People were going absolutely crazy.  They were all wearing Barcelona jerseys and the were lighting fireworks.  When we got there, they were singing and kicked around a Manchester shirt, obviously because they don't like them.  I was trying to ask one of the guys sitting there was the cup signified but he was talking too quickly and didn't speak any English.  Oh well, I'm sure I can google search my question.  Anyways, all of the people were singing and dancing.  They eventually wrapped the Manchester shirt around the firework and were blowing it up.  They even lit it on fire.  I have a video on facebook if anyone wants to really see.  One guy came up to me and introduced himself to me, which isn't the most pleasant here because they give you dos besos (two kisses) but they aren't really kisses, on the cheeks.  He was really sweaty and I tried to dodge his dos besos, but his nasty cheek still found its way to collide on mine. Gross.  Anyways, after that, we left quickly. Ha!

This morning, Ryann and I were supposed to go to the beach with Carmen, but her two twin grandsons came over so we aren't going anymore.  But, she did take us to the market with her and she bought some peppers and bread for lunch today.  The market was really cool, they had a lot of cheap things, but I would never go just Ryann and me.  It was a little frightening and we stayed as close to Carmen as we could.  On the way home she showed us all of the areas and even where she lived as a child.  It was really cool.


After lunch, we will probably go to the beach or we will go walk around the city some to see what else there is here that we have missed.  Tomorrow, I want to go to the beach too, but I might have to convince Ryann to do that.  I think Carmen asked us to go do something with her tomorrow in her car, but I'm not quite sure what it was now..ahha.  Stupid language barriers.  We don't have school Monday or Tuesday this week so we get to sleep in (YAY) and do whatever we want.  Wednesday, back to school and dealing with the people who hate me because I made them get off he bus early..oops. Oh well.  School and a routine will make the time go by more quickly here.  I'm sure I will write tomorrow about our adventures with Carmen.

Love and miss you all.

Vaya con Dios!

Friday, May 27, 2011

Hmm..

Well, today started out to be a good day.  We woke up, had breakfast and Carmen made us sandwiches to take to the beach with us.  We went to the bus stop and waited for the bus and a couple of other kids from our group were on the bus.  None of us could remember where the stop was for school and I thought it was somewhere so spoke up and apparently was wrong.. like 30 minute walk to early.  The one girl with us was really nice and kept saying it wasn't my fault.  Obviously I felt horrible because we were all going to be late for class now.  Two of the kids, were not so happy with me.  The one boy was very verbal about his opinion and was not very nice to me about my mistake.  I felt bad until he started being ridiculous.  I still feel bad for everyone else..minus him.   Needless to say, I won't type out what he was saying.. It's a little vulgar.

After, we went to the beach with some of the girls in our group and had a really nice time.  The weather was perfect.. sunny and windy and the water was just right.  It wasn't as blue as I had expected and the sand was really dark (because the beaches here are manmade) but I'm hoping to find a beach here that is a bit nicer than the one we went to today.  If not, oh well it's still the beach!  Maybe we will change our beach location when we find a better beach.

After the beach we went to a little restaurant and got some sangria and then took the bus home.  The bus ride was a long one because the city is really busy this weekend for Spain's memorial day.  One really cute thing that happened on the bus was there were two old men and they were trying to tell us all about the celebration.  It was hard to understand them, but I think we did pretty well.  A younger Spanish girl was trying to help us understand here.  She said it's really hard to understand the older people in Spain because they talk so much differently.  She said she even has a hard time understand her grandpa sometimes.  Anyways, the big celebration is in Malaga this year and there has been a lot of planes and military people in the area.  Even the Reyes (King and Queen) of Spain are coming here to celebrate on Sunday.  It seems pretty interesting.  Ryann and I will probably try and go out with some of the girls here just to see whats going on.

Tomorrow, we are going to Ronda with the group of ISA students.  The city looks awesome and I can't wait to see it.  Afterwards, Ryann and I are going to dinner for her birthday and then we will probably go out and do something with all of the girls after dinner.  It should be fun.  I'm worried about making her birthday as special as it can be because I know it will be hard for her to be away from home.  Our birthdays are a pretty big deal in the Shaffer household.

Well, I should go do something productive, or unproductive.  I apoligize for my blog being so boring and straight to the point.  I just have very little time where I am not busy doing something important here and don't want to waste it gussying up all of my stories :)

Vaya con Dios!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Malaga

Today was officially our first full day in Malaga.  Yesterday, we got to Malaga and met our Senora, Carmen.  She is very nice and has welcomed us to her home very nicely.  It's really hard to communicate with her since Ryann and I don't speak the greatest English, so that has been the biggest struggle for me.  She lives right off of the main shopping strip here in Malaga, which is a very good thing because the neighborhood is very safe and we are close to all the nice stores, but bad because we are a 10 min walk to the beach and are close to the stores:), I am trying to save money not only for the wedding but just for the rest of the summer.

