finals already?!

I successfully passed the two week intensive spanish class! We had a final on Friday and it went surprisingly well. I think I know more than I give myself credit for. Sill struggling to understand what's on the news but I can take grammar tests, so that's a start.. 

A few of the girls decided to take our own hiking trip yesterday- unplanned, unresearched, and without guys trying to tell us where to go.. We just started walking. Im pretty sure we went to the next town.. It had to be more than 6 miles for sure. I felt like the boxcar children or something, we were walking along the train tracks and it looked like a desert- cacti and all! Either that or something from the movie Holes. The view from the top of another mountain was so pretty, of course, like everything else in this country. I can't wait to be able to swim in the clear blue Mediterranean! 

on the way there...

abby and me!

view of alicante

This place is so romantic. I definitely need to find myself someone to date, like asap. Everything we do is like a movie: sipping coffee for hours at a vine covered cafe next to gigantic ficus trees, strolling along the beach in the sunshine with no where to be until morning, climbing mountains to sit at the top and just admire the gorgeous landscape, having a mojito at a sandy floor bar under a canopy of trees, going on a run through quaint parks next to the marina and seeing the most precious little Spanish kids running around with their parents, ahh I could go on and on. It's a great life here. For us it's temporary, (at least for me.. I am actually going back to reality sooner rather than later..), but for the people here, this is life as we know it! They are so laid back about everything and people just stroll around like they have no responsibilities and no where to be. And the whole nap thing is great. But someone has to get stuff done, so that's why America exists I guess.. I could live in Europe for a period of time longer than just to study, but there's something about being productive that I need in my life..


Here are a few from the castle hike with our group. This is a castle in Alicante and has a lot of cool history. We did it as an activity with our class!

DG love, from Spain

 Also went to my first fútbol game this weekend! The alicante team is supposed to be really good for the second division (not the big one) but they ended up losing.. But the game was really fun!

 

This post wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention my newest addition to my wardrobe- other than the chocolate pastry that is cramming itself into every pair of jeans I own- the most perfect new evening bag/purse! Everyone was making fun of me for taking my iPad out the first few weeks And I only had this one cross body bag that it fit in. I've been looking for a new one for awhile now and this is exactly what I wanted: black leather with a gold chain and big enough for more than a phone and camera. But whats better is that my iPad fits in it! It is actually made for an iPad, like with the case part and everything. So now I can secretly take my iPad out and no one can even see it! 

the bag in action, kind of hard to see .

Also, more excitement for the day-I finally found out how to make my 6 in 1 curling iron/straightener that the box says into a straightener! I opened it after paying an arm and a leg for it to not find the straightener part.. Until 3 weeks later. So no more air dry or curling everyday! It was a great day.

-k

New appreciation

I have a new appreciation for foreign exchange students at Mizzou. (aka the Asians who always walk in big groups, sit together everywhere, look constantly lost and confused, and ask you for directions in another language and are super confused when you point and respond in English..) WE ARE THOSE KIDS! It's kind of funny being on the other side for the first time in my life. I will always ask those kids if they need help now and when i respond, I will talk very slowly... Foreign campuses are confusing and it can be terrifying wandering around knowing no one will be able to explain to you where you need to go in the only language you speak.

Good thing we learned directions in class this week! I can now successfully understand directions when told to me slowly and with hand motions.. As far as learning more of this language, the past two weeks have greatly improved my Spanish! I can understand a lot more now and my host mom and i actually had a conversation with dinner last night! I learned so much about her. Like that she has 2 other houses, one huge apartment down the block (I have no idea why we're not staying there...) and an old house in the countryside of France a few hours from Paris. She goes there with friends in the summer when she doesn't have a student staying with her. How fun! It's so nice to be able to speak so much more in only two weeks.

