Mitch Haddad '09 is studying abroad for the entire 2007-2008 academic year, spending fall semester in Granada, Spain, and spring semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Please enjoy this account of his fall semester experience!
Gibraltar , Sevilla y Córdoba
Through our program we were taken to three remarkable cities, Gibraltar, Seville , and Córdoba. Many of you may be familiar with Gibraltar because of the apes living on it (youtube it). Well, it’s a British colony on the Iberian Peninsula with a bilingual population, speaking both English and Spanish. It used to belong to the Spanish but through the Treaty of Utrecht (DWC), it was given to the British. It’s really a cool town with some amazing caves dating back hundreds of thousands of years and some crazy apes. We visited Gibraltar for a day, got lunch and then took a tour of the city. We went to this enormous cave, by far the biggest most impressive cave I have ever been in, and then went and hung out on the top of this enormous limestone fossilized rock with the apes. This was pretty fun.
When our bus stopped, the bus driver got out and opened the door for us. Most people were out of the bus when suddenly an ape that was adjacent to the driver’s window hoped into the bus scaring all those still in the bus. It was very, very funny to watch (and hear) all the girls scream and see the bus driver frantically yelling at the ape. It left the bus without problems, I think. Later, we were admiring a baby ape and I was sitting on the wall which barriers a cliff when I felt a hand on my right leg, then another on my left, then another on my right again. I t was at this moment that I realized that it was not a human hand but an ape’s. He was crawling over me nonchalantly to get to the baby ape! It must be noted that these apes are big, strong, and wild. I just froze and waited for the ape to pass over me completely before getting up and vowing never to let my guard down again.
Seville: We left Gibraltar and headed over to Seville where we spent the night. Seville is a great city - with around 700,000 thousand inhabitants, there is always plenty to do. Seville is also the capital (regional and financial) of Andalusia, and the fourth largest city in Spain. It has a great night life with much to occupy you and plenty of attractions to keep you busy during the day. One thing that I found pretty cool was Plaza España, which is where some of the scenes of the first Star Wars were filmed. Other than that, Seville is home to the third largest cathedral in Europe - it’s enormous. Seville was ruled by the Moors and its Alcazar district is a testament to this time. The city has a rich history and culture of over 2000 years. And, the flamenco and tapas here are some of the best in the area. We spent our days in Seville exploring the city and our nights enjoying the local bars.
Cordoba: We left Seville early on Sunday morning to go visit our last destination, Córdoba. Córdoba has an especially interesting history. Founded by the Romans, it was later taken over by the Moors and made into the capital of the Caliphate. Back in the 10th century, this city was one of the largest in the world with a population estimated at around 500,000. It was the most important city for the Moors, and as such, they built a Mosque there to reflect that. The Mosque of Córdoba is the biggest and most impressive in all of Spain. Unfortunately, it no longer retains all of its past splendor because when the Spanish retook Spain, they converted the mosque into a church. Fortunately, the Spanish did a really poor job of converting it, so that today it still feels very much like a Mosque- only with a bunch of Christian icons etc., which makes it somewhat confusing.
The three cities were all very distinct and had such rich histories. You really notice the advantages of studying abroad when you visit places like these and just take in a lot of history and culture. So, things as seemingly unimportant as the Treaty of Utrecht start to have a greater significance, one even starts to appreciate DWC…a little…
More to come soon.
The Visit
It has been about two weeks since I last bothered to write the blog. In that time, nothing too exciting has occurred other than a lot of work with the weekend spent exploring Granada itself. A visit to the cathedral in Granada was semi-interesting, but to be honest, I’m getting a little sick of visiting churches and cathedrals! Every place you go, the city or town tries to show off their church or cathedral so that you become so jaded by them that you just don’t even want to bother seeing yet another church with a ‘great’ altar and ‘really intricate’ ceilings.
But this last weekend was interesting enough, so I figure I’ll put in a small blog about it. I have a friend from home, Alison, who is studying in Barcelona and she decided to visit me here in Granada. This probably won’t seem as great as the other trips and frankly it’s not, but there are a few things to be learnt from her visit. First, it is great to see a familiar face, though it does makes you miss all your other friends. Secondly, having a visitor is a great opportunity to go and show off your city - it’s actually surprising how much you know. Always trying to keep a visitor entertained is a tough job sometimes. Lastly, it’s a great opportunity to do things in the city that you have never done before, for example, take the bus tour, or visit Federico García Lorca’s house.
