At the end of four months..
My last few days in Alicante were spent doing a little Christmas shopping, having lunch with friends and relaxing after the exams the week before. I couldn’t remember the last time I was able to go to bed without setting the alarm on my phone and just sleeping until I woke up. Granted, I slept a little longer than I thought I would – but it was very much worth it.
Thankfully there was a lot of sun the last few days so I was able to go out and enjoy the very good weather as well.
What I was really looking forward to was seeing my boyfriends face when I came home. He thought I was coming home a week later than I actually was. I was hoping he would be surprised and in a good way of course. And he really was. He hadn’t suspected a thing – and he looked utterly pleased and surprised. He dropped everything and gave me the biggest hug. I was glad to be home.
I was thinking of my stay in Alicante and have different feelings about everything. I came to Spain nine days before my Catalan course started and I spent those days getting a NIE number and having a little bit of a summer holiday and starting practicing my Spanish. I had a nice time and actually met someone from my Catalan course before we started.
The IBP course I didn’t much like as far as education goes. We had mandatory attendance, which I don’t care for at all. I don’t know whether or not to recommend the program to be honest; it’s hard for me to say because I didn’t have the best experience. Some of the other people in my course said it was good if you wanted to go out drinking all the time and not care about school. They were the ones with long weekends and little homework. Some of them also managed to save all the work for the last few weeks and weren’t able to do much except studying the last two weeks. I don’t think I would choose that program again.
Had I paid any attention I would’ve known my Catalan course counted four points. Then I would have been able to do one subject less of the IBP. So it’s my own fault for not reading every piece of paper that I got from start to finish. I’m getting 38 points for this semester, only 30 of which count. I didn’t want to drop a course either because I had to pay €140 for each course.
During my stay I visited Zaragoza with some friends and we also went to Guadalest when my boyfriend was here. Both trips were very good and we had a lot of fun. Zaragoza is absolutely a town to visit. It’s very beautiful and there are a lot of things to see and you can walk around for ages without ending up where you started. There is also a pretty decent shopping area. Guadalest is exceptionally beautiful, even when it rains. It was my second time there, and I don’t regret going for a second. Once you get up to the viewpoint it will take your breath away.
I also had a friend from my university back home for a short stay. We went out and saw the nightlife, which was very fun. We were a group of Norwegians, Swedish and Germans who had very nice night on the town. My parents were also in Spain for two weeks, and for a weekend I went to stay with them. It was very nice to be able to not think about school, lie around in the sun, have my food paid for me and being able to go to a market together.
We had little excursions such as going to Altea, Villajoyosa, Elche, Algemesi and El Campello as well as having the “tourist experience” in Alicante. It was very nice to be able to go away a little bit and see different towns. We saw festivals in Zaragoza, El Campello and Algemesí which were very interesting and different. So if you have a chance to see a festival or two, do it! It’s worth it.
A very late update on our trip to Zaragoza
Days 56 and 57 in Spain
We had planned a trip to Zaragoza. There were five of us, just enough to fill a car! It was my friend and me driving half of the time each so as to not have too long a drive. We got to Zaragoza on Friday night and decided to check out the city itself, as our hostel was just outside the city. We arrived two days after the ‘Festivo de Pilar’ had started. So they had a big float of flowers set out in the city square. Of course it didn’t smell very good at this point, but it was very impressive.
Our Saturday spent in Zaragoza we went to so many different churches we lost count; we ate tapas, crêpes, Italian, tostadas, and so much more. I don’t know if we were particularly that hungry, it was just one of those things – we ended up wanting so many different types of foods, that when we saw one we had to get it, or we decided it was about time for some more food. We managed to do a little shopping.
We walked around everywhere, and we found the theatre, which was closed. But the nicest security lady ever let us go in and have a look around. It was so cool, and we were let on to the stage so we could see what the actors see when they’re on stage. It looked quite intimidating, even without a crowd. But it was awesome!! We also managed to walk into the bullfighting arena, which I don’t think we were supposed to either, but this nice cleaning lady showed us they way. It was extremely tiny, compared to how we thought it would be. And it had a weird atmosphere about it – of course none of us really think that bullfighting is okay, so that might have a lot to do with it. But at least we’ve been inside an arena, and seen what it looks like.
On Sunday we decided to drive to Valencia on our way back to Alicante. Here we decided to do the typical tourist thing – we choose to eat paella. Oh, and not just anywhere – in the area with the most tourists, what we didn’t realise when we sat down was that the restaurant that had those tables was an Asian restaurant of some sort. So we had didn’t exactly have a Spanish paella – we would say it was a very typical tourist paella. It was an experience, though. And we had a very good laugh over it. We also had Starbucks coffee – heaven! Coffee here is good, but mocca is something they don’t really do. We found the main park that follows the city for the most part. And it was a very nice day for walking in the sun and just taking in the atmosphere.
It was an amazing trip. And it was so nice to be able to spend an entire weekend with some of the people that I’ve grown close to here. Because of the way or school days have been we haven’t been able to spend too much time together.
Renting a car here isn’t too expensive actually – it’s just all the extra costs that are. We had to pay €3 each day for each driver under the 25 years of age, then we had to pay €3 each day for an additional driver. So that was €27, before the insurance which was €16 for the three days, so we paid €43 in extras and the actual rental of the car for the three days was only €28. But a total of €71 split between five people amounted to €14 each for us to be able to drive from Alicante to Zaragoza and Valencia. Of course we did use a bit of petrol – but we didn’t even think twice about it. We managed to find a hostel – yes, it was outside the city centre, but we did have a car so it didn’t really matter. It was around €16 a night I think, so overall very decent prices for a weekend trip. And Zaragoza was a very nice town to visit. I would recommend people to visit it.
