Turns out that wonderful little bottle of pepper spray I’ve been carrying around with me…it’s highly illegal. Ooops. Ya, about that. Got it as a precautionary item, I am halfway across the world after all. But if I use it ever, it’s me that is the criminal, not the guy that just beat me up and is dragging me away to Africa. Sounds fair right? Oh well, looks like I’ll just have to upgrade to that taser-flashlight whatnot my dad bought for me. It’s an odd combination that I’m still trying to figure out; do you need to check the person is out cold with the flashlight after using the taser end or what? Maybe I’ll just have to rely on my Kung Fu skills I’m going to learn or bring out my inner ninja. Or use common sense. Nah, that’d actually be logical.
Today was the end of Intensivo! Finally. Four hours of grammar a day, five days a week is enough to make anyone a little crazy. It was a necessary evil and I appreciate all of the free time it gave, but now the real fun begins! Second week of February I’ll start my real classes and hopefully get a bit more of a routine going. With the end of Intensivo and January, a bunch of changes will be headed my way: some of them self-imposed, others of necessity. Free time during the week will be a rumor with five actual classes, two activity classes, and volunteer work (if they accept me). Three day weekends will be starting too, meaning travel time!!!!! It’ll be great to be out of the house more, the honeymoon phase is ending with mom. We’re all getting a little sick of each other being stuck in the house together so much because of 1) sickness 2) siesta 3) lack of confidence in the city 4) ignorance of what’s available to do. Hopefully getting out of the house more will cure some things for all of us. For me, I LOVE living with her and can’t express my gratitude for her hospitality but I miss independence. Having no say in what, when, and how much to eat is a growing annoyance though the bigger one is what to wear. I am more than happy in a tank top; and no, I do not want a jacket all the time. I’m also perfectly fine walking outside without a scarf, thank you. I find it amusing that I’ve employed the change-the-moment-you’re-outside-the-door technique now when I didn’t even do that back in junior high/high school. Spring is coming soon, so hopefully she’ll accept that as a reason why I don’t need a million layers. Meli is getting the worse end of the situation though, Sacra talks to her more. I’m just the stupid one that can’t understand anything anyway. It’s nothing awful going on, just overall annoyance with one another from being cooped up so long.
On a happier note, we bought our tickets to Italy yesterday!!!!! Lesson learned about buying tickets: buy early. But still, we’ve got ten days touring through the country and I couldn’t be more excited for Semana Santa (Spring break) to start. Now we just have to buy some nights in hostels and plan what we’re going to do each day. Any suggestions are welcome!
My intercambio with Jose Manuel went great! He speaks slow enough for me to understand, corrects my grammar when I need it, and is down to earth and funny. After two hours of hanging out with him I was already talking faster and acquiring the accent! Well, a bit at least. The lithp is rubbing off which is cool for Spanish. If it translates back to English, ugh. But it looks like Jose wants to meet up every week, I’m completely down for that. I’d love to have a Spanish friend. (Friend, not boyfriend. Alex, wipe that grin off your face)
After taking my exam yesterday I went around exploring the city a bit with my extra free time before lunch. By chance, I happened upon a place that quite possibly might have just won the third place prize on “Jen’s list of favorite places in the world.” There’s no describing it, not with words at least. That just means I’ll have to go back at take pictures this week :] Darn. Hate it when that happens.

Peace! Hope you all have fantastic weekends! I know I will. Salsa club, here I come.

