Skydiving

So today my best friend, Jessica, and I went skydiving. It was crazy and amazing. We had to rock-paper-scissors to see who would go first. Jess won. Just sitting there waiting took forever. I got a radio to see when she was jumping. I couldn't see them until they opened the parachute, which was a hott pink. Then it was my turn. I was already cold watching her. Going up was great. Another person was jumping too on my flight, but at 6000 feet lower than I was. I got to see her jump out. My first thought was "Ooo man." Then we went up until 10,000ft and it was my turn. I got hooked up to my tandem instructor, Keith. He was a great guy. Then he opened the door. I forgot where to put my hands. I kept grabbing on to things. I didn't want to get caught in the wind and just fall out. Then all of the sudden he jumped out and I was free falling through the sky at 120mph. It was crazy!! You can't breath through your mouth. It is pretty much impossible. Trust me I tried that. It was great though. The free-falling part was the best. It was amazing how fast it was to drop 5,000ft. I think it took 5 seconds. The funny thing was that he told me that at 6,000ft he would show me my altitude thing and that I had to pull the cord at 5000ft. I was like okay i can do that. I put my hand on the cord and was watching the dial drop. Then all of the sudden he pulled it and I was like it's not 5,000ft yet. Apparently he meant that between 6,000 and 5,000ft I was supposed to pull it. You can't tell me a certain number and mean something else. It doesn't work like that. Then we were floating through the sky. I was able to turn the parachute how I wanted. However, all of those turns do not do much for my stomach. It was here that I realized that I was freezing. Man was it cold. However, I was not going to think about that. The landing was perfect though. It was so soft. I always thought that it was going to be a little rougher. Maybe acquire a bruise somewhere. Nothing!!! Wow!!! Recommend it to everyone.

Thanksgiving Break

This Thanksgiving Break was amazing. My family and I went to Denver. Thursday we went to a Denver Broncos game. They finally won after a losing streak. It was because I was there obviously. haha. However, the worst part was the guy sitting next to me. He was leaning way over into my seat. He kept asking me "Is this really your first game?" Every 10 seconds. Yes, yes it is. It is the same answer as the last time. I think he was possibly high and for sure drunk. Anywho, Go Broncos!!! Then on Friday I was able to tan! It was amazing. I even got a tan line. I was wearing shorts and it was almost December! We went hiking in the mountains. Then on Saturday night we went downtown Denver. The weather was just amazing.

Living History Farms Race

This weekend my parents and my sister came up to run in the Living History Farms Race with me. It is a 7 and a half mile cross country course. We left the hotel on time but apparently at the same time as everyone else. So we sat on the interstate forever and finally we had to run the remaining mile and a half to the race or we would be late. So we did a warm-up on the interstate. My mom was already complaining about the warm-up. So funny. There is a cap of 7500 people for this race. We placed ourselves in the back. I was determined to see my mom's reactions to this race. It took about 15min to just make it to the start line. Then for the first couple miles you are so crowded. Then you come to a tunnel and you just stop. This race has a lot of stop and go time. We ran through some corn fields and some forest trails. The best parts were the rivers. You have to go through quite a few rivers and climb the banks on the other side. It becomes so muddy by the time thousands of people before you have gone. At one point I lost my shoe in the mud and had to dig it out. I was covered in mud by the end of the race. The race was so worth it though. My mom's reactions were priceless. I think that was the best part.

Halfway through Fall of 2009

So we just had fall break here and it was amazing. I think it was too short though. I felt like I had just gotten home and I had to leave again. I got a lot of errands done, and laundry. It was a good thing too because I was starting to run out of clothes. I did get to change my wardrobe though! I now have clothes and jackets for the winter, but it has been in the 60's and 70's this week. Weird considering we have had a couple of weeks of freezing temps and continuous rain. I was able to watch Paige play volleyball and Chris play football, but due to the rain the band didn't perform. I never got to see Paige march. I went four-wheeling with the guys. That was interesting and scared the crap out of me. I don't even think we did anything that hard either. At least that is according to my dad. So, according to me we DID do stuff that was difficult. I mean driving the thing is hard in itself. My hand and arms were sore for two days afterwards from gripping the clutch and holding the gas. At one point we were going up a trail that turned into a V due to water drainage. I managed to be only on the two-diagonal wheels of the four-wheeler. Then next thing I know I was on my back looking up at an almost vertical four wheeler right above my head. I almost died. if that four wheeler did land on me I had a little 8th grader who, no offense to him, has not quite gone through any sort of puberty yet and would not have been able to lift that thing off of me. I will admit that I was ready to be done after that but unfortunately we had to ride all the way back to the trucks first. It was great though. I did manage to see a really cool wound. I was probably the only one who thought it was cool. Luckily I am trained in First Aid and CPR, but they still trusted my dad more than me to tape it. Whatever. One guy was trying to go up a steep hill (one that I didn't even think it was a path) and hit a ravine and went backwards. The four wheeler came and landed on his leg. All of the guys were checking out the stupid four wheeler, because the wheel came off. I, however, checked out his leg. You could see the muscle and fat sticking out, and then you could see all the way down to his bone. It wasn't even bleeding that much Pretty cool.

