Back Home

Alright so I’m officially back to my old life. I’ve been back here at Maryville College for almost a week now. It’s honestly been really tough transitioning back to back here but I’ll try not to sound too depressing. To be honest, studying abroad was the best decision of my life and if any you of are considering doing it I strongly urge you to not hesitate. I met so many people, learned so many things and did so many things that I never imagined I would have the opportunity to do. Not to mention, I also learned a lot of Spanish which was my goal when I set off to study abroad in Spain.

Honestly, the only reason it has been hard to come back is because of how well my study abroad experience went. In total I was able to visit 7 different countries (Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Morocco, Portugal, France). Going to all these different places and spending time in different countries really let’s see that there’s so much more out there that you haven’t seen. There’s so many different ways of living life and different cultures out there not mention so many cool people.

Additionally, while abroad I met many people there that were teaching English for a year. I thought that this was a really cool option and is something that I am planning on doing in order to go back after I graduate. I’m really excited about the opportunity to do this.

But yea all in all, I don’t regret anything about studying abroad except not being able to stay longer. It was probably the coolest thing that I’ve done in my life. So like I said, if you have the opportunity to go abroad or travel in general I strongly suggest you to do it. Welp, last not but least I’ll leave you a few more pictures from my trip.

Traveling through Christmas

These last two weeks of my Erasmus have been incredible. I’m currently on my flight heading back to the states for the first time in over six months. It still doesn’t feel real that I’m heading back, it’s bittersweet. I definitely didn’t want to go back and leave my life in Europe and all the incredible memories that I’ve made. However, I know that it will be great to see my family and friends again for the first time in a long time.

However, in these last two weeks as I said I was going to in the last blog, I have traveled to France and through the North of Spain. Then this past week, I was able to return to Murcia for my last week and give it my good bye, something I’ve gotten better at doing in the last year and a half as I have made so many friends from so many different places around the world.

Anyways, I went headed to France on the morning of Christmas eve bright and early for Paris. It was a little rough as I had to pass the night in the airport as the flight was so early. I was very excited to get to go to Paris as I had heard from so many people that it’s such a cool place to visit and see. However, I was slightly nervous as I was going to be passing Christmas and the next 3 days with my girlfriend’s family. Not only because that’s a nerve-racking situation in itself but because my French is about non-existent. However, it turned out to be some of the best days of my whole trip.

It was really funny really as there were usually about 3 languages going on when we all tried to communicate. Obviously everyone there spoke French but in order to comidate me, the majority of the time they would try to speak English as the majority of them spoke at least a little English. However, a few did not but did know a little English. Also, my girlfriend almost always speaks to me in Spanish, therefore it was pretty odd but really cool at the same time.

But it was really cool to experience Christmas overseas, not to mention in Paris. Although, it was very weird not being with my family and doing our normal customs and rituals for Christmas. It seemed that here that the 24^th was actually more of a bigger deal than the 25^th. On christmas’ eve we opened presents and we ate a ton of good food throughout the day. Then on the 25^th we went to paris and saw the Eiffel tower and some of the other sites and monuments around that area. I was really impressed with how beautiful Paris is and how old the city actually is. Then on the 26^th I went back to Paris during the day to see some more sites like the Notre Dame and we stayed the night in the city as I had to fly out early the next day.

Classes completed

Welp, I have officially finished my classes here abroad. It still doesn’t feel like I’m actually done. I keep thinking that I’m still going to have the same routine of going to class next week. But it’s starting to hit me that my time here is coming to an end as everyone is starting to leave and talk about what they’re doing for Christmas and their travel plans. This has been one of the tougher things so far that I have to deal with while abroad. I feel like I wasn’t really prepared for everything to come for an end so quickly.

However, I’m excited for what I have coming up in the next few weeks. I have a week essentially now of not having classes. Therefore, I’m going to try to make the most of the time I have left with people here in Murcia that I’m not going to have the opportunity to see again. This will be especially nice as I won’t have any classes or exams anymore to worry about although the truth is that it’s going to be really weird not seeing the people from class everyday anymore. As I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, we are only about 18 people in my classes and over the semester we have all grown really close as we are always together and working on our classwork together. This has been especially cool because I’ve had the chance to make so many friends from different parts of the U.S. and China of all places.

Back to my plans.. I plan on going to Paris from the 24^th to the 27^th. I’m really looking forward to this as I have never been to France before, much less Paris. It’s going to be really weird not being at home for Christmas for the first time in my life but I’m also excited about this opportunity. Afterwards, I have a friend coming from the states to visit for a few day. We’re planning on traveling around the north of Spain for several days to see three different cities: San Sebastian, Bilbao, and Pamplona. This will be a lot of fun and pretty cool because I have only been to one city in the North of Spain up until this point. Also Sebastian and Bilbao are known for being in what’s called the Basque Country. This is northern part of region of Spain known for having it’s own language, not at all similar to Spanish, as well as having it’s own culture. For many years, a lot of people in this region have wanted to be independent from Spain.

