Looking back... 2008's tribute

I did this last year, so I thought I'd make it an annual tradition. Speaking of - look how long I've had this blog! Anyway...

This past year has had it's ups and downs, of course, but the end of the year always makes me wax sentimental about leaving behind another calendar. All in all, I think I'll miss writing 2008 at the top of my school work. This year, as last year did, has brought me many blessings, first, milestones, generally memorable stuff. Some...

-I joined a household.

-I finished my first year of college.

-I learned a lot about travel.

-I visited foreign embassies.

-I learned a lot about taking care of kids. (specifically at camp)

-I visited Canada for the first time.

-I became fluent in Spanish (well, as close as I reasonably can)

-I lived in Europe.

-I turned 20.

-I wrote a novel.

-I spent a night alone in a hotel room.

-I went to my first night club.

-I drank alcohol. (not a lot, but it was legal)

-I grew up a lot.

Wow. Looking back, I can kind of appreciate that I might be a little more of an adult than I thought. I guess I can be proud of what I've accomplished.

Try it. Make a list of what you've done in 2008. Tell me what you find out about yourself.

As promised... some of my photos from Rome. (btw, I think Picasa is about to gain a new testimonial story)

Beth and I stradled the Italian/Vatican border outside S. John Lateran.

On the bridge over the Tiber by Castel Santangelo. He's got the sponge.

Il foro (Oh yeah - I speak Italian now) (not)

Santa Maria Sopra Minerva - cool lighting over the altar.

Many more photos can be seen at my Picasa web album. And I'll post more soon too.

La navidad, más de Roma, Asís, &c.

Primero, lo que había olvidado el otro día fue mi regalo de navidad. Mis padres me lo dieron temprano para que yo pudiera usarlo. ¡Es una camera! Mi antigua tenía 3 años, y el zoom no funccionaba. Entonces, tengo unas fotos bastante buenas de Roma que poner aquí. PERO, voy a esperar un nuevo post. Vale. También... Si no lo habiais notado ya, este post es en español y inglés. PORQUE PUEDO. Por favor, si estudias la lengua, por lo menos intenta leerlo en español. Espero que no sea muy difícil, pero si es, la falta puede estar corregida por un semestre en España... :) Pues, la navidad fue ayer, aunque me sentía como cualquier día casi normal. Esto es lo que hemos sacrificado para pasar tiempo juntos en ROMA, entonces, está bien. Hablando de Roma,  (Cosa chistosa... hay una estación de metro aquí que se llama "Re di Roma" - me hace reír.) Italiano es una lengua un poco rara, que sólo me hace echar de menos español más. Pero estoy aprendiendo unas pocas palabras. "Aceto" significa "vinagre", que me confunde bastante. Ahora las noticias. Hoy fuimos a Asís. Hacía tanto  F R I O. Pero todavía lo pasamos bien. Vimos las basílicas de S. Francisco y Sta. Clara, la "Porziuncola", ¡y (por fin) San Damiano! Hay una historia sobre eso del viaje de 2005. Y... creo que es todo. Espero que os ha gustado este formato. Es increíblemente probable que no voy a hacerlo muy habitualmente. Pero he dado la dirección del blog a Concha. Y, pues, Ya echo a menos la lengua, que sentimiento sólo puede aumentar tanto en itensidad y como en importancia en los siguientes meses. Entonces... sí. ¡O! Y todos sabéis de cualquier forma que voy a viajar por Europa pronto. Ayer, reservé mis hoteles en Italia. A partir del primer de enero, voy a Siena, Padua, Turín, y Milano. No os preocupéis. ¡Voy a escribirlo todo en el blog! Hasta entonces, (o más pronto)

First, what I had forgotten the other day was my Christmas present. My parents gave it to me early so I could use it. It's a camera! My old one was 3 years old, and the zoom didn't work. So, I have some pretty good photos of Rome to put here. BUT, I'm going to wait for a new post. OK. Also... If you hadn't noticed yet, this post is in Spanish and English. BECAUSE I CAN. Please, if you study the language, at least try to read it in Spanish. I hope that it's not too difficult, but if it is, the lack can be rectified by a semester in Spain... :) So, Christmas was yesterday, even though it felt almost like any normal day to me. This is what we've given up to spend time together in ROME, so, it's all right. Speaking of Rome, [You'd only get this if you spoke Spanish, so if you don't, tough beans.] Italian is a pretty weird language, which only makes me miss Spanish more. But I'm picking up a few words. [Again, sorry!] Now the news. Today we went to Assisi. It was so C O L D. But we still enjoyed ourselves. We saw the basilicas of St. Francis and St. Clare, the "Porziuncola", and (finally) San Damiano! There's a story behind that from 2005's trip. And... I think that's it. I hope that you've liked this format. Though it's incredibly likely that I won't do it that often. But I gave Concha the blog address. And, well, I already miss the language, which feeling can only increase both in intensity and in importance in the next months. So... yeah. Oh! And you all know in one way or another that I'll be traveling throughout Europe soon. Yesterday, I booked my hotels in Italy. Starting the first of January, I'll be going to Sienna, Padua, Turin, and Milan. Don't worry. I'll write about it all on the blog! Until then, (or sooner)

-Rebekah

A quick post about things vaguely relating to Rome

...which city I am currently in. (losing my mind slowly due to not being in bed. Have you ever noticed that when your brain works more slowly, music sounds faster?)