Homecoming Weekend

So my school doesn't have a lot of traditions, but they do have one tradition that is quite something. It happens on the Friday of homecoming. It is called the Lemming Race. People dress up in the weirdest outfits, usually whatever shows the most skin for the guys. They start at the fountain of our library and run into the pond. Most of them are totally drunk, but the things we do to entertain ourselves. I uploaded the video from this years race. I had friends run in it. Eventually you will see people running in pink the opposite way of everyone else. They are supposed to be salmon swimming upstream.

3rd year

So life isn't as interesting now. I mean I just lived in Granda, Spain for 4 and a half months, then moved to Holland, MI for 3 months. And now I am back at school. How boring. Being it is my third year the teachers are letting me know that they expect close to perfection and almost my entire life devoted to their class. But hey whatever. I am taking Principles of Marketing, Medical Anthropology, Sports Management, Psychology Statistics, and Exercise Prescription/Fitness Assessment. The last one is the most interesting. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 7 in the morning I head down to the gym. Tuesday is lecture and Thursday is application. So far I have learned how to take blood pressures and have done the YMCA bike test three times!! Eventually we will be doing a max vo2max on the treadmill, where literally run until you collapse, skinfold tests to measure % body fat, and underwater weighing also to measure body fat. It's a great class. I really learn a lot about my partner. haha. This past Sunday I played in the powderpuff tournament for homecoming. It got super intense. It was only flag football, but I have plenty of bruises of full contact attacks. We played football from 2-8. We got 3rd place, but I could barely walk back to my dorm afterwards, and yesterday I was so sore. I didn't want to move, I walked like an old lady. Today I am still sore. BUT it was so much fun!! Also, I have been "sick" for almost one month now. I have a smoker's cough, and the doctors don't know what is wrong with me. I feel fine I just have a nasty cough. so dumb. this picture is from one of the food fights that I have done so far this semester!!

One Week Remaining

So I am heading into my last week of camp. It has been fun, and Michigan is gorgeous. I am going to miss seeing Lake Michigan sunsets every night. Last weekend, a friend from camp and I went backpacking up in Northern Michigan. (btw we sang Kid Rock's song the entire time beings that we were there. "It was summertime in northern Michigan" haha) We got there and all the backcountry spots were full so we had to do real tenting. It was kinda sad bc we were so ready for it. Everything for the weekend was in two backpacks. So we pitched the tent and only took one pack with us and hiked. The first day we hiked 9 miles. Really pretty. Then the 2nd day we found a trail that was entirely sand dunes. No shoes, but it was difficult. My calves were feeling it. On our way up there we saw tons of dirtbikes and fourwheelers, and I knew that my dad and brother would be super jealous that I was there. Chris keeps telling me he will stop by to visit then be on his way with the 4wheeler to the dunes. So yeah, only one week left. Crazy. Sorry I can't put pics up because I didn't know we could bring computers.

Week 6 of Camp!

Alright this week is a split week, meaning that they are younger campers who only stay for half the week so I can check my email on Wednesday!! Also, it is Counselor In Training week, so I have a high schooler with me at all times!! This last week was staff retreat. We went to a Whitecaps game (minor league baseball for those of you who don't know, I didn't) They won in case you were wondering. Yeah only 3 and a half weeks left. It is so weird though. HALF WAY through the summer. I do love Lake Michigan though and I sure am going to miss that. AND it is almost August crazy!! Last week I got the chance to swtich and do Day Camp for a week. I loved it. My kids were great and was a good refresher to get out of the same routine of every week. At nights then I went over to the Pines side (which is the middle-school age) and I ate and sang with them, then read a story to them for bed. Not going to lie it was kinda weird because that is my sister's age and I don't know if I would read her stories before going to bed BUT I tried to pick the most boring one so they would fall asleep!! AND it worked. I am so good! haha.

Happy 4th of July

So we just finished Rainbow week here. It is a week where kids from backgrounds that would not normally let them go to camp (let alone a Christian camp) get to come for free. It was super tiring and COLD!! We had pool parties every day. So in the morning we jump into Lake Michigan, then in the afternoon we have optional swim time which I happened to be there for every time, and then at night we had pool parties. So we froze at least three times a day. It was exhausting. I was lucky enough to have a good group of girls. I never had any break outs or anything. It was pretty good.

