Buenas!
So I thought it'd be cool to tell you all some of the really amazing things I've been learning about Spain. I mean some things aren't so cool, like when to use different grammar tenses, but some things are certainly worth hearing.
-16 Spains could fit into the USA
-More people speak Spanish in America than in Spain
-The Mediterranean Ocean is named from the Latin medis terrae which means mid-land because the body of water lies in the middle of all the land that made up the Roman Empire
-The word Gitano, the Spanish word for Gypsy, comes from the word Egipciano because the gypsies were believed to have come from Egypt (we now know that they really came from India)
-Castellano, the name of the Spanish language, comes from the word Castilla which was the name of the plateau that makes up the heart of Spain
-The word Guada means "river" in Arabic, and combined with quivir, meaning "big" becomes the name "Guadalquivir," one of Spain's biggest rivers
-For a reason even my grammar teacher couldn't explain the word agua (and about 45 other irregular nouns) is masculine when singular, but feminine everywhere else. So although one would have to say "mira el agua" one would also say "mira las aguas claras"
-Only a mere 10 miles separates Spain from Morocco
-The first city in Europe, in the metropolitan sense of the word, was Cadiz, in Spain, founded around 1200
-The name España, the Spanish version of "Spain," comes from hispania, was given the area by the Phoenicians and meant "land of the rabbits"
-Tariq was the first conqueror of Spain to come from Morocco and established the Moorish rule of Spain in 711. When he died he wanted to be buried in Spain, but where he could see Morocco. The Arabic word for tomb is Gibral, and thus Gibral Tariq, or "Tariq's tomb," became the well known Gibraltar.
-There are about 5000 Arabic words in the Spanish language
Whew! So now that you've enjoyed that history lesson I will tell you about yesterday's surprise activity. It wasn't really a surprise, it has been written on our calendar since the beginning of our program, but I either misread it or mixed it up in my head and thought we were going to the Alhambra. We don't actually get to tour the red palace until the 10th, but yesterday we got to go on a hike that revealed the beauty of nature rather than man-made wonders.
We started out our hike on the outskirts of town, on the steep cobbled streets that have become so essential to my perception of Granada. Soon we got farther from the houses and farms that told us we were still in the city and the road became gravelly and dusty. Still I was a bit unsure that this hike would be cool, since I knew I could find gravel to walk on in any city. But after another ten minutes or so we reached what was unmistakeably the true start of our hike. We stood on a circular plateau that was about 20 or 30 feet across and took a brief rest before turning and walking into the giant green mountains that surround Granada. Though the terrain remained dry and deserty for a while, soon we reached a small creek and the surroundings became slowly more and more green. We ended up walking along the creek balancing on a stone wall, crouching under overhanging rock that was really part of the mountain at our side, and hanging onto metal handles hammered into the rock wall to prevent ourselves from falling into the water. Overall it was amazing! We moved at a fairly quick pace so that it was definitely a work out, but we also took frequent enough breaks that it didn't overwhelm any of us. After moving away from the mountain-wall and crossing two rickety suspension bridges we reached a valley in which we stopped and ate lunch. Mountains rose all around us and yet created no shade at all, so a few of us hiked on a little further to find a cooler place to eat. We ended up climbing up a steep hill that was obviously not part of the trail and found a place where a bit of rock jutted out and created some shade. From up there we could see the mountains surrounding us and all the way down into the city! It was a beautiful place to eat lunch. On the return we took a different way which unfortunately did not follow a water source and thus was extremely dry and hot. Still, it was nice to see more of the surrounding naturaleza and even nicer to relax into the air conditioned bus that would take us back to our Colegio in the center of Granada.
Overall it felt awesome to get out an exercise, and to see the wonderful mountainous earth on which Granada was built.
Today classes started again and I found to my excitement that practically everything we are learning in our Lit class, I have not only learned already, but I have studied in more depth than we will even reach in this class. Which means that for the next week at least I only have to concentrate on 4 instead of 5 classes! Which is good because I need to spend all my extra time finding an apartment!
Wish me luck!
Hanna
lunes, 31 de agosto de 2009
miércoles, 26 de agosto de 2009
La internet mejora la vida!
Hello everyone!
I am happy to be in a much better mood as I write this to you, from my own computer, in a lovely wifi bar that is actually open during siesta! In many bars you get food with your drink, here you get a free internet connection! So this blog will be much more exciting than the last.