Day 52 – Long walk in the sunlight and the best gelato
Yeah, I know, I’ve been neglecting my blog quite a lot lately. So I’m going to try and do a real update. And apparently I get really confused about what I’ve written, I just had to check my blog to actually see what my last entry was (auch, memory suck much?)
This weekend I had a friend stay with me, and even though she was here for such a short time we managed to do a lot actually. Friday night, we went out for dinner just the two of us. We talked about a lot of different things and enjoyed our meal which was not very Spanish at all, we had pizza and a salad, the stomach wants what the stomach wants – what can I say? After trying to get the waiters attention for a little while he finally came and gave us the bill. I told my friend of a really good ice cream place, which we had to go to, so naturally we did – and it’s gelato, not ice cream, I don’t really care that there’s a difference – I love that place!
From our gelato adventure (they give you up to three scoops in a little cup) we walked up to meet another friend because we were going to a third friend do to pre-drinks.
And we had so much fun, we were comparing different Christmas movies that we all watch around Christmas eve or New Years and “drinking movies”. It was definitely a really good way to spend the evening. But our evening didn’t end there, because we had to go to El Barrio as well, (yes – had to)! After dancing for who even knows how long with our little group and a few guys that we were introduced to we decided it was enough, well, one of my friends wanted to go somewhere else and another wanted to have an “early” night because of her flight the next day. I say “early” because it was already 03:30, and we hadn’t had any food (which was going to be our biggest mistake of the night).
In Norway we always get something to eat on the way home from going out, here however all the food places were in the wrong direction, and we knew there was a 24hour shop on the way home. Thing is though, after a certain time they only take your purchase through a window in the door. So you can’t really look at what they have. So we just waited for the bus with one of my friends before the last two of us went home. We saw some interesting Spanish culture though, there was a man that was so drunk he couldn’t stand upright and had his hands on the pavement more often than by his sides and the guy in the shop let him buy a liter of beer. After which he ran straight into a three lane street without looking in any other direction than straight down. He made it into a square in the middle, and then he started breaking the glass bottle of beer. He fell off the bench and ran back into the street. We asked the guy in the shop to call the police to come and get him so he would run in the round and maybe get hit by someone, because people drive drunk here. But the guy in the shop said it was normal and thought it was hilarious and didn’t stop laughing the whole time. Others have said that Spanish people don’t complain and don’t bother the police, and some say that – as long as they don’t hurt anyone else it doesn’t matter. I would say as long as they can potentially be harmful to themselves or anyone else you should at least keep an eye out for them.
So as I said – our biggest mistake. We were so hungry when we got home, and I just ate some salty crackers to have something in my stomach and my friend didn’t want anything (I think she regretted that during the night). So waking up the next day we both felt quite sick – or hungry, it was sort of a mix, and sort of hard to tell. We had decided we would go to a market, the beach and ended up not wanting to do anything. Instead we decided to go to the Explanada to get some food. We got Subway and Burger King, sat and ate, and we were so happy (it doesn’t take much). After our not so healthy breakfast we walked along the Explanada and out along a sort of pier. We took quite a few pictures, enjoyed the sun, talked about a lot of funny things and looked at a lot of funny people. Walking back we of course had to get some ice cream. There was a really grumpy and aggressive man selling sun glasses. And after two second of looking at the sun glasses we were already regretting it. He ran after us into the street and wanted us to go back with him. And again like before, we said no, in the end he said something in a really angry tone of voice and then gave us a hand gesture and walked back to his blanket. The thing was that he was trying to get me to buy ‘Ray Beri’ glasses. And I didn’t want to pay as much as he was asking for fake glasses. After a little while he came after us with glasses that were smaller with the real name, (I think they were for children) anyway, we weren’t interested anymore and really just wanted to get away from him (so much easier said than done).
We saw these cute little merry-go-rounds in a centre for restaurants, arcade halls and cinema. They were so much fun! Our day was quite enjoyable. We ended up walking around a little more before going to a café and going back home. She left that afternoon and I wish she would’ve stayed another few days or even a week. We saw so much though and walked so far, in just that one day. We were quite surprised by ourselves.
On Sunday I went well prepared with exercises to meet my language exchange partner. We went to the beach and lay in the sun for hours. I managed to fall asleep on my front, forgot the sunscreen on the back – and yes, I got a sunburn. Luckily for me it doesn’t hurt! We met her friends there for a coffee and ice cream before going back home.
Back home I realized I had to do my part of the cleaning, which I did, just in time to jump in the shower before two of my friends came over to watch a movie. We made pancakes (well, I watched my friend make them) and had pineapple while we watched ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (don’t even dare ask me which version), it was so much fun and a really good way to finish my already very enjoyable weekend.
Day 43 – A great weekend!
2011.10.02
My parents arrived in Spain last weekend. Their friends also came that weekend, and they made a few trips and did whatever they did last week. And this weekend they came to pick me up on Friday, we ate tapas in Alicante and then drove to their house near Villa Martin. It was really good to see them again, I haven’t really thought about the fact that I miss anyone or anything like that, but it was actually really nice to see them again, and I haven’t been here that long either, still. In the evening we went to a really nice Austrian restaurant and had whatever we liked of the menu, thing was though that everything came in large portions. And after that we even got deserts! Who would have thought, but we did finish them and we were quite proud of ourselves.
On Saturday we got up early to go to the market, where we browsed every stall up and down. My mum got a new handbag and large back pains, whilst I got a top, strawberries and liquorice. After this we had a drink before going home. We decided to stop so I could get some Norwegian soups and a chocolate and then we realised we wanted chicken for dinner, so we had to go back to the market and get like readymade chickens. On the way home we picked up fries and ketchup, and our dinner was complete. It was an early dinner but that suited us fine, this is the reason – we had time to sit in the sun after the meal and then we were ready to go and watch the football match! The game was really bad of course, they won, but I don’t really know if anyone deserved to get a single point after that match. We had a drink though and it was quite nice.