Left the homestay at 3:30 am on Saturday, and was with my family in the immortal city (that's this one, right?) around noon.

We've been spending the past few days seeing interesting stuff and forgetting that Christmas is Thursday.

So, I'm working on planning my big Euro Tour in earnest, which is a lot of work which should probably be requiring some of the time we're spending at tourist sites, but that's OK.

Belated birthday shout-outs to Anna and Mary Joy Cunningham!

And there was something else I wanted to say but can't remember.

Ciao!

Finals, Packing, [insert blog here]

Yep, I'm done with my finals!

I had my last test this morning at 8:30, my last presentation at 11:40, and my last class period (got to sit and listen to presentations) at 1:10.

Then I came home, ate lunch, and went to bed. I was quite sleep-deprived.

In about half an hour, we'll be going to Concha's house for a cooking lesson. On the menu/curriculum: paella, tarta de manzanas, tortilla de patatas. Rome should be gooood!

Speaking of Rome (which I really was, by the way)

Shout out to my family! who will be in said city by the time they read this. They should currently be somewhere over the vast American countryside.

Vale, I think I might just go and clean up this room. I've got to pack tonight and tomorrow, cause my flight leaves Barajas Saturday morning at 7:05 AM.

Bendiciones a todos,

-Ganchi

#200

Would ya look at that!
It's been another 100 posts!
Cheers,
-Ganchi

An Audio Tour of a Madrid Metro Station

Not really. What this is is a recording of me walking through Sol (lineas 1, 2, y 3) and sharing with you, the reader, just a little taste of the legendarily horrible quality of the performers in the Madrid Metro. There were three musicians on my way from line 3 to line 1. The third is the same guy who's almost always there. You got lucky today, he's usually even worse, but his Christmas repertoire is more barable than his usual collection of 3 songs.

Click here to listen.

Next, for your listening pleasure, I've got a short clip of the lovely announcement inside the metro car that I'm reaching my station. The sound quality is about right, but you won't get the full effect unless you turn the volume way up until your ears start to bleed.

Click here to listen.

Enjoy!

Mailing Address in Rome

I've had some requests recently for my mailing address in Rome.
So, it's...

c/o Paolo Marroccu
Via Labicana, 80
00184 Rome, Italy

I will be in Rome from 20-31 Dec. So you know, it takes about a week for a letter to cross the Atlantic. Before that, I'm still at my host family in Madrid. See here.

Picasa Web Albums

All of my photos from Spain are now online to be seen. There is a link on the side of the page. -->

Enjoy!

Killing 8 Weekends With 1 Post

I shant try to catch up too detailedly on each of these, but feel free to comment any questions!

  18/Oct: Avila

I went by my self, as my first "test run" for this winter's upcoming European tour. It was raining, (but I saw it without the rain with ISA on the way to Salamanca) It was really neat. I visited the Murallas (walls around the city), the Cathedral, The convent that St. Teresa lived in, with museum, and a cathedral that was built in 4 different architectural styles over centuries.

  25/Oct: Valsain & Segovia

This was an ISA-organized day trip. We went to Valsain, where we went for a hike through some beautiful landscape. It was real

ly nice to spend some time outside of the big city setting.

Then we went to Segovia, which has a famous aquaduct. This part was pretty lamely organized, as the only thing we did there was have a lunch break, but overall, I didn't think the day was a dud like some people kept complaining.

  31/Oct-2/Nov: Zaragoza

I went to Zaragosa with Pomme, my Thai friend from school. She has some friends (from Thailand) who attend the Academia Miltar (there's some sort of international agreement). We went to the Jura de Bandera, where the Spanish military students make their formal commitment to the country, which involves kissing the flag.

There was also a lot of Thai language spoken and Thai food eaten.

I started my NaNoWriMo novel out of town, and started off behind word count.

  6-9/Nov: Fatima

This was my second "test run" for January, and this semester's biggest individal trip. It was absolutely amazing. I found Fatima to be a beautiful, peaceful, and holy place. I really got a lot out of it. I visited the aparition sites, the homes of the children, it's all there. I also saw the bllet that shot Pope John Paul II!

And the Portugese more or less understood me, and I more or less understood them. It worked!

I didn't have my computer, but I noveled on paper, and was back caught up by Sunday night.

  14-16/Nov: Salamanca

ISA's first overnight trip. There was a long and amusing story about an Italian restaurant that involved the owner and teh chef picking us up because we were lost, and then there was a lot of free limoncello. Good times! The cathedral there is absolutely gorgeous. (I've got a soft spot for gothic architecture.) We also saw the University (old and famous), and an art-deco museum with an antique doll exhibit. And we stayed in a 4-star hotel, which was lovely.

I was already getting behind on my novel, but this weekend didn't help.

  21-23/Nov: Home!

I was really looking forward to this weekend, as much because I was a whole day behind on my word count, as because I hadn't really rested in about a month. The weather was beautiful and I had a wonderful time. I went to the Jardin Botanico and the Planetario with Pomme, both of which were fun.

Friday, I have no idea how I wrote >5k words, Saturday was 

the write-in. (more here) And I was well on my way to crossing the finish line Tuesday night.

  28-29/Nov: Granada

I misplaced my camera, so I only have photos from facebook, which is OK.

Granada was spiffy. We saw the Alhambra, which really was amazing. I guess I love Arab architecture as much as gothic. We also saw a flamenco show, which was pretty cool. Most of our free time was spent trying to find food in various places. But the arab atmosphere permeating the city is really neat.

