Viviendo la Vida a Tope

Hacer Senderismo (Hiking)

2010-08-03T23:29:00.002+05:00

Of those 5 months in Spain, this was by far my favorite day. My roommate took this picture. This was the nine hour hike I mentioned before. 5 hours straight up the mountain to the top, and 4 hours straight down. I couldn't walk down the stairs of our piso for almost a week without holding onto the railing because of the tremendous beating my knees went through that day; however, totally worth it!
The people gathered at the bottom of the hill looking out puts the entire scene into perspective...amazing..
Adios

2010-08-03T23:22:00.002+05:00

HOMMMMMMMMMME sweet home.

I had an incredible time in Spain. The last two and a half months were perfect and I couldn't have asked for a better country to experience. Living in another area like that tho, really makes you appreciate home. Michigan is one of the most beautiful areas I have ever been, if not the most beautiful, and I'm so happy to be here for one more semester.

Anyway, luckily I've signed up for another spanish course at western to keep up on the language. I can't wait to start school! (really tho)

I have so many things to post yet but I will get to them. I have tons of pictures and little side notes for anyone thats interested in traveling to Europe. Next time I post something, I will make sure to post the websites through which I traveled and some other helpful things...hopefully they are helpful anyway..

HASTA LUEGO

El sur de Espana

2010-06-22T18:43:00.003+05:00

We took the train to Sevilla for one night after being in Granada for a week. In this picture is the Plaza de Sevilla. It was nice, however, there was so much construction, luckily you can't see it in the picture. We toured the Alcazar palace with THE most beautiful jardin I have ever been in, spent hours there, ate lunch, tanned, etc.; Christopher Columbus' grave is in the Cathedral here although somehow I missed the lookout that you can see from the Cathedral where you can see all of the city of Sevilla :( next time i guess. We also went out with a couple kids from Barcelona. On the walk to the bar, my brother had a tshirt on from The Point at Western and someone named Bob from Western saw it was like "uh, i live there" lol. Small world is an understatement. Those type of moments have happened to me so many times in my travels that you do really realize that things aren't separated anymore. It's not like you're completely secluded from where you live anymore because so many people are moving and traveling all over the world that you meet and see people all the time now.

Our hostel in Granada - AMAZING. We made dinners a couple nights with everyone and ate like a family. It was called Makuto and I would totally recommend it, i've attached the link here.

Trav's first TAPAAAAA in Madrid :)

BACKKKK!

2010-06-22T18:24:00.002+05:00

Back from our 12 day adventure! Trav and I had an amazing time. My brother got to experience all of Spain and the very top part of Africa. First we flew to Marrakech, Morocco for 5 days. This picture is one of the Palaces we toured. The Moroccan people speak many languages, but mostly french, arabic, and some spanish. It was nice to be able to use my spanish in another country when I could.

Basically all of the moroccan dinners are cooked in these Tajins (lined up here). We did have some amazing food. Lots of rediculously good bread, couscous, and extremely sugary tea. We went on a tour of the Atlas mountains. We ate breakfast at a Berber home with a family, learned how they made the tea and bread, and how they lived. It was in credible. Then we rode camels and hiked through the Atlas mountains to a gorgeous waterfall. When we were in Marrakech we stayed in a Riad, like an open air house basically. It was so peaceful waking up to the birds chirping on your windowsill...

2010-06-03T02:05:00.002+05:00

So i'm feeling spunky with the blog today. This is only because I've been studying for my Monday Macro final for the past 7 hours and I'm trying to take short breaks inbetween without completely leaving the piso.

anyway, yea, I don't know about this picture...lol but I put it on here because the important part of the advertisement is "...la vida es mas," and consequently why I am stopping studying to drink tea and watch a Ted talk with my roommate about the ocean....

Ps, www.ted.com, very much recommended if I haven't already done so..

Buenos noches, hasta manana :)

2010-06-02T18:53:00.002+05:00

As I mentioned before, Santillana also has incredible chocolate that families make and sell. Favorites: the chocolate con leche y higo (milk chocolate with figs) and the chocolate negro con arandanos (dark chocolate with blueberries) - can't beat that. The picture though, enough said..

:) Hasta pronto..

