Day trip to Lorca, Spain

Hey everyone! It's been awhile since I published anything, but I've been taking photos of stuff so I'll get everyone caught up on what's been going on.

Yesterday I went with a group to a city called Lorca. It's about an hour southwest of Murcia. It was a great, great day! We caught the (really early) bus at 6:45 am and were on our way. It was weird to think that as I was waking up and starting my day, it was midnight back home and everyone's day was winding down. Anyway, when we got to Lorca, we grabbed a cafe con leche (a latte, basically) to help us wake up. Cafes con leche are going to be my downfall - I drink one, like, everyday. :) They're just so gooooood. I can't resist them. After we had coffee, we just started walking. Here are some pictures of the local streets.

After wandering the streets a little bit, we went into the tourism office and they gave us a map and circled the things that they thought would be interesting to us. We went in to the Museum of Archaeology and then we climbed to the top of the hill and took some great pictures of the view of the city. Here are a few of those:

The city was so beautiful. There's so much tradition and history everywhere. Another thing I'm really starting to love -- people-watching. Not in a creepy way or anything, just looking at people as they walk by and seeing their outfits and the way they carry themselves and interact with others on the streets.

The full album of photos of the trip is on Facebook! Mom, you'll have to ask Claire or Rhett to show them to you. :) Also, the full album for our tourist day will be on Facebook soon. Hope you all enjoy!

Another thing that I saw earlier this week: as we were walking down the street called the Gran Via, we saw a group of people gathering in the street with candles. We asked a woman on the street what was going on, and she told us that it was a protest against the pay/budget cuts by the government. We kept walking, and within the next hour the street was full of people walking toward the main government office in the city. Everyone had candles and was walking really slowly. You couldn't see in either direction where is started or ended. We read later online that there were over 60,000 people in attendance. It made me feel both really awestruck and a little eerie. It was really quiet and somber. Here's a picture of what it looked like:

That last one is a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Also, I wanted to say that I truly appreciate that you took the time to read this blog. I know that everyone is very busy, and you don't know how much it means to me to have everyone be so interested and involved and supportive of me. Love each and every one of you. :)



Un día turístico

Today was the first morning of our intensive language course. I really like going to class, mostly because it’s really refreshing all of the little things that I’ve forgotten about the language. The other students are really nice and we’re starting to get more comfortable speaking in Spanish to each other as well as in English. I think I’m going to email our program director to see if there is any sort of tandem exchange program where I could meet with someone who speaks Spanish but is also interested in learning English. That would really help me with my language and also give me something to do during the weeks to have a break from studying.

Yesterday, when my roommate Kelsey and I were out wandering around we ran into a group of exchange students that we had met at orientation and went with them to a football (soccer) game! It was sooooo much fun! Even though it was freezing and there weren’t a lot of people in attendance, the crowd has an incredible amount of energy. There was a group chanting and singing throughout the whole game. When Real Murcia scored a goal in the last second to end the game in a tie, the group on men in front of us just jumped out of their seats and started hugging and dancing. It was really cool to see.

A few days ago, the roommates and I had un día turístico (a tourist’s day) through the city. We went to see all of the famous places and here are a few of the pictures we took:

This is a tree in the Plaza de Santo Domingo, which Roberto calls the heart of the city. The tree is over 600 years old.

El Casino - Roberto described it as a social club.

El Catedral

One of the government buildings - I can't remember the name.  

Roommates, orientation, and a night out!

The past few days have been fantastic. I usually just leave my apartment in the morning and spend a few hours walking around. At first, I would just turn and wander and weave through the streets, and I would ultimately end up just wonderfully lost. Now, I’ve been marking the places that I’ve been on a map of the city, keeping track of all the markets and stores that I find and want to come back to. Last night I came home to a great surprise – ROOMMATES! I have three – Keyla, Kelsey, y Alejandra. They seem like great girls and I think we’ll all get along really well. It’s nice to have someone in the apartment with me – it was starting to get a little bit lonely.

