Thursday, January 29, 2009

pictures









hola!

Good news and bad news. The good: I am feeling almost 100% better. The bad: I've lost my voice for 2 days now..and I have no idea where Barcelona's Lost & Found is. Ok, bad joke, but my voice really is gone. I'll take it though. It's better than feeling like I'm swallowing fire 24/7.

Second week of school is done! Woo! I know we've been over this but I really don't enjoy any of my classes except Sport and Culture. The teacher is just awesome to put it simply. The material is good but the teacher just makes the class. He loves what he teaches and teaching isn't even his first job. He is actually a sports broadcaster that works for FC Barcelona, the city's soccer team. So during the week he teaches at CEA and when there are games he is working at them. It totally doesn't matter that he doesn't speak English very well and sounds like Borat because he is incredibly upbeat and positive all the time. A group had the first presentation of the semester today. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't like award winning or anything, just your average oral presentation. He starts clapping and saying, "BRAVO! wonderful! GREAT JOB!" Everyone in the class is just looking at him and he goes "Come on people, lets clap them". "Clap them" we did. Gosh I love this man.

After a failed attempt at booking online, a failed attempt to buy them at the train station, and yet another failed attempt online, we finally have tickets to Valencia. The round trip by train was around 63 Euros which was cheaper than a flight. Then I suggested looking into taking a bus because we are literally next door to the bus station. So I go online to research prices and we can get a round trip ticket for 50 Euros. SCORE! Due to minor communication issues (who are we kidding, they're major issues) we had our friend, Jorge, who speaks Spanish fluently, come help us buy the tickets at the station. Turns out the bus station has a deal that is buy two tickets, get one free. Essentially everyone that was going got a round trip ticket for 33 Euros. DOUBLE SCORE! We leave tomorrow morning at 7am (ew.) and get back February 1st, sometime in the late afternoon/early evening. I'm pretty excited to take my first trip! Valencia is a few hours down the coast from Barcelona. It is the third largest city and Spain and is known for its wicked good paella and nightlife. WOO!

So, I obviously won't be able to write for the next few days because I won't be bringing my computer with me. I'll be sure to update y'all on how the trip went and upload some pictures as well. I hope everyone is surviving the snowstorm back home...I know I am! :)

Love and miss you all!<3

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I'm alive

I'm alive - BARELY! I went to the Emergency Room yesterday because I couldn't get a doctor's appointment until Thursday. With a fever and my throat swollen shut that simply wasn't going to cut it. Turns out I have strep throat. The doctor prescribed me some antibiotics and pain medication to take for the next few days. I'm already feeling a tiny bit better...thank God. I just need to rest every second I get because I don't think being as tired as I am helps any.

In other news, our day trip to Calcotada and Sitges was cancelled. We walked outside to leave for the trip around 10am on Saturday and we were nearly blown over by the wind. I have never experienced gusts of wind that strong in my life. We weren't really sure if it was normal or not but we assumed it was ok to walk around because everyone else in Barcelona was too. On our way to the meeting point we saw trees uprooted from the cement, signs that had blown off their posts, and furniture that had been swept from balconies, etc. We finally got to the meeting point and the lady told us that the trip was cancelled because of the wind conditions. She said wind like this was not normal here in Barcelona and that traveling in it would be very dangerous. Apparently we had to go over a bridge to get to our destination and they were worried that the bus would blow off the bridge if a gust was strong enough. Not to mention, the winery we were going to had no power because of the weather. I was surfing the internet later and when I went on CNN.com I saw a headline that said "Severe Wind Storms in Spain". I was pretty surprised the storm had made international headlines so I opened it up to read it. It talked about how Barcelona was experiencing uncharacteristic winds that had reached up to 99 mph. Buildings had their siding ripped off (see my picture below, HAH!) and there were dead birds everywhere that had met their fate...a wall...due to strong winds. Anyway, note to self: When the wind literally can blow you over...stay inside.

