Today started off as a typical Spanish day, ¡con mucha comida! The hotel had a big breakfast buffet for us. After breakfast we broke off into orientation groups. We got to meet the directors and student ambassadors of the program. Granada is the youngest host school for IES Abroad, only been around for about 5 years. But they seem to have there stuff together and I have no concerns. After orientation in the morning we had another buffet for lunch. Then we broke off again and played ice breaker games to get to know more about each other and Spain.
Around 4o'clock we were separated into buses based on what part of the city that we are living in and headed to Granada. It only took about 1:30 to get to Granada. When we got off the bus we were met by our host families. Mi madre is very sweet, she goes by Marivi. She doesn't understand any English and at times I feel like I don't understand any Spanish, but it is going well and we are able to communicate. We spent the afternoon/evening watching Spanish game shows on the television, which are pretty fun. There were some trivia shows where if you got the answer wrong the floor would open and you fall through it, game over! ¡Muy interesante!
Around 10o'clock Luis, Marivi's son, came home in time for dinner. Dinner was great! Marivi had made a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and green olives, and instead of dressing they pour olive oil on it. She also made tortilla espanola, basically an omelet of potatoes, onions, and eggs that is fried in a pan, and of course you cannot forget el pan, or bread which is typical of every meal in Spain. Fresh bananas, apples, pears, and kiwi was for dessert.
And now I am here sitting on my bed updating my blog. Hopefully tomorrow I will have some pictures for you!
¡Buenos Noches!
Nathan
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Mi primero día en España
¡Hola a todos! What a day! I had a good flight from Cincinnati to Paris. During security I made friends with an elderly woman who was on her way to Paris for her 5th time this year. We sat and talked until our flight left, she was full of information and knowledge. I had a pretty good flight. I got to take in some movies and eat some decent food. It was such a neat sight to look out the window at night as we flew over Nova Scotia. Through the clouds you could see pockets of towns with their lights on as well as the light of the moon illuminating the ice surrounding them. My flight actually landed in Paris about an hour early, which was great because Charles de Gaulle is not an easy airport to navigate. It was a lot of walking and asking directions to find the right gate.
The flight to Málaga was much shorter but was rougher. The 8 hour flight from Paris with a 6 hour time change and no sleep was rough enough and then to go do a 2 hour flight on a crammed, hot plane was not fun, but the destination was well worth it. Málaga is such a beautiful city. It reminds me a little of a Florida city right on the beach with all the palm trees, however; the builds are more unique and built out of different colors of concrete and stone, not a lot of new glass buildings. Our hotel is rather modern and different. It took my roommate and me about 10 minutes to figure out how to turn on our lights lol. It turned out that by the door is a slot that you have to place your room keys in to make the lights come on.
After checking in to the hotel, we all left for lunch and the beach. We ate at a small Chiringuito, which is basically like a small bar/restaurant on the beach. The food was cool. They brought the table bread, salad, fried calamari, and baby squid for appetizers. And for the entrée we had grilled chicken and french fries, (no ketchup, so I squirted lemon and lime juice on mine). It was all actually pretty good, I even ate the calamari and baby squid. The squid was probably my favorite it kinda tasted like chicken and the fried calamari was rubbery but still good. I wish I would have had my camera with me to show how they grilled their fish. Outside the restaurant they had an old boat that was filled with ash and wood that they grill the fish on, and that was typical for all the Chiringuitos on the beach.
After lunch, a group of 7 of us went and swam in the beautiful ocean and took an afternoon walk on the beach. There were tons of families out enjoying the sun and sand. After about an hour and a half on the beach we headed back to the hotel. We were supposed to have an evening session tonight where they gave us a tour of the city center, but when my roommate and I got back to the hotel and showered, we crashed for 3 hours finally trying to catch up with our jet lag and we missed the session, oops :P Once I finally woke up at 9:30 I went out on my own and walked the streets of Málaga and gave myself a tour of the city center. Life does not really start here until 10 or 11 at night so people were just beginning to come out for a night on the town. Everything was lit up and beautifully between the people sitting outside the bars, the shops that stay open late, the fountains all lit up or the many people flying around on scooters, It was definitely a unique experience.
I cannot wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me. We have orientation sessions all morning and afternoon and then we take a bus to our host city of Granada where we will get to meet our host families! Fingers crossed that tomorrow turns out to be as awesome as today was!
¡Chau! Nathan
The flight to Málaga was much shorter but was rougher. The 8 hour flight from Paris with a 6 hour time change and no sleep was rough enough and then to go do a 2 hour flight on a crammed, hot plane was not fun, but the destination was well worth it. Málaga is such a beautiful city. It reminds me a little of a Florida city right on the beach with all the palm trees, however; the builds are more unique and built out of different colors of concrete and stone, not a lot of new glass buildings. Our hotel is rather modern and different. It took my roommate and me about 10 minutes to figure out how to turn on our lights lol. It turned out that by the door is a slot that you have to place your room keys in to make the lights come on.
After checking in to the hotel, we all left for lunch and the beach. We ate at a small Chiringuito, which is basically like a small bar/restaurant on the beach. The food was cool. They brought the table bread, salad, fried calamari, and baby squid for appetizers. And for the entrée we had grilled chicken and french fries, (no ketchup, so I squirted lemon and lime juice on mine). It was all actually pretty good, I even ate the calamari and baby squid. The squid was probably my favorite it kinda tasted like chicken and the fried calamari was rubbery but still good. I wish I would have had my camera with me to show how they grilled their fish. Outside the restaurant they had an old boat that was filled with ash and wood that they grill the fish on, and that was typical for all the Chiringuitos on the beach.
After lunch, a group of 7 of us went and swam in the beautiful ocean and took an afternoon walk on the beach. There were tons of families out enjoying the sun and sand. After about an hour and a half on the beach we headed back to the hotel. We were supposed to have an evening session tonight where they gave us a tour of the city center, but when my roommate and I got back to the hotel and showered, we crashed for 3 hours finally trying to catch up with our jet lag and we missed the session, oops :P Once I finally woke up at 9:30 I went out on my own and walked the streets of Málaga and gave myself a tour of the city center. Life does not really start here until 10 or 11 at night so people were just beginning to come out for a night on the town. Everything was lit up and beautifully between the people sitting outside the bars, the shops that stay open late, the fountains all lit up or the many people flying around on scooters, It was definitely a unique experience.
I cannot wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me. We have orientation sessions all morning and afternoon and then we take a bus to our host city of Granada where we will get to meet our host families! Fingers crossed that tomorrow turns out to be as awesome as today was!
¡Chau! Nathan
Monday, September 3, 2012
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Spain I go!
It is officially departure day! My flight leaves Cincinnati at 5:40 and then I will be on my way to Paris, France. By tomorrow morning I shall be in Malaga, Spain! They say rain on a wedding day is good luck, hopefully that goes for flying as well :) This will be my first time flying alone as well as going out of the country. I am extremely excited as well as nervous, but nerves are good and this will be well worth it! I will try my best to keep everyone updated on here as well as on Facebook. Hopefully by Tuesday afternoon I will have landed and will be able to post again and upload some pictures of my first night in Spain! I will be six hours ahead of Cincinnati so I should be arriving while everyone back home is just waking up for the day.What an awesome opportunity that God has blessed me with. Thank you to all my friends and family that have been praying and helping me along my way with this new adventure in my life.
¡Hasta luego! Nathan
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