2010-06-02T18:33:00.002+05:00

There are a lot of really small towns all around Santander. I would recommend any of them. The one we went to this past weekend is Santillana del Mar. It's about 40 minutes from Santander. The bus ride was 5 euro total, there and back, and we spent the entire day just wondering. It's reallllly really teeny but they are known for their cheese and chocolate. Let's just say I wasn't prepared for another chocolate and cheese day like in Belgium but that's what it ended up being lol. Quesada is like a desert type deal thats in the shape of a brownie but it's cheese, eggs, and milk. It's kind of like a spongecake texture. You drink it with milk which is basically raw because they give it to you straight from their back yard - it was amazing!
We went to a little restuarant and got a half platter of cheeses to try, mind you, for the three of us. We couldn't even finish it, but it was delicious. They gave us thin slices of apple to try with it and this really good jam-type stuff too. As we were eating some lady came over and said "excuse me, are you girls American or English?" Apparently her table was having bets on where we were from...great to feel picked out like that but it happens almost every day so you get used to it. The lady had lived in the states for a while so could speak a little english, not much. We talked to her for a while and then she left. Two minutes later she came back to give us her card. She told us if we had any friends that wanted to teach her daughter English this summer to have them call her...SO, if anyone that reads this wants to live (probably free) with this, what seemed pretty well-off, family for the summer, send me a message and I can give you her contact information. She seemed very legite. After she had come over to us, they ended up buying us a bottle of Cidra (apple cider/beer stuff that they pour a particular way, very spanish). It was super nice of them.

Otra vez...

2010-05-28T01:40:00.003+05:00

I had a huge paragraph typed before I added these photos but for some KNOWN reason, that being the age and lack of strength of my computer, it deleted it all and kicked me out...

But, I will continue...The two photos at the bottom are of the beautiful Santander summer. My roommate had a friend come from the states and we were on a walk up the never ending mountain showing him around..The water glowed through the buildings so I had to take a shot here..The other is of the cove closest to my piso...people enjoying the sailing in the blue sea :)

The photos are of the most incredible day I've had yet..I might even say it beat Pamplona and Salamanca. Other places just can't beat the mountains in Cantabria!

We went on a 9 hour hike through the mountains near Burgos. I swear, the genuinely nice people of Santander are hikers and we were lucky enough to meet all of them for a second hike. There were two groups doing two separate hikes in different places this day. One group of ERASMUS students (which we avoided at all costs) and one group of older people that just hike for fun and exercise, and some local students who we've met before on other hikes. It was an absolute blast! My knees were RUINED, and my neck absolutely FRIED, but other than that, BEAutiful weather, wonderful company, and pure nature...what more could you ask for?

We climbed to the very top, all up hill..then marched straight down - to the point that you were leaning backwards to stay upright - but I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT.

It was 8.10 Euro for the guided hike and for the hour bus ride there and back. Can't beat that :)

Hiking Cantabria again, man I love the mountains..

2010-05-28T01:34:00.001+05:00

2010-05-28T01:31:00.000+05:00

CHEEEEESE

2010-05-19T23:24:00.002+05:00

[Queso shop in Pamplona]

Nothing makes me more happy than cheese....

seriously.

One great thing about commercial spain is that it still holds the NON-commercial shops and family run cheese shops, meat shops (carnicerias), fruit and vegetable shops (fruterias), and bread shops (panaderias), fish shops (pescaderias), etc. It was like this in Costa Rica as well depending on where you were and i think it's like this in most spanish speaking communities...Anyway, once you've found your niche it's nice to be able to consistently go to the same spot and see the same people. It helps build up the relationships with the store owners because, at first, people in northern spain aren't that friendly with you and rarely have any patience for your terrible accent and inability to speak. So, this is one way to get to know them and once they see that you're coming in on a regular basis they're (most, anyway) are a little friendlier and open with you. Even the ladies in the fruteria that I go to up the street are helping me with my "J" sound. I just can't seem to say berenjena (eggplant) correctly EVER. So they always correct me with the terrible throat noise of the J sound and get me to repeat it as I try not to spit all over the fruit in front of me....they don't seem to mind tho haha.

2010-05-16T15:38:00.002+05:00

Beautiful Bodega tour near Salamanca...quite amazing.

AND Paella!

2010-05-16T15:22:00.002+05:00

AMMMAZING feeling when you wake up and you've slept for almost 12 hours and didn't remember going to bed...hmm...getting sick but after a HUUUUGE moussaka dinner party with some great people from all over the world I was bound to sleep forever.

I've not been getting enough sleep during the week. Exams are coming up soon so I've been doing nothing but studying; however, the studying is quite non-sensical at times (if that makes sense), especially when your 2 accountancy professors give you assignments to do along with a WIKIPEDIA packet to help you.....I think that says enough about the program.

Anyway, I must pass my classes to graduate in December. School will be over before I know it and then off to Morocco and espana del sur. I'm slowly but surely running out of money lol I was unable to change my plane ticket to come home early since I have nothing much else to do in Santander. BUT I'm going to take advantage of it and travel. Maybe even do the WWOOF thing (work on an organic farm for a a week or so). Theres not exchange of money just work for my stay and food and sounds like an amazing experience :) So, I have options...

**ps, when buying an international plane ticket make sure to check the stipulations BEFORE you purchase it. I purchased mine through hotwire with the dates the university gave me, WHICH WERE WRONG. Go figure, but now i have an entire month to kill. I was trying to save money by changing my ticket but it turns out if you book through hotwire there are no loop holes to flight changes/date changes. Had I gone through someone else, or directly through the airline, maybe? I've already traveled quite a bit but luckily I still have enough money to make it and still be able to explore other pueblos and cities. Had I not had enough, I would be quite sad sitting in Santander for 4 weeks straight not able to travel. Anyway, June 7th (last exam) is riiiight around the cornerrrrrrrrrrrr. Can't wait!