I've booked my first trip to London for a long weekend in February to see my cousin, Ben, who has lived there for a few years now and a few friends studying there this semester. I can't wait to head back to a city that speaks English!! And where I can order off the menu and know what I'm getting. It will be nice to see family and friends too. I start to wish I wasn't here for so long when I think about the yummy food I'm used to and my nice warm bed. (and house for that matter..) But the little things can't overshadow what an awesome city this is and how great of an experience I'm having so far. Sitting on the beach for hours in January in shorts, going to local bars for the huge Madrid-Barcelona soccer game, and trying every kind of sangria I can find with kids from all over the US with so much in common definitely beats shoveling snow, (or watching my poor dad shovel it..) wearing huge parkas to walk to the garage, and being surrounded by American kids like I have been my whole life. Spain is a beautiful country with such a relaxed lifestyle. I think I'll take 4 months more of that :)


-k

wait, i actually have school now?

What a week! We started our intensive spanish class and are halfway through! I've already learned so much just from talking to other Spanish kids, watching the game shows my madre watches every night, and talking to her. One more week before we start the real classes! I'm taking two more Spanish classes, a business class, and one on contemporary Spanish society. Of course all of the courses I had evaluated before I came to see what they would transfer as I'm not taking.. But these should be reevaluated soon so we'll see. I've also become a lot more interested in learning about the history of alicante and their culture here. I'm going to take a seminar class with four other kids about Alicante now too. My priorities have kind of changed from when I decided on this program to now that I'm here- instead of a vacation where I learn Spanish because I have to take those classes, I actually want to learn the language and learn to adapt to their culture. By living in a homestay instead of the dorms, it is a lot easier to practice Spanish and actually live their lifestyle. The whole going out until 5 am thing is probably going to be one thing I don't bring back to my life at home.. I sleep until 2 the next day it's crazy!

So now that I've been here a few weeks, I've noticed many things that are funny but different from home. And many things I'm going to miss. (Considering I already am and it's been 2 weeks..)

1. Everything is smaller- from streets to cement trucks (or cement bowls..)

2. Olive oil runs from the faucets and is put in everything and served in pools with anything that fits on a plate.

3. They save everything. Making me feel bad if I don't eat everything my madre makes for me..

4. The slippers they told me to bring in orientation was not a joke- it is freezing inside because no one has central heat! My fingers are turning into icicles.. Most buildings don't even keep the doors shut and it's not that warm here yet!

5. Milk and eggs are not refrigerated until opened. Grossest thing ever seeing liquid milk in cartons on a shelf.. my madre buys the real kind in a jug but I still don't trust it. Good thing I brought calcium :) and the ice cream is divine.

6. I realize why Europeans don't shave their legs- the shower is the size of a shoebox and the water is warm for about 4 minutes.

7. Drivers are crazy. I really want a moped, but if I tried driving one I would either be smashed by an insane bus driver (who actually hit someone last week) or drive myself into a taxi because those things do whatever they want.

8. It is normal to have the leg of a pig in your living room or on the counter at a restaurant. Jamon, the most popular meat served with everything and on every sandwich, is cured pork or something and I'm

9. Water is confused with juice here. No one drinks it! I drink at least 10 cups a day and they serve pineapple juice with everything. Oh and fresh squeezed orange juice- love it! I decided I could live without all the water if I got that instead.

10. I am almost a vegetarian. I don't like the jamon stuff here so chicken is about the only thing I trust. The fruit is so fresh and sweet though!! My madre is a really great cook, so no complaints as long as I don't have to eat jamon.

11. Oh and wifi (pronounced "wee fee") is terrible. I cant Skype for 5 minutes without it disconnecting. So that's a bummer but oh well.

We celebrated a few birthdays of kids on our program since we've been here- my friend Abby who came with me from Mizzou and the other DG, Steph, from Bucknell. Celebrating your 21st in a country where you can drink at 18 just isn't the same.. But we put together a picture of all of us in a frame to try to make her day a little better. Before staying out until 6 again..

