Midterms...

So I just finished my first experience with foreign midterm exams week. Let´s just say it wasn´t too intense...I had 5 tests in 4 days and probably studied less than I would for 2 tests back home. Yikes. So, they all seemed to go pretty well considering. However, then I got back my grammar test today...not as good as I thought, way bad actually. So I now know that I have to study lots for that final. Good thing the midterm is only worth 30% in that class, cuz otherwise I´d be hurtin´. I´ve learned that it´s really hard to be motivated here though, not because I don´t find my classes interesting or even becuase my grades don´t transfer...I don´t know what it is...but it´s weird because I´m pretty sure I´ve learned way more this semester than any other in my college career. Traveling is so informational! So enough boring stuff...

I´m leaving tomorrow morning at 9am to go on a road trip along the east coast of Spain with 4 other girls!!! I´m so excited! We did all our grocery shopping, hoping to save lots by eating pb and j and making meals in our little apartment in Barcelona! We only booked a place in Barcelona, everything else is just an adventure! I kinda like the idea of being unorganized and just going...I think we´ll end up having some pretty amazing times! Tomorrow looked like the only nice day according to weather.com, so we´re heading straight for the beach first thing! Then it´s gonna be rainy and cloudy the rest of break, BOO! I hope that it´s not raining when we get back so that the Semana Santa processions will still happen, I really wanna see a couple of them!

Kind of a random entry, but I was bored...it´s cold here in Granada, so it´s been kind of a lazy week, studying for midterms, sleeping, and playing solitaire has pretty much been my life!

Oh, let´s talk about my family and living sitch a bit, eh?! So, I love my family...they are great! It´s better everyday, we´re able to communicate a bit better, and now we´re laughing and joking a bit, always comforting! My host dad, Jaime, is a goofy guy...love him! He works at the farm, and is pretty much always there, but is home occasionally for meals and a couple nights. We love it when he´s home, the meals just always seem to be more fun! We think he might be kind of a lazy guy...he doesn´t seem to do much, and like most men in Spain, he "lets" his wife do absolutely everything for him, including dishing his food and clearing his plate. I guess that´s a part of their culture that has taken some adjusting to...it´s a miracle when he brings his plate to the kitchen and puts it in the dishwasher! Anyway, he talks really slow and quitely with a thick accent, and he´s always smiling! He´s pretty great. My host mom, María, is a sweetheart...she usually has 6 international girls in her house at a time...all year except August! She´s constantly cooking and pretty much only stops when she has migraines. She is on a diet, but is so funny and sneaks food and chocolate! She´s a good cook, it´s hard cuz I don´t have much to compare it to here, but everything is very edible! Definately some recipes I´ll be bringing home to attempt:) My host sisters are pretty nice too. The younger of the two, Elena, is a sweeheart, she´s always smiley, and whenever we ask her a question she´s always really helpful. The older one took a while to warm up to, Mar, but now I think she´s nice too, she just isn´t the warm fuzzy type of nice! Then there´s Bambi, the family cat, weirdest animal of my life! This cat is more like a dog, always wants to play. I´ve grown kind of fond of him though, which is weird, cuz I´m not a cat person, but he likes me a lot, so I think he´s a cutie, but I´m afraid of his claws! He´s nuts, constantly darting around, and clawing at you, but then the next minute he´ll jump up and curl up for a nap on my lap!

Now that I´ve rambled about nothing...I´m gonna talk to the fam on Skype and then get some rest for my trip!!! Hope all is well!

My weekend in Sevilla!

So, this is my trip to Sevilla, in a nutshell...it was a good time, pretty chill, nice weather...
This is a good portion of our group in front of the Granada sign!!!

The bell tower of the cathedral...they have lots of bells, and a breathtaking view of the city!

The blasted sign that I hit my head on! I think I was slightly concussed...there was a pretty decent gouge...of course I'd get myself hurt...

Sevilla is known for their ceramics, and this was the sink in our hotel!

This is a cool fountain thing in the palace-the Alcazar.