I took my friend all over Granada trying to show her all the great things Granada has to offer, the free tapas, the botellón, the church where Isabel and Ferdinand are buried, Alhambra, flamenco, Albayzín (the Arab district), and so on. What was most interesting to discover was how much I had learned in the relatively short time that I’d been in Granada. I was able to give my friend a great nonstop tour of the city and remembered more details than I could have ever imagined. Walking through Alhambra was the most eye opening. We would get to a room and suddenly I would remember the whole history behind it,. For example, we entered the king’s thrown room and suddenly I remembered this is where Columbus petitioned Isabel for the money for his voyage! I was impressed with myself and a little scared too. Also interesting was that these places that we visited, especially Alhambra, were just as amazing, if not more so, than the first time we visited. I thought I would be bored doing all these things over again, but it was the exact opposite. I really enjoyed showing my friend around.
It was a fun weekend and well worth every second, not to mention that one day Alison was getting a gelato up near Plaza Nueva and she saw another friend of ours from back home, Eric. Thanks to Alison I found out that my friend from home has also been studying in Granada all this time, and I had no idea!
Small world…until next time.
European Travels
It has been about a little over a month or so since I have last written a blog, so my next entries will be a summary of this missing time. Let me begin by first reviewing the big trip I took during our long break: Madrid, Munich and Paris.
Madrid: Madrid is a great city, it’s clean, has great public transportation, it’s pretty safe, has some cool history, great museums, etc. If you’re a fan of art, Madrid has what you’re looking for from Picasso, Miró and Dali to Greco, Goya and Velázquez. There are also a lot of great bars and restaurants to choose from. The only thing about Madrid that really didn’t play well with me was the fact that Madrid could pretty much be any moderately large city in the world.
Luckily we didn’t just spend all our time in Madrid and took trips to Segovia and Toledo. Segovia is a pueblo about an hour northwest of Madrid. Settled in 80 BC by the Romans as a military town, it was later taken over by the Arabs after they conquered it in the 8th century and turned into a wool and textile center. Still, to this day you can view the ancient Roman aqueducts that brought water from the mountain. Another great attraction there was the Royal Alcázar, this is a castle built during Roman rule and continually updated throughout history. Toledo is an old Roman town that was then taken over by the Visigoths and then the Arabs and finally the Christians. We remained in Madrid an extra night to catch a flight out in the morning to Munich, Germany.
Munich: A group of eight of us arrived in Munich on the 3rd of October. We spend the first day touring Munich and spent the night discovering the many local bars and pubs. It was a German holiday so we were told not to go to Oktoberfest because it was packed. On the 4th, we spent the morning once again walking around the city, slowly making our way to Oktoberfest, and by 1:00 p.m., we arrived. Let me just say this the German beer festival known to us as ‘Oktoberfest’ is a wonderful thing. The best way to describe it is like this: picture a big fair with rides and the like. Now picture this fair multiplied by 100 in every way and then throw in tens of thousands of people, kegs and kegs of delicious German beer, and enormous beer tents meant for seating thousands of people and you have the basic framework for Oktoberfest. Everyone was very friendly; many Germans speak English because they have to take it since age 10, and the atmosphere was not like a crazy party but more like a great celebration of beer. People were for the most part very well controlled and there were no major problems. This is a great festival – the pretzels, peanuts, chocolate covered fruit, rides, attractions, beer, people, atmosphere, etc., was all just memorable. I learned the song that is sung in the movie Beerfest when they are mocking Oktoberfest - it’s actually a German drinking song.
Oktoberfest
Paris: Paris is a beautiful city; it’s large but has its own distinct feel no matter where you go. Unlike Madrid, you never feel like you’re in just any big city, you know you’re in Paris. We stayed in the Red Light District (near Moulin Rouge) which was the best possible thing we could have done. Everything was much cheaper and it had a great atmosphere…before midnight, that is. We took a bike tour of the city and a wine boat cruise down the Seine one evening, which was a great time. We planned our trip perfectly because, on the Saturday that we were there, it was White Night, which means that all the museums and cultural buildings in Paris stayed open all night and were free. We had a great time, but with a long walk back to our hostel because the subway was closed! The Louvre was amazing and we spent a good four hours there. It’s impressive, especially after so much CIV brainwashing! It’s good to see that these works and artists actually exist. After the Louvre, we hung out at the Eiffel Tower and had some champagne. Did a lot of other touristy things, Notre Dame, etc. but there’s so much to see in Paris. Spent one night on the street watching France play New Zealand in the World Cup of Rugby - France won. It was crazy! Afterwards, we went with some Frenchmen to a bar and celebrated. All in all, we had no problems with flights or reservations; this is always good.