Another weekend here led me on a day trip up the coast to rock climb in a beautiful coastal village called Calpe. We saw this huge rock from the train station and had no idea you could actually climb up to the top! Where the green ends, you literally scale the side of this massive rock.
here's a pic from the beach-

It was so beautiful. We had a perfect day and a smaller group of 6 of us went so that was nice not to have so many people to keep track of.

halfway up...

Chessa, Sarah and I before the climb on the beach :) perfect weather!

from the top!

i made it!

making our way up still!

Scott and I

Leave it to me to get hurt.. I of course slipped going down on the rocks and twisted my ankle.. luckily it was fine for the descent and the 3 mile uphill walk back to the train station but as soon as we got on the tram it started throbbing. By the time we arrived in Alicante I could hardly walk.. But my madre Juani took care of me :) she wrapped my ankle up and made me a yummy dinner of chicken and shells with broccoli pasta :) she gave me an ice pack and said, "no dancing tonight?" haha I said um, no not tonight.. I'll be good to go on Tuesday for sure.

Anyways, check out Facebook for more pictures! It's so pretty here, I can't stop taking pictures of everything!

Time to get ready for another long week of Spanish! I still can't believe this is real life. I'm having the time of my life already and meeting some of the coolest people. I definitely miss all of my dg's, my family, and living in a nice warm house but life here is good too :) just different.

Hope everyone is surviving the snow!

-k

Teach me how to dougie

How I survived this weekend of traveling, going out, and navigating this city I do not know.. Thank god for a group of the 21 coolest Americans Alicante has seen all year because I would be lost! They are so much fun and all of them are so social and friendly! I love them already and I met them like four days ago. It's cool that they're from all over the US- we're already planning where we can go to visit each other when we get back :)

The first saturday in el barrio led me to a wild discoteca, like a club really, with a smaller group of us at 4 am. And it was early for them! Our Spanish helper, Demi, went with us too. We got some sort of wristband on the street so we were vip and cut the line and got free champagne! It was like new years in the qc all over again, only way cooler with spanish people and music i didnt understand.They play a lot of Rihanna here but I'm starting to like Spanish music! I successfully learned their equivalent dance to the dougie. It's pretty much my new favorite song.

Here's Demi with Karim, our friend from London on the left and Javier, our Spanish friend.



Some pics of guadalest and altea, beautiful towns! We had a lot of fun walking around and found a huge anchor like the one in front of DG at Mizzou :) my other dg from bucknell on the trip, Steph, and I had to throw the sign up of course!

Mountains on the ride there-



Altea, a coastal town north of benidorm-


Steph and I- ITB!!


Guadalest-


And another castle! I thought I was castles out after my dad dragged us to every castle in Scotland it seemed like but this one wins for the weather at least!



I don't know how people studied abroad before Facebook was invented. Without a phone, we all rely on Facebook for everything it makes communicating so much easier! (Until I go home and try to ask my madre anything..Then I'm screwed and resort to using my hands to point.) I feel like i'm in a constant game of charades. And I'm not a huge charades fan so I hope the next two weeks of intensive Spanish kicks in soon!


Could not forget the tangfastics I found at the million haribo candy stands in shops!!!! Only 1 euro too. Great snack at 2 am. Blaire and Dave- I'll be sure to have your share while I'm here too :)

And finally, the amazing city I will be spending the next four months in :) the beach will get busy soon! It is supposed to be 70 this weekend- perfect time to venture up the coast to hike in the mountains!



The food is actually pretty good when you can read a menu and order what you want.. I eat with my madre most of the time but she eats early so I'm on my own schedule. Luckily I'm not a picky eater, but I have to say, the whole fish that was served to me with the skin and eyes in it and everything made my stomach turn.. I didn't know how to eat it, and I was not about to eat the scaly skin.. So my madre saw me kind of want to vomit and peeled out the backbone for me.. Didn't make it any more appetizing but I ate it. If you close your eyes it actually tastes pretty good. Or maybe that was just the buttered potatoes underneath...

Looking forward to cafe con leche in the morning!!

-k

Moving in!