Anyways, Carmen's apartment is very proper and well kept.  The only hard part to get use to is the 5 minute showers and the loud noises because of the busy street outside of our house.  It's also really hard to get comfortable living in someone else's house.   But, it is so sweet that someone opened their house up to us.  This morning we woke up to toast with mango jam and cafe con leche (coffee with milk) all made for us.  We came home from school and had Papas fritas (french fries) and potroast.  It was amazing.

Today we woke up early and took the bus into the school, which was a little weird in itself because we have never really rode on a bus in the city.  But, we got to school and took our placement test.  Ryann and I were both really happy because we tested into the level, intermediate, that we both wanted to.  We had class from 830-130 today and will have class tomorrow from 830-130.  In one of our breaks today Ryann and I and another girl from our group walked down to the beach from school.  It literally took us 5 minutes to get there.  It was very pretty.  Our teacher was really nice and tried as much as possible to help us with everything.  After class tomorrow, Ryann and I and a couple of girls from class are going to the playa (the beach) right by our school.  Carmen is making us a picnic tomorrow to take to the beach:).  She is so sweet.  Tonight we are going to meet with our ISA group and going on a tour of the city Malaga.  After, we are just coming home and resting or either going out to the stores.

Saturday, for Ry's birthday during the day we are going to Ronda, which is a very old historic city in Spain.  We are very excited.  I will updated everyone again soon!!

Vaya con Dios!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Beautiful Toledo

So, I've decided I never want to live in a big city... EVER.  Madrid was just too much for me personally.  Too many people, too dirty and too many buildings.  I was really homesick while we were there, I think mainly because I wasn't feeling comfortable in a huge city.  I'm stilly pretty homesick, but coming to Toledo today helped.  It is absolutely GORGEOUS here. The buildings, the shops.. even the roads.  Ryann and I really enjoyed the city tours today.  We wen to San Juan de Los Reyes, which was a catholic cathedral that was originally morrish and was taken over catholic church.  It was absolutely gorgeous and our guide explained to us the significance of Isabella and Fernando and showed us all of the intricate details in the buildings.   We then went to an antique sinagog that is in the town of Toldeo.  After that, we went to a beautiful rose garden and visited Grecko's most famous painting (Ryann was freaking out about that).  The painting was called (El Entierro del conde de Orgaz.  We also visited the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen.  It absolutely huge and the details on it were so amazing.

Tomorrow we get up early and travel to Malaga (finally).  Unfortunately it is a 6 hour trip there, but I'm hoping there will be beautiful sites to see on the way.  We meet our Senora (host mother) tomorrow.  Her name is Carmen.  Ryann and I are both really excited to meet her and see our home and get in the routine of things.  Our house is 10 minutes from the main downtown plaza and is a 20 minute bus ride from school.  It's probably a 20 minute walk to the beach also.  We take our placement test for our classes on Thursday morning and have class Thursday and Friday from 830-130.  Then we have the next Monday and Tuesday off and then start up classes again Wednesday 830-130.  For the remainder of the time here we have class Monday-Friday 830-130.  I think getting in the routine of things will help me feel more at home.

Hopefully we will have internet at our house and if not, it is a 10 minute walk to the ISA office and I will be able to keep everyone updated from there.

Vaya con Dios!

Monday, May 23, 2011

Toldeo, Spain

Today was a really good day.  We went to the museum, which I was not a huge fan of because I'm not really big into art, but there was one really cool painting done by Picaso that was huge.  It was the highlight of the museum trip.

After, we walked to the Plaza Mayor, which is a really cool plaza filled with shops and places to eat.  The buildings surrounding it are absolutely beautiful.  Then we headed to the Palacia, which was absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed that tour.  Then Ry and I met up with another group of students and had some WONDERFULLY good helado--mango and lemon to be exact.  We really liked the helado (ice cream).  We came back to the hotel and I took a bath because I know I won't be able take baths in my homestay, so I needed to take one while we were here to spoil myself.  Then we ate some left over pizza that Ryann and I had from the night before and went to get some Sangrias with some friends.  We had a really nice time.

Palacia Real

Museo Renia Sofia

Plaza Mayor


Tomorrow we head off to Toledo to do a tour of the city and we are staying there for the night.  I think my homesickness is wearing off a little, but I am still missing everyone.  Wednesday morning we will head to Malaga and meet our host families and I'm really excited to do that and get a routine going and be in a smaller city.  I don't know if we will have internet axcess, so this might be my last blog for a while.

Toledo, Spain

Vaya con Dios!

Hoping for a Turn Around

Since we've been here, I've been pretty much a wreck.  Just really missing home and everyone there and everything I was used to.  It's different here, but I'm really trying to have a good time and adjusting to everything: the food, the people, and the biggest adjustment...the language!  It's been really hard for me, a lot harder than I thought, but I am trying to enjoy everything and look at the beautiful opportunity that I have been given.