2010-05-08T02:27:00.002+05:00

Santander during our one week of pre-summer..It was amazing. Raining for the next week but it's ooook because when it does become nice I can walk to where I took this picture in less than 5 minutes :)
So I finally went to the Carniceria to buy meat. The meat guy is AMAZING. He cuts everything for me and I had the best burgers ever tonight. 5 burgers for 3 Euro. Can't be that. If you find the right places in Santander you can actually get food for pretty cheap...however, sometimes thta means going to 10 different places which no on really wants to do with not car but, It's always possible.
School has been a lot of work lately. Presentation went ok on Thursday and I had my Intensive spanish exam tonight which I'm sure I aced. Hoping to continue my spanish when I get back with a course or two.
Anywayyyy enough rambling..........questions commentssss??? I'm getting a bit bored of my own blogs...haha. But I will keep posting things that I find in Santander or in Spain and I'll keep posting pictures. I am hopefully going to Barcelona in a couple of weeks and after that southern Spain and Marakesh, Morocco with some friends and my brother!!! Caannnnnooooott wait!

Busy Weekends, Busy Weeks

2010-05-05T02:50:00.003+05:00

Hollllaaaa,

It's rainy and yucky in Santander. But I'm happy to report that I laid on the ground in the beating sun for 3 hours in the middle of Plaza Mayor in Salamana and finally got some color to my pale body.

Salamanaca was Beautiful. Full of history which, as I travel I come to appreciate more and more. The city is built like a fortress and it was nothing like I've seen yet in Spain. The school there would be AMAZING to go to. It's in really old buildings with coble stone roads in the middle of the city. We stayed in a hostle about 20 minutes walk from town. They had an outdoor public track so Maeve and I got up each morning to work out. We had reallllly good beer Friday night when we got there. Saturday we went to an incredible vineyard out in the middle of no where for a tour and wine tasting. Then, Saturday night the ERASMUS group set up a dinner for us in a little pueblo outside the city. It was in an old wine cellar - turned resturant. We had grilled ribs, bacon, chorizo, and jamon with salad, freshly made bread, wine and shots at the end. It was the most traditional and by far the most delicious meal I've had so far.

If you are a student looking to study abroad for a summer for Spanish, Salamanca is seriously the best place you could go. Spaniards cannot speak English well at all but they are the best spanish teachers I have experienced so far. Far better than in Costa Rica. When I traveled to Costa Rica I went through ISA (International Studies Abroad) which, as I was walking near the University in Salamanca, I saw the ISA pisos. They are right by the school and in such a nice location. Just a thought...

Last weekend I went to Pamplona and forgot to add pictures so I've added them here. Unfortunately I'm not the most technology advanced student and have an extremely old, slow computer so the pictures come slowly and are very minimal.....until I figure out how to add more without it taking an hour.

As for school...lol...It's actually not a laughing matter at this point. I went from buying puzzles; buying books to read; taking on an extra spanish course; you name it...because i was BORED. After Semana Santa, however, I have had 8 hours straight of classes almost every day. I bring my lunch to Manolo's class (my intensive spanish class) because he is the only one that will let me eat in his class because I literally dont' have a break. As of last week, my Statistics class has started (go figure?) and not only is she attempting to fit in a semester's worth of the material in 3 weeks but is asking us to attend 6 hours of class on tuesdays and wednesdays (8-10 and 4-8), and 2 hours on mondays. 12 hours of straight class is just not feasible for me....Thanks for letting me vent, that is all I'll say about that...POSITIVE things - I LOVE MY SPANISH CLASSES! This week is my last week of intensive spanish and I will miss it like crazy. It's really the only thing that keeps my sanity throughout the long days of class and group meetings. But, one more month of class and exams will be here before I know it. My brother is coming to visit!!! (Trav) He's coming the 8th - the 21st and we are going to travel the south of Spain and try to dip into Marrakesh if the flight tickets don't get too high....

Bedtime for me, but have a great day and night to you :)

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

2010-04-22T22:13:00.001+05:00

Gotta love random posts..

2010-04-22T21:57:00.005+05:00

Going to Pamplona tomorrow! It will be good to have a relaxing weekend with NO COMPUTER as I have been doing 12 hour days this week getting a paper/presentation ready and having 7 hours of straight class....don't get me wrong though, i am SO glad that I am busy finally.

anyway, i finally got to play frisbee on the beach = AMAZING. (the pic is of my roommate Maeve, she's from Washington, great roommate)

We're going to Salamanca next weekend so that should be nice. always take on the pre-organized trips if you can because they are way cheaper than going by yourself although, it is nice to go by yourself once in a while.