When we got home we had something to eat, and enjoyed each other’s company and a few sweet things. I got them Spanish chocolate and tùrron, they seemed to enjoy the chocolate, but they didn’t get round to tasting the túrron.
On Sunday my parents’ friends left and it was the three of us. It was very nice, we sat in the sun and my mum and I went to get something from the shop. We had an omelette for lunch and just ended up talking for hours, I don’t think my dad enjoyed being by himself, so he came to sit next to us while reading, and we were talking. It got quite late, and my parents realised that it was too early for them to eat right then, and too late to eat when they got back from taking me. So I told them I knew a place we could get some decent food. They drove me back to the apartment, had a look around, took some clothes for me and we went out to eat. I took them to a little place where you get mini baguettes with different things in them. It’s very cheap and they drinks aren’t that bad either. We ended up with different things like chicken, ham, and brie cheese. I think both of my parents were quite happy, and they seemed to enjoy it very much. After that I took them just on a different street to show them the ‘old city’ which is just a few buildings to see what the architecture was like. There are a lot of pubs and clubs there and it’s where everyone goes out, there are a lot of restaurants as well. So we walked back up towards the apartment and I showed them a few things along the way. We walked back towards the car, and they left. They’re staying for another week, but I have classes, so I can’t stay with them for longer (sucks).
Day 39 – I had to travel all the way to Spain to watch Norwegian television
We were sitting in our e-management class today, and our teacher was showing us movies on youtube from different things. One of the movies just happens to be a Norwegian sketch about the first book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ
This was very funny for my Swedish friend and me as we both knew that it was Norwegian. And the teacher just said she didn’t know the language.
Today I met my Swedish friend for breakfast. What’s really funny here is that every cafeteria/restaurant here in the university they have a different system for ordering food. One place you buy a ticket with the order on it and show it to the people at the counter, another place you order directly and pay to the people, and in a third you order and pay and they put your name on a ticket.
Oh, I really haven’t told you the best part. I just randomly sent an email to another coordinator at home, (which is like the coordinator I wanted to have from the start), and I asked her if she could check the points for the subjects and everything. Because I think 9 subjects here is a lot. To make a really long story really a lot shorter – she told me that I could have 6 subjects and a language course. So I only have 7 now! It’s like the best thing. Now I get to finish earlier on Wednesdays and Thursdays and my Spanish language course actually fits my timetable. I love it. Why couldn’t they just have told me this from the start? Well apart from a lot more paperwork now, it seems to be working out. And there are so many things that I need to get together. Like for my scholarship at home I need to get a proof of payment for what I’m paying for the courses and an acceptance letter from the school. And before I go home they need to sign another letter to say that I’ve been here, and I need to get something with my grades and just a big long thing really. And everyone here keeps referring us to another department or person, so before we actually get from A to B we’ve been to A1, A2, A3, and like a thousand other places. It seems to be working out now though. So now we sort of just have to try and settle into a sort of routine.
Day 33 My “emergency” and adventure in the yellow car
My first class started alright, but as soon as I gave an answer and was told outright that I was wrong, it suddenly became the worst class ever. The teacher had to be right, when others gave their opinions she didn’t say they were wrong, but had to have the last word and it wasn’t the same opinion as the students.
After this epic fail of a class we had another class were we just had to write down as much as we could off a power point while the teacher read exactly what was on the power point. This you just have to give up at some point, because there is too much text and not enough time. This was in a classroom with way too much air conditioning on, so it was really cold, and I managed to sit underneath the air vent (typical).
Next class was ten minutes away and our last class finished ten minutes over its allocated time. So I was late. This computer room we were in was really hot, and the air was really stuffy, there was no circulation or anything.
So after two periods our final class started and after an hour of this I couldn’t be there anymore. I had big pains in my stomach and started going hot and cold and tingly. So I got outside the classroom, and had to sit down on some steps. After a little while I managed to get down another flight of steps and sit on a bench. Here I must have stayed for about the whole last hour of the class because there students from my class there all of a sudden. I couldn’t tell you if I was conscious or unconscious for that part as I was really out of it. After a while a security guard came, and a woman that spoke some English. They drove me through the campus in the yellow security car that they have at the campus to the campus medical center where I was checked out by two doctors. I didn’t really think about it when they drove me to the medical center, and I don’t think I was in a state to think about it. But when they drove me back afterwards and I got a little better I realized that I didn’t really want to be seen in the yellow security car. Good times, though, good times.
I am really glad I wasn’t dehydrated, that would have been so embarrassing, and such a typical foreigner thing to do. No it was something else. They looked me over quite well, took my blood pressure a few times and checked my eyes and made sure I was fit to leave. I was dizzy for quite some time so I couldn’t actually leave straight away and I actually needed help to get in and out of the car because I was so dizzy and shaking. All in all though it went well. I got home and got a little more to eat, had something to drink and enjoyed the company of one of my friends. So I am very happy. We couldn’t go out for tapas though, which was a let down! My day sort of started really bad and just got worse really. Luckily my friend came to my house and we had a nice time before she had to get the last bus home (wish we had a car). And then tomorrow I think it’s going to be a trip to the beach!
Day 32 Progress, and a social breakfast
My Spanish woman and I met again yesterday, and we spoke Spanish for one hour and Norwegian for one hour. It was so much fun, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even though our conversation was mostly about what we did in the weekend, what my courses were like, what work she had done in Norway and things like that. Totally the basics, but it helps us practice verb tenses and vocabulary, so I think we’re making a little progress each time.
As for the university here, everything is still very slow going, they don’t fix anything in advance and they keep telling everyone to relax. You can’t expect a lot out of each time you talk to them.