Classes are going decent this week. I love my Sport & Culture class a ton. The other 4? Not so much. Oh well, nothing I can do really. Hopefully I will be feeling 100% in a day or two. I'll try to keep writing but if I'm not feeling to great I hope you can understand. Love and miss you all! <3

Sunday, January 25, 2009

It was only a matter of time...

Nearly everyone I know here at CEA has come down with something these past two weeks. All of the teachers have said that sickness levels go through the roof the first few weeks because of stress, fatigue, new germs for your immune system to fight, etc. I have pretty much been living in a hospital here at Residencia Onix because almost all of my suitemates have been sick. With all necessary precautions taken, I somehow managed to hop on the band-wagon and get sick. I've been dead for about the past 24 hours or so. What started as a little tickle has since progressed into the swelling shut of my throat/fever. I think I'm going to try and find a pharmacy tomorrow and see if they have any medicine for sore throats. I really don't want to miss any classes so I know I'm going to have to be drugged up to get through both of mine tomorrow. If after my classes I'm still not feeling any better I'm going to try to find the doctor that CEA recommends we visit if we become ill. Until then I'm going to lay around in pain, be miserable, and wish I was home. Here's to you anti-bacterial hand sanitizer...thanks for nothing!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

La Rambla

We left to go the Barcelona Aquarium at about 2 in the afternoon. It was about 62 degrees and a beautiful day here in Barcelona. We figured we would save ourselves some money and walk the ten million miles to the aquarium. About two miles before the aquarium you get to this street called "La Rambla". It's a pretty famous street here in Barcelona and very popular with the tourists. The whole street is lined with little cafes, stores, street vendors, entertainers, and pick pockets.

So the adventure began at the beginning of La Rambla where there is a big plaza called "Placa Catalunya". Placa Catalunya is this big walking area that has been taken over by pigeons. When we got to the plaza there were probably thousands of pigeons just chilling there. Unfortunately, we had to walk through the mini pigeon army to get to La Rambla. While it was one of the most scariest things I've ever experienced, it was probably one of the funnest things that I've been around here. Yes, sounds stupid I know, but the pigeons were fascinating to me. This one man came and had bread in his hand and literally ALL of the pigeons swarmed to him. I would have freaked out had I been him. There were these precious little kids who were playing with the pigeons too. Then there was this HUGE gust of wind and all of the pigeons started flying RIGHT at us. I was so scared I was going to get hit or pooped on by a bird; either would have been mortifying. If both had happened simultaneously I probably would have sat in a box and shipped myself home.

Then we got on La Rambla where I witnessed my first pick pocketing incident. The guy was looking like a total Creeper McCreeperson when we saw him walking our way. He slowed down near this one person and all of the sudden you see this person's wallet in his hand. Within seconds he had disappeared into the crowd. All in one swift motion this persons wallet was gone and they didn't have a clue. Scary stuff! Everyone spent the rest of the walk clutching their wallets and purses for dear life. Me? I took an extra level of precaution and walked around the rest of the afternoon with my wristlet in my pants :)

The rest of the walk down La Rambla I just took a million pictures and took in the sights. Every few hundred feet there are these entertainers that paint themselves to look like scultpures and what not. Then there is this stretch of street that has artists who sell their drawings and paintings along the side. I also found this nice little gelatto place about half way down La Rambla. I bought a large (I had to) and that meant I got to have 4 different scoops. I chose raspberry, kiwi, mango, and cookies and cream. All of the flavors were delicious but raspberry was by far my favorite. I definitely want to try some more another time!

We finally got the end of La Rambla where we thought the Aquarium was located. Turns out it was about two miles down another road. We were exhausted from walking around all afternoon so we opted to go to the Aquarium another day. I'm so overly tired it's not even funny anymore. I could probably sleep for two weeks straight and not wake up once. All in all it was a good day and I am really excited for tomorrow (the day trip to a couple towns). I'll be sure to post some pictures from today and tomorrows trip next blog. Love and miss you all <3

Thursday, January 22, 2009

mas picturas<3










TGIT

Thank God it's Thursday! I don't have classes on Fridays so today is my "Friday". So I officially just completed my first week of school in Spain. The classes were a lot harder than I expected but I'm starting to feel a little better about them as time goes on. We're going to have to wait and see how hard actual tests are though.