Wow, it's been a busy few days and I am quickly learning about alicante and Spanish culture. One of my favorite things about spanish culture is greeting people-when you first meet or you are leaving for awhile, you give two kisses on the cheek. When I came home to my homestay for the first time, her grand kids were there, two of the cutest little boys, Adrian and Mario, they're eight and five I think? Still having trouble understanding much.. But I walked in and they commented on my blonde hair of course and then Mario came up and gave me a hug and said, ¡Besos! ¡Besos! Which mean kisses! He is adorable. We got out my iPad to have them show me where we were on my map and where other things were by our house(well, our apartment) and they loved it. We're going to be friends for sure. So about my madre, Juana Maria! She goes by Juani but I don't call her by her name. I guess I don't call her by anything because she is the only other one in the house other than me! She's the sweetest 67 year old lady you will ever meet. Just like my grandmas :) she wants to feed me all the time and goes out of her way to try to make sure i feel at home. My first meal with her she made me homemade french fries and a hamburger! They were amazing. We have a hard time talking to each other but I can understand what she says more than I can speak back. The apartments don't have heat, so it is freezing!! I know why I had to bring slippers now because my toes were about to break off.


Considering the first thing she asked me was if I was going to meet my friends later, she is totally cool with me doing my own thing. We had dinner around 8 and I tried to unpack a little before I met everyone at our meeting place to take on el barrio in Alicante for the first time. Without phones it is so hard! Once we found each other, our pack of 21 dumb Americans headed for el barrio. Our new Spanish friend, Demi, who is a helper with our program, met us with some of her friends too. I had the craziest conversation with Careem from London! When i told him i went to Mizzou, he said he knew one girl from there, and only knew her first name. He told me and I knew a few with that name so i just said what they looked like and it ended up being an older DG that i know! How crazy!! Delta Gamma is pulling through for me for sure on this trip already! There's another dg in my group from Bucknell too :) You know it will be a long night when you go out at midnight and every bar you go in offers you a shot for free.. We had a great night and finally went home around four to get up at nine for our trip today! Brief preview...


And some lovely travel photos now that we made it.. It was rough to say the least.





My only meal for two days... Vending machine style.


And some pictures of Alicante! The esplanada:


And the beach...


And the castle! If you climb it it's free, but if you take the elevator you have to pay :)


All for now, these posts have got to start getting smaller, sorry I'm not a very good blogger. ¡Ciao! -k

the first real day

After yesterday's disasters, Abby and I seriously contemplated going home. If we didn't have each other it might have been almost happening. Luckily we could laugh at our stupidity and we were able to cross our fingers that it got better.. Neither of us really thought people would speak absolutely NO english. When they say "un poco ingles" after you ask if they speak english they aren't kidding, they only know "un poco" which translates to n.o.t.h.i.n.g. Good thing I can survive on doritos for a few days because that's all i could eat out of vending machines. I know numbers and can read letters, so thank god I can get food from there..

We got to sleep in before switching rooms to be with a new roommate for the next 3 days before moving in with our families. My roommate is really nice (just like everyone on the trip) and from Boston but goes to Boulder and is in a sorority--perfect :) We met up with 5 other girls who also got here a day early so we all got coffee and got to know each other. Everyone is so nice! We all are surprisingly normal so it's definitely going to make for a great semester. They're from all over so hopefully I'll have some cool places to visit later!

We made our way to the bus stop to try to go in to the city towards the beach :) The $2 i spent on an ipad app with offline city maps was the best $2 I've ever spent--because it was so helpful! Even with a map, we had no idea where we were to begin with, but once we found a big landmark we figured out how to go downhill, so luckily one of the girls knew enough spanish to get directions because street signs are not on the street. Why? Because it's spain. They are small tiles cemented into the buildings. If no numbered streets isn't confusing enough, try orienting yourself on streets that change every other block.. Not easy when it's a different language. We'll get oriented soon enough though.