Week 2

Okay so week 2 has passed. It went by with a lot more ease. I kinda know what is going on now. BUT this coming week is rainbow week, which is kids from the inner city Chicago that come here for free. It is going to be a lot different from the usualy type of campers!! BUT IT WILL BE AWESOME!!!! so yeah. It is awesome. The getting up early is getting easier. I think I might have caught up from Spain already. It was a hott week this week making all camp games hard. Running after this group of kids. I think they put all the super fast kids in the same group. It is a good workout to chase these kids at least twice a day. Polar Bearing was amazing this week though. It was so hott and humid that the lake felt nice in the morning. Everyone went every single day. So I love the kids here. It's a lot of work but it's super rewarding.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Alright, so the first week of camp has gotten over and I am exhausted. WOW!! I didn't realized that I would be sleeping this summer. haha. (I really do just not much) I get up at like 6:30 every morning and have to be happy ( and if you know me I am not a morning person) in order to go dunk myself into the 50 degree Lake Michigan. yeah!! EVERY MORNING. except when campers are not here of course. Then our days are completely packed until we put the kids to be and get some last minute stuff done and then we ourselves get to finally go to sleep. Every day I don't know where the energy is coming from but it is God saying alright you can do this. so we do it again. It is so much fun though. and I enjoy hanging out with the girls. I had the most well-behaved group this week and I was grateful for that. And these girls ask the hardest questions. WOW!! I love it though!!

Orientation Week

so I just got done with orientation week at Camp Geneva in Holland, Michigan. It has been good and I am ready for the campers to come which is tomorrow!!! I have met tons of cool people there are 80 college students working here this summer. It is pretty spiffy here. One day we got try out the challenge stuff. It was so much fun. WE have something called the island. It is only for the middle school students so I will not be using them this summer. BUT there is the tower. a rope net that you climb to a lookout over the little pond and the camp. Then there is the zip line. Which glides right into the water. AND my favorite the blob. You sit on one end in a crouched position and wait for someone to come jump on the other end and send you flying. I aksed someone who is about 130lbs bigger than me to blob me. I went so high!!! I loved it but it was a stinger when I landed haha. I am so pumped for this summer.

Quick and Last Update from Spain

Okay, so it is 1145 Wednesday morning. I just finished my last final and have some errands to run yet today. Tonight my bus to Madrid leaves at 7. It is 5hrs long. Then, a friend and I have to carry all of our junk through the Madrid metro and we have to hurry before it closes. haha. I will then be sleeping in the airport, how fun, until my plane leaves at 745 Thursday morning. Then I will be in London until my plane leaves for Madrid at 605 in the morning on Monday. then that same day I will get on my flights back to the states. I land in Minneapolis at 11pm Monday night. (Which really it is longer that, it´s just the time change. I think it will be about 30hrs of traveling not including the drive back home from Minneapolis. how fun.)

Finals Week Has Officially Began

Okay, so as of today we started our finals. You know what I don´t get, Who decided to have finals the last week of school?? I mean really. How am I supposed to enjoy the rest of the time I have here if I have to be stressed over finals. HAHA. oh well. I am packing it all in anyways. I have one done and 4 more to go. Then on Wednesday night of the 20th I am leaving my host family to meet up with a friend, Meggan DeJong, in London until Monday the 25th when I return to the states.

Spring Has Arrived Here!!!

Well, the day to go back home is coming fast!!!

I return to the States the 2th of May.

These last couple weeks have been a blast: I got serenaded by some Spanish men in medieval outfits, went to the Day of the Cross with everyone dressed in traditional Spanish outfits, had a talent night, one of many good-bye parties, a concert by a Spanish-Idol, and enjoyed the amazing weather here!!

Paris

Thursday, April 9- Monday April 13 I was in Paris!! I met up with my cousin, Katie, at hour hostel. She is studying in Italy right now. The entire weekend we were like “we met up in Paris for the weekend!! Crazy!” On Friday, we did a free tour in the morning. Then in the afternoon we went in the Notre Dame. Friday night we went to the Louvre. Apparently we missed getting in for free by one week. They just changed it so that 18-26 year olds from Europe only got in free. How dumb. Oh well, I saw the Mona Lisa and some other famous stuff. It’s the biggest museum in the world. Saturday, we came back the Notre Dame to go up. We saw the gargoyles and the bell tower. Then we went to the Eifel Tower. The lines are forever long, but we made it. We went up the tower. There are so many people in that thing!! It was my favorite part of the trip!! I took so many pictures of it!! Haha. Sunday, we tried to go the catacombs but it was closed for Easter. Makes sense, but everything was closed for Easter!! We spent the day in the park: watching runners go by while we ate our lunch, watching kids sail their boats on the pond, and watching tennis matches. Later that night we walked around the Montmartre district, famous for the Moulin Rouge, artistic district, and the Sacre Coure (a white cathedral on the highest part of the city). At the Sacre Coure there was a band playing music (American of course). We watched that for awhile. He was pretty good. On Monday, Katie left right away. I had time to kill, so I went to see the Eifel tower again, and found the mini-Statue of Liberty. I totally recommend Paris!! Amazing city. (BTW I had a nearly lost voice during the entire trip)