I finished the last 500 words of my novel on Friday afternoon, ending at 55k.

  5-8/Dic: Home

The Immaculate Conception is a national holiday in Spain, so we didn't have classes yesterday, making a four day weekend. I didn't have the cash to be spending, so I stayed at home, did some homework, caught up on some TV shows and watched some Christmas movies online, and, most importantly, making eggnog and sgar cookies. I had some issues with the icing, so I think I might just give up on that. We're already eating them plain.

There! That's the important stuff over about two months. Maybe I'll post about school after the fact, but until then, I will most likely not blog about much important.

Less than two weeks until I meet up with my family in Rome!

Que Dios os bendiga,

-Ganchi ♥

*interesting* trend: What's up with the asterisks?

I've noticed a growing trend recently online. People are using some different punctuation in places like twitter. Namely, _underscores_ and *asterisks*

I'm not sure where it came from originally, but I do know that gmail chat has used these for some time to mean _italics_ and *bold*. The chat box converts them automatically.

But now they're being used without any conversion, and I have to wonder...

Am I the only one who thinks that it looks a whole lot more like *wink, wink* than *emphasis*?

And this really destroys the intended message.

Checks and Balances

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the Spanish constitution. I doubt it will ever cese to amaze me that Spain, though it's got written history and art and whatnot going back two thousand years or so, has a very young constitution. Other European countries are in a similar situation. I know, I know. Franco only died in 1975, and other countries had their political turmoil, wars and so on. That is my point.

Look at the United States of America. Whatever else you can say about our society, we've got a 232-year-old constitution, one that's kept us safe from internal and external threats, political or military upheaval. We must be doing something right. It's that system of checks and balances, for which I am so grateful. "Change" can't just happen in out political system. It takes a ton of time and effort, which keeps things at a healthy medium between modern movements and time-tested traditions.

So happy Thanksgiving! (Being in Europe, I get my calendar mixed up)

-Ganchi

NaNoWriMo final thoughts

It's December.

NaNoWriMo officially ended at midnight last night, but I finished my novel on Friday, and I crossed the 50,000-word mark Tuesday night (Wednesday morning). It ended at 55,197 words.

Today, I printed it all out. With single-spacing, 10 point font, tiny margins, and no page breaks, it worked out to 40 pages. (Formatted like a paperback, it's about 200 pages.) It's amazing what a thrill you get out of a stack of warm paper, knowing that you wrote all 55 thousand of those words, and in only 28 days.

It's really been a life-changing experience, much more so than I had originally thought it would be, maybe even more than for most other participants. Not to belittle their accomplishments. All 21,683 of them are incredible. And the community is one of the abolute best things in the world, especially on twitter.

But I never really liked writing. I've never been bad at it, but I've always kind of looked at English majors and aspiring writers as over-artsy dreamers. Sure, I admired their dreams, but I never understood the allure of writing, so the idea never made sense to me.

This past month, though, has opened my eyes. I have to say this has been the most fun I've had, like, ever. The thrill of creation. And it's even cheaper than crochet and cross-stitch. Especially near the end, when my plot and my characters started to take over every moment of my thoughts. It took on a life of its own for the last 25,000 words or so. It was a real thrill, and something addicting. NaNoWriMo has become a part of me. I don't think I'll ever get over the writing bug.

Yet I just wrote a bunch of sentence fragments.

'K then. I hope some of my dear readers will consider writing their own month-long novel next November. Check it!

Much love,

-Ganchi

Homesickness

Yeah.

I'm finally getting homesick. I guess I had let my guard down. I wasn't expecting it to happen.

And now it's December and I want to be home.

Don't get me wrong. I'm loving every minute of Europe. So don't feel sorry for me.

Just send me letters! :)

Thanksgiving Skype

I talked to my family tonight over skype!

Remember, you too can skype me! Look me up!

Who am I fooling?

I'm not going to blog about anything worthwhile until December at least.

I've got a backlog of weekend excursions to tell you about, but the only thing I can think about until it's over is NaNoWriMo. So, if you want to hear about that?

I went to my first write-in tonight! Spain is a sparsely populated NaNo region, but there are a few of us in Madrid. Unfortunately, they meet up on Saturdays, which isn't itself a problem, except that I was out of town last week (Salamanca) and will be next as well (Granada) which is especially unfortunate, as it's the last few days of the month. But!

Yesterday I wrote >5000 words, and tonight I wrote >3000, so now I'm at 40,360 - more than two days ahead!

So... write-in. It was at Starbucks on C/ Las Infantas, and it was the first time I've been to Starbucks in Spain (really I don't think I've been in like 6 months, but I'm just as happy with café con leche) Anyway, we were 5 writers, taking up the couches in one corner of the lower level lounge with laptops (see what I did there?) except Excalibor had this spiffy ancient-looking typing machine. So... they were all really nice, and we had a great time racing our word counts in ~hour-long spurts from 5-9 pm. And I got 3,703 words written and crossed the 40,000 word line, which was more than my goal for the day. And I got to witness Excalibor win! That was also very cool.

The only things that would have made it better - mint mochas, and not having the gay guys making out to distract me from my last 300 words. That was awkward and disturbing and I'll stop talking about it.

