An Eventful Past Few Days

This is going to be one of my longer updates as there was a lot that happend since I last wrote since I didn't have access to internet until today. So here's a rundown of my trips this past weekend:

Thursday:
Thursday night we went to Oxigeno, and then joined Juanca and Isma in their apartment. We played cards, and then headed to the discoteca to dance. We got home pretty late especially considering we had to meet everyone at 8 to head to Granada. It was a fun night though.

Friday:
I learned an important lesson that morning. If you plan on staying out late the night before a trip, do not pack the next morning. We managed to get everything together and arrive on time, but we we arrived I soon learned that I forgot to grab some pajama pants and clean socks. I also forgot to bring a cami to go under one of the shirts I brought. So I slept in a t-shirt and underwear, rewore the same socks, and borrowed someone else's extra cami. I will most definitely be packing tomorrow to leave on Thursday for Paris even though I don't plan on going anywhere tomorrow night because I just don't function in the mornings.

We boarded the bus and started on our 7 hour bus ride to Granada. It takes a lot longer to get to places in Spain because of all the mountains. A direct route is near impossible, and the roads curve and change altitude so much that you can't drive very fast. We stopped at a truck stop to eat the bocadillos (sub sandwiches) our host families had made for us. They definitely hit the spot. I was pretty much asleep up until this point and woke up starving. I managed to stay awake the rest of the trip and took some pictures of the landscape. In Iowa, where there aren't rivers and forests, there are corn fields. In Spain, where there aren't mountains, there are olive tree groves. Miles upon miles of rows of olive trees. They claim the best olive oil in the world is made here. I would have to agree.

We arrived in Granada and got settled in our hotel. It was very near the center of the city which was convenient for site-seeing. I roomed with Erin and Maren. As much as I wanted a shower when we got to the hotel, I didn't have time. So I washed my face and freshened up a bit and joined the group to head to our first tour, la Capilla Real and La Catedral de Granada. La Capilla Real is a small church that was built by Isabel the Catholic after the christians conquered Granada, the last muslim holdout in Spain, in 1492. Outside the sanctuary, there were rooms of artifacts from the art and home collections of Isabel and her husband Fernando. The artwork was incredible. We were not allowed to take pictures but I couldn't have captured it in a picture. I specifically remember one painting of the people during the crucifixion of christ. The tears rolling down the people's faces looked so real. It was like if I touched them they would have been wet. In the sanctuary, Isabel, Fernando, their son Felipe and his wife, and their nephew, Miguel who died very young, are buried. It was amazing to look at the coffin of the Queen who gave Christopher Columbus permission to go on the voyage that discovered America. The queen wanted all the kings and queens to be buried there.

We then headed to La Catedral de Granada. Carlos V built the cathedral because he thought that the other church was too small, and he wanted to be buried in a grand cathedral. The cathedral was magnificent. The artwork, the organ, the columns, the capillas, everything. I took lots of pictures here. Funny thing was Carlos was never buried there.


We then walked around looking at small shops. Granada still has a very prominent arab influence. There were so many shops that had hookahs, teas, teapots, inscense, silks etc. It was like stepping into Morocco for an evening. Matt, Erin, Jordan, Joaquin and I went to the hookah bar before we met for supper. I had a delicious tea: rooibus de flores. It felt very good on my throat which had been hurting for a couple days. We then met and went to a buffet to eat. I stiffed myself to a point I had not been in a quite a while. It was very good. We then went back to the hotel, and most of the girls went to Monica and Michelle's room. We stayed there for a while and then decided to go to a discoteca. We stayed there for about an hour and a half. We got fun feathered masks. It's the carnaval period here in Spain which is like Mardi Gras. While we were there Sean and Andrew had some British girls all over them. They didn't much appreciate it was they didn't seem to be the purest of girls. One took Andrew's mask. He was very angry and contemplated chasing them down but decided against it. haha. We left shortly after that. I was exhausted so I took a shower and went to bed.