Semana Santa

Tuesday, April 7 and Wednesday, April 8 I was in Granada. Well it was Semana Santa (Holy Week). In Spain, it is a BIG deal. There are processions all week starting on Palm Sunday to Easter. Brotherhoods from churches around the city each had their own procession. It consisted of people wearing Ku Klux Klan outfits, women wearing all black, people carrying crosses, a band, little kids keeping the candles lit, and other people that I have no idea what they did. Then there was the big part of the procession: THE FLOATS!! Some had two floats, others one. Each float represented something. Usually according to the day, a float matched what happened to Jesus. Like on Palm Sunday there was one with Jesus riding a donkey. But of course this originated as a Catholic festival so the Virgin Mary is the big thing. Her floats were always grand with tons of candles. People would yell “Viva la Virgin” (long live the virgin) and “guapa” (hey good-looking). People would carry the floats on their backs from like 4pm-1am approximately. And they would move to the beat of the band. There was a person that led the floats with a knocker. To tell them when there were stairs, or when to turn, etc. The streets of Granada were packed though. It was crazy!! So many people. It definitely beat Tulip Festival.

Morocco!!!

Hey Everyone!! Sorry it has been so long. It has been a crazy Spring Break!! I loved it. I have 3 new blogs about the different sections of my Spring Break. Hope that Easter treated everyone well!!
Well on Thursday, April 2 we left for Algeciras. It is a coastal town of Spain. This is where we met our tour guides for Morocco.
On Friday we took a ferry to Africa. Yeah we are that close to Africa!! We came into the port of Tanger. The first thing we did was go to the open-air market. We picked up some snacks for the trip. Then we went to a center that helps single women. There we met up with some students studying English. We were able to ask them questions about their lives and Morocco. A couple interesting things are: to come as a missionary to Morocco is illegal and punishable; it is illegal for Moroccans to talk bad about God, the king, and the country; for a Moroccan to leave the country it is nearly impossible, it might cost them 400 euro (about $600) to just get a VISA to leave their own country not including a VISA to get into another country and travel expenses; they have 2 national languages Arabic and French, however, the Arabic that they speak and write are different. I learned some Moroccan Arabic. Shukran=thank you, b’slammah=good-bye, salum uualikum=hello. Then we got to ride CAMELS!!! They are awesome. The best part of the trip, for sure!! We then went to Rabat and met our host families. They were so nice. How they eat: there is a bowl with meatballs, potatoes, etc in the center and you take pieces of your bread and grab it out of the bowl.
Saturday, we did some touring of ruins in the morning. We ate with our host families for lunch. In the afternoon we met up with some kids how are studying English and they showed us around the town of Rabat. What they do for fun and stuff. We went to a pool bar and played pool. Later that afternoon, a girl from Full-Bright Scholar doing a study on abortion in Morocco and a Peace Corp guy from Morocco told us about what they do there. Then we went to a Hammam. It is a public bath that they go to at least once a week. It’s interesting that is for sure.
Sunday, we went to a small village and talked (through a translator of course) to the people there. It was way up in the mountains and had a beautiful view. Then that night we went to Chefchaouen. It is a town in the middle of the mountains. Pretty touristy. I ate SNAILS!! They are actually pretty good, but you can see their little eyes and mouths, a little creepy when you are going to eat them.
Monday, we left to go to Ceuta, a Spanish city in Africa. We had to walk across the border. We literally had to push-and-shove our way to the front of the line to cross. It took almost 2hrs!! It was awful, but because we were Americans we actually made it through fast!! I can’t imagine waiting that long and then being denied to cross and then coming back the next day to do it again.

Mid-Terms Week

¡¡¡Hola todos!!! okay, so Thursday I did my annual salsa dancing. I know that I tell you that every time, but I just have so much fun there. Sometime I will video it and put it on here, of course that will be when I look really, really good. haha. Man I love it, I think that Pella needs a salsa bar. Maybe I should look into that. Maybe Des Moines has one?? Anyone know?? On Friday I tried some more ice cream. All of the ice cream shops are opening up now. So good!! The rest of the weekend I have spent studying. We have mid-terms this week. We only have two tests during the entire time that we are here. So they are kind of a big deal. The have questions and you are supposed to write everything that you know about it. Or so we were told. So, I studied a lot!! I had to study the actual curriculum of the class, my spanish grammar to make sentences, and a lot of vocabulary. a lot. Well, this morning I had my Business class. I studied a lot for that test. It turned out to be a joke. Then later today I had my writing and talking class. Another joke. They were getting me all nervous for these tests and it turns out that I didn´t need to study that much. BUT I tell you what, I think that my spanish has improved tremendously this weekend due to all the studying that I have done. Oh well 2 down 3 to go!! And then on Thursday I leave for Morocco!! I can not wait. I return on Monday then on Wednesday I leave for Paris. So I will not be writing next week. And in between I get to see a little bit of Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain. It is a huge deal here. Sorry guys I know how disappointed you are. haha. Just say "Yes, Brittney, we are so dissapointed" oh, and guess what. I learned a song on the guitar!! yeah, yeah. "This is the air I breath" or if Rachel is saying it "this is the ivory" I can never understand her British accent.