'K then! Hope you don't mind my absence too much. Why should you? I've been sending postcards every other week or so and I have recieved 2 pieces of mail in almost three months. Seems a tad disproportionate... </rantito>

Hasta luego, un beso,

-Ganchi <3

(short for ganchillo, spanish for crochet, short for crochetgrl, my u/n = it makes sense)

What I've been up to the last few weeks.

Since I last posted on my blog, which I know was quite some time ago, I have in fact been doing some things. In general, weeks are spent at school and I haven't had a free weekend in five weeks.

So, first, a list of where I've been since Alcalá:

• Avila
• Valsaín and Segovia
• Zaragoza
• Fatima

Don't worry. I'll get to each, along with pictures, soon.

Other than that, and what's been taking the majority of my time, is NaNoWriMo. If you've never heard of it, click the link to get more info. But in a nutshell, you write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November. If you've been following my twitter feed at all over the last week or so, you'll have noticed that It's been coming along nicely and that I'm really enjoying it. I'm on schedule so far with more 16,845 words! And, yes, I do plan to edit and publish (in some form) my book if I finish it. But for now, there's an excerpt on my NaNo profile page. Click the widget in the sidebar.

That's sort of it for now. Soon I will post about some of my weekend adventures. Until then,

-Rebekah

Actual Pictures of Madrid!

Meet Meryl. She's a friend of Brittany's from school. Today was the third consecutive weekend that the three of us have hung out. Either I tag along with the two of them, or she tags along with the two of us. But anyway, she's really funny and a lot of fun. This photo was taken two weeks ago, right after we went to the Museo Reina Sofia (the modern art museum, with, among others, Picasso and Dalí) Yes, we went to MickyD's. It was kinda fun! We rounded off the day with a trip to the cine to see a pretty bad movie. Good times!

This photo is of last week, when we all went shopping in Sol. I was looking for shoes, so naturally, I'm the only one who didn't buy a pair. We finished off the day with a trip to an incredible chocolatería and some terrible self-photography.

This is pretty much unrelated. Conchi, last (Sunday?) made us a huge brunch. This kind of thing is unheardof in Spain, but that didn't make it any less delicious!

There! Two photo posts!

But I'm not done yet! I'm going to Segovia tomorrow, and I still have last week's Ávila pictures. So look forward to more fun blogging excitement hitting your feed-readers everywhere soon!

Alcalá

Two weeks ago, I went to Alcalá with Brittany.

This small town, located only 30 minutes from Madrid, is the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes and the deathplace of San Diego. We took the Cercanías train, which is covered by my B3 abono, so I didn't have to pay. 

We had a lot of fun hanging out, checking out a few histori

cal sites, and generally soaking in the atmosphere.

Here are a few pictures of our day...

This is an old arabic-style building we passed on the way through the city. I don't remember what it is now, but it's absolutely gorgeous!

This is some museum that was closed when we got to Alcalá and which we were having too much fun to go back to see. But it's beautiful from the outside, no?

There was some sort of Cervantes festival going on. It seems it was a few weeks long. Not sure of all the particulars, but there was a huge rennaicance fair-type event spanning the whole historical area. This is the crêpe I got - chocolate y almendras! It was as delicious as it looks all over my face.

Have you met Brittany? Cervantes is pretty much her heroe because she loves novels so much. Here she is (leaning against the hand of) Don Quijote.

And I got a photo op with Sancho Panza!

As per norm, photos were not allowed inside the tourist sites, etc. But we visited the Casa Natal de Cervantes, the archeological museum, and the Corral de Comedias (an historical theater).

A grand time was had by all, though I'll never wear those boots on an excursion again!

I'm sorry!

First off - I just signed up for NaNoWriMo. I'm not exactly sure why. I have been thinking about it for a few weeks. Not sure yet what I'll write about. But hey, it should be fun.

But don't worry! Even though I may not blog much of anything substantial next month, I will do my very best to get you all absolutely caught up within the next 7 days.

Right now, I have to lend Brittany my laptop for a little bit. I know you're all upset, but I promise, PROMISE to post 2 photo-posts before I go to bed tonight! (and hey, a lot of you might not even notice the gap, being asleep and all.)

OK, stay right there and I'll be back before you know it!

Noticias y Pensamientos

First, I'm now on Twitter. You may follow me if you like, but I mostly just did it so I could put whitty comments at the top of my blog page. So check back here from time to time to see what I'm up to, minute by minute.

In my Spanish societry class today, we went over the last century of Spanish history in 1:20. But what really struck me was our discussion of Franco's dictatorship. I hadn't realized the Church's role in those 40 years of Spanish history.

So, Franco allied himself with the Vatican, with the result that, in exchange for being officially recognized by the Church, Spain would be a completely catholic country.

This puts me in an awkward situation when trying to study this period of history. As we discussed in class the opressions of the dictatorial period, a good number of them were moral rules imposed by the Church. I found it very hard to view these restrictions (for example, on abortion, contraception, and homosexuality) as bad things. All my life, I've lived with the Church's worldview - These aren't restrictions, so much as a way to live God's law. Yes, I realize that free will is important, and I'm trying to wrap my mind around the view of freedom of religion from the other side. It's just sad to realize that Spain is a catholic country only in the way that Russia is an atheist country.

And the other thing that seems so wrong is the way the world views these libreral movements. Everything I've been fighting against on moral grounds my whole life seems, in the world's eyes, so simply be the natural progression of things. The legalization of gay marriage, by this reasoning, is as just and inevitable as women's sufferage. So many people apparently have no sense of the moral differences between different movements. All they want it change. But I'm not ready to blog about Obama right now. It's just something to think about.