UGR classes don't start until the end of September so until then we are taking classes that are set up by EAP (education abroad program) but are still taught by UGR professors. We have 5 different classes: Language, in which we work on our speaking skills; Reading Comprehension; History; Literature; and Grammar. Language, Grammar, and Reading Comprehension all make me feel like I'm back in first grade, but they're still fun. So far I haven't had any trouble speaking in front of the class and I remember all the grammar we've gone over. Unfortunately my ease in the classroom doesn't always translate to the real world and I find myself embarrassed and stuttering while I try to speak to native Granadinos. In reading comprehension we made an autoretrato, or self portrait, by writing a list (in Spanish, of course) of all the things we like. I've decided this is a truly excellent exercise if you are ever feeling sorry for yourself because sitting down and thinking for about ten minutes of only things that I like put me in truly the best mood. I've never enjoyed homework so much! Our history class is really interesting, it is great to get a strong historical foundation for the culture around me. Literature, on the other hand, is pretty funny. The professor is very passionate about literature, which I greatly respect, but he has a hard time creating a logical progression of ideas to present to the class. Still we have been reading a few things I haven't seen before, and a few that I have, so it's been a nice balance of being reminded of things I've already learned, and learning about some different pieces of literature. All the professors have so far done a great job of speaking slowly and including all the letters in the words they say, something very rare here in Southern Spain. The local accent is very different from the accent I have thus far learned. Sometimes it's almost as though people are speaking through a mouthful of cotton! "Voy para Granada" turns into "Vo pa Grana" and "hasta luego" turns into "ha lueo." Not to mention the fact that while S's remain the same, all C's and Z's turn into TH's. So "he comprado una constitucion" turns into "he comprao una constituthio." The also leave off S's at the end of words so that "los monos" turns into "lo mono" and you have to judge by context that the word is in fact plural. All that said, i do feel like I'm getting better at speaking the accent, and I am most certainly getting better at understanding it.
We have class mom-thurs 9am-2pm, then siesta from 2-5, then we usually do a cultural activity at 5:30. I thought people were perhaps exaggerating the Spanish siesta, but it is totally true that from 2-5 the entire city shuts down! People will still be walking around, but every restaurant, bar, bookstore, drugstore, mercado, etc will be closed. So most days we all stay in our rooms or nap at that time. This is also a good idea because siesta comes at the hottest part of the day, temperatures sometimes reaching 40* Celsius! We have really good air conditioning in our rooms though, so inside is always nice. So far our 5:30 activities have included buying cellphones (my number is 34644487961 if you have free international calls!), buying "fotos de carnet," and walking around the Albaicin. Fotos de carnet are tiny headshots, smaller than passport photos, that are used for almost everything around here. We will have to turn one in to each of our professors at UGR, two in to get our residence cards from the city, and two to get visa extensions from the country. The Abaicin, which i mentioned in my previous post, is truly beautiful. The streets are really hilly and narrow, which makes it dangerous to walk around late at night, but during normal hours these attributes add a really mystical ambiance to the area. Instead of restaurants the streets are full of "teterias," or teahouses, that serve a wide variety of teas, juices, and shakes. There are also small kabab houses that offer Shwarma, which are basically pita wraps. The stores of the Albaicin feel very Middle Eastern, with bright, flowing clothing, beautiful jewelry, and other more touristy chachca. We walked up into the heart of the Albaicin where we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the side of the Alhambra, a giant stone fortress dating back to the 13th century. We get to go walk around the inside of the palace tomorrow and I am so excited!
So far I have had a great time here, and I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to call this wonderful city my home!
More to come later,
Hanna
I am happy to be in a much better mood as I write this to you, from my own computer, in a lovely wifi bar that is actually open during siesta! In many bars you get food with your drink, here you get a free internet connection! So this blog will be much more exciting than the last.