Another Week Goes By

So, I have sort of gotten into a routine and I find it hard to write this blog. I mean you don´t want to hear about all of the normal routine things of life, and I really don´t want to write about them. One of the most exciting things that happened this last week was on Tuesday i was so sick. I haven´t been sick like that for awhile. So I stayed in bed the entire day. Luckily it was the one day that my class was cancelled, so instead of enjoying all of my free time. I slept!! Yeah, how fun. On Thursday a group of four of us signed up for a bike ride. We were thinking we were going through the mountains, Well we signed up for the wrong one. Very Easy!! We rode around the town on bikes. And yes it was easy as in not physically draining, BUT I have so much more respect for the bikers now. Riding through the city on a bike is dangerous!!! And to top it off they have the smallest seats on those bikes. I still have bruises on my butt from that ride!! Mostly i have been attempting to study for midterms coming up next week. I say attempting because I actually haven´t done any studying yet. I friend told me about the college library. I think that I will try to find that and check it out. On Sunday we went to the beach. It was so cold and windy!! But I mean still gorgeous. And to top it off, it is only an hour away!! i mean Granada comes with everything: mountains and beach and history and no snow and yup everything. Also, on Friday a friend of mine gave me a moped ride through Granada and in part of the country. Wow, it was amazing. I could never drive in the streets. I would always go the wrong way!! It was my favorite part of the week. And it was one of the things that I wanted to do when I came to Europe!! It was awesome!!

Hott Hott Hott!!!

So it has been crazy warm here!! Amazing, but warm.
-On Thursday, Brigitte and I did our weekely trek to the salsa place for our free lessons. We met some people from the University here and they took us to a Kareoke Bar. It was amazing. We sang a duet, Summer Nights from Grease and everyone new the words.
-Friday a bunch of us went up to the Sierra Nevada again for some more sledding. It was so hott in the mountains.
-Saturday we had a trip to Sevilla. It is a gorgious city, but we only got 4 hours to see it. But it was okay because it was over 90. I don't understand Spanairds. How can they were so many layers and dark clothes all of the time. I was sweating like crazy!! On Saturday night we had a Flamenco show. It was quite amusing. It told the story of Aladdin, but there was contemporary interpretive dance in it. Jafar came out doing the splits and acting like a tiger. It was hilarious.
-Sunday, Tosha's senora wasn't there so I went and hung out at her piso. It was amazing.

Also, Happy Father´s Day. It was Dad´s day in Spain on Sunday.

Another Week Goes By

Hey everyone. Alright. So last week it was freezing here. By freezing I mean 50· and pouring rain everyday. It was a monsoon and so windy. I couldn´t use my umbrella because it would flip inside out. For my service learning. It is about a half hour to 45 min walk. I was completely drenched by the time I got there!! BUT then on Saturday, it was so beautiful and HOTT!! It was 85·!! haha. And it has been about 80· everyday since!! I know that you all are jealous. Let me tell you, this year I will be tanner before my sister!! Yes, Paige, I am talking about you.
Here in Granada, there is an awesome museum!! It is a science museum and in every exhibition there are interactive things. We spent quite a few hours in there. haha. We are such nerds. On Sunday, Tosha and I were just laying in the grass in the park. then later on a group of people from the church came out with their drums and guitars. We just sang with them whenever we knew the song. But mostly they would be singing Spanish and we were in English, and the pauses are at different times. So we probably made it sound worse. oh well. On Monday, we had our first IM VB game!! We dominated. Actually it only took like 10 min. Oh, and also, I have an intercambio now!! An intercambio is a person who is trying to learn English and we talk to each other to improve our language abilities. It is so much fun!! And I officially took the city bus by myself to the edge of town and back. I was successful, BUT my busdriver obviously wasn´t paying attention to the construction roads because we had to turn around. Hence, the busdriver made me late for class. I would have been on time, really, but the driver wasn´t paying attention. But other than that, it was a major accomplishment for me!!
I know that this is a really random post. But these are the highlights of my week. And trust me, many of these things are very BIG deals. Just a reminder they don´t speak English here.