Au revoir.
To the Beach and the Mountains
Bienvenidos!
After the last three blogs, I am a little tired simply just describing people and places, so for this blog, I think I will focus more on trips that we have already taken.
First off, are the two trips we have taken thus far to the beaches of Spain . The first was a trip included in our study abroad tuition to the coastal city of Almería . It is located on the coast southeast of Granada and it is a little bigger, population wise, than the city of Granada . This was a decently good time, unfortunately, we went on a weekend when the ocean was pretty rough. This made for a pretty fun time as the waves were huge and the water warm, but it was very windy so you couldn’t stay too long on the beach after leaving the water. Luckily, the hotel we stayed at had a pool so we would go to the beach first and then lounge by the pool for a while, rinse and repeat.
The night at the beach was memorable as we had an all-inclusive hotel that provided us with a buffet dinner with bottles of wine included to kick off the night. Afterwards, we collectively decided to walk off the enormous dinner with a trek around the city. There was a wedding going on at the time and the fireworks were not only very impressive, but loud. From our hotel, it sounded as if the city was being bombed. After that we all went down to the beach and stargazed for a while. It was pretty crazy to be on the coast of the Mediterranean - the stars were amazing. The next day we did pretty much the same thing, beach, hotel, etc. and left around 5 pm.
The second beach excursion was much different and took place in the small coastal town of Almuñécar . This was a randomly planned two-day trip in which we got to the city and walked around until we found a hostel that we liked. This place was amazing! There were 12 of us in all and so, we had to shop around but what we found was an apartment style hostel on the top floor of the building with its own terrace/porch. We had 2 rooms because that apartment only slept 9; regardless, we all hung out on the terrace at night until it was time to sleep. It only cost 15 euros per head!
The hostel was located in a Moorish square and was decorated with Arab mosaics and Arab arch-shaped windows. Once again, it pointed out the Moorish influence in southern Spain . The beach there was much more welcoming, the waster was turquoise blue, crystal clear, and warm. There is a castle located right on top of a mountain-like hill, overlooking the ocean – which made the whole thing pretty amazing. This was undoubtedly a Moorish castle, but now there is a cross that once welcomed seafaring visitors into the town - yet another reminded of the Christian re-conquer.
We found a nice area on the beach that was semi-secluded and had a nice rock to jump off of and so we spent our two beach days there. At night, we ate at a local seafood place and then spent some time on the terrace before leaving again for the beach. The beaches are really amazing as the Mediterranean is awesome and so warm.
In the town, there was a tropical nature reservation. We wanted to go to it but, as it was exactly 14:00, the place was closed for the daily siesta! I should note that the storm I mentioned earlier, which laid waste to parts of the south of Spain , had absolutely devastated Almuñécar. I have seen pictures on the news of the flooding and it is just unbelievable - cars piled on top of each other - there was even one death. The aftermath left the beach in ruins; it goes without saying but we won’t be returning there again!
Hasta luego.
Intensive Language Course, Classes, and Equally-Intensive Travels
To give people who are considering study abroad, and anyone else interested, a taste of the classes and schedule as well as the potential for travel I will include this blog.
I tested into the intensive language level Advanzado, which is what I needed to get into in order for my majors to work out. This is the third highest level. There are five levels and they range like this: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, and Perfect. Perfect is for those of us who already speak Spanish fluently. This class meets every day from 10-2 and is taught completely in Spanish, so far so good. We ended the class on Sept. 27th so it only meets for the first month. I am taking the exam on the 27th so I’ll let you all know how the class goes. We don’t start our trimester until Oct. 9th so we have eleven days off to do whatever we want.