Hey all. It’s odd hearing that people actually read this. As a sort of second diary (I should probably be writing a bit more in the one I actually made for this trip) it weirds me out that so many are privy to my thoughts without my knowledge of exactly is reading. My own fault I guess, I signed up for this nonsense.
Friday our ILACA school group got to go to the theater! The show itself was amazing: compelling plot, great character development, relevant themes. Well, I’m sure it would have been if I had been able to understand any of it. All I could tell was going on was that there were a bunch of women in black that squabbled at each other and broke out in song every once in awhile. Poignant right? I heard some sniffles. Oh, and I think someone hung themselves at the end. The Spanish was waaaaay to fast and slurred for me to catch it so I just ended up zoning out after awhile and creating my own dialogue for what was happening. Entertaining to say the least. The theater itself was beautiful though! Spanish architecture is a little gaudy (can’t wait to see actual Gaudy in Barcelona!) but it was a little toned down for the stage, giving at least some sort of cultural consolation prize for the night. I just did the nod/look interested thing when some random Spaniards sitting behind me started talking about it afterward. In May I want to try to go again, see if by then I’ll be able to appreciate a play and understand at least the basics of it.
But the best part of this weekend by far has been hiking in the Sierra Nevadas, it won by a long shot. Got up at seven on a Saturday (true sign of dedication) and met up with a group from school of about fifteen people and a guide to head out just as it was starting to get light outside. Because the mountains are so darn tall, the sun rises later. We started our hike just as the sun was beginning to peek out behind the mountain ridges—gorgeous. The whole path itself was beautiful up in the mountains, we spent most of the time walking next to a river and waterfalls and sticking to a man-made walkway created on the wall of a ravine. Talk about a fun hike, at points we had to crawl under rocks jutting over the path or swing around outcroppings using hand holds drilled into the cliff face with the river rushing beneath. After about five hours we headed back, haven’t been so exhausted in a long time. That’s most likely because I haven’t actually exercised since summer but I’d like to pretend it’s just because the hike was intense. Honestly, if this trip doesn’t whip me into shape I don’t think I ever will be. So. much. walking. everyday.
Through school we have the option of having an Intercambio: getting paired with a Spanish student learning English to meet up and practice speaking both languages. On Wednesday a program director put me on the phone with my partner and we set up a time to meet up this afternoon. Thankfully, I could understand what they were saying when many other students said their partners spoke fast/slurred/accented to the point of unintelligibility (ooo $3 word). Ugh. It’s this afternoon! Nervous! I know nothing about him except that his name is Jose Manuel and he’s about twenty. Nothing. It feels like a blind date, only worse because we don’t speak the same language. I would love to make Spanish friends though so hopefully we’ll hit it off and not be too awkward, maybe even be able to make this a weekly thing. The idea itself is great, the more that I hear native speakers and am exposed to the language the better I will come to understand it and hopefully be able to speak with more fluidity. Just nervous, that’s all. I meet him in three hours! Ah! Jose Manuel, please be patient and nice. And please be a slow speaker!

Side notes: I forgot to take Bunny (I feel like he had a name at some point…Jack?) to the Sierra Nevadas with me :[

I miss desserts!!!! Chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, where are you?

Kristina-I found a Yogurtlandia! I wonder if it’ll be anything like our beloved Yogurtland, have to try it in the near future and report back.

Lisa-I had graham crackerish things and dulce de leche last night and thought of you, it was like the Spanish version of graham crackers and frosting! We’re going to need a big batch when we next see each other…

Heather-I’m going to work on getting some better stories for you

David-A crossbow might be a bit conspicuous. What about a battle axe?

Ashley-Spain must be explored! Ka! Ka! Rawr!

Braden- You win the opinion poll (kind of hard to lose when you were the only vote). Waiting to actually do the full thing would be much better. Interested in a 500 mile hike at some point in the next ten years?