What did I do today? Except for classes which I won’t bore you with, because it’s not too interesting, I met two friends for breakfast at the university. It was really funny. And it was so cheap that it’s something we can do more than once. So we might kinda make it a Wednesday thing. Maybe. And then there was school from 11-18:40 and then a little jog and that’s the day.
Day 30 Archeology, churros and the Spanish way of doing things.
This is what I’ve forgotten to mention, (sorry). Right, on Saturday my friend and I went to an archeological museum here in Alicante. It was interesting at first, but somewhere along the way we both agreed that we’d already seen enough pottery, so we kinda rushed the last bit a little. And then there was the Russian exhibit. This was just at a point where we were tired of reading about things behind glass and walked through it all too fast. Yeah I know, we shouldn’t have, but it really wasn’t that much fun. (ops). After this we went to a place that served food, I’m not sure if it was a cafeteria or restaurant, but something like that. We ordered ‘churros’ and ‘porras’ and we wanted to have them with chocolate, but all they had was drinking chocolate. It’s normal to have like a milk-chocolatey-hot-chocolate, this was definitely not that type of hot chocolate. It was as if they melted a chocolate bar and served us. It was so thick and bitter, and not drinkable at all. And this is normal for them to go out and order for breakfast. It was really sweet with churros, hot chocolate and sugar. My goodness it’s not my first choice for breakfast at all. And afterwards we felt so sick for so long. It was right home and in bed.
As for today, I went to what they call a info meeting. Meeting it was, information they did not give. They just talked about the different subjects, and while this was okay, because I realized I want to swap two classes, they did not give us any practical information. Things like registration, payment, walkthrough of the websites of the university, the virtual campus they’re so hyped about and things like that. Apparently we have to go to this building where there are a few people we can ask, but I’ve already been there like once, and I’ve written a few emails (and yes, I wrote another one today) but I don’t really want to go back already. In all fairness to me, they haven’t given me the information I need, so maybe it’s on them anyway. They just keep referring to their webpage, and guess what, it isn’t enough. Oh well, I guess I just have to wait and see what it’s like. Classes start tomorrow, hopefully I get the information I need. And I have to talk to all my professors so that they can help me get nine exams in five days and give me the results before I go home. Ayayay! It’s the Spanish, with their mañana attitude and doing one thing at a time, and for no reason are they able to do more than one thing at a time. And when they tell you that you have to talk to the teacher on the first day of classes to get things sorted out, there is no way you can sort things out before classes actually start. Which sort of gets to me, as I like having things done when I actually start, and so I don’t need to spend a lot of time after the semester has started fixing things and sorting everything out.
Day 27 three pimps and their inconsiderate behaviour
My friend and I got to a nice little place on the beach and lay down and enjoyed the sun, the sound of the sea and the little breeze that came and went. What we did not need or want was guys coming over and wanting to “befriend” us.
What happened was that we were laying there and three dudes come up to us and want to speak with us, they asked about going out in the city and things like that. We chitchatted for a little while. I was really uncomfortable from the start, and when it became apparent that they weren’t leaving right away I got a little more nervous. They were the type of guys you know like to party and don’t take things very seriously and just want to have a good time and don’t care a lot about consequences and that (they were sort of in our faces, a little too close for comfort and trying to “separate us”, each of them taking my friends and my attention away from each other).
They were showing of in the water and posing in the sand (yes I can see you have muscles, or what looks like muscles, maybe you’re just a little bit big boned, but do I really look like I’m impressed or give a damn at all?). One of them started inching closer between my friend and me. Luckily this didn’t last very long as it was weird and uncomfortable. And seriously, you’re on a beach, bring a goddamn towel, it’s not okay to be on other peoples towels, especially when you don’t know the person.
They were telling us that they were eleven guys in a villa and that they had a pool and were having a party, and we should come. This was a bit weird, we didn’t even know them (after they left we realized we didn’t give them our names, which we’re glad about now). It seemed like they were “recruiting” girls for a party and wanted to play the ‘Hugh Heffner’ role. We didn’t really like it.
I think it’s a bit rude, when I go out with my friend to the beach, we want to enjoy each other’s company, relax and talk about “all the horrible things” that happened in the university or funny things we’ve seen or something we want to do. We don’t want to be chatted up by guys, we don’t want to be bothered by someone we don’t know who we need to sit and chitchat with because they sat down. We could have given a nod of the head or a wave or said something, or gone over, anything. Did we? I didn’t even know they were there until they sat next to us. Why do men need to intrude on girls like that? And they were obviously older than us. And it was clear that we weren’t going to go out with them when we said we had other plans tonight and didn’t want to come to their pool. So why not leave? How can we actually tell guys to go away without saying ‘leave, now’? We didn’t want to be rude, even though we didn’t want them there. We’re not interested!!
Why do they insist on putting on really loud music from a little crappy speaker even when we say ‘no, don’t put on music’. If you want to listen to music you can put earphones or earplugs on/in your ears. No one else is interested in listening to your music. And even though you think that other people are further away, they might still be able to hear your music (and some types of music might not be as appealing to everyone else as it is to you) (on this note I just have to say that on a bus trip there was a guy listening to music on his phone, what he did was he put the music on the speaker of the phone so everyone could hear his music, and he put it in his pocket so he had to turn the volume up, shut it off!).
Back to the story: they were telling us how people in Alicante were cold people and were hard to talk to and that it was a dirty place. My friend and I haven’t had a problem with the people in Alicante, quite the opposite, we think they are very open people (so could it have been them?). I can understand someone wanting to make friends. But they didn’t seem like people looking for friends, they were looking for someone to come to a party and go out with in the city. And really, we weren’t their type of people, or maybe they just weren’t ours, anyway, my friend and I think we’ve found a secret hint to make to the other person as to indicate that we’re uncomfortable in a situation. Hopefully we won’t have to use it though. After having complained about the cold people and dirty city we thought it was really rude of them, not to mention inconsiderate of them, to not take their trash with them, they left sangria and fanta bottles and beer cans. Why would you just leave it there? It’s not far to a trash can.