2010-04-14T23:23:00.003+05:00

Today I had 7 straight hours of class...5 of which were in the same room, same chair lol. But not worries, they give you little breaks inbetween, and coming back from an 11 day vacation I actually enjoyed it today. Still though, as soon as I got out of there, it was soooo wonderful outside, i layed down on the steps and fell asleep for a half hour in the sun.......amazing. If only it were warm enough for the BEACH, which I can see from my window if i didn't already tell you :)

When I got to class today some people were just getting back from their vacations in southern spain and they were all BLACK. I guess it was super hot down there. I can't wait to visit the south of spain. There are places that speak only German, there are places that have a ton of Arab influence, I've just heard so many great things that I can't not go at this point. Even if it means taking a day off school..

I added a few more pictures here. The top one is outside the train station in Brussels, Belgium. But the amount of bikes in the picture is quadrupled if I were able to fit the entire park of bikes in the shot. It's something we should take up..

The picture below is of the canals in Amsterdam. We had awesome weather while we were there and it's nice to just be able to walk so many places and see all new things :)

Ciao!

Irlanda, Belgica, y Amsterdam!

2010-04-14T01:08:00.003+05:00

For Semana Santa (our Easter break) UCantabria gives a week off of school. So from the 1st of April - the 11th, Marie and I took advantage of our time to travel. First we went to Galway Ireland...I can't tell you how refreshing it is to be with openly friendly people on the streets. It was kind of our "America" trip/break if you will...with the ease of English and all, and Subway lol; however, the English wasn't necessarily easy. The people with thicker Irish accents (which i LOVE by the way) are actually really hard to understand. Plus, some still speak Gaelic, but not many. We went on an all day tour that was about 25Euro. We saw the Cliffs of Moher, above, which are an absolute must see. I don't even know why I bother putting a picture up because it doesn't do it the least bit of justice, but...gives you an idea i guess. I'm literally sitting on the edge, one of the most amazing places I've ever seen, hands down. Of course it rained most of the time we were in Ireland but we knew that going in. After Galway we went to Dublin. It isn't as big of a city as i thought but, very nice none the less. We stayed at a great hostel called Four Courts. The service was amazing and it wasn't that expensive, plus you get breakfast and the guys at the front desk were always in a good mood and friendly, willing to help, etc. There are these free tours going on right now in many of the bigger, albeit more touristy European countries, but the tour in Dublin was GREAT. It was just a guy in his mid-twenties, an obvious student looking for extra cash but, i swear to you, it was as though he was meant to be a tour guide, which I heard the same from others' tours. Very charasmatic, full of information, and good information. I was never bored on the tour. Of course, they work off tips so if you enjoyed yourself during the tour, you give them what they deserve. Which from a service standpoint, in my opinion, is a great way to run a tour company...

[hostel websites: hostelworld.com, hostelbookers.com]

After Dublin we took Ryan Air to the airport in Belgium, which required a bus into the actually city of Brussels and then a train to our final destination Gent. We decided on a smaller city with more character and we definately got it. Gent had very friendly people as well. Although it was quite weird going from being able to understand everyone in the country you're living, to not being able to read the menu, let alone understand people. But, most people that we asked if they spoke English did, and they were very willing to help a lost tourist. *One tip I would add is to always ask someone politely before you talk to them, if they speak english. And, even better, ask them in their own language. There are pamphlets and even people will help you ask the right question in their language. We also got the best surprise ever because the hostel that we booked was an Eco-Hostel, and we weren't really sure what to expect but when we walked down the sidewalk we realized the hostel was actually a boat in the canal! I can't tell you how happy I was. The hostel was tight - the owner had everything eco-friendly, down to a T. The hot water, the food, every type of recycling; I was impressed and would stay there again in a heart beat.

While we were in Gent, we took a train to a nearby Medieval town called Bruges for the day. All of my meals that day consisted of chocolate, and NOTHING but amazing chocolate. There are chocolate stores on every single street, a girl's dream come true :) We also went out one night to try the beer, and that too was just as good, if not better...Hmm, I'd have to think about that one.

After Belgium we decided to cancel our Brussels hostel and swap it with Amsterdam. We took a long ass train ride to Amsterdam. I guess the system from Brussels to A'dam is always backed up and out of order, but we managed to figure it out. It's best to just go to the conductor and ask him yourself - fyi. Anyway, Marie was had the stomach flu on the way to Amsterdam, puking on the train and all that good stuff. She missed the first night sick in bed, and much of the next day too - a shame, I felt terrible. But i was able to meet some people in our hostel and went out with them. It's so incredible to see the amount of bikes that are in Amsterdam. They have their own roads for bikers and they HOOOOSE on their bikes! They have little bells for dumb tourists like myself who get in their way and I was almost run over once, but i learned my lesson. It makes you realize how useless cars are, ESPECIALLY in the non-winter months in Kalamazoo. That is one thing I will take from that city. Another great thing about this city is their markets. They had crazy huge markets with everything you could imagine and I enjoyed them most of any markets I've been to so far in Europe. One thing that I didn't like as much of the city was how touristy it was. I know that I am a tourist but I always try to avoid the more touristy areas for obvious reasons...but, still a great time for only being there for 3 days. Unfortunately I got Marie's stomach flu the night before we left. Puked multiple times during the night and left A'dam a little present on the tram ride to the train station before I left - i begged the ticket guy to open the door but he couldn't.....haha, it was out of my control at that point.