We made it down to the esplanada, it's a main road thing by the beach with a ton of palm trees and mosaic tile floor to walk around. I'll put up pictures of everything soon, I just don't have time yet and we only have 1 internet cord for our 2 person room right now so it's sort of a struggle. It's so beautiful here though! After admiring all of the huge yachts, we decided we were going to meet someone who has one and can take us out on it before we leave. After walking for what seemed like days, we found the bus stop and made it back to the hotel by campus for orientation with the rest of the group.

9 pm is dinner time here, super late and I was STARVING, again.... So around then 11 of the 21 of us headed to a restaurant for tapas, a traditional type of meal kind of like a bunch of appetizers without eating a full dinner. We met some spanish student helpers who knew some english and will be helping us this semester, so it was fun trying to talk to them. They taught us a lot of spanish slang terms too, which was good to know considering my blonde hair is like gold and I've already attracted the Senegalese men..


Finally the other 10 from our program made it! They were stuck in the Madrid airport for 12 hours! Sounds terrible but they were all together so they got to know each other at least.. We had fun meeting everyone! They are from all over the country, a lot from the east coast, a lot from colorado and then washington, minnesota, and u of i! It's going to be a really fun semester with them for sure. Our directors are very friendly and thank god they don't speak spanish to us all the time yet!

Oh and by the way, posting on a blog is really difficult.. Pictures to come and another fun post of our first orientation day today. There's so much to say in so little time! I'm already having so much fun trying to remember my spanish and speak to locals. I know they think I'm so dumb because i have a terrible accent, but I'll start saying "graTHias" rather than "gracias" soon. I can't get past the lisp part yet.

Pictures to come!


-k

we made it!

After a long flight with some unhappy babies, I landed in Madrid this morning, bright and early! The craziest thing happened in Chicago-I'm assuming I'll know absolutely no one when one of my friends from Mizzou, Maura, is standing in the long line at my gate!! She is studying in Rome this spring and was on my flight! So that was really nice. The airport in Madrid was super empty and I had lots of time before my flight to Alicante-luckily-so I took my time dragging my bags for what seemed like miles. The security line that you have to go through for the second time was a little frantic. A lot of spanish yelling and people pushing made me feel like I should be running or something. Of course I didn't have a boarding pass, so I had to walk another five miles to the Iberia counter before going back in line. I made it to my concourse and read as I waited for Abby to get there. By the way, the Hunger Games could possibly be one of the best books I've ever read. I almost finished the first one on the flight and am addicted!

Speaking of Hunger Games, Abby and I were starving when we got here. The black olive and mini brie cheese I ate for dinner over here did not last long.. I obviously got candy at the airport, some weird sugary gummy bear things I was hoping were like these haribo things I ate everyday in scotland.. Disappointment, they weren't that good.. After our taxi dropped us off, we checked in to our hotel for this first night on our own and tried to venture out to eat. Ok, that was probably THE most difficult thing ever. At least they drive on the right side of the street here, but try communicating with someone who only speaks spanish and talks a mile a minute when you know nothing. If I was confused by the spanish part, I was super confused by the fast-speaking part. We walked by like seven restaurants/bars before we found one that looked open. Tried reading the menu and had no idea what anything was other than something with queso and something with carne. The poor man inside saw us completely confused and KNEW ENGLISH! Thank god. We spent like all our money on this bad meal we didn't know what we were ordering. Asking for something with calimari didn't turn out so bad for us except for we left with a bottle of terrible wine (you can carry open on the street during the day...sweet) and no nutrition because we ate bread and grease. Ick. Hopefully tomorrow with everyone will be better food and easier to understand.

A nice hot shower and nap later and I'm ready to make my second attempt at exploring this city. (We're actually not in the city part, we're out by campus which is a 30 minute bus ride or so from the city where I'll be living). Glad to be here safe and sound with a friend now too. We've got a lot to learn in the next few weeks!!



-k

Off!