UGR classes don't start until the end of September so until then we are taking classes that are set up by EAP (education abroad program) but are still taught by UGR professors. We have 5 different classes: Language, in which we work on our speaking skills; Reading Comprehension; History; Literature; and Grammar. Language, Grammar, and Reading Comprehension all make me feel like I'm back in first grade, but they're still fun. So far I haven't had any trouble speaking in front of the class and I remember all the grammar we've gone over. Unfortunately my ease in the classroom doesn't always translate to the real world and I find myself embarrassed and stuttering while I try to speak to native Granadinos. In reading comprehension we made an autoretrato, or self portrait, by writing a list (in Spanish, of course) of all the things we like. I've decided this is a truly excellent exercise if you are ever feeling sorry for yourself because sitting down and thinking for about ten minutes of only things that I like put me in truly the best mood. I've never enjoyed homework so much! Our history class is really interesting, it is great to get a strong historical foundation for the culture around me. Literature, on the other hand, is pretty funny. The professor is very passionate about literature, which I greatly respect, but he has a hard time creating a logical progression of ideas to present to the class. Still we have been reading a few things I haven't seen before, and a few that I have, so it's been a nice balance of being reminded of things I've already learned, and learning about some different pieces of literature. All the professors have so far done a great job of speaking slowly and including all the letters in the words they say, something very rare here in Southern Spain. The local accent is very different from the accent I have thus far learned. Sometimes it's almost as though people are speaking through a mouthful of cotton! "Voy para Granada" turns into "Vo pa Grana" and "hasta luego" turns into "ha lueo." Not to mention the fact that while S's remain the same, all C's and Z's turn into TH's. So "he comprado una constitucion" turns into "he comprao una constituthio." The also leave off S's at the end of words so that "los monos" turns into "lo mono" and you have to judge by context that the word is in fact plural. All that said, i do feel like I'm getting better at speaking the accent, and I am most certainly getting better at understanding it.
We have class mom-thurs 9am-2pm, then siesta from 2-5, then we usually do a cultural activity at 5:30. I thought people were perhaps exaggerating the Spanish siesta, but it is totally true that from 2-5 the entire city shuts down! People will still be walking around, but every restaurant, bar, bookstore, drugstore, mercado, etc will be closed. So most days we all stay in our rooms or nap at that time. This is also a good idea because siesta comes at the hottest part of the day, temperatures sometimes reaching 40* Celsius! We have really good air conditioning in our rooms though, so inside is always nice. So far our 5:30 activities have included buying cellphones (my number is 34644487961 if you have free international calls!), buying "fotos de carnet," and walking around the Albaicin. Fotos de carnet are tiny headshots, smaller than passport photos, that are used for almost everything around here. We will have to turn one in to each of our professors at UGR, two in to get our residence cards from the city, and two to get visa extensions from the country. The Abaicin, which i mentioned in my previous post, is truly beautiful. The streets are really hilly and narrow, which makes it dangerous to walk around late at night, but during normal hours these attributes add a really mystical ambiance to the area. Instead of restaurants the streets are full of "teterias," or teahouses, that serve a wide variety of teas, juices, and shakes. There are also small kabab houses that offer Shwarma, which are basically pita wraps. The stores of the Albaicin feel very Middle Eastern, with bright, flowing clothing, beautiful jewelry, and other more touristy chachca. We walked up into the heart of the Albaicin where we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the side of the Alhambra, a giant stone fortress dating back to the 13th century. We get to go walk around the inside of the palace tomorrow and I am so excited!
So far I have had a great time here, and I can't believe how lucky I am to be able to call this wonderful city my home!
More to come later,
Hanna
martes, 25 de agosto de 2009
Everything here is going great, the only problem is the frustrating lack of internet! There are currently 15 or more other students from my program here in the same internet cafe as me and the internet speed is truly suffering. Therefore with the ravaging rate of 1€ per half hour I won´t be able to write anything more than this apology today. Our language/spanish history classes started today and then we got a chance to walk up to the Albaicin, the area with the heaviest Arab influence, so I have a ton to write about. But as I said, I´m unable to write more right now! So forgive me, and expect some exciting entries later in the week.
domingo, 23 de agosto de 2009
Primera entrada--el viaje aqui y la ciudad de Granada!
Hola Familia y Amigos!
Today is my third day in Granada and I´ve finally decided a blog is a good way to let everyone know how I´m doing, especially since I will only be able to get to the internet when the impossible happens and I have a break from class at the same time as an internet cafe is open.
I took three planes to get here and each flight went very smoothly. The first night of my trip I had an overnight layover in Madrid and although I had planned on seeing the city I was so exhausted I went to sleep as soon as I was settled in my hotel--at 5pm! So early. But I needed it after 15 hours of being in planes and airports. The next morning, Friday the 21st, I flew into Granada. The Granada airport is really really tiny but they had the awesome option of a bus that went straight to the center of the city so I got to my new home with no trouble at all.