There's a blogger raffling off a free zune! Check it out!

Móvil Schmóvil

I've pretty much decided by now that I'm not going to bother with a cell phone. It's not incredibly cheap in Europe, and I really just don't want to deal with all those complexities.

So I invested today in $10-worth of skype credit. The rates are really good for calls to landlines.

So! For calls that I need to make, I'll use skype. Or a pay phone if I'm not at home.

If you need to call me, you can use my host family's number, posted here. Don't worry about asking for me. Conchi's pretty much fluent in English, and Concha can probably handle it. Or you can try out your two semesters of Spanish and no one will think less of you. It's admirable, really.

Or, you can just get a microphone and sign up for skype already - it's free!!!

I want to talk to you!

¡Llámamme!

El Rastro

Admission: I'm only writing this post tonight to get that way-to-long Toledo post off the main page.

This morning, I finally went to the local flea market - El Rastro. And I brought my camera!

This goes on every Sunday morning from 9-2, filling several streets. They really do sell everything from clothes to hardware. It's so incredibly crowded, especially later on in the morning. And you really have to keep a close eye on your purse. I didn't get anything this morning. I almost bought a pair of earrings, but they looked like I'd be alergic to them. Anyway, just a couple of photos to give you an idea of the atmosphere.

El Escorial

By popular demand... a photo post!

Yesterday, I went to El Escorial with ISA. El Escorial is the summer home built by (for) Felipe II, as well as housing the burial crypt for the royal family. It was neat to see all the history behind the building. The library houses thousands of ancient books, and the summer residence is home to several fine pieces of art. It was also neat to be reminded that Spain has a king. I know that sounds weird, but it's just so cool to me that such a modern city as Madrid could be the home of a real honest-to-goodness royal family. I'm such a dumb American. The smallest things completely blow my mind.

They don't allow photos inside, but here are some of the outside.

After the tour and some free time to turn our attention to our sack lunches, we headed to Valle de los Caídos. Located some 10 km from El Escorial, this is the gigantic temple of doom where Franco is buried. This gigantic tomb/cathedral is built straight into the granite mountainside. You may not be able to tell from the pictures - you can barely tell standing there - but everything about it is abusolutely huge. It cost a few billion to make, during a time (after the civil war) when many madrileños didn't have the money for food. It's frigid and sparsely decorated interior and morbid iconography remind the visitor of death.

Needless to say, the site of Franco's grave is a controversial subject. But whatever the terrible memories it evokes, the Valle de los Caídos has a certain simplistic beauty to accompany it's slice of Spanish history.

Again, no photos are allowed of the inside, but here's what I've got:

Well, enjoy the photos. I've got a few more that I'll post soon, and I want to get out and take more of Madrid for you.

Until then, I'll keep posting if you keep reading!

Que Dios os bendiga,

-Rebekah

I was just looking at my reflexion in my eye in the mirror when I realized just how many times it was bouncing off stuff.

La Casa

As I've mentioned before, I'm staying with a host family while I'm in Madrid this semester.

I'm really loving my situation here and am so glad that I'm here. We live near Pacífico (most people name their metro stop), pretty near to the center of the city. It's a less-than-ten-minute walk from the metro to the building, then we're up on the second floor (European system), apartment C. It's not incredibly spacious, but it's comfortable. And no one lives in huge houses. We're in a city!

The host family actually lives in two houses. The mom and dad live in their own aparment nearby, with their own students. I'm living with their daughter, who's 22 years old. There are four americans here, two from USD, and one from another university.

It's actually a pretty nice situation. They feed us three meals a day, wash our clothes, and a lady even comes once a week to clean our rooms. And la Señora is an incredible cook!

We all get along really well. Dinners together are so much fun!

And I've got my own room (again - there was another girl here while her own señora was sick). And there's wireless internet.

Yep, it's awesome, and I love it!

Academics

This is all so very complicated. So don't worry if you don't understand. I barely do.

The ISA program that I'm here with is called "Studies With Spaniards". I chose this program because I believed it would offer the most challenging curriculum, as well as the best way to learn Spanish and meet locals. Before the end of last semester, I selected (and had approved) a number of courses from the catalog listed on the host university's (Nebrija's) website. From this list, it appeared to me that the courses listed under "Applied Languages" and "Hispanic Studies" were all taught to Spaniards through the same process. I selected one from the former and four from the latter.

Well, it turns out that the "Hispanic Studies" classes are simply the only ones available to the Fall 2 (not Studies With Spaniards) program. I had thought that the placement test was for placement into the classes with Spaniards, but as it turns out, those are pretty much on a if-you-think-you-can-handle-it basis. But the linguistics class I signed up for turned out to be taught in English anyway. Not what I expected it to be, but it will work.

And the intensive courses, which we all placed into, are in intricate levels that don't in anyway correspond to the levels in the ISA paperwork (which was the basis for getting my papers signed by Engel-Doyle). So I don't really know just how advanced my classes are. Anyway, since I started taking the linguistics class two days a week, I haven't been able to make it to the intensive courses on those days, which means I can't pass them, so I'm not getting credit for them.

AND there's something messed up about how I signed up for the linguistics class, so now it's not showing up on my page of the Nebrija website. I went in today and talked to people, and sent an email, as was suggested by these people. So hopefully that will be resolved quickly, despite the fact that today was the add-drop date.