The next day we headed to Alhambra, an arab palace/fortress. Parts of it were 1000 years old. The attention to detail was unimaginable. They did all of the decoration by hand. Some of the colors had faded over the years, and I wish I could have seen it with the vibrant colors because it was breathtaking when it was practically faded to tan. We went to the top of the tower at the end which was the last stand for the muslims in Spain. You can see the whole city of Granada from there, as well as the snowy mountains in the distance.

We then had some free time in the city to eat lunch, but I just ate some break and fruit I took from the hotel. Yeah, I'm cheap. I did buy some amazing gelato. We then got on the bus to head to Cordoba. It was almost dark when we got there so we checked into our hotel. It was like an apartment complex! We had a large table, a kitchen, a bedroom, etc. It was very unexpected. We then headed to supper at a traditional cordoba restaurant. We kept getting served course after course after course. I practically had to be rolled out after that. I did biff the step on the way out and almost face planted but I caught myself.

We went back to the hotel and practically the whole group came to Maren, Erin, and my room. We played cards, and Toni, our advisor here in spain (basically another mom), even played for a while. We then tried to find the rest of the group in a Discoteca but we wandered and wandered and couldn't find them. Finally, Andrew, Michelle, and I decided it wasn't worth it and went home.

The next day we headed to the ruins of an arab city just outside of Cordoba. Maren about slapped me because I was really hyper and she was still waking up. You have to love our relationship. The ruins were very interesting. The rock they used had million year old fossils in it. The city was built to celebrate the independence of Andalucia (southern spain that was once muslim) from the east. It only lasted 35 years because a extremist muslim group from Africa destroyed it because they thought the brilliance of city was disgraceful. The mountain then eroded over it over the years. In the 1800's it was discovered and they've been excavating ever since. I managed to leave my camera on the bus so I don't have any pictures. I have lots of friends who do though.

After the ruins we went to Cordoba to eat. I actually bought a hot bocadillo this time. It was fantastic. I still bought some ice cream too. :D Can never have enough of that. After we ate, we headed to La Mezquita. It was originally a church built by the goths in the 8th century. After the muslims conquered it they build a magnificent mosque on top. When the Christians conquered it. They preserved the Mosque but added on a cathedral. So it's a very interesting mix of art and architecture.

After La Mezquita we headed home. It was a five hour drive, and I was feeling pretty sick. We made it home, and I felt better after we stopped and got some food.

We had decided on the trip that we really wanted to go to the Carnavales in Badajoz. So Toni cancelled our classes yesterday. We left at 11:30 in the morning and arrived around 12:30. We stayed at a 4 star hotel because that was all that was still open. It ended up being cheaper than some hostals. It was really nice. We then decided to go costume shopping. During Carnavels, everyone dresses up and parties in the streets. It's a lot like a mix between halloween and Mardi Gras. I found a cowgirl outfit, bought a red hat and some play guns. Maren did my make up, as well as lot of the other girls'. We played some cards in our room, and then headed out around 10 to meet Nacho and his friends. Well in Spain no one really starts going out till after midnight. So we just kind of chilled in the streets. And by chilled I don't mean hung out...I mean we were really cold. haha. Finally the streets started to fill up. I had to go to the bathroom so I went to a bar. I went to the guys because it was clean since it was early and I didnt' want to wait. I did my business, washed my hands, and went to leave...there's no door knob. it's sitting broken on the sink. I try to pry it open; i couldn't. I looked for anything to stick in the hole in the door to get it open. There was nothing unless i dismantled the toilet. So I resorted to banging on the door until someone let me out. It was an unwanted scare but I made it out and back to our group. By 3am the streets were filled with people in all sorts of costumes. We made lots of new friends and spoke more spanish than I think I have any night. There was a point in the night that it was just rolling off my tongue like english. I wish I could do that all the time. Around 4:30 we were REALLY cold so we headed to a disco. As I was dancing I started to fall asleep. That's a good indication it's time to go. So we headed to the hotel and slept for 45 minutes, packed up, and caught the 7:30 bus back to Caceres.