The courtyard of the cathedral! It's a garden of orange trees!

View from the bell tower of the cathedral-there were 34 ramps up to the top, much easier than flights of stairs!

This city is so cute, I love it! They actually have water in their river, unlike Granada...

So you can't tell, but we're on a paddleboat!!! We took it out on the river for an hour, what a relaxing day!

This is me and the Tower of Gold! I learned about this is art too-I pretty much could have given the tours!

This is the house of Spain again...all the cities in Spain have little "nooks"...really cool!

The girls on the bridge at the house of Spain...I think that's what it was called...

Barbara and I are in the same art history class, and we happened to have learned about this sweet bell tower...hence the excitement! The bell tower of the cathedral.

So I love Alyssa's skirt...and this is just our little flamenco pose. Ps-it was beautiful weather in Sevilla!

Outside the Alcazar in Sevilla-Sary, Me, and Abbey

These are the beautiful gardens of the Alcazar! So many blossoms!

Cute little plaza in Sevilla where we ate our lunch-expensive meal, and I even shared it 3 ways, but the sangria was worth it!

A mix of things I will explain via "fotos"

So, here are a bunch of random pictures including some from the bullfight. The rest are collections from Granada since I realized I haven't really shown you much of Granada besides the Alhambra, and there is so much more to it than that!!! Once again, they are all very randomly ordered, sorry I'm not very good at that!!! I'll try to explain everything, if you have questions or want to know more, write your questions in a comment or email me at morsed01@luther.edu

So we're gonna start with some pics of graffiti here in Granada, which I told my friend I would add. You'd be surprised how much there is in the city, even on monumental buildings. I also recently learned that there is a graffiti artist from Granada who is very famous, he has work all over Spain, Europe and even some in the states, I think!!! So that's cool. I believe his name is the Artist's son...hijo del artista...perhaps!

This is Meg's friend, Amanda, who's studying in France...this wall is up by the Alhambra.

This is one my favorites. This may very well be by the famous guy. I'll have to take some more pics of some of his work! This wall is right next to the cathedral pictured below.

This is the cathedral in Granada-an everyday sight for me!

Semana Santa is coming up soon-Easter week-so they are beginning their practices for the religious processions. We watched a group of men carry this out of the church. Can't wait to see the actual processions!

This is a pic I took on a rainy day in Granada. I know it's blurry, but I really like it! The light in the background is a fountain in a plaza. I walk through this wide sidewalk everyday on my way to class.

This is one of the many many plazas in Granada. Most of them have a beautiful fountain in the middle.

A typical steep street in Granada. This is right by my program's office and heads toward the Alhambra.

This is just a pretty patio of someone's house that I took a stalker picture of. This is very typical in Spain-a beautiful patio that is usually hidden by a tall wall.

This is me inside the Sacramonte wall. This wall is a along the ridge of a hill and right below it on the hillside are many caves where hippies and gypsies reside. Very interesting!

Can you spot the tourists? This is a group of people listening to a gypsie/hippie band playing by some little tea shops. I love that I don't feel like a tourist here anymore-besides the blonde hair and blue eyes thing that kind of gives it away...

This is the view of the Alhambra from up in the caves.

More people practicing for the parades-this is more typical-a much less elaborate aparatus with weights on top of it. All of the men wear back braces and knee pads. They carry these things for miles during Semana Santa and it all has to be very coordinated, especially on the hills!

*Now we jump to the bullfight-this was in a small suburb of Granada in a pop-up bullring. An amature fight with smaller bulls. I learned so much about the whole "art" of it all. It's a very very interesting tradition. I would love to talk about it if anyone wants to know more!

This was the first bull-coming into the ring-first contact with people-he's pretty riled(sp?) up.

This guy is being charged-one guy had to literally flip over the side so as not to get rammed.

This guy is from Granada! He was the best torero out there...he put on a good show.

This is kind of a creepy and ironic picture-a bull in a bulldozer. Gross, but that's how it's done.