But today was the final exams for the intensive classes, so the complexity is mostly at bay for now. Today was also my first Friday off. That will continue for the rest of the semester. Yay!

"Hispanic Studies" classes start on Oct 2.

Design Overhaul

Yesterday, instead of writing a blog post, I decided to re-do the blog layout/design. Of course, it's not all as complicated as all that. Blogger's templates make it really easy. But I did go in and edit several of the images in the default. I'll get back to posting content this afternoon. Enjoy!

The first in a series of short, catch-up posts

It's been 22 days since my last real post, and I apologize for that. I keep forgetting that I'm in Spain, and that even the mundane has an innate excitement that you'll all want to hear about.
But in the effort to assimilate myself into Spanish culture, to blend in, to bend so as to not break under the culture shock, I tend to lose a great deal of the wonder I should be relishing in every day. I'm living in Europe! Twice now, I've had to stop, shake myself, and be reminded of that fact. I'm studying in Spain, something I've dreamed of doing for several years now.
Well, at least as of today, I can say that I'm honestly and genuinely enjoying my time here.

Fix Notification

I just realized that the subscription link on the left wasn't working. It should be all better now.

Totally Random Song

But I thought it had to be shared.

Que Dios os bendiga,
-Rebekah

Request

My dear friends and family,

I didn't bring my address book with me to Spain.

I'd love to be able to send you a postcard, but I need your address to do so.

So! Please email me your addresses or box numbers at school. My email address can be found on my blogger profile page.

I look forward to sending you mail!

Toledo en Fotos

Nota: Please, please don't rely on babelfish to understand this entry. Find someone who speaks/takes Spanish, or a good dictionary. Hopefully the pictures will speak a thousand words by themselves. However, if you understand the entry in the original, and want a good laugh, The garden is very tuna.

Hoy, fuimos a Toledo por el día. Saqué 90 fotos. Aquí están unas con descripciones...

Del autobus. Este es el puente, y nuestra primer vista de la ciudad.

La vista panorámica de la ciudad. De aquí se puede ver algunos monumentos.

Una calle estrecha típica de Toledo. La ciudad me recuerda mucho a Asis.

El Barrio de la Juderia. Hace cientos de años, la ciudad fuera dividida en tres partes, para los judios, los musulmanes, y los cristianos.

El claustro de San Juan de los Reyes.

El jardín a San Juan de los Reyes. Estaba lloviendo por la mañana, pero hacía sol desde mediodía, que hizo el jardín muy bonito.

Y arriba, hay un techo arabe muy guay.

Este es el ayuntamiento. El tablado era para una fiesta internacional de jazz la semana pasada.

La catedral. Si podéis ver, hay la última cena arriba de la puerta.

Hubo una boda en la catedral.

Un puente que conecta la catedral y la casa del cardenal.

Esta mezquita anciana pequeña está construido sobre cuatro pilares visigodos, está al lado de un cementerio cristiano, y es llamado "La Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz". Es como la ciudad de Toledo - una mezcla de culturas, arquitecturas, y religiones.

Este es la Plaza de Zocodover. El arco es un ejemplo del estilo arabe.

Los Toledos en españa y en Ohio son ciudades hermanas. ¡Hola a todos mis amigos en Ohio!

Se vende espadas de alta calidad en Toledo. La mayoridad de las espadas en las películas están hechas en Toledo, y se vende también cosas de peliculas como El Señor de los Anillos y Eragon.

¿Recuerdáis esos zapatos de los ceremonios al final de los juegos olimpicos? Pues, Papá, ¡se los vende!

Y cuando empecé a olvidar Asis, encontramos estas esculpturas.

También vimos otras cosas, incluso en cuadro de El Greco, pero no se permite fotos.

So, there's this new web browser out. It's called Google Chrome.

I was very surprised to see it today. I guess I didn't expect Google to do it.

But I downloaded it and am trying it out. So you can see that it at least allows one to blog. :)

It's actually a lot like Firefox. I haven't seen anything that I really don't like yet.

It's still in Beta. Try it out if you like.

-Rebekah

Quick Spanish Observations

...and I just mean about the country, not in the language.

Wow. I just had to consciously fight myself not to write "observaciones". We must be making progress.

I toyed for months with the idea of switching the blog to all-Spanish for the semester and just linking to babelfish. But I hate babelfish.

Yeah! I'm here in Madrid, Spain.

The flights went, all things considered, pretty smoothly. I caught the flu my brother had and got sick twice over the Atlantic. But all three flights were on schedule. That's never happened to me before.

Not feeling well gave me a great excuse to take my time getting used to Spanish food.

The Metro here is immaculate. There's barely even any gum on the floor. Especially compared to the one in Rome... wow. But it's also incredibly complicated, with a dozen lines criss-crossing all over the city.

It seems like all the floors in this city are slippery.

The language barrier is a little lower than I had first thought in the airports. Except for one thing - There's no way to practice using "vosotros" in San Diego.

We had a meeting yesterday evening with ISA about general stuff.

The students in ISA are all pretty nice. There's about 2o of us so far (the compultense students arrive later) but there's only about 3 of us who actively try to speak Spanish while in a group.

We had our examen de nivel this morning. It was nerve-wracking, especially the oral part, but I have hope that I did well.

My host family is really nice. And they force us to speak Spanish at home, which is good.