Already March!!

I can not believe that it is March already!! Time is flying by so fast. Well, this last week was so busy!! On Monday I pretty much had class from 8:30-8. It was crazy!! Then on Tuesday, I had only two classes, but the rest of the day I spent learning a Step routine. I am going to join the Step group that the church has. Starting in April they do performances around Spain with other dance groups or music groups. IThey use it as street evangelism. It is going to be awesome!! Wednesday, I have all of my classes and I began my volunteering that day as well. I volunteer at a place for physically disabled people. I pretty much go there to spend time with the people. I can't do much else, because my spanish isn't good enough. This last Wednesday, there were two girls from the University of Granada and we each had pushed a wheelchair to a plaza close by and took them out for drinks. It was amazing. They guy that I pushed, Mateo, can't talk, but he absolutely loves walks. He was smiling the entire time that we were walking. Thursday, I did more step. Thursday night Brigitte and I went to a salsa club. We got there just in time for lessons. We take turns being the guy. We are going to go every week as many times as we can until the end of the semester. Hopefully, we will be fairly decent be the end, and the locals wont look at us like we are crazy guiris!!! haha. Friday, I had to go the Alhambra again for History of Art class. Yeah!! Saturday, I had Step practice, and then Friday night was youth group at the church. It is awesome. But it has been a crazy, busy week. And this week is going to be just like it!! I like busy though makes things interesting. (this is a picture of Tosha and I at Step practice on Friday)

My Birthday Weekend

Alright, so my birthday was on Friday and I do not have classes on Fridays. It´s awesome how that works out. In the morning Brigitte, a friend from Central, and I went to the Huerta de Rasillo. It is a place for people with physical disabilities. We set up our Service Learning times, and hung out with the people for awhile. They were celebrating the festival in Cadiz. This festival is crazy. It is a week long, and people dress up in costumes. Pretty much is a massive costume party. Later that night, I got a call from one of my friends saying that they were outside my apartment with a present for me. I was thinking the worst, so I put some running shoes on just in case. I got down there and they made me a huge chocolate cake!! haha. (It´s half-gone already!!) This is pretty much the only sugar that I get here, unless I have hot-chocolate. Then a few of us went out for ice cream and then went salsa dancing. Our salsa dancing is stand right next to a good dancing couple and try and copy what they do. BUT they do it so fast that I lose track of where the arms and everything are supposed to go. If you are lucky, you will be asked to dance by the instructor, and he can make you look like you know what you are doing. It´s amazing!! haha.

The rest of the weekend was a blur. On Saturday, it was so hott!! (PS I am tanner already. Yes be jealous) I sat in the sun for four hours in the morning, and watched the Step practice of the group from church. The combination of a lot of sun and Spanish drained me. I took a three hour nap, then slept for 10hrs that night!!

February 20

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

¡¡¡¡¡Feliz Cumpleaños a mi!!!!!

Sledding!!

So on Saturday I went sledding in the Sierra Nevada. It was set up for the youth in the church that I attend here. It took forever to got up to the slopes because there were so many people heading up there. It was so nice. We stepped off of the bus, and it was like 60 degrees. I brought way too much clothing for this trip!! A couple of us decided we were going to walk up to the sledding hill. Not joking, but I laid down in the snow, and tanned. It felt like I was at the beach. I had a t-shirt and thin pants on. It was crazy!! We got up there and we bought a little butt-sled. This sled is awesome. You sit on it and have to lift your feet up to go down!! At the bottom of the hill was a wall of snow to stop you. If you go over it, you run into cars. So you have to stop yourself. Then you walk back up, but you have to be careful, because there are people coming from every direction. You have to jump out of the way to not get hit. haha. It was amazing. I have so many bruises on my butt and back from that little sled!!

(PS. I have begun to put some pictures on my facebook. So you can look at those there. They are not all of them.)

The First Days of Classes

Alright...on Monday and Tuesday and just hung out in the city of Granada and did pretty much nothing. I caught up on emails. WOW!! Now I know why I check my email all of the time at school. I also ran. haha. I haven´t ran since I left the states. I am pretty sore.
--okay, so there is this cute park that is a couple of blocks from my house. I go and run around this park. It´s not very pretty right now, because there are no flowers, BUT it´s sufficient enough. Well, I don´t know if most of you know this, but I kind of don´t really like dogs. I mean they are fine if they mind their own business, but if those dogs bark. Yeah, I am out of there. Well, I was running, and this tiny little black dog starts chasing me. I mean he is barking, and jumping on my legs. I just stopped. I thought it was going to bite me. The owner was this little old man. He was laughing at me so hard, that he couldn´t call his dumb dog back to him. so yeah, even the tiny, black dogs are dangerous.--

On Wednesday I started my classes. LOVE them. My art history teacher made us sing a Spanish song on the first day of class. He is the best teacher so far. Here is my schedule¨:

Monday-Wednesday
8:30-10:00 Spain Business
10:00-11:30 Grammar
11:30-1:00 Islamic Culture in Spain
3:30-5:00 Oral and Writing

Tuesday-Thursday
11:30-1:00 Art History in Spain

Tutoring at 6 on Monday
Intercultural Relations at 2:30 on Monday
Granada Seminar at 7 on Monday
Phonetics at 5 on Wednesday

Then eventually I will have service learning on Tuesday and Thursday as well.