Hiyah! It’s like Kung Fu Panda only better, right? No, I don’t think I could top that movie. But. That title isn’t a joke, I really am going to take a Kung Fu class. There’s got to be something wrong with me. Honestly, who takes martial arts is Spain? So it finally came time to sign up for activities through school and we got a packet with a list of everything offered. Our program pays for one class per student so I was excited to see what my options were though I was already planning on taking the salsa class. Sadly, out of the whole list of things the only three classes that worked with my schedule are aerobics, some meditation crap class, and Kung Fu. I realized the other night that I need to know at least some self defense so…Kung Fu it is! I’ll be ninja when I get back, just wait. I have a feeling this might be a slight disaster though. On a better note, I do get to take a cooking class!!!!!!!! It’s going to be taught by Spanish women and be an introduction to Mediterranean/Spanish cooking. SO STOKED. After all of this delicious, unpronounceable food my mom has stuffed me with I’m excited to be able to make it for myself when I get back. I’ll share the wealth when I see you all again, that’s a promise!
This week has been pretty uneventful though. Both Meli and I have been sick so it’s involved a lot of sleeping and resting around the house. Kind of boring, but at this point I’m completely over jetlag which is amazingly appreciated. By Wednesday I was able to go out again so what’s a girl to do in Spain except for go dancing? Ya, maybe not the smartest idea for a Wednesday night but hey, you’re only young once. I’m embracing the culture, yes, that’s it. Honestly though, Spanish timetables are the oddest thing to get used to. Day starts around nine, work til one-ish. Come back and eat lunch with the family, take a nap, be ready to go again around three or four and then you’re back to work! Get back home around eight or nine for a small dinner together, another rest, and then you’re off again to go out around eleven. It is completely normal, expected even, to be out between the hours of eleven thirty and two in the morning. Fun, but it screws with your sleep schedule. I’m not too big of a fan of the stop/go/stop/go tempo of it all either, feels like a lot of wasted time just getting from one stage to the next. Hmm, that’s one thing I should work on while I’m here—sitting back and enjoying the culture for what it is, meaning accepting and imitating the more relaxed way of life. In America we’re used to working ourselves to no end. Here, emphasis is put outside of work and time moves more slowly. I haven’t had so much consistent relaxation/kick back time since I was a book nerd back in high school. Book nerd me is making a comeback, siestas are now being spent reading instead of sleeping and I just spent my hour before heading home for lunch today in the small literary section of the Corteingles(think Nordstrom/Target mash-up). It’s unexpected but enjoyable.
Today, I discovered Spanish pastries! Bad news, very bad news. I laughed when people told me they gained upwards of ten pounds while they were here. Now, I can definitely see how it happens. With our moms stuffing us like it’s their personal mission in life and now adding in fresh bread and baked goods, things aren’t looking up. Maybe I’ll be able to roll my way around Europe like that blueberry girl in Willy Wonka, would that mean I could forgo the train pass? That’d be nice for sure, save me a few hundred dollars. Not sure if I could fit in a hostel though :/
Desta, the picture is for you. Recognize something in there? Yup, those are our earrings! I made sure to take a picture with them before I left to go dancing so I could send it to you and show that they're still getting put to good use accompanying one of us at a time on our respective adventures.

Sometimes I feel too blessed, like it can’t be real to have the life that I’m living. Not only do I have a caring family, an incredible stepdad that was kind when I was anything but, parents that have taught me to be curious and kind, the best friends anyone could ask for, God, and mentors along the way, I’ve been given this amazing opportunity to learn in Spain. Where is this all coming from? Why me? One scrap of wisdom I’ve gained from travelling is that we really don’t appreciate what we have. In America we have a bountiful supply of food, clean water, electricity, health services, and security—more than enough to thrive on—and we’re always pushing for more. Most of the world is living off of a fraction of what we take for granted on a daily basis. And yet we’re still not satisfied. Bigger, better, more, more; are there any advertisements that don’t push that value? As a nation we’ve been blessed with so much and yet so many live ignorant of the conditions millions of people live in. Yes, I’m an idealist and, yes, I’m only nineteen, but do either take away from the fact that we could be doing so much more to help than we already are? With all that I’ve been given in my life from friends to education to freedom, the more I step back and take a look the less fair it seems to me that I should be so blessed. I thank God for every gift but know that thankfulness is not enough. Someway, somehow I want to act and use all I’ve been given to turn back and serve until there’s nothing left in me. No, it’s more than a want, it’s a need. I’ve always wanted my life to be more than ‘normal’ (whatever that translates to) but ultimately that’s just self-serving. At some point you have to decide if you would rather be comfortable in an ivory tower or defenestrate (I’ve been waiting for years to legitimately use that in a sentence. yesssssss) yourself to share the wealth—and that’s not just monetarily— you’ve been given because it’s the right thing to do. Right, but not easy. Just some thoughts at three in the morning. But it’s something I’ve been considering for years and something I still haven’t figured out how I’ll act on. Take a moment to think about all that you’ve been given. Now let me leave here (and finally get some sleep) with one question that was posed to me by a homeless man at the Emergency Food Network in Tacoma and the answer to which for myself I still don’t know:

“What will you do?”