Our classes start on Tuesday, October 9th and meet twice a week from Monday to Thursday. You have to take at least three elective classes as well as one Spanish grammar course for a total minimum of four classes. You can also opt to take an extra class for a maximum of five classes. In all, you can choose from a wide range of classes in different areas of study including, politics, literature, art, history, sociology, language (many different types), Islamic studies, and business (I am probably forgetting a few as I’m doing this from memory). Each class meets, as I mentioned, twice a week for two hours, a total of four hours of class time each week. The classes are taught in Spanish by Spanish professors who allow no other foreign language in the classroom. You take classes with Spanish students as well as students from all over the world who are also studying Spanish. I will update everyone on the difficulty of these classes.
On the 29th of September, we are traveling to Madrid and will stay there for four nights until the 3rd of Oct. in a hotel and hostel. We leave the next morning for Munich for Oktoberfest and stay there for two nights in a hostel. On the second day in Munich, we are taking a day trip to Nuremburg to visit the city and some friends we have there; we will return to Munich that night. On the morning of the 5th, we leave for Paris and stay at a hostel there until the night of the 7th. We are going to Paris at a very interesting time as, that weekend, the city is celebrating “Nuit Blanche” (White Night) - which means that the city stays open all day and night for 48 hours straight so that everyone can experience Paris and all it has to offer to the fullest. We don’t plan on sleeping much! Finally, we return back to Madrid and either take a bus to Granada, or stay another night in Madrid, or visit some friends in Salamanca. I am very excited for this trip and well write more on it in upcoming blogs.
Other trips that are planned: A weekend trip to Amsterdam in November. A trip to Barcelona to attend an FC Barcelona game vs. Recreativo de Huelva. A trip to Morocco in December. A skiing trip possibly to Switzerland. And, a possible trip to Prague. Also, we have a few one-night trips planned to see some concerts, one in Oct. and one in Dec. As always I will update further closer to the date.
Adiós.
Alhambra and the City of Granada
The city of Granada has a rich history - one which, as we should all know from our DWC class, was dominated until the late 15th century by the Moors. The Moors would have taken over all of Spain had it not been for the natural geographic barriers that prevented further conquer. The way the Spanish (hate to) put it is that it took the Moors seven years to conquer what it took the Spanish 700 years to take back. The evidence of the near millennium of Moorish rule can still be seen in all of southern Spain , in the architecture, the language, the stores, the food, the music, and the culture.
Granada Plaza
One giant testament to the Moorish rule is the castle and military fortress of Alhambra located through the Arab barrio in the mountains above Granada . This famous edifice was used by the Moors until the very end of their rule, and was not taken back by the Spanish until 1492. After which time, it was used by the Christian Kings as their humble abode and ruling castle. Today it no longer serves the same purpose and is now a major tourist attraction, attracting at most 2000 tourists a day as there is a limit. Tickets need to be bought ahead of time. So if you are planning a trip to Granada , buy your tickets to Alhambra or else you probably will not be able to see this magnificent place.
Alhambra is truly breathtaking, consisting of the finest Arab and Moorish architecture, inlays, mosaics, and design. It served many purposes as it was a town within a city, a fortress, courthouse, and castle for the King. The living quarters, or General Life, of Alhambra is where most of the soldiers’ lived their day-to-day lives. By far, the most impressive part of Alhambra is the Kings court and living quarters. The halls and rooms are left barren, leaving only the outstanding inlayed decoration in the floor, walls, and ceilings. This is great because it leaves it up to your imagination to picture what it would have looked like when it was still in use, while still getting that ancient feel.
The most interesting part to me is seeing how the Christians altered Alhambra after taking it back from the Moors. While walking through it, you are aware that it is an Arab structure so you would expect Arabic words to be carved into the wood. However, when you look at the carvings in the wood it is all Roman. You see what was once was a place of worship for the Moors and now, it is a church with a steeple with a cross. From the very top of Alhambra there is an amazing vista, and looking south to the hills of Granada it is crazy to imagine the last Moorish King fleeing before he was assassinated.
Well, I hope I did Alhambra a little bit of justice. If anyone is planning a trip to Spain to visit or study abroad, Alhambra is one of the places you should visit, hands down!
Besides that, the city of Granada is a beautiful place, no matter what part you are in. Everything is decorative including the sidewalks, the buildings, the street signs, the many fountains and squares, pretty much everything public. The people here are very, very proud of their city and spend a lot of money and manpower to keep it clean and attractive.