On Friday we had orientation for international students. We talked about signing up for classes, how to use our student ID cards, etc. Then we went and took a placement test for the language course that we will be taking over the next 2 weeks until classes start. I thought that I did pretty well on the test, but then I realized that I forgot to answer some of the questions on the back. :/ Oh well, I guess. After orientation, Roberto, our International Education coordinator, took us on a walk through the city. He showed what he called, “the heart of the city,” and other places, like a tiny little street lined with the best tapas bars, El Casino, which is a social club (pictures of that definitely coming soon!) and we went inside the Cathedral. Even though I’ve spent the past 2 days wandering around this city, I hadn’t stumbled upon any of the places he showed us, apart from the cathedral, which you really can’t miss. I can’t wait for the semester to unfold so I can find out what else Murcia has to offer.

First Friday night out in Murcia! Had such a fun night out with the roommates - here we all are together (from left to right: Keyla, Kelsey, me, and Alejandra)

Me encanta Murcia.

It has been an amazing first 24 hours here in Murcia. The city is so beautiful - the streets are really narrow and the buildings are charming. And all the people are so stylish and put together! I know I'm really going to like it here. It was nice to find my flat last night and be able to unpack my monstrous suitcases. Now I'm just looking around to see if I can find some small things to decorate. My landlord, Carlos, met me at my new place and showed me around - and how to turn the gas on/off so that I would have hot water. That's gonna be an adventure, for sure. I don't yet have internet in my flat, so I'm still having to find/use it when I can. Hopefully my roommates will be coming tomorrow. It's warm here during the days but it still gets cold at night - I had to buy a pair of house slippers to keep my feet warm because the hardwood floors get pretty chilly. The only things I really have left to do is to buy a cell phone and set up a bank account. The cell phone I will probably take care of tonight or tomorrow, but I might wait a few days to get an account. There is a local bank right down the street from my apartment, though.

My Spanish has been decent so far - I'm always surprised at how rusty I get when I don't speak/hear it for a long time. The Murcian accent can be hard to understand, but I think I'm getting better. I haven't embarrassed myself or said anything inappropriate on accident yet so that's good!

I've taken a few pictures, but will wait to post them until I have enough for a whole album. I'm going to see if I can get my hands on a map of the city. I need to start keeping track of where I've been. We found a few different grocery stores and markets here and they're all pretty close to where I live. My apartment building is right next to a bakery, so the stairwells always smell like baking dough and spices.

Let's see...what else, what else. I've been journaling too, so I'm thinking back to what I wrote in that earlier to see if I've forgotten anything...but I don't think I have. More later!

this blog post cost me $10

If anyone was wondering if internet was free in the Madrid-Barajas airport - it's not. After walking around for about half an hour to find our next gate (only to figure out that this information wouldn't be decided for a few more hours) we decided to sit down and send some emails/updates to let everyone know that we've arrived safe and sound!

It has been a really long, and kind of rough, day of travel. Our flights have all be literally back to back. Our layover in Miami lasted about, oh, 10 minutes. Seriously, we were sitting in the VERY last row of one plane that was landing as our next flight was boarding. We made it though, and I'm grateful to not have had a long stretch of layovers. There was a slight rainstorm over Miami as we were landing and that made the descent really rough. Touchdown scared me because I couldn't see the ground (because we were in the back of the plane with no windows) and so we had no idea we were anywhere close to landing.

The international flight was alright. I'd like to thank Florence + the Machine, MoZella, lady danville, and Neil Young for keeping me entertained. I didn't sleep more than about an hour on that flight, so I'm waiting for the jetlag to catch up to me.

Well, my computer is probably going to die soon, and my power adapter is in my checked luggage. (I'm a genius, right!?) I'll post again when I can, hopefully including a few pictures.

Get ready, get set

So, I'm sitting in the Omaha airport waiting for my flight to begin boarding! I'll keep checking the different airports we stop in for wifi so that I can email an update and keep everyone posted as I travel.

Thanks to all who have called and emailed and facebooked - it means so much to have everyone's love and support!

They just announced that they're starting to board! Here I go - see you all in 6 months!

Love you all!