Maren and I went home and changed then headed to class at 11. I stayed awake during the first class, and even participated in discussion. Our second class was cancelled and so I got to take a short nap before I went to my internship today. At my internship, I found the manuals for the titrator which is helping immensely in my mission to program and fix it. I've got my homework done and am about to go to bed. I'll add pictures tomorrow. Later!

Another Weekend is Here!

It's thursday afternoon, and the weekend is here! I love saying that. Here's a summary of the past couple days:

Tuesday we went to class and between classes had our usual coffee in the cafe. As we were sitting there, Janelle saw a spanish person she knew, and she asked if we were her spanish friends (referring to me, erin, maren, and ginny). It was kind of flattering that she thought we were spanish. At my internship i continued translating magazine articles. Through the process I'm learning a bit of french since the articles are in french and english. Since the french sentence structure is very similar to that of spanish, I often refer to the french to make sure i have the correct syntax. So though I just sat at a computer and typed all afternoon, I was still very tired after dealing with 3 languages.

Wednesday we went to class, and I almost finished the translating at my internship. We then went out to a celebration with the ERASMUS people. Its a european scholarship program that sponsors students to study in other countries. We had met them a couple weeks ago. The two girls from poland were leaving so it was they're going away party from I gathered. While we were at the bar, i met two spaniards who are in our dance classes. I couldn't go to the first one because of my internship, but now that i know where it is, I can just come late. Erica and I talked with them til after 3. We had some good conversations, and they said that we speak spanish very well. It's always reassuring to hear that because half the time I swear I sound like an idiot.

Today we went to class, and later are going to buy our train tickets to madrid for our trip to paris next weekend. Then we will meet some people and to go out for the night. Tomorrow morning we leave for Cordoba and Granada. They are very old cities with many different cultural influences from roman to arabic. I have heard they are beautiful, and I can't wait to take pictures. I also can't wait to tell you all about it! It's lunch time and then nap time now. I definitely need a siesta today. Hasta luego!

Start to the Week

My alarm went off at 6 this morning, and I hit the snooze a few times. I was out the door by 7:15, and the sun was just rising. I returned home at 7:15 this evening as the sun was setting. It was a long day but I accomplished and learned much.

Yesterday I did as I said and rested and did my homework. I also went on a walk as there was not a cloud in the sky. I mostly just wandered and found some parks. I took lots of pictures. I posted some that I took with color emphasis. I noticed that the parks here, like the streets, are very dirty. There's trash in all the fountains and artificial ponds. There's trash on the sidewalks and in the grass. It almost took away from the beauty, but if you keep your eyes up towards the palm trees and mountains you don't notice.

I got to bed pretty late that night and so that alarm clock was not a welcome sound this morning. I made it to my internship on time and began in the lab. I cleaned rocks and sand to prepare for a molding later in the day. I also cleaned the mold and oiled it. I was then given the task of writing procedures for our Mettler Toledo titrator. I used one this past summer at GPC but i just pressed the method and pressed start. The manuals and methods that come with the Mettler are all in English. They've had this machine for years but can't use it because they can't figure out how to program it. It was a daunting task at first because I knew nothing about the titrator. I have done many manual titrations but none this complicated. I went to class at 11 a little discouraged.

When I returned from class at noon, I began doing research about the different titration methods and the equipment/probes that come with the Mettler. I finally began to understand how it worked, and what I needed to do. I wrote the complete method for the Ca content. I now have to write methods for Al, Mg, and Fe. Once I do that, I will have to run experiments and calibrations to make sure my methods are correct. It might be a bit of a guess and check process but I feel like I'm on the right track. It's kind of my personal project.

I then ate lunch in the Facultad de Formacion de Profesores, y returned to Intromac at 4. I then was given a couple magazine articles that they need the content from and began translating them word for word. It's a slow process and I got half way through 1 in 2.5 hours. I was mostly on my own today, and that was nice to be able to have a little more freedom.

I returned home as the sun set, and Maren and I then met Mercedes for a coffee at 8:15. We practiced Spanish and English for about 2 hours. It's nice because she can tell us when we say something that's grammatically correct but isn't a phrase that is used commonly or that has a different connotation. It's always a good learning experience for both parties because we can do the same for her. It's been a long day and I'm ready for bed, but it was a day filled with infinite learning opportunities.