Last night was a lot of fun.  Ryann and I went out with a group of students that are studying in Malaga with us.  We went to get some food before we all crashed last night.  We were all so tired from the trip over.  Ryann and I slept for almost 10 hours last night and are still exhausted.  Anyways, at first, our waiter was really annoyed with all of us because obviously we cannot speak Spanish very well.  But, I think our willingness to try to communicate with him and our smiles changed his attitude and by the end of the night he was joking with us and bought us all shots.  It was a really nice time.

This morning, Ry and I went to breakfast and met a kid and had breakfast with him.  It was a really nice breakfast, of mostly fruits.  Its really cool to get to know the students here.

This afternoon we are going to the Reina Sofia Museum and to the Palacio Real (The royal palace) here in Madrid. In between the visits, we are going into the city to see all of the cool buildings and shops.  A bunch of the kids want to go out tonight for drinks, but Ryann and I probably won't do that because of safety and because we are so tired.  Anyways, I should go get ready to leave.  I miss all of you dearly, but hopefully my travels will go quickly.


Vaya con Dios.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Longest Flight EVER: Madrid, Espana

So, we have finally arrived at our destination, Madrid.  In all honesty, our trip over to Europe was terrible.  Even subtracting the tears that were shed, by mainly me, throughout the day.

First, our flight from Detroit to Montreal was put in the smallest plane I think possible.  Not only was the plane terrible, Ryann hasn't flown in almost 6 years and was terrified.  Both of us only slept for a total of probably 30 minutes on the first flight and the remaining 2 flights leaving us exhausted.

Then, luckily when we arrived at Montreal, we found a couple and a pair of older women who were taking the same flight to Paris as us and they were encouraging us about studying abroad and were very nice and followed them through customs.  They were very helpful.  We got to call mom and Nick at the airport in Canada, but our calls were cut short by boarding.  Our plane then boarded from Canada to Paris.  It was the largest plane I ever remember traveling on.  At first, like any normal child, Ryann and I were very excited to play the games, look at the plane statistics and watch movies, but like most good things, the excitement came to an end.  The rest of the flight was miserable.  We were tired and grumpy by this point.  One good thing--the food on the flight was very good, and Ryann was amazed that they gave us alcohol to drink.  She's silly.  She has one taste of the wine and screwed her bottle shut and didn't drink another drop.

So we arrive at Paris with a woman waiting at the end tunnel for a group headed to Madrid.  First, I have to add that the Paris airport is HUGE, absolutely HUGE.  The woman proceeded to sprint all the way through the airport, through customs, through security and raced us on to our flights, which were in the last call boarding phase.  She told Ryann and I the wrong gate, so we became more frantic but finally found the right plane.  We arrived in Madrid safely, got out luggage and eventually found Sala Uno and the ISA directors that were to take us to our hotel.

I guess I shouldn't be so pessimistic.  God protected us on our way here and nothing of ours was damaged, stolen or lost.  The other students in the program are very nice and I think Ryann and I will get along great with some of them.  And, not to mention, we are in Europe right now!  I think these first few days will be harder on me than I expected.  I act very tough and like I can handle anything (mostly for Ryann not to be scared) but really I'm shaking in my boots and right about now.  I don't think I could want anything more than for my parents and Nick to be here with me.  But, I am trying to be positive and realize that I will obviously be homesick at first, that's normal and once we go on the bus tour of Madrid tonight and get our cell phones I will feel much better.

Internet may be scarce here, since I just paid too much money to contact my parents and Nick, but I really needed to see their faces and hear their voices.  I will try to keep everyone updated on mine and Ry's adventures, hardships and experiences that Espana has to offer us.

Vaya con Dios.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Bittersweet Travels

Well, as most of you know, Saturday, my sister Ryann and I will be traveling to Malaga, Spain.  I've already been truly blessed this summer with an engagement ring, from my wonderful boyfriend, or shall I say fiance, which I could not be more thrilled about.  Unfortunately, I will have to leave my ring behind along with him for 10 weeks.  But, I am so excited about the wonderful things that my life has yet to come, including my trip abroad.





I cannot wait to experience the new culture and wonderful people!  Malaga is located on the beautiful Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun).  It's ABSOLUTELY beautiful.  Sunny beaches and beautiful historic buildings.  Anyways, we fly out at 1:52pm on Saturday and fly to Quebec, then to Paris then to Madrid and spend a couple of days there with the other students who are studying abroad at the University of Malaga.  Please keep Ryann and I in your prayers and thoughts during our travels.  We are both nervous but very excited and feel very blessed to be able to take this trip.  I will keep everyone updated with lots of pictures and lots of stories.

Vaya con Dios!