Life in Alicante

Well I figure I'm pretty much settled in here in Alicante. My class schedule is finally worked out, and I pretty much have my routine down.

I have an awesome friend from back in the Bay Area who says he can help me with my programming stuff, which is super cool! I freaked out a bit because we have our first program due in three weeks (we have to make a two player chess program) and I don't really know the language yet. Apparently the kids in the first semester class learned a bit of C/C++ in that class, and so we are supposed to be able to do this chess game with just that knowledge, but I don't have any of that knowledge yet! So I've been trying to go to class, learn new parts of the language, go to "labs" and work on the program, and teach myself the language through internet tutorials in English (cuz it's super hard to learn another language in another language!) and it's just been a bit crazy. But Mike's a savior and he says he can help. So that's awesome!

Also, one of my "intercambios" turned out pretty well. This girl Raquel is studying to be an English teacher for native Spanish speakers, and she has her official licensing exams in June. So she wants to practice speaking and have me help her with pronunciation and grammar and all that stuff. It works pretty well actually because you really learn a lot about a language when you have to explain it to another person. Also, she studied in Scotland for a semester as an Erasmus student, so she knows the drill, and she is answering all of my "dumb" questions like "How do I make photocopies?" It's pretty cool. And she says in return for me helping her with her work, she'll help me with mine, which is awesome because I have a literature class where I have to write a paper type thing. So having a native speaker check it over will be awesome!

All in all things are working out pretty well here. I miss everyone from back home, but I'm having fun here also. So it sort of evens out.

My parents are coming out here in three weeks for a week during my "spring break"! I'm way excited about that. We're renting an apartment in Barcelona for a week. Apparently I've been designated as the "DD" for communication in Spanish because (and I quote my father here) "I don't know Spanish and your mom doesn't want to deal with it". I think she underestimates her abilities, but I'm perfectly fine with translating for them. I'm starting to think and dream in Spanish, so I think I'll probably be ok with being the liason!

The culture here is super different. It's 12:15am on Friday night (er, rather Saturday morning) and I'm sitting in this cafe which also happens to have free WiFi. Usually they close right around midnight, but apparently not today. At midnight there were three big groups of people here besides me. Fifteen minutes later the cafe is completely full! It's insane! But I enjoy it, since I'm sort of a night owl anyways. Most kids don't even go out until right about now anyways. From about midnight to 4am is the "going out" time for most kids here. Crazy...

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I don't have any brilliant title ideas...

Alright, so it's the weekend again...but this last week went so much better than my first week!

First things first, I went to the other section of the programming class on Wednesday, and it was absolutely perfect! I understood the teacher perfectly, I understood the material he was teaching us, and I think the class is going to be one of my favorites! So, that was exciting.

Also, I found out last week that I got the job I applied for at school next year, as an RA (Resident Assistant) in one of the small houses on the East Side (which is where I have lived for the past two years). So that is also really cool. I'm super excited to be an RA, it's going to be amazing!

I'm slowly getting to know more people here, which is good because it's a little hard to find things to do when you don't know anyone. Walking around by yourself at night is mostly not a good idea... But, I'm meeting a bunch of Erasmus students in all of my classes. And I also found a cool thing through the Sociedad de Relaciones Internacionales on campus. They have "intercambios lingüísticos" (language exchanges) that you can sign up for on their website. Basically they just have a message board of sorts where you can post a little personal advertisement based on what languages you can speak and what languages you want to practice. So I posted a thing saying that I was an American student here for a semester and I spoke English and wanted to practice Spanish, and in the past four days I have gotten more than 20 email responses! It's pretty cool. So I've replied back to some people, and I've already met with two different people yesterday and today, and it's a pretty cool program. Basically, you just get in touch with the other person and meet them somewhere and sit and talk. So today after class I met with a guy named Daniel who is a student at the University who studied abroad in Ireland to learn English, and we talked for like an hour in Spanish. It was really cool because a) I understood him completely, b) we actually had things to talk about (like TV shows we liked, travel, etc.), and c) my ability to carry on a conversation in Spanish was pretty impressive. It wasn't difficult or awkward, and there were only a few times when I had to ask for a word or how to conjugate something. So anyways, that's gonna be a pretty cool thing for me to do. We're gonna meet up again sometime next week and speak in English so that he can practice.