There was a lady on the bus this morning with a shirt that said "a heart 100% healthful". If you forget, here's the difference. Ha! It's funny because it's cannibalism!

Culture shock so far has been at a deal-with-it-able level. It's too soon to comment on home-sickness. The time difference is 9 hours ahead of Pacific time. Skype me!

I'll be blogging more soon, with some photos.

-Rebekah

A Tuesday Post

Sunday, I gave blood for the first time ever. I got kind of lightheaded, but I think I'll do it again some day. It was a good experience.

Monday, I opened and closed a bank account in the same day. Fortunately, it wasn't as awkward as it could have been, and the end result was ideal. (I got to keep my old bank account and ATM card, but get free checking.)

Today, I'm writing this blog post. But I'm also packing today. I'm trying to fit everything I need for ten months in Europe in one 44 lb suitcase and a backpack. (That could use a spare prayer or two). I'm leaving on Saturday morning at 8 am from LAX, flying through Dulles and Copenhagen, and arriving in Madrid Sunday at 12:30 pm. I will be sure to blog about the flight. (I kind of enjoy traveling.)

Today, I'm also posting the contact information for my host family in Madrid.

c/o Conchi Rodriquez Barahona
C/ Valderribas n°48, Escalera 1, 2°C
28007 Madrid, Spain

phone: 011 + 34 + 914 33 82 67

I hope to hear from you by letter, phone call, or email (or just by lowly blog comment) sometime this semester. Remember, if you write me, chances are better that I'll send you a postcard! :)
Also, don't forget that I'm on skype!

Until later, faithful reader,
-Rebekah

Windows Vista

I ran across The Mojave Experiment earlier today. The premise here is that people actually like using Windows Vista if they don't know that it's Windows Vista. I thought it was kind of interesting. And it made me feel better about not hating Vista myself. I wouldn't say that I love it, but I've been using it for a year and I haven't found anything that breaks the deal for me. In fact, I'm writing this from the family laptop which runs XP, and I find myself amazed at how slow it is.
So, just a few thoughts. Oh, and I'm not trying to pick a com-box fight here. This is all about personal preference.
-Rebekah

Skype excitement

Yep! I'm on skype now. (Well, as of earlier this week.)
So if you have skype (and maybe a microphone and webcam?) you can add me as a friend/buddy/whatever. My username is--you'll never guess--crochetgrl.
I look forward to videoconferencing with you over the next year.
-Rebekah

Visas!

Yesterday was my appointment with the visa section of the French consulate. Emily came with me up to LA fr moral support and carpool eligibility. But once we got to the visa section, she wasn't allowed inside. Rules, bah. There was a security guard and a metal detector--these people are so much more uptight than the Spanish consulate. But anyway, I thought you might like to see what Schengen visas look like.

Spain:France:

I happened to take these with my new Logitech QuickCam IM Plus.
More on that in the next post.
-Rebekah

Brand new ways to keep up

Attention all faithful blog readers!
There is now a new way to subscribe to my blog.
If you want to be made aware of new updates to my blog, but don't want to, or don't know how to, go through all that business of feedreaders, then there is hope for you!
Simply enter your email address in the convenient box at the top of the left-hand column and my blog updates will automatically be sent to your email inbox as soon as they are published!

Please let me know how this works for you and if you encounter any problems. I hope you enjoy this convenient new feature, brought to you by feedburner.

-Rebekah

Latin Karaoke

In the Spring of 2007, Emily and I spent a great deal of time in "our" car driving back and forth from classes at community college. One day, we decided to use that time constructively and translated this song. Feel Free to sing along.

Click here. (Midi file borrowed from moremidifiles.com)

Hic Sol Venit

Hic sol venit, hic sol venit,
Et dico, "omnis bene est."

Deliciae parvae, fuit hiems longa, frigida, sola.
Deliciae parvae, sentit quasi transent anni post hic fuerat.
Hic sol venit, hic sol venit,
Et dico, "omnis bene est."

Deliciae parvae, risus redeunt ad vultus.
Deliciae parvae, sentit quasi transent anni post his fuerat.
Hic sol venit, hic sol venit,
Et dico, "omnis bene est."

Sol, sol, sol, hic venit...
Sol, sol, sol, hic venit...
Sol, sol, sol, hic venit...
Sol, sol, sol, hic venit...
Sol, sol, sol, hic venit...

Deliciae parvae, sentio quasi glaces liquescit tarde.
Deliciae parvae, sentit quasi transent anni post serenus fuerat.
Hic sol venit, hic sol venit,
Et dico, "omnis bene est."
Omnis bene est.

These Things Have a Way of Working Out

Ignore this post if you want to.

I'm so terrible about doing these. I've only posted this twice before on Facebook, but when I finally got around to reading some old blog posts and saw that Megan had done it on hers, I couldn't help but try it again for myself.


1.Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question.

What does next year have in store for me?
Begin With Me (Point of Grace)
Let's begin with this song. This answer, however, makes little sense.

What does your love life look like?
Lookin' for Love (Out of Eden)
l...o...l...!!!

What do I say when life gets hard?
O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion (Handel's Messiah)
um...yep.

What do I think when I get up in the morning?
Something Beautiful (Newsboys)
I wish that were always true.

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
Bless Me Indeed (MercyME)
Not great to dance to. Who is this DJ?

What do you want to do for your career?
Say a Prayer (CeCe Winans)
Exactly!