If you see some girls that you think you and you friends might get a long with, trust me, look for a sign. It might be a little wave, a wink, a giggle even, anything to indicate that they’ve seen you and seem positive to an interaction. If they actually ignore you, they’ve probably seen you and just aren’t interested. Every rule has its exception of course, but it we go out for a girls night out, or a girls day at the beach or anything, we do want to be left to ourselves a lot of the time.
Day 25 lack of information (still) and scratched movies
Information is a grand thing, and when you lack it, it can be mighty frustrating! We went to a meeting today for students studying in the program for economics, and then we were told it was only for students taking courses in Spanish (why did nobody mention this earlier?). They spoke slowly at first and then just accelerated, I got quite a bit of what they were saying, but nothing really applied to me, so I just drifted in and out.
Okay, fair enough, I went to a lady I had to talk to about fees, timetables, classrooms and such. I haven’t been able to see her earlier, and have been tossed about between a lot of people who didn’t have the answers I needed. So she answered them quite quickly, and I’m wondering why no-one else could have given me the information. And I’ve been told to go to all types of different meetings, now I’m wondering if I have to go to any of them at all, because none of them seem to apply to me.
Why couldn’t they just say that anyone attending this program (the “special” one that I’m doing) doesn’t need to go or that they have different meetings or something. It’s not like putting me in the same group as everyone else actually works! So now I have to wait until my meeting next week, this one I actually have to go to.
And I was told I had to register my courses online, as I said yesterday, and I spent a lot of time trying to do it. GUESS WHAT!! I DON’T HAVE TO DO IT. Because as I registered myself online with the university a couple of months ago – they’re doing it! ! ! Because the program I am doing is “special” – I’m starting to think it’s another kind of special.
And then there were the learning agreements. Which we were told to get from one building, so we went there, and of course they didn’t have them, and told us they might be in another building. So we went to this second building, here we had been on another occasion and they didn’t have them then. That’s why we went to the first building today. And all of a sudden, today, (after a really long queue) we go them from this building. There has been a lot of walking!
After all of this, my friend and I rented a couple of movies from the library, did a little grocery shopping on our way to her house, ate our tea and watched the movies, all in Spanish. What really sucked was that they were quite scratched, so they jumped and stopped a lot. But it was a lot of fun until my battery died, and I never knew we were going to watch movies so I never brought my charger. But we got through two and a half movies out of four, so it’s not that bad.
I was supposed to have my date with the Spanish woman today, but she asked to do it tomorrow instead, so it’s not that I don’t want to tell you about it, it just didn’t happen.
Day 24 the difficulties of being abroad and an amazing Spanish woman
Yesterday at our info-meeting we were given a sheet of paper, step by step on how to register our subjects. So I’ve been at it or an hour and a half (oh, I took a short break to clean the bathroom), and I still haven’t managed to figure it out. I did it step by step and when you have to choose your subjects mine apparently don’t exist.
I was looking through the description of the courses, on the webpage which is something different than the virtual campus mentioned above. There are final exams, presentations, class projects and class attendance in all of them, that count towards your final grade. I will just have to wait and see what it’s like, but right now it seems a little overwhelming! Did I tell you I have eight English subjects and a Spanish language course as well? Well I do, that’s why it’s a little overwhelming. My school day starts at 09 and finishes at 19. On Monday and Tuesday I have two free periods, and on Wednesday I have the two first periods off. Thursday is a full day, and on Friday I have two periods. No I’m not really looking forward to it, in case you were wondering. So tomorrow, I’m going to the university first thing, to ask them what to do.
Do you remember that I told you I was meeting a Spanish person that wanted to speak Norwegian. Well, I met her today. She’s absolutely lovely! She’s so sweet and really pretty. She did a lot of basic stuff with me to get started. And we didn’t really speak a lot of Norwegian, so I felt bad for her sake. And we got kicked out of the cafeteria because they were closing, so we decided to just pick it up next time. We’re meeting again tomorrow, so we’re going to have to do some more Norwegian then. It’s really funny, sweet and awesome – she gave me “homework”. She wrote notes as we were talking and she sort of told me to get them sorted out for our next session. I think it’s funny, in a good way. I think it’s really good that it turned out all right, I have never done anything like this before, finding an add like that and sending an email. It was a good thing it worked out.
Day 23 I get my subjects for free, yay! NOT
There we were, in the orientation meeting, and they were telling us how the IBP (international business program) students can attend the subjects you have to pay for or you can attend some other subjects that are free. So when I got home I checked the list of subjects. There were a lot of subjects where you needed to have passed the initial level to be able to do the second level, so that just eliminated two of a lot of subjects right there. And some subjects where at level B1 in English. And I don’t really think English B1 is where I want to be.
So, I am paying €1120 for the subjects, and I thought I could get some of them for free to take the cost down a little bit. Thing is though that they had more credit points as well, but I would have to switch out all of the original eight to be able to have seven new ones. If I took the two free ones that I could have and just dropped two of the subjects that cost money I would have more points, but wouldn’t be able to have fewer subjects. Hopes were really high for like an hour there. Until they just got shot down right through the ground and beyond! Stupid!
What else did I do today? Oh, my friend and I went to three different department stores and we browsed aaaaaaaaa lot of different items. But it wasn’t until we got outside that I found a shop to go into that I actually bought something from. I got new clothes for exercising. So as I bought new clothes I hope that I will be super motivated to run more, and get super fit. A girl can hope! And when we went to get lunch we asked if the quesadilla that I wanted could be done with chicken instead of ham, and the woman taking our order just said ‘I don’t know’. We didn’t really want to be a difficult, so I just ordered it anyway. But I was thinking she should really go and ask! And I would have told her to do exactly that, if I had known how to command her to do it and not just politely ask her to do it. Tip today = NADA.