Way out of order-here is the group that we were listening to by the tea joints. Very entertaining! There's also some sweet art behind them!

It was Camille's 21st birthday last week! We're pretty excited. This picture doesn't show much, just the inside of one of the billions of bars where we drink sangria and tinto de verano.

We finally made it to a different club besides Granada 10! This is Katie, Felix, and Crystal inside Cambodio-a club that is up in the hills and has a glass wall overlooking the Alhambra.

More bullfighting-this was a cute little boy dressed as a torero-complete with the pink tights-he got the tail from the Granadine torero! That's a big deal!

Pep bands at a bullfight?!? I think so! It's really neat-they play different types of songs during the actual fight. I'm sure there is more meaning behind the different songs-but I haven't learned about that yet!

This is the beginning of the whole event-the whole "team" entering the ring.

Well, that's it for now-I hope you enjoyed my mix of pics! Questions, comments, problems...give em to me!

Comparisons and Contrasts

After being here for 2 and a half months, there are some things I´ve realized about this culture, the people, and the environment that I think are interesting...

1. The architecture is beautiful and much older than in the states.
2. Everyone walks everywhere. Therefore, there aren´t as many overweight people in Europe.
3. Everyone in Europe has a significant other...pretty much!
4. PDA (public displays of affection) is VERY acceptable here-if you´re dating someone, you let the world know.
5. There are fashion statements in Spain, but no fashion norm. "Anything goes" is one of my favorite sayings in relation to wardrobes!
6. There are a lot of dogs out in the streets here, I don´t know if it´s just becuase people actually walk their dogs here, or because there are more of them in general. Because of this, you have to always look at the sidewalk while you walk to avoid the many piles of poo.
7. There are constantly people sweeping and washing the sidewalks and streets.
8. Motos rule the streets-they don´t have to follow any laws-they park wherever, drive wherever, don´t stop at red lights, and I don´t think you have to be 18 to drive one, like you do cars here.
9. The things that are cheap in the states, are expensive here, and the things that are expensive in the states, are cheap here. Examples: Peanut butter-way spendy. Seafood-cheap. Alcohol-way cheap. School supplies-kinda spendy. Hair cuts/colors-cheap. Toiletries-expensive. Etc.
10. You can find good deals on clothes and shoes just like in the states if you´re a smart shopper! The market is a great place for shoes, and sales racks work for clothing.
11. Kids live with their families much longer than kids in the states-up to 30 or so years old is very normal. Part of the problem is finding jobs that are sufficient for living costs.
12. The food here is rather bland, but good!-my mom would die becuase there is rarely pepper set out!
13. Most people live in apartments-large apartments.
14. Everything closes from 2-5 for lunch...everything but restaraunts.
15. The news here covers the whole world-much more informational than stations in the US
16. There is as much construction here in Granada as there is in Fargo/Moorhead!!!
17. People aren´t in as much of a hurry here-you may wait for over a half hour after asking for the bill at a cafe...
18. Europe has a horrible impression of the US and college students thanks to our wonderful tv programs...
19. They have horrible Mexican food here...decent Italian and Chinese, but I think the US wins on variety.
20. People worry about money just as much as we do back home...that´s why my host mom has up to 6 international girls at a time in her house!
21. So many people smoke here, way more than in the US-despite the intense warning labels such as Smoking can kill, that are plastered in bold print on the packages.

I could probably go on forever...but I think you´d get bored. If you have anything to add, please comment!

Britt leaves, Katie's mom and friend arrive!

Britt got her hair cut the day before she left! Que bonita!

At the bar on Britt's last night:(

My dear roomies! We miss Britt, but we look forward to visiting her in Oslo at the end of April!!!

Katie's mom, Jill, Jill's friend, Mona, and Katie at a tapas bar!

Britt is so goofy! Love her!

We were going out for crepes with "the ladies" when we ran into our Swedish friends! So they joined us! Johanna, Rebecka, Jill, Katie, and Mona!

Bubye momma:(

Mona and her seafood tapas! No one else liked them, so we let Mona take care of it all!