Anyways, after these few days we are going to return to Madrid and pass New Year’s Eve downtown there with the celebration going on. Finally, on the 1^st of January I plan on returning to Murcia to spend a few more days there until I head back to the good ole U.S on the 7^th of January. I’ll keep y’all updated and let you know how my travels go in these upcoming weeks.

Exam time

Alright so I’m just chilling in the living room here in my flat. I was just thinking how weird it feels here. I honestly feel like I’m on vacation. This week I have had absolutely no classes, not to mention that I didn’t get back this week until Tuesday as I went to Portugal this past weekend. It’s so weird having so much free time and traveling so much, honestly there are times here where I forget that I’m even taking classes

                However, this is all about to change as it just hit me that next week is the last week of classes. That shows I well organized am.. I honestly just realized not only is this my last week of class, also all of my exams, projects, and final papers are due this week. Speaking of classes, I still have seven in which will end this week. In other words I have at least one final paper, project or exam for all of these classes if not 2 of these for each class.

                However, I guess I kind of deserve this considering that I have had to essentially nothing outside of class hours for my classes the whole time that I have been here. 

It's Hot

Soo now that it’s December and starting to get “cold” here, I guess I’ll finally write about the decent weather here in Murcia. So when I arrived in Avila I can remember immediately thinking oh man it feels so hot out. It was quite the difference after spending a week in the arctic winter rain going on in Ireland. However, it really wasn’t that much different than it was in Tennessee when I left. Although, in Spain I noticed rather quickly that it really feels like the sun is closer as the heat is just beating down on you but there doesn’t seem to be near as much humidity. I remember thinking after a month in to myself that I don’t think that I have stopped sweating since I arrived. It’s not like in the United States when you’re outside in the blistering sun and you walk into the nice air conditioned house after to cool off. Although some houses have air conditioning, it doesn’t ever really feel like it. I actually don’t think I slept under the covers until mid-October for the first time. Another thing that I noticed rather quickly was that it never rains. When I say never, during my whole time in Avila it rained twice and probably for a total of 25 minutes.

However, this was nothing to what I was getting prepared to go to. Murcia is known as having one of the warmest climates in all of Spain. It averages about 320 days of sunshine per year. When I arrived to Murcia, we went to a beach house for three weeks and I had never quite experienced heat like this before. Although, the average high was probably around 95, the extreme days were so much more extreme than in Tennessee. I can remember the first days when I started going to class in early September, my shirt would be drenched on my backside after my 12 minute walk to class. Throughout the city there are electronic signs with the temperature and the time. I can recall the second week when I got out of class passing by and sign read 45. However, this is in celcuis, when converted that would be about a 111 degrees Fahrenheit. Making matters worse in there’s absolutely no air conditioning in my flat. Instead I had to make the most of this tiny fan I found that blows out warm air half the time.

Now that it’s November the average temperature lately has been in the high sixtys. Although, earlier in the month it was still in the seventies and at time about 80. The weird thing is that I know this is still ridiculously warm for this time of year but I have gotten so accustomed to the heat that it seems cold now to me. Also, here everyone where’s a jacket and pants even when it’s in the seventys which seemed crazy to me at first but now I’m starting to get accustomed to this being cold weather which is really weird.

Lisbon Trip

ESN Trip to Lisbon

One of the cool things about my University is that I have been able to go on several trips with an organization called ESN (Erasmus Student Network). Even better, is that a couple were included in my program for free so all I had to do was show up. This past weekend I had the opportunity to add another country to the list of countries I have been able to see during my stay in Europe. I went on a five day trip to Lisbon in Portugal. Well I say five days, but it felt like four of these days were spent on the bus journey across Spain to arrive. In reality, the bus trip was only a mere 12 or 13 hours but this essentially took up two days of the trip.

However, this trip ended up being really awesome and I had no idea I would like Portugal as much as I did. It was honestly prettier than about all of the cities I have had the opportunity to see in Spain. Furthermore, about everything in Lisbon was a little cheaper which is always a plus in my books. Although, the first day when we arrived it was pouring down rain and was fairly cold. It felt like this was the first time I’ve been in this type of weather in so long. I had forgotten how it felt to see rain actually coming down hard. My first purchase was an umbrella from a person on the street and naturally with my luck this five dollar purchase lasted about an entire 30 seconds before completely breaking in the wind and rain and I was able to swim back to the hostel.

Other than that though, everything was great. The trip was well planned, we were able to see some different parts of the city including the coast and the most western point of Europe. The latter was especially cool as were able to spend an hour or so and watch the sunset there. Also, we had plenty of free time to explore and do things and see things that we wanted. The city seemed even cooler with all the Christmas decorations and lights that were up about the city. Also, it’s funny that on these trips that there are actual plans for going out at night which would never be included in activities organized by Universities in the US. Two of the nights we had meeting points if you wanted to drink with everyone and after there was a meeting stop to catch the bus to go to the discoteca for the night. The other night there was a meeting point at spot overlooking the city in order to hang out and meet people. These were really fun and there was also I believe over 700 hundred students from other Erasmus organizations from other Universities in Spain.

