As you will see in the photos that I will be uploading, the city is positioned in a valley between different mountains. It’s not flat here either, but I’m not living on a mountain (at least I don’t think I am). The mountains appear green, or more usually blue, in the distance. I’m not sure how far away they are, but it seems like it would be very possible to bike to them and spend a weekend somewhere in a town and in the mountains. Ximena and I want to bike there if there is a bicycle shop in town that rents bicycles. I would do it if the bicycle shop would buy the bicycle back used at the end of the semester, but we’ll see. There are lots of bicycle shops to try, three within a five minute radius of the apartment building.
In the apartment, there are four of us: me, Ximena from Chile, Erika from Lithuania, and Clem from France. Clem studied here last semester and is leaving for France at the end of February. Taking her place will be another girl from France, Aline. Erika and Aline both arrived this semester, like Ximena and I. Ximena and I spend a lot of time together, sharing our food and meals. It’s good in a place where no one has roots to have someone with to be a little like a family, or to make the apartment more homelike. Erika is away a lot of the time at friends’ apartments and doesn’t talk to the rest of us a lot when she is here. Clem works a lot, so she is not here much either. The apartment is only a five-ten minute walk from campus, and I go between here and there for classes and to use the wi-fi internet on campus. The old part of town, where most people gather for the weekends, is only a fifteen minute walk from the apartment. Nothing is very far away if you are willing to walk.
The schedule here is different than in the US. I eat breakfast after waking, then I might eat a snack, or just wait until about 2:30 or so to eat a heavy lunch. At 8:30 or so we eat supper. Here, lunch is like supper, and supper is a light lunch. The stores here are open from 9-1:30 and 4:30-7:30 or later. The bars are open all day, because they make money with food and other drinks besides alcohol also.
Today I had a Spanish language class for foreigners. There are eight students in my class. It is conversation based, which is very good for me. There was not enough conversation and application of the language at Ball State, nor would the students have applied themselves to take the conversation class seriously had there been more application of the language. I will take this class twice a week for a total of three hours each week. With registration in this class I have access to many programs to practice vocabulary, movies to borrow, and books to read. I think that I will be spending a lot of time there in the library of the Centro de Idiomas.
It’s now about midnight, so I’m going to call it a night. I will post this tomorrow. Hope that everyone at home is doing well.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Monday, February 12, 2007
Address
I have found my postal code online, so here is my mailing address here in Pamplona. Please, though, if you mail something to me, double check at the post office that I have included everything here necessary for the letter to get to Spain.
C/ Monte Lakartxela 4, 7 º C
Pamplona, Navarra 31006
España
Here is some more information about size of packages/cost of postage/restrictions on sending things. If you're feeling like sending me a deck of playing cards, don't. Apparently they're prohibited in the mail, though I'm not sure why.
C/ Monte Lakartxela 4, 7 º C
Pamplona, Navarra 31006
España
Here is some more information about size of packages/cost of postage/restrictions on sending things. If you're feeling like sending me a deck of playing cards, don't. Apparently they're prohibited in the mail, though I'm not sure why.
February 4-11
Friday and Saturday I slept and ate at a family’s apartment paid for by the university. I was glad to not have to pay for a hotel, and I found the family to be very nice. The mother’s name is Mariana and the eight-year old son Aitor. I met the father, but he was not in the house very much except to sleep because he drives a taxi and works many hours. There was another girl sleeping there too, Susana from Czech Republic. Friday afternoon, after arriving at the flat, I went with Mariana to pick Aitor up from school, a block away, and to listen to the students, five years old and up, sing a traditional song in Euskera, the Basque language. Saturday, I spent the day inside going over information that I had received from the university and took a walk in the afternoon around the neighborhood and parks for an hour or so. I spent the evenings with Mariana and Aitor watching TV and playing card games with Aitor. I taught him how to play “Go Fish” and then we played a game like “War” that he taught me. Sunday morning I awoke in time to walk a half hour from the family’s apartment to mine on the other side of the city to pay rent to Wibke, a student who was leaving the apartment to return to Germany. Monday the Spanish class started after a placement quiz at 9:30 in the morning and lasted until 2:30. Every day has been the same, Monday-Friday. I come home, eat lunch with Ximena, and read some, then go out in the evening.
This first week and a half has flown by quickly. Being a foreign student is like being part of a colony of foreigners who create their own little community within another cultural system. It’s a mixture of people from all over the world, all struggling to communicate with one another in the common language: Spanish. Almost every night I have gone out with a group of girls to a bar of some sort for café con leche (coffee with milk) or something else to sip while talking. Last night I went out with the rest of the Erasmus students to a bar to talk and dance. It was different for me, but kind of fun. This week is different from the rest of the weeks because no one has “real” classes. A few students who were already here last semester have exams, and most of us were taking an intensive language class, but it isn’t as much work as the regular school semester will be.
