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)