Day of Rest and Homework

It's about 12:45 here, and i've been awake for about an hour. It's Sunday, the day I rest up and get my homework finished. I might take a walk too; the weather's fantastic right now. My knees are still recovering from walking at weird angles when we climbed the mountain, but the experience was worth any pain I endure as a result from it. Now to recap the past couple days:

Friday night we went to Juanca's apartment and played card games. I was very exhausted from 2 previous late nights, and turned in at 2. Maren, Bridgett, and Erin met the others at Cameron, a disco, for some dancing.

Yesterday, Saturday, I rested most of the day. We had the very good creamy soup and mashed potatoes for lunch. The potatoes had little bit of ham in them. They were fantastic! A common misconception about the Spanish cuisine is that it is all seafood. They do enjoy their seafood here, and it's very common especially around the coast, but the part about their cuisine they are most proud of is their pork. They take a lot of pride in their bacon, ham, sausage etc. It's not near as lean as in the US which gives it a lot of flavor. It also means it's not as good for you. But what the heck! I climbed a mountain on Friday!

Since it was el dia de San Valentin we went to a Floreria and bought our host mom a plant. We attached a card and set it on the kitchen counter. She came home just before we left to meet friends to go out and found the plant. She said "Muchas Gracias!" with a big smile on her face. I think we made her day.

We then met Andrew, Kathryn, Ginny, Sean, Bridgett, and Erin at Oxigeno, a very cheap but fun bar. Because it's cheap it fills up very quickly, so by 10 you couldn't move at all. We stayed there until almost midnight. We couldn't take the congestion any longer. Problem was the discos don't start to fill up til around 2, but we decided to head to Ivanhoe anyway. There was basically no one there so we decided to play a few rounds of darts. I won the first round, Andrew the second, and Sean the third. After 3 games, the disco started to fill up. We danced and ended up meeting a group who is studying english. One of the girls names was Sofia and I couldn't here what the other girl said her name was. We got their numbers so that we can meet up with them again. Their boyfriends were with them but I couldn't hear their names either over the loud music. We left around 3:30. The highlight of the past couple of days was definitely the look on our mom's face when she found the plant.

Another Weekend Begins

Holas!! These short weeks and longs weekends make hard for me to remember what day it is, but I'm not complaining. It's Friday evening, but I keep thinking it's saturday. It's a good problem. The last two days have been fun filled. On Wednesday, I went to class and then worked at my internship. I was pretty much on my own at my internship. I took measurements of cement blocks for about a half hour, and then continued to do research related to my project. On Monday, I'll have to explain everything I found to Silvia. That will be challenging but a good experience. I feel like I've already expanded my vocabulary significantly since I got here. it's very exciting. When we got home, I had a message from Juan Carlos that said they were having a get together at his apartment and that I should come. So after we ate dinner, Mercedes, Juanca (Juan Carlos), and Isma picked me up. It was a lot of fun. I taught them some of the card games we play, and they taught me some card games they play. I played soccer for the first time on xbox. I was very horrible, but that's not any different than in the US. I found out that Juanca was born in Houston, and his family is from Mexico. So he knows english very well. It was nice because I could ask him how to say things I didn't know. It's very exciting to have Spanish friends. It really helps in learning the culture as well as improves my use of the language. A funny scenario that night was when I went into Juanca's apartment, I just out of habit took off my shoes. A few minutes later, Mercedes asked me why I did that and if it was a custom in my country. I told her yes, we usually don't wear our outside shoes in the house. We wear slippers or nothing. I also taught her the words "barefoot" and "tum-tum". She learns english in a very unique way when she's with me.