My poor, poor History teacher has such a thick accent, no one can understand him. It really sounds like a mixture of French and Spanish...I don't know if that's possible. We'll just say he a "Frenish" accent. On top of that, he barely speaks English and has a really hard time getting his point across when hes lecturing. For example, today we were going over historic Spanish symbols and their meanings. We had gone through a couple of them when he arrived to the last one. In his broken English he points and says, "This is palm grenade. It symbolize things like fertility, life, abundance. I'm thinking in my head...how does a palm grenade symbolize life?. The symbol looked NOTHING like a grenade...more like a flower of some sort. He repeated himself over and over and over; "It a palm grenade". Probably after reading the looks on the faces of his students, I think he started questioning his pronunciation. He proceeded to elaborate and said, "It's a kind of fruit". Simultaneously, everyone was like, "Ohhhhhhhhhhh pomegranate". Ehhh, palm grenade...pomegranate -same thing.

In my psychology class, where ironically, my teacher is psycho, we talked a little about the inauguration of our new President (GOBAMA!!!). The professor wanted to know our feelings on the moment and whether or not we were disappointed by not being in the country for it. Personally, I followed the election so closely from the time the primaries began, all the way to CNN calling the race on November 4th, so it would have been really nice to have had a chance to go to the Inauguration. However, I can still appreciate the magnitude of the moment and I did feel as part of it as possible. I was in my room when he was sworn in, trying, to no avail, to find a live feed on my computer. I called up Poppa in a panic and he told me where to go. Good ole HuffPost had it on their website and it actually WORKED on my computer! There were tons of people here in Spain, some Americans, some locals, who went to local bars to watch the inauguration. Obama's picture was plastered on every newspaper that day as well. I find it fascinating that the majority of these people were looking forward to the inauguration as much as the rest (well some) of America. Although I would much rather be able to say "I was at Barack Obama's inauguration", I still think it is pretty cool to be able to say, "I scoured the world wide web in a fit of panic until I found a website that televised one of the most historic moments I will likely encounter in my lifetime...and oh yea, I was in Barcelona, Spain." I will fondly remember January 20th, 2009 for the rest of my life :)

SO ITS THE WEEKEND! I don't know if I'm going out tonight or not. I'm exhausted x's 487. I do know that me and a group of friends are going to the Barcelona Aquarium tomorrow. I am really looking forward to that. Then the following day is the CEA trip to Sitges and Calcotada. Action packed weekend I have ahead of me -- I'm pretty much stoked!

Love and miss you all!

P.S - This website is not letting me post pictures at the moment. I'll be sure to add some as soon as it decides to give Hannah a break!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

low key day

Hello everyone! Today was a nice low key day. By low key I mean that I did nothing but school and homework all day. I had my second Spanish and Macroeconomics class. I'm feeling pretty good about both of them. I enjoy both of the teachers and feel like I can do well in the classes. Tomorrow is my 5 hours of class day and I can't wait! NOT! Sometimes I wish that the Spanish siestas (naps or where they shut down business for 2 hours during the mid-afternoon) for businesses applied to students as well. So after completing Tuesday with only a clementine in my stomach, I'm thinking I need to prepare for that stretch of time a little better tomorrow. Mayble I'll pack a lunch...aka Carly is making me a PB&J sandwich :)

Anyway, sorry for a boring blog today! I do have a CEA trip this weekend where we head out to wine country for the day. I get to do a wine tasting and have lunch and some restaurant out there. Should be pretty exciting with some good pictures too. CAN'T WAIT! I'll have some juicy details when that day comes. I love and miss you all and I hope you have a great day! :)

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

I need a nap.