Anyway, Enough rambling, I'll add more pictures later on but it is way past my bed time.

BUENOS NOCHES y voy a escribir mas este semana,

Saludos :)

ahhhhhhhhhhhh

2010-04-08T02:08:00.002+05:00

So I have been slacking on my posts...I apologize.

School is going fine, very easy. but i do have a huge project to finish when i get home from Semana Santa, which is our Easter break; however, to be honest, that is the last thing on my mind at the moment. I just flew into Belgium today from a week in Irlenad....(!!!!) Extremely happy with the travels so far.. I am sitting in a hostel right now, it is on a boat, and amazing lol. We are in Gent, Belgium. Had some amazing beer earlier today and way too much chocolate, but no complaints here!

I'm taking the train into the Netherlands on Friday so I will post something more solid and interesting as soon as I return to Santander afterwards :)

Hasta Luego!!

Leon y Oviedo

2010-03-20T23:48:00.003+04:00

Leon was an awesome city in Cantabria. We arrived and went out for tapas and copas which are just small snacks and small glasses of beer, but to die for. I had blood sausage, which was actually delicious, shrimp, steak, you name it...and we met a bachelor party of old men that bought us even more blood sausage and beer....It was a great weekend :) The group I went with was a group of ERASMUS students (all european students). There was about 35/40 of us and we brought along the above trash bin which was included in the price we paid for the trip and made Sangria in some random park in Leon. Oviedo on Sunday was kind of a blow because EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays so we didn't do much; however, I'm sure it's a great little city in the summer when things are more alive...

the trip was 55 euro and set up through the AEGEE group at school..it included everything (nice hostal, breakfast sunday morning, bus trip, sangrea) except for a couple meals, drinks/tapas, and anything else you wanted to buy...for a weekend trip that is pretty darn cheap and always more fun to be with a big group.

Piso swap!

2010-03-09T18:02:00.004+04:00

(Pilar and I's last day living together. She took me to part of the coast that no buses go so that I could see it while I had access to her car lol She's sweet.)

24 Euro/day was the original price the school tells their host families to charge -- however, the families have discretion on any price they'd like to charge that is less than 24 Euro/day. My host mom said she would charge 23 euro/day because I was blown away when I first arrived, I would have taken anything less.

This amount is equivalent to about $878/month (little outrageous for me, and for any college student to be living for 5 months). So, I found a piso with 2 other american girls, one that will be moving out shortly. The rent is - wait for it - 190 Euro/month which is equivalent to $257/mo. in the states. Unfortunately, Marie is leaving at the end of the month but our hope is to find another roommate. there is a spot for postings on campus so we've had a couple people already look at the place, but no bites...

I guess the info I'm trying to relay is that you don't have to sign a lease to live with a host family so you can do anything on your own whenever you choose. Just keep in mind your family and the communication you have with them. Pilar was a little upset considering my 24 euro/day was feeding her as well because she doesn't have a job, but I had to make the choice for myself.

I love the new place. It's quite small and the bed is not the most comfortable, but for me I will get some things fixed from the landlord and suck it up for the rest of the time. Can't beat paying less to live in Spain than to live in Michigan...

---Random Thoughts I Guess

2010-03-02T18:08:00.002+04:00

Yesterday I had my first presentation. It was for my Comparative Law class and went quite well. It's interesting to observe how people work from all over the world in terms of school work. I worked with 3 slovakian girls. They're all super nice and did very well, especially at presenting, considering english is not their native tounge. The professor is having as hard of a time accepting this as I am in terms of learning everyones working habits and language ability...haha. I feel bad for her at times because she is having a hard time accepting the fact that not everyone understands english to the extent that she had hoped which has forced her to change her entire approach to teaching the class....who knows how it will go lol.

Even though the differences are difficult at times, to me, that should not the effect the way I produce work. I will keep my same work habits that I would have if I were in the States. I have, what I think is a huge/important case study project, in my european international business course. I'm doing it for the knowledge, whereas another girl in my group is just doing it to pass the course. This is a different group, one that consists of slovakian, german, polish, and american (me). It's quite the combo, I must say. There are definately different motives and levels behind, for one, expectations of the course and professor, and two, behind what is acceptable and what constitutes "good work." It's more than just cultural differences, of course; age differences, and experience in a college environment make it more difficult to work together as well; but, at the same time it offers knowledge that you wouldn't normally get in a school in the States. During my Spanish courses, our professor is always asking each of us our opinions and we have discussions during class to compare the different backgrounds and thought processes of each of us. I enjoy it a lot.

