reposting of feb. 24 :)

So school has started now, and honestly it's another big adventure in the big scheme of things right now :) I have a spanish of america class, a generalized spanish literature class, potentially a medieval style spanish literature class (but it seems quite difficult to understand) and a spanish class for international students! Possibly adding a literature class of hispanic america in the 19th century so that should all be interesting for sure! I like all the professors really, especially the one for spanish in america class. That one is, from my impressions, about being able to differentiate accents of native spanish speakers and learning more about recognizing those sorts of things. It sounds really interesting! I really enjoy how here they have smaller class sizes (so it seems) in all the classes I'm taking. I love UWM but this is nice for a change to have a smaller class for every one of them, not just for a select few of my classes like in the past. I enjoy getting to talk to people and meet new people all the time too here. I haven't really started making friends friends in my classes, but Kirsten and I have begun to try and branch out our group of friends. It's sure an adventure so far. The weather has continued to be not so great, rain all the time but it's part of being here in Santiago. I've been having a lot of fun with being here at home with my roommates, chatting, laughing about lots of stuff and just having fun! Not much else to tell, still enjoying all the new things I get to see and experience here! Which right now with school starting isn't all too much new. Tomorrow I don't have any classes, so more than likely I will try and get out and do some walking around to see what I can see! Just relaxing and watching a movie for the night, even though I get to sleep as long as i want tomorrow :PLove and besos to all!

February 22, 2010!

So for anyone actually coming and reading this as I'm posting things, things are going quite well continuously! I'm able to get more and more settled in as time goes by, and getting used to living here for slightly over 4 more months. I can't believe that i've already been here almost a month! I've gotten to see so much, and bask in the beauty of the awesome things here in Spain, its historical background, the modern parts, and meeting people to learn more about the neat culture.

I love the cathedral the most really, with all the small details on it, and just looking so full of history! Its so big too which makes it even cooler to see! There's so much inside too, the crypt of saint james, and since I haven't been in tons of catholic churches, but this for sure is just breathtaking pretty much. all the different little statues and biblical scenes and detailing of the church is just awesome.

The thing that surprises me most about the city,that I did read before coming here, was how much of a university town it really is. There are students everywhere from tons and tons of different places. all over Europe, I have now friends from France, Italy, Austria, Greece, Mexico, and the list can go on!

The climate here is the most downer part sometimes, because we have some beautiful sunny and fairly warm days but then its not unusual to turn for the worst and go back to gloomy, rainy, and slightly more cold. however its always about 10 degrees celcius which equals to about 50 degrees farenheit. Which is of course better than good ol wisconsin! ;)

I can't wait to do more traveling and everything around europe, and more in even Spain alone. I have felt myself growing more and more confident all the time in my spanish which is of course one of the serious main goals of mine while being here but I find it awesome that it's actually happening.

Well honestly today is a lazy day, taking care of school things, trying to stay dry, aside from a trip to the grocery store in a bit. Classes start tomorrow so i'll probably wait until after the classes to post how things are tomorrow, so stay tuned :)

love and besos!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

So yesterday was spent first spending some time exploring more of the 'zona vieja', the most historical part of town, and getting some information from the tourism center of what exactly there is to do!

After that though I came back home to my flat and relaxed, answered some more emails and facebook posts and made some dinner. I got to talk with Ombretta a lot yesterday which was fun, because I totally want to get to be good friends obviously with my roommates.

After just hanging out at home, we decided to go out and try to meet up with some other of her friends, whoever we could find. Well we went with her friend Ana, who's from Portugal and is going back home today.

We had a lot of fun, went and did some dancing and just enjoyed being out together for the night!

It rains a lot a lot here, so it's always hard to get good weather to be outside walking in, however the rain wasn't too big of a deal last night. It's also not the warmest climate, but hey it's better than Wisconsin right now ;)

Today will be a relaxing day, doing some reading, maybe figuring out some more school stuff, figuring out what else I can explore in the city and stuff like that :)

So until tomorrow, or the next day, Besos and love to all!

Ashley

February 20,2010 :) (first entry here)

Hey everyone,

So heres the first blog post here, I'm doing well and loving being here in Spain!

I've gotten into a flat now with two girls, Ombretta, who is really nice and is one of my roommates, and Almu, also very nice and the second roommate of mine.

The stay in the hostel had been good, they were very very nice there, and were very flexible about me staying there so long. I am so glad to now be in a place where I feel 'at home' and being in a temporary new home for the next several months!

I've made some good friends now, and we go out and have fun enjoying each other's company and trying to meet more and more people all the time! It's a lot of fun.

I've been traveling to nearby places, like PontaVedra, Ourense, and hoping to do more soon!

I love seeing all I can.

I got to celebrate carnaval here which was a good time! We went to Ourense, and saw the festivities of the night and daytime! And got some homemade Paella while there too :) That totally made the trip even better, the first taste of some great Paella.

There are so many students here from many other countries, Italy, France, Austria, you name it, from all over Europe. They're all part of what is called an ERASMUS program, to study in other countries in Europe. It seems like a lot of fun for them too!

I've begun acclimating more and more to being here and not being at home anymore, but I do miss everyone incredibly!! Thank God for the new internet technology to email, stay in touch with facebook, and with skype! I would be pretty lost without it.

Today I'll be just settling in even more to my flat, getting some more necessities and then exploring the neighborhood before meeting up with people for the evening!

I hope you all enjoy and don't get bored with what I post ;) and that you tend to follow when i put new ones on!

Sending all my love to all my family and friends back home! Besos (as they say it here in Spain)