So I just completed my second day of classes. 5 hours straight with no lunch makes for a tired, grumpy, and hungry Hannah. Starting off my day right, I didn't fall asleep until 3:30am and woke up exhausted. The shower helped wake me up a little and I was off to my first class with time to eat a solitary clementine...you should hear my stomach rumbling.

My first class was Sports & Culture in Contemporary Spain. This is going to be my favorite class without a question. The teacher seems incredibly nice and laid back. He introduced himself and then said, "YOU CAN FRIEND ME ON FACEBOOK IF YOU WANT!". He gave us his cellphone numbers and said if we had any questions about class or even where to find a nice cheap meal then we could call him. Anyway, the class pretty much covers, you guessed it, sports and how they are part of the culture in Spain. They want us to start viewing sports as more than the athletic task itself. We talked a bit about how sports have evolved into so much more than that (sports now involve business, advertisement, politics, etc). For example, you don't want David Beckham on your team purely for his talent (I'd take him for his good looks....). Teams want him so badly because of what comes with David Beckham and his talent. You have things like his modeling campaigns, advertisements, and his celebrity in general, which in turn create buzz for your team...aka money for you. So yea, like I'm starting to realize with all of my CEA classes there will be a ton of work. We have a huge paper to write but it's on any topic of our choosing. We just have to incorporate sports in Europe (ideally Spain) and the United States. I think I want to write about the trend of European players coming to play in the NBA and how we are starting to see a reverse trend where playing in Europe has become appealing to NBA players. I just have to see if we learn anything in class that I can tie in with that. All in all, I think I'm going to love this class.

Now this is where my day went downhill... My psychology class has probably the largest amount of reading I have ever had to do for a class. She says we are guaranteed at least 30 pages of reading a night and that it is mandatory because she gives pop quizzes. Woooo. We spent the majority of class introducing ourselves and going over the rules of the classroom. After that we talked a little about the basics of culture and ethnocentrism. Thennnn she released us from class where I heard nearly half of my classmates saying they were going to drop the class. What will I be doing tonight? Reading.

To end my three consecutive class streak of 5 hours I have class with the most boring teacher I have ever encountered in my life. Christians, Jews, and Muslims in Contemporary Spain could potentially be a very interesting subject. However, I don't believe that is going to happen with this class. I think the man has anxiety with public speaking because he was whispering and getting incredibly nervous looking the entire time (Little did he know his fly was open the entire class). The genius that I am, sat waiting in the wrong classroom for class to begin for about 10 minutes. I realized I was in the wrong class and got to the correct one right before it started. I found myself the only available seat in the back corner. Conveniently, sign ups for a oral presentation started in the front of the classroom on the polar opposite side. You guessed it. I was left with the least desirable slot: first presentation of the semester.

I was just talking with Carly and we're totally surprised with our courses and their difficulty this semester. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, says classes in study abroad are somewhat of a joke. Not here. This is hands down going to be the hardest semester I have taken in college thus far. The class that I was most scared about, Spanish, is looking like it's going to be my easiest. Hopefully I am able to manage time to do my work but still find time for fun, trips, and what not. Maybe all the teachers are just trying to scare us with their syllabi? Maybe the classes are actually really easy? I sure hope so.

Anyway, I love and miss you all! Grocery shopping is calling my name!!!
(Please forgive any and all typos and grammatical errors. First two days of classes and my brain is officially fried.)

Monday, January 19, 2009

First day of class COMPLETE!