Umm...I think that's about it for now. The weather got a bit colder here these last few days, so I haven't been going out to sit on the beach or in the park. The wind is pretty nasty when it's cold out. But hopefully it will get better in the next few days. I'm still working out a few kinks in my class schedule, but I mostly know what I'm doing, so that's good.

Oh, I got my first phone bill since being here in Spain. It wasn't too horrible, but I'm gonna have to be more careful. My parents also got their first phone bill since I've been in Spain...that one was pretty bad. We realized before I left that it was cheaper for them to call me than for me to call them, so most of our calls have gone on their bill. Well, let's just say that now that I'm settled into a house and school and stuff, Skype is going to be our new way of communicating, cuz the phone thing is pretty expensive! Oh, by the way, if any of you use Skype and wanna chat with me while I'm here, that would be awesome! My Skype name is the same as my email: phoenixrisen41.

So, that's all for now. I'll keep you posted!

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First week of classes

Oh my goodness the past few days have been…exciting, to say the least!

I woke up on Wednesday with plenty of time to spare before I had to leave for class. I was even planning on leaving a few hours early so that I could get to campus, figure out where classes were, and get some more stuff straightened out in the Erasmus office. Well, I go to leave the apartment that we live in on the fifth floor and my key won’t turn in the lock to unlock the door. So I go find my mom and tell her that the key isn’t working, and she follows me back to the door and tries it herself and it doesn’t work for her either. So long story short, she calls her husband, her friend from downstairs, and her mother who went out shopping and none of them can get the door open either, from either side. So finally she calls the locksmith who shows up and finally gets the door open an hour later.

Meanwhile I’ve been sitting inside freaking out because I’m going to be late to class! The door gets open at 2:15 and I run down the stairs to the bus stop and get to school at 2:55, just in time for my 3pm class. So, already a bit harried from the whole being-locked-in-the-house experience, I walk into the classroom and sit down. The teacher walks in a minute later, puts up a slide show on his computer, and starts talking as he goes through the basics of what is going to be covered in the Principles of Programming II class. And to my horror, I can’t understand a word he is saying! Like, literally I understood about 20% of the actual words that were coming out of his mouth, because they were easy words like “si” or “no” or some recognizable conjugation of a basic verb. But I didn’t get almost anything else he said!

So I’m sitting there freaking out because here I am, in Spain, all set to take classes taught in Spanish, and I can’t understand my professor! Luckily he had a powerpoint up, or I would have been completely lost. So anyways, I sit there freaking out for an hour while he talks on and on and I desperately try to make sense of the 20% of the words that I catch. Nothing doing. Thoughts are racing through my head: “Oh my god, what have I done? Why did I think I could do this? I wonder if I can drop this class and still graduate on time? Maybe I can extend my scholarship for an extra year.” When he dismisses the class I go up to talk to him. I basically explain (in very broken and timid Spanish, cuz I’m pretty freaked out at this point) that I’m an Erasmus student from the United States and does he think it’s at all possible that I will be able to handle this course with help from him, a tutor, a book, online notes, etc. Well, he says something back, and again, I still can’t understand him! I manage to muddle through a conversation in which I think he said something along the lines of “Well programming is programming no matter what language you learn it in. If you think your grip on Spanish is good enough it shouldn’t be too hard” and I stammered out some sort of thanks and a noncommittal “Well I’ll keep trying and see what happens” and then I left the room.

A minute later I was on the phone with my parents bawling my eyes out. Again, long story short, I talked to them for a long time and of course, as always, they made me realize I was being a bit ridiculous and worrying too much. My mom reminded me that my Spanish is, in fact, very good, and I probably couldn’t understand the teacher because a) he was very quiet, b) I wasn’t in the front row, c) he had a slight accent, and d) he seemed to only say half of each word, as if he were mumbling to himself. My dad reminded me that I’m very good at programming and probably could pass the class with the book and the notes and teach it to myself, even if I never understood the professor. And they both reminded me that it would take time to get used to how different people speak.