Sadly, that title is both metaphorical AND literal. I decided to take a new route home from school last week to explore a bit and see more of the city. While looking around at the plaza around me I forgot to look at where my feet were going and face planted into a construction zone. Awesome. The construction worker nearby didn’t make it too embarrassing, though I think I did see him smile a bit at the ‘torpe extranera’ (clumsy foreigner). It was kind of funny actually, only took me a week before my real self came out. What makes it even funnier is that not 30 seconds before I got my first ‘chica guapa’ call from random passing guy while walking. If only he saw me a minute later haha. The two put together seem like an initiation into the city or something--welcome to the city! you are now covered in it and have been cat called as is inevitable for any woman in a Latin country.
I really am getting to know Spain better though, liking it a lot more too. That first week was kind of tough with the cold, culture shock, and Spanish. Now that I’m familiarizing myself with the city and getting to know some of the other students things are looking better and I’m finally getting myself out of my wonderful bed to explore. Seriously, when it was snowing outside Melissa and I were being pretty pathetic and sat in bed all day because it was the warmest place to be. It’s getting warmer now, about to Tacoma weather which is normal for me. There are several cultural aspects that are growing on me. For one, I’m pretty sure siestas are the best thing ever invented. I never knew how great a break in the day could be, naps are needed sometimes. And the food is a-mazing (Meli, I’m starting to talk like you, this is scary. I don’t even want to know where we’ll be by the end). Sacra, mi mama, has made it her personal mission, it seems, to stuff us with as much food as possible. It’s all delicious though, that’s the problem. She’s taught us that healthy food can be delicious, something unheard of in America (Fitness Grill/Lean Cuisine/Sugar-free anyone? ick). Not to mention I found myself some dulce de leche at the market the other day. It’s my favorite food on Earth. First found it in Chile, was amazing to find it again. May or not have been eating it every night this week…
Spanish is coming easier already. With intensive grammar for hours a day and being surrounded by it it’s no wonder that I’ve improved. I can’t wait til I get to the point where I start thinking in Spanish, it’ll be the sign to me that it’s become second nature and I’ve reached my goal. Then I’d be able to talk to my mom! And everyone else in Granada! If anyone would like to practice, I’d be more than happy to talk with you!
Spring break is looking amazing! It’s going to be epic! Right now, it’s looking like a ten day tour of Italy with a Eurail pass, stopping at Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, and Milan. We’ll see how it works out, but I couldn’t dream of anything more exciting than taking the train and seeing gorgeous landscapes roll past for hours on end. Not to mention the cities! Ah!!!! Any suggestions for travel are welcome. It’s so exciting to actually have those ‘what ifs’ happen. Cheesy as it sounds, it’s a dream coming true.
Please pray for the people in Haiti, they need help more than anyone right now.
I miss you all tons!
Shout outs:
Mo-thank your mom for the hat again!
Kristina-I found a nice burrow taxi for you :]
Desta & Alex- met my first Spaniard (story if requested)