Tomorrow I’m meeting the Spanish woman that wants to speak Norwegian. I am super psyched!! Thumbs up!
Day 21 a hike in la montañas
06:30 is an early start on a Saturday when all you really want to do is sleep until 10 or 11.
I got up anyway got myself ready and left for Plaza de Luceros, which is where we’ve met the last few excursions we’ve been on with the Catalan group. Today we were going for a hike! I was not looking forward to it as I thought it was going to be a walk on flat ground. Little did I know that it was going to be a lot better than that.
So anyway, we walked uphill to start with very ‘ziggzaggy’, an okay start, it lead the way to a church and a little sitting area with a playground. Here there was a little break, with a little explanation of things and comparing of temperatures and countries. From there we went up a little mountain side, I loved this part as it was ‘all hands on deck’ you had to watch where you were going, grabbing the rock to pull yourself along and slide down carefully when it switched from being uphill to downhill. Unfortunately there were a few people in the group who weren’t wearing proper shoes, which means they were in sandals! So, we had to go back by a little less “difficult” path to the church and then follow the paved road.
Walking along the paved road (sad face) for a while we finally got to an area where we had a little explanation about the viewpoint we were standing at, before we started descending into a “valley” on “the other side” of where we had been at first. Here we were walking in a lot of spiky vegetation, which was surprisingly green. It was an area that that out guide watched over because there is a high risk of bushfires.
After thinking I’m going to need a lot of aloe vera on my legs when I get home, we finally reached the bottom of the mountainside; to get down we need to have a slide and a run! (we sat down, slid down a little bit and then ran the last part of the hill). From here we walked along a path which was very flat for a while, and then ascended again, and the descent from here was extreme, around 80 something degrees and it was very dry, so there was a lot of slipping and sliding downwards.
At the end of slipping over very fine rocks we reached a little pool of water. Most of the people in the group had a swim back and forth, but they said it was very cold. After our lunch we headed back up the slippery slope to the top and back along the road to where we got down from the first mountain. We continued on basically just a flat walk until we reached the bus and had our drive home.
I really enjoyed the first part which was the best climb of the whole trip.
The paved road didn’t hold a lot of interest for me, it was a part I wanted to be over quickly, and then again when we were in the semi mountainside and semi dirt path it was okay again. It was a very nice walk and to start of I was walking at the head of the group (something I don’t usually do back home), and talking to an Italian girl, which was very nice, and the rest of the Italians were pulling up the rear while a few of the others had the middle section.
We changed positions a few times, but usually had this type of formation, what was really funny was that when we were on our way back and there was little time left, somehow the Italians were in the lead marching on. I thought it was very nice that it was very green all around us even though it was very sandy as well, I sort of felt like I was in real nature again, and not a Spanish dessert.
What really sucks is that between my big toe and my second toe on both feet there are major blisters!
I was really excited about my flip-flops, remember?! Well, turns out they’re trying to murder my feet, evil little things. So I have two big blister plasters on my feet, which are really good looking by the way. I just had to mention it as I feel I really should have known that this would happen, at the same time feel cheated that my flip-flops “would do something like that to me”.
Day 20 snakke du Norsk? – do you speak Norwegian?
It was our final day of the Catalan course, we started later and finished earlier than we should. The Spanish way of doing things? It was a short class, but informative. And tomorrow we’re going for a hike with the group. It’s a flat walk to a water and continuing around to the start. It should be fun though; I haven’t been on a proper walk since my first few days here. Although a proper walk is also very relative and we will have to see what it will be like in the morning.
I was thinking of looking for a conversation partner when I got here. I wanted to look for someone that spoke English or Norwegian, and I didn’t think there was much chance of finding someone that spoke Norwegian. As my flatmate is Mexican I thought I would talk Spanish with him, turns out we’re really lazy and just speak English all the time. I think part of the reason is also the fact that less people understand our conversation. So we’re not really good at speaking Spanish.
I was looking at a page I was sent by the university and thought I would look at the language exchange page just for fun. A lot of Spanish people were looking for English speaking people which I thought was okay. Scrolling down the page a little I see a Norwegian flag, and a person that had written “snakke du Norsk?” which means ‘do you speak Norwegian’. She was Spanish and looking for a Norwegian person to speak Norwegian with and would also speak Spanish. Just what I was looking for! So I sent her an email, and guess what, I actually got a reply!! So I’m meeting her next week and I am really looking forward to it. I will have to speak more Spanish in the flat though, and with the Moroccan flatmate, which means we can actually have a few more conversations together. I just really wanted to get through my Catalan course before I started with the Spanish. It was a bit much not speaking Spanish well and having to do initial Catalan as well, so I wanted to focus on one thing at a time. So now I’m repeating Spanish grammar and vocabulary.
A semester course is a loose term here. A semester is 5-6 months, and my semester is 2,5 months, and I’m doing a Spanish semester course, which is only for two months. So semester doesn’t mean much else than your exams should be in January and next semester starts in February.
Day 19 – Human towers and an expensive lunch
I don’t know how my blog is read by other people, as I am the one writing it. The post from yesterday might have been a little short and dry? Well I was so tired I just wanted to write it and go to bed. I am really sorry!
I will try to be a little more joyful today! Right, so, we went to Algemesí. It’s a smaller town, and we went to see ‘La processó de la mare de déu de la salut’, a festival they have each year. Again a celebration for the virgin Mary. They started at one church and did little shows and moved a long ever so slightly, and then did it again, and so it went on for about 300 – 400 meters, until they finished in a big square where they all danced together and entered a second church. There were a lot of different shows, everything from human towers with men, women and children to children dancing with rings in their hands and men and women involved in dances with sticks and percussion instruments. They did amazing towers with a little child on top that climbed up three people and stood on top of them. I would have been way too scared of the height! Oh, and the children that stood on their hands, I mean my goodness, they were really good! I had my heart in my throat; I was so scared they were going to fall.