So I successfully completed my first day of classes and it went well. I left for my class at the Main Global Campus (the 15 minute walk) at about 10:00 so I had 45 minutes to get lost, find my way, and get a notebook. You'll be pleased to know that I made it to the building on time AND without getting lost. I walked into about three stores that appeared to have notebooks. I don't know if people in Barcelona are against lined paper notebooks because all this city sells are graph-paper notebooks. And yes, you guessed it, I'm that cool girl in class taking all my notes on graph paper :)

I had Spanish at 10:45. I was really, and still am, really nervous about it. I haven't taken a Spanish class since last May and that might take a toll on me in this class. Anyway, my teacher seems really nice. She actually kind of reminds me of my Spanish teacher I had at Le Moyne and I loved her. Professora Hernandez started off class by introducing herself with an activity she called "Cierto o Falso"; True or False. She made a list of things about herself like age, hometown, interests, etc. Out of all of the information there were three "lies" and we had to guess which ones were false...all in spanish of course. After that we sort of introduced ourselves to the class and other classmates. We closed class with a little competition that she called "Que sabes de Espana?". She put us in groups and we had to think of Spanish actors, actresses, monuments, festivals, etc. If they didn't originate in Spain (ex. putting Salma Hayek who is actually from Mexico) then you did not get credit for them. Our group came in third place...out of 4! HAH! :)

Next, I had Macroeconomics. My teacher seems pretty cool so far. Now for the uncool...the first thing he said at the beginning of class was "This is hands down the hardest class available here at CEA". You can imagine the pure joy I felt wash over me. As you all know, Microeconomics gave me quite the hard time at Le Moyne two semesters ago. I'm hoping I had a difficult time because of a poor teacher, T.Shep, and not the topic of economics itself. Anyway, there is a lot of work in the class. We also have a 20 minute presentation at the end of the semester (can't wait for that one!), along with a cumulative final worth 35% of our grade. Ughhhh. He said if you work really hard then it is possible to get an A in the class. So basically I need to work hard x's 436687 and I should be fine.

Speaking of Macro...I need to go do my 20 pages of reading for my macro homework. I have the rest of my new classes tomorrow: Sports & Culture in Spain, Intercultural Interactions: A Psychological Perspective, and Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Contemporary Spain. Class from 10:45 to 3:45 will pretty much kick my butt, but I am excited to be back at work! I'll let y'all know how it goes tomorrow. Love and miss you all <3

More PICTURES! :)











Sunday, January 18, 2009

you could say I'm nervous...

Oh my gosh am I nervous! I have my first day of classes tomorrow. My first class is at 10:45 about a 15 minute walk away. I'm taking intermediate spanish and I am incredibly nervous because I haven't taken a spanish class since last May. The class goes till 12:15 then I have a break until 2:15. Thankfully, this building is only about a two minute walk from our residencia. Unfortunately, it is a Macroeconomics (we all know how much I loved Micro!). I feel like I'm starting college again freshman year. I know nearly no one and don't know any of the teachers. I just need to keep in mind it went just fine freshman year and hopefully it will tomorrow too. I'll let y'all know.

Today we took the 15 minute walk down the beach! It was gooorrrggeeousss! I can't wait for some warmer weather so I can go down there and just enjoy the sun and water. The entire boardwalk is filled with these nice clubs and restaurants. We mapped out a few we would like to go to before our time is up here. My poor friend Yaffa was at the beach earlier that day. She was climbing down some steps and tripped and fell. She unfortunately broke the fall with her chin and had to get 6 stitches. Luckily everything that the hospital worked out fine and she is doing well.

Other than that today was a totally uneventful day. The nerves have been steadily building throughout the day and will be at full blast tomorrow morning. I figure I will leave around 10 am here and give myself about 45 minutes to walk to class and find my way if I just so happen to get lost. AND! I need a freakin' notebook to take notes in for my classes! Allllll I want is a little Wal-Mart! I could get EVERYTHING I need! But seriously, there are no notebooks in Barcelona. Hopefully I will discover one on my walk to school. If not, looks like I'm gonna have to rely on the good ole stone tablet and chisel.

SO! If any of you so happen to wake up around 4:45 am, think of me, and how I am most likely peeing my pants as spanish class begins. Kidding...sort of. I love and miss you all! Wish me LUCK! :)

Saturday, January 17, 2009