Fotos del día 1

 La ciudad antigua (the old city)

 

 Un chico (a boy.  wasn't too hard to figure that one out)

 La playa

SO LEGIT (haven't learned that one in Spanish yet)

Día 2 - La Salsa

Que un dia!  We had our first set of classes today (it doesn’t feel right taking classes 2 blocks from a Spanish beach).  Turns out we’re with the program MundoLengua, designed for students from all over the world who want to learn Spanish.  Our first class is taught by a professor in MundoLengua (her name is Marta… she’s actually Swiss.  Weird) and then the next one (from 10:30 – 1:30) is taught by Labarca, our professor from Tech.  She rambles a lot – we talked about different nationalities and characteristics of different regions in Spain.  

After class, we return to our homes where we eat Comida (it’s like lunch. but at 2:30.  It’s their biggest meal of the day).  The Spanish eating schedule is very different – breakfast is coffee and a small pastry, almuerzo (translated “lunch) is at 10:30 and consists of a small bocadillo (sub).  Of course, our families don’t pack us almuerzos so I’ll probably end up taking some fruit.  Comida is at 2:30, and then they usually eat meriendas (snacks) around 5 and 8.  La cena (dinnerI isn’t served until 9:30 or 10 and consists of something small (in our case, a hashbrown pancake), because it doesn’t get dark until 10:30 here.  No wonder Spain is the country that never sleeps. 

 I had to eat very quickly because the group that lost their bags had to travel back to the airport to get them, so that was another adventure that ended up much more successful than the beginning of our trip (all of us got our bags except one girl).  Once we got back, I ran on the beach (I passes girls running in pants on the beach.  I understand it’s not custom to wear shorts… but still.  It’s hot and you’re on the beach) and then returned to my house for la cena. 

After la cena we met up with a couple other Americans and we went to a restaurant on the beach.  It turns out Tuesday nights are their free salsa dancing nights, so we spent the next hour taking hilarious salsa lessons from one of the waiters  It made the day incredible and we promised to become frequent customers on Tuesday and Sunday nights (salsa nights).

Buenas noches, Cadiz :]

WT Tip #3  - When you choose to follow a group of “native” teens to see where they are going one night, don’t forget to watch out for them in case they make a turn and you realize you don’t know where they went, or where you are.

Día 1.5 - Bienvenidos a España

It’s day 1.5 because it’s technically our first day here, but because of the time zone switch it’s already Monday.  WE MADE IT TO SPAIN!!! I am writing from my bed of my new home for the next month – it’s 7:50 and I’m about to go to bed.  To backtrack a little – we landed in New York and had a relatively uneventful (disregarding when 2 of the group’s boarding passes wouldn’t print because it said they hadn’t registered a flight) connection to get on the flight to Madrid.  Once in Madrid, I had to go check in with Iberia because I was the only one without a boarding pass.  I went to the auto-check in and scanned my passport, only to find that it couldn’t find that I was registered for a flight.  I went to the help desk and finally got things sorted out, and by the time we were through security we had 18 minutes until our flight left (and the terminal was 9 minutes away).  The Madrid airport is really weird- Terminals 1,2,and 3 are all on the main campus, but Terminal 4 (conveniently where our flight to Jerez was) is about a 10 minute bus ride away.  We sprinted through the airport and got to our gate, only to find that our flight had been delayed for about 45 minutes.  At least we made it.  

Our final, but expected, (knock on wood) issue arose in the Jerez airport when the bags came and 10 of the group’s bags didn’t show up.  We got things sorted out and I got a complimentary travel kit from Iberia, but we have to return to the airport tomorrow to pick up our bags.  Turns out they got shipped to Chicago – I guess the 3 people that told us they would have our bags shipped to Jerez must have gotten confused with Chicago? 

Anyhoo, we’re here and it is AMAZING.  I don’t know what I expected, but this definitely isn’t it.  Cadiz is a city-beach town which gives it a very different feel than a lot of the other cities I’ve visited.  We can see the beach from the front porch of our flat – rough life.  The family we’re staying with is very sweet (she fed us as soon as we walked in the door.  This is my kind of family) and then said that since we were old we didn’t have any rules.  Emily (my roommate) and I then spent then ext 2 ½ hours getting lost in the city.  There are two parts of Cadiz, the new part (where we’re staying) and the “Antigua Ciudad” (Old City).  El Antigua is a lot like your typical Spanish city – small side streets, cobblestone walkways, old churches and statues, etc.  New City is more like Valencia with cars and shops and all that good stuff.  We noticed that the people of Cadiz pride themselves on the cleanliness of their city their beaches – there is literally a trash can every 10 meters on the beach (which kind of takes away from the beauty, but at least it keeps trash of the beach).

I’m sure our host mother thought we were very strange when we came back at 7:30 and said we were going to sleep, but I haven’t slept since Saturday night (weird when you think about it like that).  I even declined food.

WT Tip #2: Getting lost in a city is by far the best way to truly experience it’s culture.

Día 1 - Next time I'm booking my own flight

4 and a half hours after arriving at the airport I’m finally on a flight to New York!  Not sure what will happen after that, but we’ll worry about that later.  Hopefully we’ll eventually find our way to Cadiz, Spain, where I am spending the next month of my summer.  I’m participating in the LBAT, a program designed for students who want a Spanish minor to earn it while traveling abroad.  I’m only doing half of the program (the Cadiz portion) and hope to finish it another summer. 

The trip came off to a great start, when I arrived at the airport and found out that there was a torrential downpour in Chicago, where we were supposed to board a connecting flight to Spain.  Long story kind of short: we figured out that our flight wasn’t going to get to Chicago in time for us to meet our connection, so we began the stressful process of finding a new option.  After going to a different gate to find an assistant, splitting up our group, going to a different terminal and going to the ticket counter to get boarding passes and boarding the plane as the doors were closing, 4 of us are finally headed towards Spain.  The rest of the group (I think?) was transferred onto a non-stop flight to Madrid.  We’re headed to JFK (I’ve never been before…. I’m excited) and then to Madrid, where we plan to meet up with the group before our connection to Cadiz.  Then again… that’s just the “plan”.  

Shout out to my parents for suggesting that I pack an extra change of clothes in my carry on.  Who knows what happened to my luggage.  I should have taken better care of the tracking number….

WT Tip #1: If you can book your own flight, do it.