For Supply Chain Students: The international business course here is extremely analytical and supply chain based. Luckily, the topic my group chose to focus on for our project is of a european company called Airbus. (Which you may have already heard of) It's a case study where we choose a hypothesis and run with it, basically. So the research aspect is good to have if you can choose a supply based company, and the fact that you are to choose a european country puts a whole different twist on it too. It's really eye-opening to learn the European side of things...just an FYI.

My first weekend trip out of Santander will be in a couple weekends! Already booked a hostel...SALAMANCA!

Hasta pronto :)

1st Week of Classes

2010-02-25T13:34:00.002+04:00

I've attached a link to the European Business and Economics Diploma courses. At Cantabria, you must fulfill each course to receive the diploma. From my first week attending, I can tell you that I already have a Law presentation Monday, and a huge project to start in the International Business course. They are both group projects so it is quite time consuming. However, I don't think that it will be terribly difficult to manage my time once I am used to the schedule.

I was given the chance to take the Intensive Spanish course for free. It is every day from 2-4 or 4-6 for about a month and a half. So I tried it along with my 7 other courses this week just to keep up on my Spanish. It was helpful but, as you can imagine, it was way too many hours of straight class and I wound up not attending at the end of the week. However, since it is not recommended, the teachers are open to you showing up for only some of the courses when you have time. It's just a good way to practice your spanish outside of your host family.

[It is EXTREMELY cheap to live in a "piso" or apartment with other roommates. I keep hearing of people who are looking for roommates. If you're looking to speak more Spanish, however, I would recommend the host family (even though it is very expensive). Since I dont have Spanish courses now, I like living with Pilar, who speaks no English.]

Many of the courses are taught by multiple professors throughout the semester, which means that each prof has a separate fulfillment for you to complete. This makes it nice because then there is one test, or project, or presentation per professor instead of one huge final exam, and, you get a mix of professors for shorter amounts of time.

All of the courses are taught in English. Many Spaniards can not speak "good" English but I can understand them well enough if I really pay attention to what they are saying and watch them speak.

In 6 of 7 courses, I am the only American student. Many of the students are from Poland, Finland, Slovakia, Scotland, England, etc. and speak very little English and very little Spanish. This becomes extremely interesting in terms of international relations because, for instance, I have group work with all of these students. The presentations, essays, etc. are all expected to be in English. So, I wasn't surprised when 3 Slovakian girls came to the back of the classroom the first day to ask me to be in their group for the Commercial Law presentation becaues they knew I could help them better than anyone. Anyway, many of the American students are doing the same, but taking classes that are only taught in Spanish. It's a good way to force any language.

So far, the most interesting courses for me will be Comparative Law and International Business: A European Perspective.

One thing that you must know before studying in Spain -
I have been told by many people, and have experienced myself, how incredibly UNORGANIZED Spanish universities are. It pays to ask a million questions and to not get too frustrated at mishaps. Being an American, you expect to know, for instance, what classroom your classes are in and what times they begin from the syllabus, when things are due, how to use the library/print things, where to find powerpoint slides, etc. without having to ask - here, not so much.
FYI, Spanish people are also always late, so don't be surprised to wait for a particular professor for 15 mintues after the class is scheduled to begin. It took me a while to get used to but it is how they function and there is no way around it unless you really know what to ask ahead of time. My professors are on time for the most part, but many of them were as clueless as i was for the first couple classes because they, too, knew as little as I did in terms of their requirements and what is expected.

If you have any questions on a particular course, or anything about the school, I would be happy to tell you about it. I would rather not write about each course now because I've already written enough :)

1 block from home...there lies the beach

2010-02-18T23:02:00.007+04:00

Today was...

BEAUTIFUL! No jacket material - can't beat that being someone from Michigan. We go on walks ALL the time. My legs are slowly getting used to it but they are still sore. There were people in speedos laying out, quite the sights to see on our paseo lol. Anyway, I guess it gets to be pretty warm like today come March...so, couple more weeks and I will be laying out too!

The marina in the pics is literally 2 blocks from my apartment (which they don't call "apartamentos", like I thought, they call them "pisos"). There are beaches everywhere, so any place you live you are basically a 30 minute walk, at the MOST, from any beach. Closest one to me is the one you see here, it's about a 15 minute walk along the coast.

Random post of the day

2010-02-16T17:59:00.002+04:00

Make sure when you travel internationally you pay attention to the voltage used at the country you will be staying in. You can always buy converters to convert the voltage but the supply chain in me is trying to save you money once you arrive. Not only the voltage but the adaptor for the plugs as well...I fried the mini fan I brought because it wasn't the right voltage and I brought stuff (hair dryer and straightener) that I can't use which means it was a waste of space when I was packing.
That's all...Me voy. Ciao!

2010-02-16T02:16:00.002+04:00

My Valentine's Day consisted of a 7 hour hike through the Cantabrica Mtn. Region. It was a great day. There was a Christian festival going on the entire weekend so many people on the hike were dressed up in costume. Pretty hilarious some of them. There was a Michael Phelps, a nun, bumble bee....so many others lol. It was kind of similar to Halloween.