Hasta próximamente.
The People of Granada
In Granada there is a great mix of cultures consisting of Arabs, Muslims, Spaniards/Christians, immigrants, and Jews (although I’ve yet to see a temple). This makes for a culturally, socially, and architecturally diverse city, with much to see and experience. Granada , it must be mentioned, is a city of 250,000 people. There will be 60,000+ students when the University starts in Oct. The night life here is supposed to become insane, already I think it’s crazy I can’t imagine another 60,000+ students. The bars and clubs stay open until 3 or 4am and the discotechas stay open until 6-8 am! I don’t think I can last that long plus, I cannot yet dance the flamenco but I’m learning. All in all it’s a pretty great time.
The people here are, in general, some of the more welcoming and cordial people I have met, and very expressive. The older generation, I would classify around 45+ is very friendly and open but also very cautious and reserved (this generalization is not so much based on old age as it is on the fact that they were alive during the reign of Francisco Franco the last Spanish caudillo). This is one of the most interesting things that I have experienced living in Spain , the effect the regime of Franco has on Spanish culture. While I am no expert on the issue it has become blatantly apparent on several occasions, other times it is less noticeable.
Pepita and Gabriel, my señora and señor, are 60 and 74 years old respectively any they are non-practicing Catholics. They tell me this is because of all the power Franco gave the church during his reign, they felt it was just too much and due to this no longer practice. Many of the hardships they went through during the reign of Franco still affect how they live their lives today. I plan on having more conversations on this topic in the future, right now when I ask anything Gabriel jokingly tells me to go read a book.
The younger generation here is much different from their parents and grandparents, many of them are pleasure seekers, very individualistic, and even atheist. Coming from the US , I did not think that individualism would be more rampant anywhere else in the world but I was wrong, on many levels. First of all, I have learned that there are varying levels of individualism and that we just focus on one aspect of it. Here people dress and look radically different from one another, and not because they’re from different ancestral backgrounds, but because they dye their hair extreme colors, have dreads, have multiple piercings, are extremely posh, have a mullet (for some reason that is one of the popular things to do here, along with bleach), or some combination of all these. The point is they express themselves differently than we do in the states; remember, I am no expert on the sociopolitical aspects of such groups. I just know what I can see.
Also, for the most part, the younger crowd (our age), is not too fond of Americans. We don’t have a great reputation here. Well, that is to say the females are not fond of Americans and the males are not particularly warm toward American males. In fact, at some clubs and discotechas they will not let Americans in, even females. Also, the other day I was looking at intercambio sheets (where you meet other people to practice your Spanish and they practice their English) and a few even said in the comments: “intercambios ingles, Reino Unido (UK), no Americanos!”
Keep in mind however that this does not apply to everyone, there are still plenty of great people here our age to meet; it takes a little time for some people to warm up to foreigners. That’s enough for this blog, don’t let this worry you, everyone here is very nice and at the very worst apathetic.
Welcome to Granada
Welcome back, I am here sitting in the library of the University of Granada its 13:15 here and probably 7:15 back at Providence College on Wednesday, September 16, 2007. I don’t know what the weather is like where you all are but I doubt it has gotten upwards of 40 degrees Celsius (about 110 F.), which is what it can get here during the day, though the temperature has dropped recently. It’s more like a dry heat but that tends to transfer to the air, and air conditioning is not common, NEVER central air only individual units. Luckily the nights tend to drop to a balmy 21 degrees Celsius (73 F.); needless to say I bought a fan.
As you would imagine water is precious, coveted, and very clean here (It is from the Sierra Nevada , the locals are very proud of their drinking water, and they should be). Those of us (ladies…) who normally take a comfortable 20-30 minute shower are consistently scolded; no one takes a shower that long here, period. Rain is uncommon here but since my last blog we have officially entered the ‘wet’ season. This does not forecast rain by any means, what it does mean is that rain is likely to occur once or twice. Since the last blog we have had one small sprinkle and one abnormally enormous storm which cause millions of Euros worth of damage all throughout southern Spain, it was awesome.
Señor y Señora
My home-stay family is very nice, they remind me of my grandparents, except for the fact that the señor smokes like a chimney. They use slang here more than other parts of Spain but they don’t have a strong Spanish accent, which is good (the accent which has an emphasis on the zeta…and ‘c’ and ‘s’). The only problem I appear to be having is understanding my señora; she speaks so fast and in Andalucían slang all the time, never slowing down. Although I must admit that now after a month of being here I can fully understand her, minus words I don’t know and the times she speaks to herself.