MY BAGS WEREN'T OVERWEIGHT!!!!! That's incredible.. They were definitely too heavy she was just being nice.. The picture is of my backpack that is literally as big as a small suitcase. Its pretty heavy too.. So Mom and Dad dropped me off like they were shipping me to boarding school or something. I can't believe the day has finally come! I have this great app I can text anyone on and of course anyone with iPhones makes it way easier too. I was so excited to FaceTime Andi last night from Costa Rica! All of a sudden I was getting this call and she was in some bar video calling me! Looks like I won't feel so disconnected after all. I can't wait to get a Spanish phone so i can text my new friends. Hopefully they will understand English otherwise our conversations will be pretty boring for a few weeks until Mrs. Good's Spanish for four years kicks in. I'm going to sound so american. The power conveniently went out last night for 2 hours right after a nice last dinner with Papa and Uncle Piet. My packing was slightly stalled but I was more mad I missed the Kardashian 2 hour special. Now I'm really screwed for trying to watch it for the next four months.. Gosh what am I going to do?? Wait. My dad's People subscription conveniently goes on my iPad sooooo guess I'll be able to keep tabs on the, and the rest of my celebrity obsessions. Of course I was crafting until the wee hours of the night trying to finish a million and five shot book pages for all of my friends turning 21 this spring. Brooke, if you're reading this your book is sweet and I hope you like it :) I even made you a waterbottle already! I also made a super cute new case for my iPad. I should pin it on pinterest only it's kind of hard to take a picture of it when it's in the case.. Anyways, time to finish up the last few episodes of gossip girl before I can't get Netflix or free wifi like the qc airport anymore.. Next post from España!!! I'll miss everyone but don't forget I'm only a text or email away :) kemkf5@mail.missouri.edu -k

too heavy..

So that whole packing thing was not as simple as i thought. Everything I had thought I needed was packed, but I still had about half my dresser to try to fit in the suitcases.. And of course they were overweight. By 3 pounds.. Plus my tennis shoes. I hope they let me slide a little. I took out a few things but it's hard to get rid of the heavy stuff like shampoo. I swear nyquil weighs 2 pounds. Too bad I'll be needing that for sure! My gigantic carry on backpack is stuffed with a pair of boots, heels, 3 pair of sandals, a vacuum seal bag with all my shorts, leggings, and 2 days worth of clothes, straightener, computer and converters. Not to mention the tote I'll be carrying too.. Terrible idea but I don't have a choice I guess!

Can't wait to meet Abby in Madrid before our short flight to Alicante on Tuesday! We'll be so exhausted but it will be great to not be a solo traveler anymore. We just need to hope the strike Iberia airlines decided to go on for Wednesday doesn't happen sooner! Than we could be stranded in the Madrid airport for days. Good thing I'll have like seven outfits in that huge vacuum bag :)

Next post will be in Spain! finally :)


-k

ready to go!

Well I successfully packed my two suitcases a whole 4 days before I leave! I was expecting it to be a lot harder but I guess when you take everything it's not as difficult to forget things :) I'm also planning on getting the hair products that are heavy over there like a curling iron and hair dryer. Those take up lots of space too. Now I'm just trying to figure out how I'll be able to drag 2 huge suitcases and a gigantic backpack through the airport by myself without dying..

The last minute things don't seem to be too bad-I did the Target run for a bunch of toiletries and probably stocked up on a few things I'm not going to run out of. I just don't trust Spanish toothpaste or deodorent for some reason.. Looking at the weather I will definitely be needing the sunscreen. My current albino skin will be fried in the all-day sun and 70 degree weather right now :) I wonder if they have spray tans there.. I could use one before I hit the beach in a few weeks for sure.

Looking forward to a fun weekend in Chicago with cousins before a family dinner with the Aunt Eda and Papa! It's going to be weird leaving but I'm starting to think of it more like I'm just going to school and not coming home for a semester. That's not so bad. I'll probably not want to come home ever after living on a sunny, college beach town for four months. Time for a relaxing pedicure and a last lunch at Cafe Fresh! We'll see how much more I can cram in the suitcases in the next 2 days :)

-k