After having seen most of the procession we left, and we went around a little while on our own. During this free time, a friend of mine and myself walked around trying to find somewhere to eat, after about 5 cafeterias we ended up at nr.6 a bakery. We had each or own little thing to eat and just sat, passing the time, really happy we found a seat after standing outside in the heat. We tried to keep to the shade a lot, the problem was that we didn’t have a lot of water, it was warm, and standing up and down is worse than walking in the heat. And it had been a while since we had anything to eat at all. We went to a museum and then on to hear firecrackers. It was really loud, and that’s an understatement, and as I really love loud noises (NOT) it was amazing for me. Well in truth I can say I heard/saw it, and I was there for the experience, but scared shitless? Oh yeah, I was! I am really glad I went though.
Lunch time, it was a preordered meal from the council. We were told it cost €40 and we had to pay €10. We were also told we were going to get something Spanish, so we thought we were getting a lot of food (because of the price), tapas, paella, or something really Spanish. We had some rice with salsa made of mayonnaise and ketchup and fried potatoes and slices of Serrano. It was the most Spanish part of the meal. Next we got a slab of meat, french-fries and some sort of beans. The meat was… Well, I didn’t eat it, I felt sick after just under half of it. And it did not smell nice. My friend there didn’t eat it and I saw two of the Italians left it as well. The dessert was a scoop of ice cream and a slice of cake. I’m just not going to say anything, I tried everything and some ate a lot more than me and some ate a lot less. We felt cheated that we didn’t get something except for the rice that was very Spanish. And we are very unsure if it was actually worth €40, but we probably paid a little for the rent of the room, a lot for drinks, and who knows, maybe the slab of meat was a very expensive buy.
From the restaurant we went out into the street and they explained a “national sport” for the region where they hit a ball with their hands (wearing protection mind you). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qihgn5TfDg You can get the gist of it here on this link. I thought we were actually going to see a game, turns out; we weren’t. I was really disappointed. It would have been interesting to see something like that in person. Maybe another time.
Day 18 – the mystery of Elche and flip-flops
So, what you missed is Elche and flip-flops (technically you didn’t miss it as I didn’t write about it, but you’re sort of catching up, it’s all good). Elche was a long trip. We started out with the palm trees and a movie. From there we saw a part of the old wall of Elche and some old aqueducts. From there we went into a very large church and up the tower. From here we went and saw a movie about the
‘Mystery of Elche’, which we (me and a friend from the course) had some problems comprehending. Apparently the virgin Mary wanted to go to Jesus, and he wanted to see her as well, so she died and went to him. There people that were around Mary put her in a coffin and sent her away with a text of what happened. A rider found it on the shore (all alone, he’s riding his horse on a beach at night, and happens to find this one coffin on the beach) anyway, so he rides back to town and tells everyone of what he has found. Do after this, every year, they put on a play “exactly” as it was written in the original text. And it was found in or around
the 13th century. From then on who knows what sort of re-mastering has been applied to the text. In early years women weren’t allowed to play in the theatre, and this is a play they put on every year in the church of Elche. So there are only men in the play, as is the tradition. Here’s the kicker – the men who participate in the play don’t have to be religious at all! Some are atheists! Ironic much!?
From the movie we went onwards (not upwards) and found ourselves waiting to be let into what used to be the Arabic baths in the city. Here there was a short story, and apparently there were three rooms, which now is just the one. And your imagination really had to be put into high gear! From the baths we went onwards to a sitting area and had a break before splitting into a shopping and a sightseeing group. Boy, were we wrong to choose sightseeing, there was more walking, and seeing, and listening. There was so much information in one day, so many good looking buildings, architecturally, and just a lot to take in.
Well, Elche was really day 17, and I am sorry I didn’t write, I was muy cansada!
Today, day 18, I got my first pair of flip-flops! I’ve been here for almost three weeks, and it was about time, right?! YES! It made going to the beach a whole lot easier, although a whole lot more painful. I am told it something you get used to, so I just have to wait, and grow really thick skin. There are some flip-flops though, with a little “toe-ring” thing going on, they really freak me out, a pair of them, I will never have. So today, what did we do? We went to the beach, I have to say that I think I’m getting quite a nice tan, and I’m working so hard to not get burnt.
Day 14 – Getting lost and back again, a girls tale by me! :D
It was soooooooo funny! I got on the bus and asked the driver to let me off at a stop. I gave him the name and he dropped me off. Turns out it was the wrong stop. He let me off where I told him to, but I got the wrong name from my friend. So I ended up walking for ages.
She met me along the way and we went to a grocery shop. Turns out we could have gone a shorter way as well. Anywho, after the shop we started walking “towards her flat”, and we were going in the general direction sort of, but turns out we were really far down and on the wrong street. We turned around after we arrived at the end of the road, walked back, and started going up another street. Turns out we’d gone a lot more across than we had to. And it’s really funny that she has no sense of direction at all, and she has the cutest thing, it’s a GPS for walking, driving and cycling. I think it’s really funny.
When I was going back home we looked for the bus stop, the one on our side of the street had no people waiting for the bus, and the other side did. So went across and naturally that was the way to Alicante. It was quite a little ride back to where I get off actually, so it would have been better to sit on the bus for longer. Now I know next time. I got back okay, but I haven’t taken the bus during the dark before. And I’ve gone off too early before, so I was really hoping to get off at the right stop. The driver wasn’t stopping though, I think someone must have said something, because he stopped right afterwards. My mini adventure for the day. Buses can be confusing, and the schedules even more so. We couldn’t figure out the stops on the timetable. But I think it only tells you big stops, and not the small in between stops. Which isn’t very helpful when you’re a foreigner!