Hola! Como esteis? Well, this is the end of my first week since leaving home in California. To think of how much has changed! Not only am I thousands of miles away, but I've had to say goodbye and learn to deal with the fact that there really is no way home for the next five months. One of the first things I've learned on my trip is of the disconnect between what we expect and reality, what actually happens. I've been thinking about Spain since I first got my first acceptance letter in March, not overly much, but enough to romanticize how much fun it will be, how much I'll learn, and where I'll go. Maybe I'm just too much of an optimist, but I never think about the not-so-great aspects as well. Like the adjustment period. Combined jetlag, culture shock, and language barrier have made me waaaay more homesick than I usually get. Nothing is familiar, I can barely even communicate with my family here. And the fact that I don't have close friends here with me is making it kind of hard also. I'm so used to having close friends around, not knowing anyone except for the people from PLU(and those only a bit) is hard to get used to. Especially when I'm looking for people to travel with, it's making things a little tough. This is where faith comes in. God will provide, I know that, it's just the waiting the sucks is all.
Life is Spain is interesting, still something to get used to. We've been having our orientations which get slightly annoying after awhile but intensive Spanish classes will start tomorrow (yay!). I'm ready for some sort of schedule instead of this wishy-washy nonsense. Our school is made up of students studying Spanish from all over the world, though mostly Americans. Starting February will be when my real classes start, super excited for those. They'll be more exciting than grammar for five hours a day thats for sure.
My host family is amazing! Mi madre es Sacramento, she's about sixtyish and is adorable. Can't understand about half of what she's saying to me but it's all good, it'll come with time. She has a couple of daughters that are both adults, they show up every once in a while. Everyone in Granada has an apartment because it's a walking city so everything is crammed close together. Our apartment is really nice, right in the middle of everything and close to school, about a ten minute walk. One thing to get used to is that electricity and water are scarce. Translates to less than five minute showers and unheated homes. Yesterday Melissa (roommate) and I spent the entire siesta and then some in our respective beds-sleeping, reading, talking-because it was just too darn cold to do anything else. On that note...
It snowed again today!!! Beautiful, yes, but I've decided I don't like snow as much as I thought I did. Well, when you are forced to be in it at least. Having to walk through the city for about an hour was miserable, with my Converse I couldn't feel my toes by the end of it. The snow can stay in Montana and Idaho, thank you very much. I'm quite happy without it here for awhile now, dreading going to school tomorrow a bit because of it.
Went to my first discoteca anoche! Awesome! The Spanish sure do know how to have a party. The dance was in an old theater all done up with lights, a dance floor, and tons of people. One nice thing about it is the only thing you pay for is coat check and drinks. Paid 2 Euro for my coats and there we go! Whole night of fun for cheap because I don't drink. If everyone counted alcohol into their budgets, I should be good to go and not spend as much. Ha, I'll probably be laughing at that statement when I start to see travel costs but oh well. Oh, and one of the first three songs of the night at the discoteca? I Gotta Feelin. Not to mention YMCA later on in the night. It's odd seeing people from another culture dancing and singing to songs that are so ingrained in ours. Not to mention hearing it sung with an Andulusian accent.
Haven't taken out Nikki much yet (afraid of her being stolen while I'm not streetwise in Granada) but I did get a chance to take a few pictures while on a tour with the school group. Graffiti is everywhere around the city. A lot of it is political but an overwhelming amount of it is just plain pretty, as one of the pictures shows. The one with the plaza is the first picture I took here, it's of snow and the view out of my window! This post has been a bit longer than I intended, but I have yet to give some sort of picture of what life is like here so I guess it's okay. Hope you're all having fantastic days! Miss you!

If you feel that you would ever like to send me a letter, here's my address :]

Paseo de los Basilios, 5 – Portal 2 – 4º D
Granada, Espana 18008

I would love to be your pen pal! And David, I look forward not only to the lampshade, but to the reaction de mi mama because it's bound to be some beautiful stream of confused Spanish I'll never hope to understand.

p.s. it's snowing, I'm in Spain, and I about to have a siesta. Does life get any better?

Made it! Here in Spain…finally. Travelling really isn’t too bad though, it’s just the continual system of hurry up and wait. Figure out what the heck the French were thinking when trying to make a logical airport setup(fail) then sit around for more hours. First leg of the flight wasn’t so bad, sat between a French guy wearing a sweater that reminded me strongly of an alpaca and a UW guy also headed to Granada that I talked to for a bit. And somewhere in the night sky over Greenland…I opened my first letter.
Thank you. Thank you so so so so so much to everyone who wrote me a letter! When Alex gave me them yesterday morning I was taken aback by the overwhelming kindness it represented. They found a safe place with me on the plane and have been in my backpack of incredibly important items ever since. I opened three on the first flight, talk about tearfest. Another couple I opened on the bus from Malaga to Granada. It’ll take me awhile to get through them all, but I promise to respond to each and every one of you sometime in the semester with a letter! Thanks so much, you are all amazing and I can’t even begin to describe how much it means to me to carry a piece of you with me while I’m thousands of miles away. <3
Oh, and I have a stalker. Know the song “I Gotta Feelin”? Not only has it played a predominant role in Idaho trip #1, been the motivation from Idaho #2, and hosted several dance parties, sitting on the bus to the airport the guy in front of me was blasting it on his headphones. I thought it was slightly funny, a nice coincidence as I was leaving. Then I got to Spain and guess what is the very first song I hear in the country? Yup, it’s followed me. Along with hearing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” even if it is January. Means all of the Christmas lights are still up though! Driving through Granada for the first time with all the streets lit up was magical, an awesome introduction.

Jet lag sucks.