after three days of being miserably sick, i'm feeling a lot better, but still not fantastic. but we were told that at this exact time every semester the students start to get sick like this. when i left the office this morning my resident directer said, 3 down 47 to go, ha so that made me feel a little better...

written by  Taryn Hawkins on October 13, 2009 from Granada, Spain
from the travel blog: Granada
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somehow i got very sick overnight, probably from the heat yesterday, but it's times like this where i just want to be home the most!! :(
but how can i complain...

written by  Taryn Hawkins on October 12, 2009 from Nerja, Spain
from the travel blog: Granada
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that same shopping trip, i needed body wash. well yesterday i realized that my body wash is for "el hombre", glad i've been smelling like man for two months.

the day i got my package from my family, i was with some friends and we sat on a bench on the corner to snack on my goodies. well about five minutes into it, a women comes up, leaned over, and told me she wants my candy. i just looked at her, stunned, and she said give it to me! so i gave her a reeses. then she looks at me and says, i want two. HA, this women just stole two of my reeses! and less than 5 minutes later, another woman comes up and does the same thing!! before i had a chance to give her some, one of the girls i was with yelled NO, GO AWAY, and the poor old woman wobbled away. que triste.

written by  Taryn Hawkins on October 12, 2009 from Granada, Spain
from the travel blog: Granada
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the airports. you would not believe the airports. we seriously walked right through customs on our way there and back, no one asked any questions at all. sad though because we didnt get a stamp in our passport :(

also security...it was very strange...so much more relaxed than in the states. coming back the thing beeped when i walked through and the lady looked at me and patted down my legs then let me through...and you dont have to take off sweatshirts or shoes...kind of scary

and we didnt walk straight on to the planes at all. we had to take a shuttle from the airport to the plane, in one case it was probably about a three minute walk that they drove us.

okay finally the accent here. i know i've talked about it before, but it is becoming much more obvious that i am going to come back with a disgusting southern Spain accent. all of my proffesors have a very thick accent too. when i first got here i would say Gracias...and now, all of us say gratheeahh. nice lisp goin on. people in my spanish classes are going to think im so weird speaking with a lisp and dropping all the endings of my words.
ok thats all

written by  Taryn Hawkins on October 9, 2009 from Granada, Spain
from the travel blog: Granada
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for the most part classes went well. i think my hardest class will be the translation, but i will probably learn the most in that class. the culture class will probably be hard too just because my prof is kind of boring.
liz and i actually decided to drop the teaching class within the first five minutes of class...the first thing she said was this class is going to be taught in english, then we spend the rest of the two hours playing board games and throwing around a stuffed penguin playing getting to know you games. one of my biggest pet peeves is when someone treats me like im ten years younger than i am, and thats basically what she was doing. i think it would probably be an interesting class for people who want to teach, but just not for me...and the lady snapped at me when she put a board game in front of us that on each square had questions like 'what is your favorite book' 'what are you good at' 'what is your favorite color' and i asked her if we were supposed to play in english or spanish...i was just taken aback that an advanced level class would be taught completely in english.

so strange things...
i've caught myself thinking in spanish on several occasions,
i tend to not remember words in english...i find myself searching through my english vocabulary for synonyms of words i can't remember, and after a conversation with someone, i have to ask myself if they were speaking to me in english or spanish because i fully understand what they are saying...yay
and while we were in italy, all of us instinctively started speaking spanish to the people we met..which suprisingly worked...i had at least three conversations with italians...them speaking italian and me speaking spanish.

best day ever: i got back from ITALY and i had two letters from friends in morris, and a package from my family that was so big that i had to go to the post office to get it, then the next day i had two more letters from friends in morris!! :D

liz, morgan, and i were going to go to madrid again this weekend but decided we were way too exhausted, so we have a four day weekend here in granada, then in two weekends we are going to sevilla, corodoba, and gibralter, then the weekend after that is dublin. then we go to morrocco at the end of november, and then we are going to paris at the beginning of december for liz's birthday! when we get back from paris theres a week and a half left.

written by  Taryn Hawkins on October 8, 2009 from Granada, Spain
from the travel blog: Granada
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The only time I've eaten better food than what I'm eating here is when I eat my mom's food. Morgan's very very pregnant cousin (8.5 months) and their family own a restaurant here. I keep thinking about Anthony because her cousin talks about how she now knows how the food is made here and now that she understands that she realizes there are two really good italian restaurants in Florence, one is theirs. ha, but when we ate lunch i thought that was the best meal, then we went back for dinner, and it was even better.
my next big adventure in life is going to be learning italian after i feel more comfortable with spanish...but i would enjoy coming back here some day.
today we are going to the duorma? for mass then to acadamia and to explore florence.

written by  Taryn Hawkins on October 4, 2009 from Florence, Italy
from the travel blog: Granada
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2) the manly man with a sweater
it is seen as very masculine for a man to wear his sweater or scarf around your neck. very european, i don't think that's seen too much in the US, and if it is, the man isn't seen as manly.

3) let's meet at the corner at 2
2am that is, to begin the night. i've said this plenty, and will probably continue, people here don't start their nights til 2, and that's actually seen as early here. from what i've heard the discotecas don't get busy until 3. it's normal to stay out until the cafes open to eat churros y chocolate around 8.

4) maddy's thriving business
you may or may not know that after i left, maddy started walking dogs for dimes. well here, she could easily make a living. there are men walking dogs, women walking dogs, children walking dogs, dogs walking dogs...good thing i love puppiesss

5) bad smelling good luck
i was told today that if you step in dog poop, it's considered good luck. well as we all know...there are lots of dogs here, which also means there are lots of lucky people here. fortunately...or unfortunately? i'm not considered lucky yet.

6) permanently dirty feet
okay, my feet have not been clean since i got here. i swear the dirt is in my skin and won't come out. but, if my feet are this dirty, can you imagine my shoes? and yet we are not allowed to take our shoes off in the house. they see it as dirty to wear socks or bare feet. why do they want me trudging around in my shoes that probably have dog poop, bird poop, and plenty of dirt and mud on them?

7) gripe A
They are freaking out about gripe A (aka swine flu) and yet there is never toilet paper or soap in any public restrooms. We go through a lot of tissue and hand sanitizer. Thank you grandma for the purell!!

8) milk that lasts for 6 months
the milk and eggs here are not refridgerated. some of the people in my program have commented on how they found a stash of milk in the cupboard. funny, it lasts forever too...que extrano

9) no pasa nada
no pasa nada...it doesn't matter..they say this for about everything. gracias..no pasa nada...but the funniest thing i've seen so far that they use it for is while parking cars..parallel parking here must be so much easier than it is at home. all you have to do is go til you hit the car in front of you, reverse til you hit the giant trash bins behind you...no pasa nada

only in spain...

everyone should keep maddy lou in your thoughts and prayers these next few weeks...
Maddy Loop- I love you so much and I know you are so strong! you are the bravest person I know!! good luck sweetie, i hope you are super comfy in your new pajamas and i hope all the doctors and nurses love your brett favre jersy!! i miss you so much! much love and many hugs and kisses. xoxo

written by  Taryn Hawkins on September 28, 2009 from Granada, Spain
from the travel blog: Granada
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