The Colegio in which I am staying is this beautiful old building complete with the old stone smell (the smell actually reminds me alot of Ralston Hall, silly as that may seem), center plaza with a fountain, and beautiful handmade sculptures everywhere. The rooms, on the other hand, are far from old! We each get a single room, no roommates, and our own bathroom! It is way beyond what I could have imagined. The only downside is that each room is provided with a garish orange blanket on the bed that keeps me awake when I let myself look at it.
So far, after a brief orientacion and a language placement test, we have spent all our time walking around Granada and getting to know our knew home. The city is beautiful! It has the perfect mix of really old historical buildings and newer buildings. I have seen some of the most narrow streets of my life here, and almost every street is paved with gorgeous cobblestones or flagstones. The pedestrian atmosphere is amazing, everyone walks in the streets while simultaneously cars speed down at 30mph, but it all somehow works out! People don´t get hit and cars don´t get in accidents (so far at least!). Granada is much bigger than I imagined and it´s very easy to walk all day and still not see the whole city, but at the same time it is a fraction of the size of Madrid so I still feel like I can get to know the whole city, rather than just a couple districts.
One of the coolest things about Granada that is not found nearly as much in any other Spanish city is the tapas bars. It is possible to sit down and order a coke for 2 € and get a mini pizza with it for free! So far I´ve gotten free pizza, calamari, grilled cheese, and jamon con queso. Jamon is the Spanish word for ham and it is literally the most common food here, so I guess I´m just gonna have to learn to like it!
The people here on my program are all from UCs so we all share in common a very strong love of California and a similar college experience, which makes it even easier for us to make friends. For the next few weeks we will be taking language and history courses through the program and we will continue living at the Colegio. After that we will all find our own pisos, or apartments, and start taking classes directly at the Universidad de Granada (UGR). The university starts at the end of September so soon the population of Granada will almost double with the influx of students!
I am already having a great time and I can´t wait to become more familiar with Granada and expand my travels to the rest of Europe!
Hasta luego, Hanna
Today is my third day in Granada and I´ve finally decided a blog is a good way to let everyone know how I´m doing, especially since I will only be able to get to the internet when the impossible happens and I have a break from class at the same time as an internet cafe is open.
I took three planes to get here and each flight went very smoothly. The first night of my trip I had an overnight layover in Madrid and although I had planned on seeing the city I was so exhausted I went to sleep as soon as I was settled in my hotel--at 5pm! So early. But I needed it after 15 hours of being in planes and airports. The next morning, Friday the 21st, I flew into Granada. The Granada airport is really really tiny but they had the awesome option of a bus that went straight to the center of the city so I got to my new home with no trouble at all.
The Colegio in which I am staying is this beautiful old building complete with the old stone smell (the smell actually reminds me alot of Ralston Hall, silly as that may seem), center plaza with a fountain, and beautiful handmade sculptures everywhere. The rooms, on the other hand, are far from old! We each get a single room, no roommates, and our own bathroom! It is way beyond what I could have imagined. The only downside is that each room is provided with a garish orange blanket on the bed that keeps me awake when I let myself look at it.
So far, after a brief orientacion and a language placement test, we have spent all our time walking around Granada and getting to know our knew home. The city is beautiful! It has the perfect mix of really old historical buildings and newer buildings. I have seen some of the most narrow streets of my life here, and almost every street is paved with gorgeous cobblestones or flagstones. The pedestrian atmosphere is amazing, everyone walks in the streets while simultaneously cars speed down at 30mph, but it all somehow works out! People don´t get hit and cars don´t get in accidents (so far at least!). Granada is much bigger than I imagined and it´s very easy to walk all day and still not see the whole city, but at the same time it is a fraction of the size of Madrid so I still feel like I can get to know the whole city, rather than just a couple districts.
One of the coolest things about Granada that is not found nearly as much in any other Spanish city is the tapas bars. It is possible to sit down and order a coke for 2 € and get a mini pizza with it for free! So far I´ve gotten free pizza, calamari, grilled cheese, and jamon con queso. Jamon is the Spanish word for ham and it is literally the most common food here, so I guess I´m just gonna have to learn to like it!
The people here on my program are all from UCs so we all share in common a very strong love of California and a similar college experience, which makes it even easier for us to make friends. For the next few weeks we will be taking language and history courses through the program and we will continue living at the Colegio. After that we will all find our own pisos, or apartments, and start taking classes directly at the Universidad de Granada (UGR). The university starts at the end of September so soon the population of Granada will almost double with the influx of students!
I am already having a great time and I can´t wait to become more familiar with Granada and expand my travels to the rest of Europe!
Hasta luego, Hanna
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