On Thursday, we went to class, and because it was such a beautiful day, a group of us decided to walk home. It took about an hour but we walked fast. I want to walk it again slower and take some pictures of the beautiful scenery. We decided during the walk home to try Spanish Chinese food. So at lunch we asked our mom about the chinese restaurants here. She told us of a really nice one that was kind of expensive but the food was really good. So we met Ginny, Kathryn, Sean, Bridgett, and Erin at 7 and headed to the restaurant. We got there and had some trouble figuring out how to get in. We found a door eventually and went in. We we got through the door there were couches and a lady in an apron. It did not look like a restaurant, but we told her there we seven of us and she just looked confused. She then realized we wanted to eat. She told us the restaurant didn't open until 9, and she would get us a reservation for 9. So we left and noticed as we left that above the door it said Masaje or massage. We had gone into the massage place owned by the restaurant. It was very embarrassing. No wonder she looked so confused when we said there were seven of us.

So we headed to a nearby cafe and had some drinks and snacks. We talked and told fun stories. It was a good bonding experience. Then we headed back to the restaurant and managed to go into the correct door. The restaurant was beautiful with plants and even a little river under the floor. We were seated with a nice view of the street below. We proceeded to look through the menu, an interesting experience. When you go to a chinese place and look at the menu, you usually don't know what the names mean, but there is usually a decription below. It is the same in Spain except its the spanish version. So you're basically translating twice. Eventually, we were all able to find something that seemed safe to order. I had Pad-Thai with gambas (small shrimps), and it was phenomenal. The shrimp were fresh and sweet. It reminded me of the shrimp in Louisiana. Maren had pinapple chicken which was served in a pineapple half. The dish was called "pollo con pina natural" (chicken with natural pinapple). They weren't kidding. When we finished our meal, the waiter asked if we wanted dessert. What do you think was our response?...of course we want dessert! I had "tarta mousse chocolate" (chocolate mousse cheesecake) and Maren had "tarta queso fresa" (strawberry cheescake). We split the two so we could have some of the both. They were the perfect ending to a fantastic meal.

We then headed to the bar where I met the Argentinians for a while, and then went to Down, the disco. We danced for a while, and then ran into Nacho and his friends. We all danced together til about 4, and we then headed to another disco to dance some more. I went home and slept well for the first time in abuot a week. I slept so hard i woke up in the same position I went to bed in.

Today we climbed the montain outside of town. It took us about and hour and a half to reach the top. We were pretty tired after the long walk/climb, but it was an incredible view. We could see the entire city and university campus. We took lots of pictures, and had milkshakes at the cafe. We also went inside the sanctuary at the top. Sitting in the pew was just a surreal experience. It was so quiet and the beauty of it was breathtaking. I felt rejuvenated after sitting there for a bit. We also got to see the sunset while on the mountain. We made the trek back which was much easier going down than up. We just had a hamburger for dinner, and are preparing for another night on the town.

I learned another lesson: If a door says "Masaje" it probably isn't a restaurant.

Another Tiring But Exciting Day

I am exhausted. I have discovered that listening and speaking in Spanish makes everything one hundred times more tiring. By the time I left my internship at 6:30 today, I don't think I could remember Spanish or English. Right now, I can barely keep my eyes open and we haven't even eaten supper yet--yes, it's 9PM here but we usually don't eat til 10.

The reason my day was so tiring is I went to 2 classes today, camped out on campus and did homework and ate lunch, then headed to my internship. Doesn't sound like a whole lot but consider it was all done in a language other than my native one. My classes weren't too bad, and I learned a lot as usual. I enjoyed my sack lunch of a ham sandwich and kiwi. The internship was what really took it out of me, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Today when I arrived, the only person in the chemical analysis lab was Silvia (the other name i couldn't remember). I was to work with her this afternoon. She hands me a folder of concrete-asphalt studies and tells me to read them (they were in english). When she got back, she would need me to help her understand the studies. Granted it was in english, it wasn't hard to read; to comprehend, that was another matter. They were studies on the stress, fatigue, and wear on roads using different agglomerates. Now I don't know much about cement and stress and tension aren't really my areas of expertise, but I managed to figure out what the studies were about. Then came the fun part...answering her questions in Spanish. I managed surprisingly well through a mixture of spanish and sign language to explain to her what she wanted to know. We then moved to her computer.