Food in Spain

Food in Spain

                So one of the things that I was most looking forward to when arriving to Spain was to see how the food was. Growing up I always assumed that the food in Spain had to be the same as Mexican food. I figured well if they both speak Spanish then they must have the same food. Although I had learned that that clearly was not the case before coming to Spain, I still wasn’t sure what to expect as far as how the food would be.

   However, it didn't take me long after arriving to figure out that I love the food here. I was honestly really surprised with how good Spanish food is. Although when I arrived the first day at Marcos’s house I had learned that his dad had bought a package of hot dogs and I believe it was chips a hoys in case that I didn’t like the Spanish food. But it all seriousness, I was really lucky to be able to stay with a Spanish family for so long as I had the opportunity to eat so many typical Spanish plates in my time before even starting school.

                Anyways, what I really like about the food in Spain is that there’s such a good variety of food. As Spain is mainly surrounded by water there is a lot of good seafood in Spain to go with there other typical foods. One of the most popular foods is Paella. Essentially it’s just Spanish rice mixed with lots of different things depending on what type of Paella is made. There paella made of seafood, rabbit, chicken, etc. In any case, the paella is made up rice and usually olives with lemon juice sprinkled on. This dish particularly has been one of my favorites. Additionally one of the main foods spain is known for is its ham. In the U.S. I always thought that ham was okay but the ham here is incredible and I could honestly just eat ham by itself for days if I had to. Another dish that I have fallen in love with is Tortilla de Patatas (potato tortilla). It essentially looks like a cake that has potatoes in it.


   Lastly, as I have mentioned before, tapas is a huge deal here. Tapas can be a great way to go out and eat Spanish food easily. Although they are very small dishes, it is a good way to try new things. These included anything from french fries to calamary.

Granada

ESN Trip to Granada

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to go on my first trip with ESN (Erasmus Student Network). This organization plans out activities and also some trips for the Erasmus students here at the University. Well, lucky for me this trip to Granada was included in my program for free so I didn’t have to pay anything.

We left on Friday morning from Murcia in several buses as we were a little over a hundred people I believe. This day began a little rough for me to say the least. That night before leaving the lock to our door would not work so lucky me, I was not able to sleep at a friend’s house until four in the morning and I wasn’t sure if my landlord was going to respond to me before leaving for the trip so that I could grab my stuff from the room. However, thankfully he called me at 6:30 in the morning to head to my flat and after about thirty minutes of trying to open the door unsuccessfully he decided to break the lot. So I was able to get in a nice little shower, pack and head off of to the meeting point for the bus at 9:00 to head off for Granada.

                Upon arriving that afternoon we checked into the hostel and we did a tour of the Alhambra. If I heard correctly, this is actually the most visited tourist site in all of Spain. It attracts over several millions of tourists every year. The Alhambra is an Arabic word that translates as red castle. It is a remaining fortress of the Arabic Muslims that was built in the 13^th century. Arabic people had a huge influence in the history of Spain for many years and it is still seen today in the language and in the architecture. Therefore it was really cool to be able to see the Alhambra not only because of that but also because it is an incredible sight.

                The second day we did a city tour of Granada that ended with us going to a view point over the city which was also an incredible view. It overlooked the city with the Alhambra in the middle and the mountains in the background. Also, that night we had a special event in which we went to a flamenco music show. I couldn’t really tell you exactly what flamenco music is but it has an old history in Spain and people still today perform it and it includes dancing as well. It is very different but this was a cool experience as well.

The last day was a free day until the afternoon in which we returned back to Madrid. Also, Friday and Saturday nights there were planned nights out to a bar and a discoteca (dance club?). This was a good time as well. 

Beachin

Beachin

Soo as I said in my previous blog it’s been rather hot here in Murcia to say the least. However, the good part about this is that first, I’m tanner than I’ve ever been in my life although I’m not convinced it would qualify as being tan in Spain.. I probably just don’t look like casper now compared to all the golden brown Spaniards walking around. Secondly, I have been able to go many different beaches throughout the summer.

It’s weird that I have spent so many days at the beach throughout the summer that I’m starting to feel that I am accustomed to this lifestyle. I think that I’ve spent more days at the beach here in Spain this summer than all my days at the beach in my life. Although I wasn’t close to any beaches during the summer while I was staying with Marcos we were able to make several trips to the beach. For a week we visited a city called Santander where his dad’s side of the family lives and we stayed there. Santander is one of the most known beaches in all of Spain so it was neat to be able to spend time there for a week. Also we went to several other beaches while there in which one was called Playa de los Locos ( beach of the crazy people).

Then on the 16^th of august we went to sofias beach house for two weeks and I’ve never spent more time on the beach in my life. When I wasn’t at some beach in the region, I was normally at the pool right outside her house. After the two weeks at Sofia’s house we made a trip to Benidorm, a well-known tourist city on the southeast coast of spain, for several days. These were some really fun days as we went to several beaches and a cala which I’m honestly not sure how to say English to be honest. Although, it was weird being there as there were more people from England there than spain. Apparently, it’s a very popular spot for the English to go to in order to retire or I guess when they can take the rain anymore. Lastly, as it is very cheap to travel by bus throughout spain, I made several more trips to the beach after school started since there was still nice enough weather to go to the beach even through a lot of October.