Your favorite saying?
Love Me Do (The Beatles)
It's true. Ask any of my friends. (not)

Your favorite place?
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (James Taylor)
Awww

What do you think of your parents?
Isaiah 61 (Matt Maher)
Maybe... wise like a prophet... yeah, that's it.

Where would you go on a first date?
The World's Address (They Might Be Giants)
I'm not picky.

Drug of choice?
Less is More (Relient K)
Let's hear it for temperance! Whoo!

Describe yourself.
House of God (MercyME)
Amen! (sweet!)

What is the thing I like doing most?
I Know That My Redeemer Liveth (Handel's Messiah)
Whenever I get down... so much fun!

What is my state of mind like at the moment?
Minnie the Moocher (The Blues Brothers Soundtrack)
I guess.

How will I die?
Trading My Sorrows (not sure)
This fit so well grammatically that I laughed out loud, but I don't know what it means. I sounds good, though.

The song that will be played at your funeral?
Hot Cha (They Might Be Giants)
Terrible, terrible choice. Please DO NOT play this at my funeral.

The song you'll put as the subject?
These Things Have a Way of Working Out (Ceili Rain)
Alright. They do, you know.

The song that describes my friendships?
Hold Me Jesus (Rich Mullins)
I don't know if this is good or bad.

The song that describes my future marriage?
Gimme Some Lovin' (The Blues Brothers Soundtrack)
Again, not sure about this.

The song that describes my future children?
Nowhere Man (The Beatles)
Uh oh.

The song that describes what this winter will be like?
Higher Education and the Book of Love (Rich Mullins)
Homework and prayer. I can live with that.

The song that describes what people think of me?
Erasers on Pencils (Ceili Rain)
Huh?

The song that describes how I will do in school?
Youth Culture Killed My Dog (They Might Be Giants)
That definitely sounds bad.

The song that describes how nice of a career I'll have?
Darlington Darling (Moxy Früvous)
This is song about a factory worker.

The song that describes my personality?
My Deliverer (Rich Mullins)
I can't decide if this is sacrilegious or not.

Yeah, that was fun.
-Rebekah

Housing Assignment Mania!

I got my home stay assignment in the mail this afternoon. It seems I'll be living with a Señora Concepción Barahona Águeda and her family, along with a Lauren Walker, who, incidentally, lives in Fallbrook.

It´s all coming together!

Jumping Right Back In

We went to the beach today.
It was pretty neat 'cause it was the first time I've been in over a year (I think). No, we don't go to the beach much. There was also spectacularly perfect weather. Something that I've only experienced at the beach maybe 3 times in my life.

And a tentative blogging schedule...
-First, I haven't given up or forgotten about the blog.
-I think I'll begin with talking about camp.
-Then I'll get around to describing Yosemite.
-And finishing my Half Dome slideshow.
-While continuing to talk about my preparations for Spain.
-And the rest of my summer.

Recently, it seems like I keep seeing people around who look like people with whom I go to school. This, of course, only serves to remind me that I won't see most of them for a whole year. Here's to you, college buddies. You are missed!

Later,
-Rebekah

Why not?

I'm back from camp! Eventually, I will finish the Half Dome slide show, and post about vacation, and about camp. But until then, I'll come back to the blog with this meme I got tagged with by Megan... Why not, really?

1. Link the person(s) who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged

1. My hitchhiker's thumb bends back 90°
2. When people ask me for a definition, I give them an etymology.
3. I used to think I was a pessimist, but I changed my mind.
4. I start thinking about Christmas in September.
5. I don't like onions.
6. I can be a terribly lazy person sometimes.
   

I tag Ben the Biker, Michaela, Shelle Belle, and Tessa. Four will just have to cut it, because I don't know any other bloggers well enough to tag them, and I'm sure Megan will just be happy that I actually did anything with this. So, enjoy!

The Snowcones

More excitingly awkward wording from CVS. I'll post on camp when I find a computer. Till then!

Ooh! Ahh!

You can learn so much from watching The Colbert Report.
I went almost two whole days not knowing that Mozilla Firefox came out with a new version until Colbert's guest mentioned it in an interview.
So I thought you all should know that too.
I just installed it, so I can't say how I like it yet. But hopefully, Firefox 3 won't keep updating itself like v. 2 did.
And if you don't already run Firefox, look into it! It's at least 50 times less annoying than Internet Explorer.

Not like you'd care...

...but I got a new watch at Walmart today. It's pretty spiff 'cause it lights up different colors. I needed it for camp 'cause my old one is too nice and needs a new battery and a new strap. So yeah, check it out:
I'm working on a video slide show of the Half Dome pictures, so look forward to that.
-Rebekah

Blackout Shopping Fun!

There was a blackout this afternoon all over Poway. Around 5:00 pm, Emily and I went to shop for dinner at Henry's. But they were closed, as was Vons, because of a decided prohibitive lack of electricity. Fortunately, Stater Bros. has a very sophisticated backup plan for such situations. The lights and background music were off, which wasn't such a bad thing. And they have these retractable thermal covers over the produce, dairy, cheese, etc. which the flashlight-bearing employees opened for customers. It was kind of like a game of "memory", trying to remember exactly where they keep the bleu cheese. It was probably the most fun I've had grocery shopping in a long time.
Pictures:
Two Yosemite posts will be coming soon.
Until then,
-Rebekah