She pulls up a french cement company's website. It can only be viewed in French and English. So we viewed it in English. She explained what she was looking for, which I understood for the most part. She begins to show be their different products and has me explain to her what each product was developed for. If speaking Spanish requires a lot of thought, switching back and forth between English and Spanish takes your brain to the point of explosion. In addition, we kept getting interrupted by Diego (the big boss) and Frank (Erin's mentor). For the most part they just wanted to talk. I enjoyed this because I could practice my spanish and take a break from the headache of explaining something I really didn't understand in English in Spanish.

To this point, I still didn't really understand why I was doing what I was doing. Then Diego came in for about the 4th time. This time, he explained to me the project with spanish, english, and pictures. Finally, I understood. In the process of mixing asphalt-cement there are two components, bilumen and agglomerate (mix). Currently, it is forbidden to use limestone in the agglomerate because after sometime the wear and tear of traffic basically polishes it smooth. Not good for roads. The project is to take materials such as limestone or other natural resources and find another material that can coat that material to change it's properties. So basically use something that wouldn't work normally and add a compound that reacts with it to change it so it will be more durable than what is currently used. On top of durability, we're looking at cost effectiveness and better resistance to heat. In the summer in Spain, it is not uncommon to have temperatures above 110 degrees farhenheit. This causes problems with the roads.

It's very interesting and very different to what I'm used to working with. I'm very excited to continue doing research and learning more. I also learned quite a bit of spanish and am expanding my vocabulary very rapidly with this internship.

A Long but Fun Day

I am exhausted after a day of new experiences, new vocabulary, and getting up earlier than I have in a very long time. I met Erin, and Erica at 8:15 at Correos to head to our internship. Joaquin was also supposed to meet us but his alarm clock didn't work and so he didn't come til 8:45. We were a bit cold and irritated but I've had similar situations so I didn't hold it against him. We arrived at Intromac which is by the sports facilities on the campus and listened to a presentation about the company. The company does a lot of research with rocks and how to engineer them into useful products for roads, buildings, bridges etc. We then got a tour of the facility. It was much bigger than it looked from the outside. More importantly, the organization doesn't make much sense so it's very difficult to navigate around. I think i was lost a total of 4 times in my first day there.

I then was introduced to my mentor, Marisa, and her coworkers, Patricia and I can't remember the other one's name, but I will let you know when I do. I'm working in the Chemical Analysis lab where they do chemical testings on the different materials. Today I was shown around the lab and then worked with Patricia learning some of the procedures. My favorite thing we did today was burning one of the samples in a crucible on a bunson burner and then baking it in a 900 degrees Celsius oven. I had to wear these thick long gloves and long tongs to put the crucibles in and take them out of the oven. It was kind of scary but lots of fun.

The procedures I learned today--some not in entirety and will finish tomorrow--were residual insolubles in hydrochloric acid and sodium bicarbonate, loss of mass by calcination, determination of sulfates, and percent silt. When we were waiting for parts of the processes to finish, I wrote down all the vocabulary words I had learned in the lab and looked through a chemistry glossary to learn other chemistry terms in Spanish. It was very interesting. I was pleased with my ability to understand everybody in the lab. I definitely am improving everyday.

One of the noticible differences between labs in the US and in Spain is the attention to safety. I was never instructed about proper lab attire and lab rules, did not have to wear safety glasses, and there were bags of sand and rock scattered on the floor. I did wear gloves and a lab coat but it was interesting to not have to go through a safety seminar or packet at all. I just dove right in. It doesn't really bother me except that I wouldn't be surprised if one day I totally eat it on one of those bags and knowing me i'll probably be carrying something breakable or hot. We'll just hope for the best. I only broke one thing today and it was probably the most difficult thing to break in the lab, the plastic clamp on the water hose. I guess I pushed on it too hard. But I did well otherwise.

Overall I'm enjoying the internship very much so far. It is nice to be able to expand my vocabulary in my area of study. Hopefully by the end I will be able to sufficiently use my Spanish in the work place.