So I felt better after that, and I went to my next class, which was Internationalization Strategies. In that class I understood at least 90% of what the teacher said, and so I felt a lot better. And in all my classes on Thursday and Friday the same thing happened, I had no trouble understanding any of the professors. So I think it was just that this one guy was hard to understand. And luckily there is another section of that class with a different teacher earlier in the day. So next week I will try that and see if it is any better.

But all in all, it’s been a pretty hectic few days. So I’m glad the weekend is here.

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Alicante!

Man, so much has happened since I last updated this blog! (which is partly why it has been a while since I've done so...)

Anyways, I arrived safe and sound in Alicante on Friday at about 1:30pm, met up with my host mom, and went back to her house just in time for lunch. There is another American girl staying here in this house also; her name is Elise and she is from St. Louis, though she goes to school at the University of Illinois. She is here with another program and is taking Spanish classes and a few classes taught in English at the university. But it's cool cuz she's been here for a month, so she knows the city and the campus and has a bunch of American friends from her program, so if I ever feel the need to speak English, I can.

Apparently I got here to Alicante just in time for Carnaval, which I really don't know a lot about except that everyone dresses up in costumes and wanders around the streets all night. Like, literally, all night. People were still out in costumes when I woke up the next morning! Anyways, so we (me and Elise and a few of her friends) went out to see the Carnaval festivities on Friday night. There was a quick play explaining the origins of Carnaval (but it was in Spanish, which is why I'm still a bit unclear on the concept). Then there was a huge parade, which was pretty cool. I took bunches of pictures, which you can find here.

We went out again the next night, which is apparently the night that everyone dresses up. So of course, we dressed up too. Again, pictures. It was tons of fun. One of the Americans said "It's like Halloween on steroids!" which is actually a pretty fair description of what was going on. No candy though. But everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, was dressed up and out on the streets. Little kids, teenagers, parents, grandparents...everyone. It was all pretty cool.

I spent the first few days walking around in order to orient myself to the new city. Turns out that the beach is about a seven minute walk from my house, which by Spanish standards is like around the corner! I'm super excited! Pictures of that are also in the above album.

I went to campus today and yesterday to try to figure out what's going on with classes (which start tomorrow). It was a bit frustrating at first because I kept trying to get someone to give me a schedule, and no one would. Finally after running around from building to building for like two hours someone explained to me that until February 13th you can go to whatever class you want to go to. The point of this is to figure out what times, what days, what teachers, etc. work best for you. So that's cool, but obviously I'm too organized not to have a schedule anyways. So I made one for myself of the times that sounded best to me, and we'll see how it goes!

The campus, by the way, is absolutely gorgeous! Oh man... There are palm trees and orange trees and all sorts of greenery everywhere. There are bunches of these little fountain type thingies that are set into the ground, so you have to be really careful when you walk that you don't accidentally step in one. And apparently all of the signs are in Spanish and Valenciano (which is another language similar to Spanish that is spoken here in Valencia). It took me a long time to figure that out. At first I thought the signs were in French, which was just confusing. Then a few hours later I figured, oh it's probably Catalan (which is the only other language I could think of here). Then Elise later told me that they are in Valenciano. But it's close enough to Spanish that I can usually figure it out!

My Spanish is (obviously) getting better and better everyday! I came home yesterday a bit frustrated about the whole schedule thing, so I went back today and talked to someone in the Erasmus office about the classes and the conflict in times that one of my classes had. We talked for a little more than an hour, in Spanish, and I had no problems at all. When we were done he even said (translated) "You know Spanish very well! Did you study a lot in your university?" He seemed even more surprised when he found out I was from the United States. (Side note: The Erasmus program, for those who don't know, is a program within the entire European Union where any student from any university can "study abroad" in any other foreign university within the EU for as long as they want and their credits will automatically transfer back to their home university. Pretty cool, huh? I get to be a part of the program even coming from the United States because I am directly enrolling into classes, just like the rest of the Erasmus students are doing. But generally Americans at this university are taking language courses, like Elise and her friends. I, apparently, am the exception!)

So anyways, that's all for now! Classes start tomorrow so I'm off to bed!

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