Anyway it was beautiful, didn't rain, was cold but not too bad, and great company. There were only 4 of us students and the rest of the people were older but just as fun and entertaining. Plus, I was able to practice a ton of Spanish with perfect strangers. I sat next to a guy who had been on vacation in Kalamazoo for 2 weeks the year before and went up to Mackinaw as well! Crazy the people you meet when you travel....

The other picture is of the most amazing lunch ever. Pilar is a fantastic cook. It's pureed zucchini soup, DELICIOUS. I only wish you could have seen the chicken we had afterwards. They eat such big lunches here and, obviously there is always bread on the table, and sitting out to munch on most of the day.

First week...

2010-02-13T20:23:00.003+04:00

Well, the first week is gone...I got lost a WHOLE lot, and still cannot find my way around too well, but it will come with time...

Universidad de Cantabria (UC) has very nice facilities. It's basically one street of buildings and depending on what you're taking you'll be in one of those buildings most of the time. There are about 5,000 students here, 150 new international students from about every country you can imagine. I start classes Monday. I was supposed to have 3 days of orientation. I ended up only being able to do one though because I missed the payment date for the thursday and friday excursions with my group. But the orientation for the first day was plenty enough as I have already experienced a study abroad and am trying to save money anyway. I can always go to places on my own and my host mom, Pilar, has taken me to many already. No big thing - however, from other students and from one of the interns I met, I was told that the UC and Spain in general, is known for not giving its students much information. (Such as the example above) I also didn't know that I would be paying my host mom weekly for my stay here (24 euros/day). So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the culture of the people/faculty in college institutions here is to let you figure it out for yourself. You need to be very proactive and ask a lot of the right questions, whatever those might be...I also was unaware of the placement exam that I had to sign up for. I missed the deadline for that too as it was the day after I arrived here. They still let me sign up but I had to have a copy of my passport, which I forgot, and another passport photo which I had plenty left over in Michigan but didn't think I needed him. So there was another 10 euros out of my pocket to get them one little 1 inch x 1inch photo for their records even though they already had one that I sent with my application.....just venting :)

Other than that though, the first week was great. I'm going hiking in the mountains tomorrow. The school has a program where you can buy a sports card which gives you discounts on the sports activities they offer, which include almost everything (squash, soccer, tennis, hiking, kayaking, ultimate frisbee, basketball, horseback riding, surfing, etc.). It's nice because the ones that are outdoors and require buses and tour guides are pretty cheap if you have the sports card. I plan on doing the hiking for sure (4 or 5 hikes in different places on Sunday mornings during the semester), the Kayaking when it gets warmer, and Ultimate Frisbee which I believe meets every Saturday for almost the entire semester. It's kind of like the rec teams we have at WMU.

Anyway, when I packed for Spain I didn't really pack for it to be this cold. Everyone here says that it is never this cold for this long. So, I'm having my mom send me some more things (running tights, gloves, hat, long-sleeve shirts, etc.) Bad idea to only bring a fleece. The houses here don't have heat either so all we use are little electric heaters. I have a small one in my room but man, it is cold! BRING HOUSE SHOES if you ever come here because the floors are FREEZING. So glad my friend Sara told me ahead of time to bring my slippers too because i've been wearing them every day...and my robe.

Ok, enough of my rambling...Actually, one more thing before I forget-BRING A WATCH! As much as I enjoy not having to worry about time, I will have to once school starts. I thought the time on my phone would work which I brought for the numbers in it anyway, but that idea failed...

ADIOS for now! :) Hasta pronto.

2010-02-11T20:08:00.002+04:00

My Street! Calle de Arrabal and a picture of the coast. My host mom, Pilar, and her friend Mario took me out to lunch today. It has been awful outside; incredibly windy and rainy. It's been snowing and hailing on and off all day so the pictures aren't the best; HOWEVER, once summer time comes, MMmm...can't wait!

Estoy aqui!

2010-02-09T17:24:00.003+04:00

Made it! It was quite an intense adventure. The time change killed me the first night I was in London (Ps way too expensive and time consuming to fly to London and then make it down here). Anyway, I LOVE IT here, but until I can take more pictures you won't understand why...I took a couple today. They aren't the best pictures, but I wanted to put them up anyway...

More to come soon.. :)

2010-02-02T21:02:00.003+04:00

I was recently facebooked (if facebooked is a word?) by my host mom! We've emailed back and forth a couple of times. She seems extremely friendly and has agreed to pick me up at the airport. I had to send her a picture though, so that she knows what I look like when I arrive..ha...weird.

Anyway, one thing I wanted to mention is that it is always nice to bring a little something for the family you are staying with. When I went to Costa Rica I brought my host mother, Gabriela, some chocolate covered Traverse City cherries...the gesture was much appreciated and a great way to start off the relationship.
:)

T-minus 5 days!