Every day at 14:00 all the shops, banks, and businesses close down for 3 hours, during which time everyone goes home to eat. What we would consider lunch is here eaten at our dinner time, their lunch is our dinner. Thus, we have our biggest meal in the middle of the day and have a smaller meal equivalent to our lunch or breakfast at cena. The food is unbelievably fresh and always without additives and preservatives, I am eating more than I have in years. It puts the Providence College Ray Hall to absolute shame. It’s incredible not to mention always home cooked, with lots of fresh vegetables, fruits, and bread at every meal. After we eat, and we eat slowly- usually an hour per meal- it is customary to take a short nap, the siesta. This may seem difficult for some of you but I assure you on a full stomach it’s not that hard, in fact I like it better than our way of eating back home. This whole custom of stopping what you are doing midday, eating, and sleeping is referred to as siesta, although literally the siesta is the nap. And now it’s time for me to take the siesta.
Arrival in Granada
We flew out of London ’s Heathrow Airport and arrived at Malaga at 10:30 am in a different time zone, now 6 hours ahead instead of 5. One piece of advice, if the stewardess or steward offers you a ‘hot breakfast’ just say ‘no’, your body will thank you later. After arriving in Malaga and going through the quickest customs checkpoint yet we were placed on a two hour bus ride to Granada . We arrived around 1:45 pm and were greeted by our señoras or taken to the residence halls. I was greeted by my señora, Josefa Molina Sanchez. She is an older married woman with three married sons, their age ranging from mid 20’s to early 30’s. We walked from the bus to her apartment where I was enthusiastically stuffed full of delicious food, specifically a Spanish tortilla- which is entirely different from those of Latin America and the U.S. Luckily for me and my señora my Spanish is pretty good and we were able to hold a conversation which probed such things as where are you from, siblings, habits, likes, dislikes, etc. It should be duly noted however that I have a much harder time understanding her than she does me, she speaks so fast, faster than anyone else I have yet to encounter here. She says it’s because she’s nervous, her husband says it’s because she has too much to say. Shortly after eating I took a much needed siesta to adjust to the time change and the jet lag. I awoke at 7:30 pm and began to unpack my belongings; this occupied me until we ate dinner (lunch for us) at 8:30.
Mitch arrives in Granada
Oh, right, I forgot to mention it was HOT a scorching 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 f), apparently we came on the apex of a heat wave/drought, and are still currently in it. I am assured that soon the temperature will drop to the normal high 80’s to mid 90’s. After dinner with nothing to do, and really not wanting to write this yet, I went for a stroll of the city by myself to get a feel of it. After a good 40 minutes of walking around aimlessly I decided to walk back, finish unpacking, and write this blog. I do not yet know how often I will write, and I highly doubt the next blog will be this detailed. We’ll just see how this one goes and play by ear. Although I do know that the next blog will contain a description of the city of Granada, the people, the culture, the atmosphere, the history, the architecture, etc. For now, Alhambra awaits tomorrow and I need sleep badly, and a fan. It might be interesting to anyone who actually reads this to know that I have already booked some trips for our break, more details on that to come (Oktoberfest…). Maybe that will keep you reading these things, whatever they are. So until the next blog and as the Brits say, “cheers!”
London Stop-over
Now onto the good stuff. I am studying through AIFS in Granada , Spain , a beautiful city of 250,000 people (60,000 students) on the south-southeastern coastal area of Spain- about an hour from the beach. Included in the program is a three day trip to London before we even get to Spain . To speak about London I must have to disregard the exchange rate and the current weakness of the American dollar (1 dollar= .49 pence, London = expensive, factor in the commission, carry the 3 and the end result looks like this: You=broke). London is a great city, albeit polluted and posh (a new word I learned there). The atmosphere is different, friendly yet impartial. It seems to me that most Londoners (maybe Europeans) tend to live by the old saying “do what you will without harming others.” It seems to work for them, and makes for a very exciting environment (this does not mean that you can do whatever you want). Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on the weight of your wallet) we only stayed in London for 2 full days, leaving early in the morning on the third. Included also was a tour of London on the famous Big Bus Company, which I did not attend, and a breakfast. I would just like to note that my experience in London was uniquely different from that of my fellow study abroad companions. This is because I have two very good friends Jackie and Harry, who live in and north of London respectively.