Day 13 – realizing that there is no need to hurry, and old guys!
As I am true to my ”profession” I must do what I must do, even though it’s late. So there’s going to be two blog posts today as well, but ‘I just gotta’. So, FRIDAY, Friday, Friday! Remind you of something you don’t really want to think about? Well, we had our Catalan course again today. Today it was all about the family. Talking about how many of each and describing them, all very fun until we had to repeat it out loud. I’m very thankful that the other teacher brought us an almond drink. It had an almond taste, and was made out of water and sugar. It was alright, it didn’t have a very strong taste, it’s hard to say.
I went with a girl from my course to get her youth card so she could get a cheaper bus card. Yes, just like I did just over a week ago, and swore not to do with anyone from school. So anyway. We’re getting the youth card, after having gotten the pictures taken, and there’s a queue for the bus card. It’s all very fun not having to do it yourself, just coming along. After this we went each to our own, and I was going to eat and skype a little before going out again. I of course fell asleep on my bed. I had had a massive head ache all day, so I was glad that I fell asleep, as it usually makes it go away. I woke up later than I had planned to do. And I thought I had to hurry, turns out I’m in SPAIN. Hurrying is like an unheard of phenomenon here. I am the only person stressing to get somewhere on time or to get things done in a certain time. So anywho, I ate and got ready and skyped with a friend whilst waiting for a friend to come here so we could go together. It got quite late, but luckily the people we were going to were still there.
We had a few drinks and left for ‘El barrio’, here we went to a few places to dance. It was fun, the only thing was that all the music was the same, the rhythm was the same and the beat was the same, the voice and the text changed, but mostly it was just Spanish music. It would have been nice to have a little variety. There are only so many times one can use the same dance move. And what’s with all the guys?! There were so many guys and men in every club we went. It was weird. We don’t usually get that at home, there would be a more even mix or more girls, but this was extreme! There were so many guys. And I don’t mean just the handsome men you don’t min looking at, there were a lot of older guys that looked way to old to be in clubs. Then again no one but an age limit on having fun. Norwegian men are just boring I guess. It was an experience, definitely.
And I found out what the names of the foods that I didn’t know yesterday, the mona without the egg is ‘fogasseta’ or ‘tonya’ depending on the town, the salty one is ‘cocasalada’.
Day 12 – a visit to the chocolate factory, need I say more? Actually I really do!
I should start by saying that our very nice Catalan teacher brought turrónes, something I don’t remember the name of, and a third thing I can’t remember the name of. The turrònes was a traditional one and not the tourist pack I got. It tasted like peanut butter, sort of. Really sweet, but yummy. Oh, we started with a salty one though. It was with fish, and reeeeeeeeeeeeeally salty! But oh so good! And we had what is a Mona cake, well, it’s a Mona cake when you have a hard boiled egg on top, without it it has a different name, (sorry, can’t remember)! This was like a cake that had a hint of lemon and ginger, without it maybe being any of them, really sweet as well. But nice!
We went by tram to Benidorm, here we had a half hour wait until our connection to Altea. In Altea we walked up through a part of the city, mostly in the sun (this was midday, and yes, very hot) until we were at the top. Here we took some photos of a church before turning our noses in the direction of the way home, or the town in which we were tasting chocolate, we thought. Turns out we were going to the library. Here we saw a lot of costumes the moors used. From here we went back to the train station to catch the train back to Villajoyosa.
This is where we were getting our tour of the chocolate factory. First we were taken in the completely wrong direction to have a look at a side of the old castle, a fancy street, and what we could see of the beach. We were finally on the way back towards the factory. Now I don’t know what I was expecting, but it must have been a few things, because I didn’t think the trip was that good to be honest. Maybe they assume they make up for it by giving us chocolate samples? Who knows. We were watching a film to start us of, and to be honest I had expected a lot more as we were seeing the history of the factory and chocolate. It was basically just a PR movie for the company. All their ads had somehow managed to get their way in the movie at odd intervals. So there was a little bit of history and then a few ads, then a little bit about chocolate and an ad, and so it went on. Until it finished and we were taken to the museum, this part was ok. There were a lot of things to show either what it was like or the actually equipment they used.
We went to the factory, and here we were just led through a passageway, where we could see down into the factory, and there were people checking equipment and packing chocolate. Here there were some posters for us to read (by this time we were tired from the heat, walking and lack of food, there was no break to get food, and what we had with us – ran out) so we might not have read them, properly, or at all… There were also a few sculptures here made by a Mexican who worked in the factory to celebrate their 125 year anniversary in 2006. We walked along and found the shop, here there were some samples on the table. We tried milk chocolate with almonds, dark chocolate with almonds, and there was one that was just plain dark chocolate, I didn’t even dare. Then there was a new one, a dark chocolate type, but a lot thinner, and no, I shouldn’t have! Well I thought I took a lot, but I heard others who had had a lot more than one of each type, so I shouldn’t feel bad. Like one of the girls in the group said, “we need to make sure we really want to buy it”.
I think the movie could have been better, there wasn’t a lot of informative information, and the ads were too much. Like we get it, and you really want us to buy your chocolate. The museum part was ok, it wasn’t big or anything, but it was also a man who started making chocolate in his own home and didn’t have a lot of equipment, so… The factory tour could have been done differently, we just walked past everything and looked at it, there could have been a few explanations, and descriptions about the equipment, which machine did what, that sort of thing. It’s one thing to see it in a movie, but when you’re actually faced with a lot of machines, you have no idea. Keeping the secret in the business, maybe? It was a short visit, both to the factory and to the city of Altea. But it was a very fun afternoon, and we got good quality chocolate! (Or so we think).