2010-02-02T20:51:00.002+04:00

So I leave in five days...haven't packed a thing...lol.

My goal is to take as little as possible. I will be arriving in London and then flying RyanAir directly into Santander. One thing I will have to take into consideration when packing is both Delta and RyanAir's luggage policies. Since RyanAir only allows two 33lb suitcases, I will have to pack in terms of their policy and not Delta's 50lb limit. Fyi - it's an INCREDIBLY high fee to go over the weight limit. Anyway, I plan on buying most everything there, except for clothes and shoes. That way I don't have to pack toiletries, vitamins, books, etc.

Spanish Visa

2010-01-11T21:31:00.004+04:00

The only Spanish consulate that covers Michigan is in Chicago
It requires you to make two trips to Chicago: 1 Applying/requesting and 2 Picking up
(FYI - The train in Michigan City is about $7.50 one way into the city, parking in Chicago runs about $25)
If you click on "Spanish Visa" above, the information and documents you need are listed in the website linked
3 weeks after you have applied, they ask that you send them an email requesting an update

Failed attempt at saving money...

2009-12-09T19:11:00.004+04:00

Most SA programs include transportation. Mine does not, so creating my itinerary required a little more work on my part, especially since there are no direct flights into Santander.

I spent a lot of time trying to create the most efficient means of travel without spoiling my broke ass bank account.

I ended up purchasing a two-way ticket to London ($821) where I'll stay for one night (should be cool to see London at least); then I purchased a ticket from London into Santander through RyanAir (not realizing how much a one-way ticket to Santander would cost once they include the EXCHANGE RATE into the price, $149). In hindsight, had I flown into Madrid and took the train into Santander, it might have been cheaper...too late now though. Getting lost is good for me anyway :)

Scholarship update and a few other things (sorry it's long):

2009-12-09T18:40:00.006+04:00

I'm sad to report that I did not receive the Gilman International Scholarship. On the bright side, however, I did receive the President's Grant for Study Abroad. Very excited!
I thought it appropriate to include a critique of both below:

Gilman: Even though I did not receive this scholarship, the application process was good to go through in terms of experience. It was a more competitive scholarship compared to others I've applied to in the past. Applying for grad schools will be much more intense; however, it's always good to get some practice. I did receive an email from Gilman staff with a regret letter during the time that they said I would, which I appreciated. It's good to know that they are punctual because it lets me know that they have their shit together and took my application seriously, whether I was accepted or not.

Also, I would encourage anyone with a learning disability, of any sort, to apply to this scholarship. Even though anyone can apply, it's important to understand the history of the scholarship you're applying for and what it represents. On the website you can view the statistics for the award recipients to get an idea of how many people applied vs how many people received an award. Two WMU students received $3500 and $4000 respectively toward their SA. (Congrats!)

President's Grant: This scholarship was a little bit less time consuming. The statement of purpose is the most important part, so make it good. The communication I have had from my counselor at the Haenicke Institute has been amazing. She did more than enough to assist me in my study abroad efforts by helping me with all of the paperwork for this scholarship and reminded me of deadlines too. I recieved a little over $2,500. I think the amount is important because it gives you an idea of what you're applying for. If they accept you, the amount will depend on the economy, and on your financial need. Someone I spoke with last year received upwards of $3500 for her trip to China... No matter the amount though, they provide a great opportunity for you to make it to your final destination.

Any questions, comments...Lemme know :)

2009-10-22T02:23:00.003+05:00

FYI - you should ALWAYS make copies of your transcripts and ALWAYS send them at least a month in advance of the due date.

That's all :)

Pre-departure Scholarship Recommendations

2009-09-30T23:39:00.007+05:00

Hey all,

If you're completely clueless in terms of researching appropriate scholarships for any study abroad program, I will suggest the following:

1. Speak first with your professors and department heads to see if there are any local/department scholarships available.

2. If that fails, GOOGLE is an amazing start too.

3. Research WMUs financial aid website which is posted in my links. Check those out and you may be surprised what you find!

4. Make sure you meet ALL of the eligibility criteria before moving any further and if you have any doubts or are unsure, CALL the contact number listed and ask them! It can never hurt - here's an example why - The President's Grant for Study Abroad requires you to be a "Current full-time undergraduate or graduate enrollmed at WMU," which I am not. I am currently working in Pennsylvania for a 6-month co-op; however, when i called and explained my situation, they worked with me and still allowed me to apply.

What did I apply for?
The President's Grant for Study Abroad through WMU, the Gilman International Scholarship through the Department of State, and multiple ISM department scholarships. (I will keep you posted on these results)

***For those majoring in either the Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) field, The Gilman Scholarship Program is currently piloting a special Summer award cycle for students participating in Summer 2010 study abroad programs. It is usually harder to find scholarships for summer only programs so this is a great opportunity to look into. Check out the website for further requirements/eligibility criteria.

Any questions/comments/additions to the above, please post :)