Nothing on Fridays!!!

Madrid-Dublin

Alright so last Saturday we went to Madrid.  When we got there we went to the Museu del Prado.  It was alright.  To be honest I'm not that interested in art.  BUT no worries, I will be taking a History of Art class.  fun, fun.  Then the rest of the day we walked around the town.  On Sunday we were supposed to go to another town, but due to snow it was cancelled.  We went to the worst museum ever.  It was being remodeled, so there were only like three exhibitions open.  Don't worry it was free. Pretty much hung out at our amazing hotel that we were staying in most of the day.  That night we went to the strangest theatre show ever.  One, it was in Spanish but it was so weird.  The short version is that there was the queen who stayed in her bed the entire time.  Her son wanted her dead so that he could become the next ruler.  He was married to an American women (lots of American jokes).  They had a daughter who was gothic.  She was so weird.  The queen had a helper lady who she ended up marrying in the end.  the helper had a son, who was actually the son of the queen's son.  The helpers son and the other daughter got married, but they were siblings.  Yeah. weird.  On Monday we went to the Royal Palace.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The rest of the day, Tosha and I went to look for a hostel for that night.  We found an amazing little place for the two of us.  

Then on Tuesday we left for Dublin.  We arrived there, and the people are so nice.  I mean really nice.  Wow.  That night it snowed so we didn't do much.  The next day we toured the entire city of Dublin.  amazing.  My favorite thing that I saw was seeing a page of a Bible dating 150AD.  It was the oldest known until the found the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 60's.  It was so cool.  In our hostel which was amazing btw.  (If anyone goes to Dublin stay in Abrahamson house)  We had 3 french girls, 2 spanish girls, and a northern Ireland girl.  They were all very nice.  On Thursday we went on a bus tour to the country of Ireland, which was covered in snow.  But still everything was green.  That night we went to the airport,but all the flights were cancelled  due to the snow.  We slept in the airport that night.  We were there for almost 24hrs.  They don't have snowplows in Ireland.  We returned to Spain early bc it was supposedly worse in London.  It has been great though.  I am glad that we returned early.  

I Passed!!

Okay so the first two weeks of studying and taking Spanish classes paid off. I passed into the level that I wanted to be in. So now I am in the middle level, lengua y cultura, and I don´t have classes on Friday, I take two spanish classes and three other classes in spanish, I will get my art credit done here, and I have a week of vacation time right now.

Right now I am in Madrid, Spain on an excursion with our group. On Tuesday Tosha and I are going to be leaving Madrid for Dublin, Ireland and eventually work our way to Wales and Great Britain. I´ll be sure to tell you all about the adventure. I have a week and a half worth of clothes and toiletries, etc. in my little backpack. haha. It is going to be great. Please keep me in your prayers, as we brave the cold weather up north. It was freezing today here in Madrid. I think that it was about 38 and snowing. BRrrr. haha. hope that you all are enjoying your weather back home.

One Week

Okay, so it has been one week here in Granada, Spain. It is weird, but it feels like I have been here longer. The first test that we took last Monday was to decide what level of Spanish we were in for our two orientation weeks. Last week and this coming is completely orientation. I have not started my actual classes yet, and depending on what level I test into, determines when they will start. But that isn´t until February. For this first week of orientation we have been on a tour of downtown Granada, the Albaicin (the older part of Granada where the military section used to be and the parents of the king stayed to be well protected), Sacramonte (the church for the kings of Granada), and the Alahambra (the summer palace for the kings of Granada). Then we have a couple hours after the tours to eat, check mail, study, and get necesary tasks done. At 2:30 we start orientation classes. They are usually classes that we do as a group to get to know the city, the culture, what there is to do here, what is rude or not rude here, etc. At 4 our spanish review classes start and go until 7. After that the rest of the night we are free. I have gone out for tapas or shopped during this time. This is the perfect time to shop in Spain because they have set dates where in every store there are sales. They want to clean out all of their old stuff to make room for the new season. I go back to the apartment, which is only a 15 min. walk from the school, and eat at around 10. Then at 10:30 I meet friends somewhere to hang out. This has been what this first weeks was like.

