La primera semana

El Castillo de Santa Bárbara

I arrived in Alicante, Spain on Saturday September 1st after making my way from San Francisco, to Dallas,  to Madrid all the way to Alicante. It was an exhausting trip but I was so happy to have finally made it to Spain. And of course, if you know me pretty well, what's an adventure for Zoe without stomach problems? Come Sunday I was nauseous, throwing up, the whole nine yards. But my host mom, Alicia, was wonderful and took good care of me. She even gave me a hug and told me not to cry or worry, she said I was in good hands. And sure enough I was. By Tuesday I was feeling much better, was able to keep food down, go out to the University of Alicante for my 3 hour daily grammar class, and even take a tour of the city which included a trip up to one of Alicante's famous landmarks, El Castillo de Santa Bárbara.

El programa

Lewis & Clark uses the program Spanish Studies Abroad to send their students to Spain. So far I really like this program. My program leaders here in Alicante, Pepa and Marisa, are phenomenal and so easy to talk to about anything. They're very organized and thoroughly explain everything that's going on and what's happening next so there's barely any confusion. They plan various trips for us, for instance on Saturday we have a guided trip up to Valencia for the day. Should be a fun day :)

La universidad/mis clases

The University of Alicante is humongous! I mean, I guess anything is huge compared to Lewis & Clark. It is home to 30,000 students and many are international students like myself. The campus is gorgeous (photos to come--I haven't taken any yet!). This week I only have one class a day...but it's a three hour class. It's a high advanced Spanish grammar class that I tested into prior to arriving in Alicante. Five other students from my program are in the class with me as well and I really like all of them. The rest of the students in class are international students from Russia, Ukraine, Korea, Japan, and Algeria. It's really cool interacting with the other international students in class because of course our common language is Spanish, I can't dip into English. My professor is great too. Her name is Raquel and she makes class so much fun (considering it's 3 hours long); she's very animated, entertaining, non-intimidating, and really explains the grammar in a way that's so much more understandable than I've ever learned. This is possibly the best grammar class I've ever taken--I love it. This class lasts a month and counts for 4 credits. Next week I begin exploring which two classes I want to take with other Spanish students at the University. The program leaders encourage us to sit in all different classes throughout the week and make our final decision by Friday. I'll be sure to post which ones I choose! Each of those classes counts for 4 credits (together 8 credits) and continue through the end of December. In October and November I will also be taking a 'Social and Cultural Realities of Spain' class twice a week through my program which I believe counts as 3 credits. On top of that I will begin my internship at some point where I will be working in a Spanish school; this counts as 3 credits. Finally I plan to take a cooking class where I will learn to make paella, go olive oil and wine tasting, etc. This counts as 1 credit.

La ciudad de Alicante

The city of Alicante is spectacular; it's main social and central part isn't very big but the city itself does stretch out a ways. I spend most of my time in the main part of the city (that also includes the beach) and at the university (a 15-30 minute bus ride out of the city). Right now it's pretty hot here and more humid than I'm used to...but it's perfect beach weather!

La Plaza de los Luceros

I live near the main part of town, La Plaza de Los Luceros where our program meets up a lot. I live a few blocks north of the plaza and no more than 5 minutes from most of my friends on the program. This is also where I catch the bus for school.

Mi familia y cuarto

My host family is very nice. My mom Alicia, as you know, took very good care of me while I was sick.  I understand about 75% of what she's saying most of the time and she usually understands me. She said my Spanish is pretty good! She's always feeding me and offering more food constantly. I don't think I will starve here. She makes all sorts of things, so far: paella, tortilla española (kind of like an omelete), fish and shrimp dishes, ham (the Spaniards LOVE their ham), salads, soups, and pasta. A typical meal usually includes one main dish with meat, a vegetable or salad, fresh fruit, sometimes yogurt, always bread (if you love bread come to Spain!), water, juice, coffee, and my mom always offers me an ice cream cone after dinner :)

Her husband, Alfredo, is also super nice and really funny. He's harder to understand--his accent is a little different--but he's very entertaining and he explains a lot of the culture to me. They have two hijos (kids). Xavier is 21 and doesn't live at home (I haven't met him); he's off studying abroad in Italy. Sandra is 18 and lives at home but is about to head off to the University of Valencia soon; she's very nice as well. And I also live with another foreign exchange student from Brazil named Vanessa and she's really fun to talk to as well.

Vos presento mi cuarto

The apartment I live in on the 7th floor, has four bedrooms, two bathrooms (one specifically for Vanessa and I), a small kitchen, washroom, living room with a dining area, and a balcony. I have my own little blue room and I love it!

El Español

It definitely takes a lot of brain power to constantly be communicating, listening, and thinking in Spanish all the time. My head usually hurts by the end of the day. Like I presumed, I understand a lot more than I can actually say. But I'm far less nervous to talk. I talk all the time in Spanish now. Of course, most of what I say is probably wrong but my professor or host mom will correct me. Even the first day I told my host mom, "estoy enferma" which I had learned to mean "I am sick." My host mom immediately corrected me and told me that enferma = you're dying. She said, "estás un poco pachucha" or "you're a little under the weather/sick." It wasn't too embarrassing...plus, "pachucha" is way more fun to say!
Part of me feels a little sinful writing this blog in English since I've sworn to only speak Spanish, but another part of me enjoys the simplicity of writing in English after a long day ;)


New Spanish words, idioms, and phrases

For those of you who have ever taken a Spanish class or know some spanish you might find these entertaining:

• My professor told us that if someone on the streets in Spain asks you if you want any chocolate, they're really asking you if you want marijuana
• tabletas de chocolate - 6 pack/nice abs
• piropos - compliments (Spanish men from a young age are taught to give women compliments, it's part of their culture)
• mono - cute (it also means monkey, of course)
• estar cañón - to be super attractive/have a nice body
• estás como el jamón - you're a piece of meat
• estar trompa - to be drunk/blind