Harry is an old friend of equal age who looks a lot like Ron Weasley from Harry Potter, and Jackie is my neighbor from Natick , a few years my senior, who lives with her boyfriend in Camdon Town . Thus, when we all arrived in London the other students went off to do some boring exploring (it just rhymes, it probably was not boring to them and our Holiday Inn was actually in a great location right next to the tube) and I called Harry and went off to meet with him and his friend and enjoy the Knotting Hill Carnival. For the record the Knotting Hill Carnival is an enormous festival celebration the immigrants from the Caribbean which occurred on Sunday and Monday the 26th and 27th of August from 9am-7pm. In attendance that Sunday were over 1.5 million Londoners and tourists enjoying the beautiful weather, dancing, festivities, music, beverages, food, and parades. [It’s hard for us Americans to imagine but picture a huge outdoor party/dance club, with lots of alcohol, lots of families, an extremely diverse mix of people parading throughout rich and poor areas, and yet no incidents of violence or crime. It was amazing.]
Knotting Hill Carnival, London
Meeting and socializing with Harry and his friends was by far the best part, we got along well and became friends quickly. Luckily for Harry there were four cancellations due to various reasons for the trip to London and we were able to get him a free room with me as my roommate in the Holiday Inn. In fact his friends benefited as well as they ended up crashing in the hotel room both nights even staying there and checking out for me after I had left for Spain. Sunday night consisted of a dinner at Burger King which was great because it was cheap, yet still cost $2 American for things for the pound menu. The next morning we were able to find a really cheap 5 pound (or ‘quid’ as they call their money) breakfast at a local pub. We then met up with the rest of the AIFS students and began a 3 hour walk that would take us back to the Knotting Hill Carnival for a second day (there were only 1 million in attendance this time). After the Carnival we took London ’s famous underground, or ‘tube’ as they call it back to the hotel area and feasted on the Kings Burgers once more. As previously noted, Harry’s friends ended up crashing in the hotel again and stayed there after I left the Hotel at 4:30 in the morning for an 8am flight.
Just Plain Anxious
General Disclaimer:
In no way, shape, or form, do I consider myself a writer. Also my thoughts, feelings, beliefs, do not in any way reflect those of any other students who study abroad or Providence College . I apologize to all those people who sadly decided to read these blogs expecting something which I could not provide. However, I will do my best to keep the readers entertained as much as possible, while providing an in depth and informative look into the experience of a student studying abroad. If anyone has any questions, concerns, comments, critiques, complaints, or would like me to touch upon certain issues or subjects please feel free to e-mail me at mhaddad1@providence.edu. Enjoy.
My first entry was supposed to be due by August 20th, as I foolishly assured Rachel Hazard that I could absolutely have it done by then. Needles to say, she was skeptical and rightly so. I also told her that I would write about ones feelings toward studying abroad in those days right before departing. So here it goes. One word best describes my pre-departure feelings about studying abroad: anxious. Interestingly enough one who is anxious soon discovers that the feeling spills over into a wider range of emotions, nervousness, anxiety, uncertainty, annoyance, frustration, confusion, doubt; the list goes on and on. Everyone, I assume, experiences different emotions in that sense. Yet, when you boil it down the one constant was anxiousness. Let’s see if I can clarify. Anyone who decides to study abroad makes a definitive choice, typically months before but maybe years, to do so. None of this is forced on any of us, but we have all chosen to do this, to make this a part of our memory. From the second one gets accepted, first by the school and then by the program, you begin to prepare yourself whether you know it or not. Thus by the time fall rolls around it is no surprise that soon you’ll finally be abroad after months and months of waiting. Naturally the only emotion left at that point in anxiousness, anything else is unnecessary drama. At that point one has contemplated all sorts of possibilities; all there is left to do is get there. The rest is what it will be good or bad. Lo que pasa, pasa. This is all I really want to say about pre-departure (packing, saying goodbye to friends and family, ending work, etc. that’s all a part too but hardly worth writing about. You all can use your imagination) if you have any questions I did not answer, once again email me. One tip however: pack lightly.