My senora is older. Grandma age (for the US) She has four daughters and the two middle ones live with her. I would guess they are about upper 20´s lower 30´s. Her oldest daughter is married and has a son, who is studying to be a doctor. He said that after he is done with finals (which last a month here, so until the middle of February) he can be my intercambio. Where we talk in English for a half hour and Spanish the next. Then my senora has a youngest daughter, who lives farther away. She has a daughter, Candela, who is 1. They are staying at the apartment right now.

This last weekend I went to the church here, and it was amazing. I met people from all over the world. They are so nice and welcoming. They have a youth group which consists of youth ranging from 15-30. There are a lot of american students that attend there, and also south american immigrants. I didn´t get a lot out of the message, becasue it was all in spanish, but once a month they have a english sermon. Graciela, a girl that went to Central and who now lives here, is in the band at the church. She introduced us to everyone and took us to the best tapas bar in Granada. It was really good. And it never fails, in every country that I have been in they always are like what is your name. Brittney. Like Britney Spears. -- Everytime!! oh well, if that helps them pronounce my name. They can´t say it at all. And I had a lot of people ask me if I dyed my hair. haha. Blonde is not a normal hair color here.

My señora

Hey everyone. So on Sunday I met my señora and her two daughters. It is just us living in the apartment. I have a little room with a window into the pantry. She is very nice, but when she gets really excited she talks really fast and I can´t understand her. Some things that I have noticed that are very different already is that their biggest meal is lunch and is eaten at 2:30. Everyone comes home for work and they eat it together. Then supper is not eaten together, but is eaten at 9 usually in the houses but if you go out it is not until 10 at the earliest. When they eat. You sit on sofas next to a table with a thick tablecloth. Under the table is a space heater. I love it, but the rest of the house is freezing!! The TV is usually always on when they eat. When we walk to school at 9:45 the stores are starting to open for the day. Another thing that Ilove is a thing called tapas. They are everywhere. I usually go to the tapas places to use the free internet. It is cheaper to buy a drink then to buy time in an internet cafe.
We had our first classes yesterday. On Monday we took a test to see for the next two weeks what Spanish review classes we were going to be in. The classes are pretty good. Nothing special. We have been on two tours of Granada now (all in Spanish). During class yesterday, we watched Obama´s inauguration. I think that there is just as much coverage of the US in Spain as there is in the US.

I´m Here!!

Hi everyone!! I left on Friday morning and everything went pretty uneventful. I slept most of the way!! I randomly sat by someone who had studied abroad through Central 20 years ago. He said that he still keeps in touch with the friends that he made there. When we got to Frankfurt it was so easy to get through everything. Then arriving in Spain, this was the tricky part, we had to find the metro, find our way through the metro, and then find a bus that was to take us to Granada. Wow, pullyin 80 lbs behind me and carrying 20 lbs and trying to fight your way onto the metro. I got a good workout there. There was the biggest ramp in history!! I about died going up it. Then we had to find our bus. It was a 5hr bus ride, but it went by fast. We got here and found a taxi to our hotel. This guy did not want you to touch his doors. They were all automatic, and he got really mad if you opened it or shut it yourself. At the hotel they put us at the very top. We had to lug our suitcases up three flights of stairs. It was another killer. When we went to go eat, we had to figure out the tapas thing. What it is, you order a drink and then you get food with it for everyone at the table. Didn´t know that, but luckily there were some people who could translate for us, and they helped us get food. Then we went to bed, and slept for about 14 hours. haha. I was so tired. Today we got our phones!! I will probably never use it, but it is required to have. It is absolutely gorgeous here. There are the mountains on the edge of the city, and it is 50 degrees here!! Amazing!! I love it here so far. I can´t understand everyone yet, but that will come!! And sorry no pictures yet, I´m at an internet cafe.

Last Day in the United States

Yeah!! So I pretty much spent the entire day packing for my trip today. I am totally done, and I had my own personal packing critic, Paige. She sat next to me almost the entire time "helping" me pack. I think that she will actually miss me. haha. It is weird to think that I will be leaving in 9 hours. I will not be getting much sleep tonight. I had a hard time getting everything in my suitcases though. It turns out that 50 pounds is really easy to get to. So hopefully it will be fine otherwise I will do some last minute switching at the airport. I am not looking forward to the traveling. Also, I ask for everyone's prayers for the trip. I know that it is really cold, even for the planes, so I hope to get there without any troubles!! And my mom was sick on Tuesday and I DO NOT want what she had while I am traveling. That would be the worst trip EVER then.

Okay, so I leave on Thursday at 6AM from Sioux Center. I will be flying out of Minneapolis to Chicago to Denmark to Madrid. Then get on a 5 hour bus ride to Granada, Spain, where I will be staying. I haven't started packing or looking to see what I need yet. I have all day tomorrow.