This morning Ximena went with me to mass at the church for la Parroquia de Cristo Rey (parish of Christ King). It was good to be with other worshippers, but I couldn’t understand a lot of what was being said, since I’m not that familiar with the order of the sayings/don’t know them in Spanish. After the mass, we sat in the middle of the church to look at the building. Imagine space, taller than two stories, made all with enormous smooth slabs of stone. The columns support the arching stone that join in the ceiling. Smaller pieces of stone are organized like tiles crisscrossing in the ceiling. It’s quite plain, full of old wooden pews with kneelers, yet it is a feat of architecture and it’s enormity is awesome. I forgot to take a picture of the church, but there are some pictures of the building connected to the church building that is used now (it has a blue copula with a cross atop).
After mass Ximena and I took a walk outside the city a bit. I had no idea that the countryside was so close to my apartment building. Every day I discover new things! Tomorrow I have my meeting with my coordinator here to sign up for classes. It’s a little strange to me that I won’t be signed up for classes until after the classes start, but oh well. I’ll attend classes on Monday nevertheless. No one here has to have their matriculation finalized until March, but I do because everything has to be approved back at Ball State University.
This first week and a half has flown by quickly. Being a foreign student is like being part of a colony of foreigners who create their own little community within another cultural system. It’s a mixture of people from all over the world, all struggling to communicate with one another in the common language: Spanish. Almost every night I have gone out with a group of girls to a bar of some sort for café con leche (coffee with milk) or something else to sip while talking. Last night I went out with the rest of the Erasmus students to a bar to talk and dance. It was different for me, but kind of fun. This week is different from the rest of the weeks because no one has “real” classes. A few students who were already here last semester have exams, and most of us were taking an intensive language class, but it isn’t as much work as the regular school semester will be.
This morning Ximena went with me to mass at the church for la Parroquia de Cristo Rey (parish of Christ King). It was good to be with other worshippers, but I couldn’t understand a lot of what was being said, since I’m not that familiar with the order of the sayings/don’t know them in Spanish. After the mass, we sat in the middle of the church to look at the building. Imagine space, taller than two stories, made all with enormous smooth slabs of stone. The columns support the arching stone that join in the ceiling. Smaller pieces of stone are organized like tiles crisscrossing in the ceiling. It’s quite plain, full of old wooden pews with kneelers, yet it is a feat of architecture and it’s enormity is awesome. I forgot to take a picture of the church, but there are some pictures of the building connected to the church building that is used now (it has a blue copula with a cross atop).
After mass Ximena and I took a walk outside the city a bit. I had no idea that the countryside was so close to my apartment building. Every day I discover new things! Tomorrow I have my meeting with my coordinator here to sign up for classes. It’s a little strange to me that I won’t be signed up for classes until after the classes start, but oh well. I’ll attend classes on Monday nevertheless. No one here has to have their matriculation finalized until March, but I do because everything has to be approved back at Ball State University.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
First days
My brother wrote me to tell me that the Colts won the Super Bowl. I had forgotten that the Super Bowl was coming up! All of the things from home seem so far away; this really is another world. I am taking an intensive Spanish language course in the Center for Languages at the university. Things are different here. In Spain, people pay to learn languages. It's not like regular courses like in the US. For me, though, this course (5 hours a day, 5 days) is free, and there is another course (all semster, 45 hours total) that is free for me as an ISEP (the program through which I'm studying in Spain) student as well.
After the night in the hotel, there was a informational meeting at the university, and the people in the office for foreign students found me a family to stay with until Sunday, when a room in my flat would be available. I was happy that one of the girls, Zivle, from Lithuania, helped me find the family's flat and carry one of my little bags up also. I stayed there until Sunday morning, when I walked across the city to my flat. I haven't been able to find a protestant church here yet, but I'm sure that there is one....perhaps only one, but there probably is one. This next Sunday I hope to go to one of the big cathedrals. I can see one of them in the old part of the city from my bedroom window.
I want to write more, because there is so much to tell about the city, the family, my flat mates, and everything I have done so far. I have some pictures to share as well. However, I'm about to meet up with some friends, and I don't like to be late. Pues, I'm already late (15 minutes). So, I will try to write tomorrow.
After the night in the hotel, there was a informational meeting at the university, and the people in the office for foreign students found me a family to stay with until Sunday, when a room in my flat would be available. I was happy that one of the girls, Zivle, from Lithuania, helped me find the family's flat and carry one of my little bags up also. I stayed there until Sunday morning, when I walked across the city to my flat. I haven't been able to find a protestant church here yet, but I'm sure that there is one....perhaps only one, but there probably is one. This next Sunday I hope to go to one of the big cathedrals. I can see one of them in the old part of the city from my bedroom window.
I want to write more, because there is so much to tell about the city, the family, my flat mates, and everything I have done so far. I have some pictures to share as well. However, I'm about to meet up with some friends, and I don't like to be late. Pues, I'm already late (15 minutes). So, I will try to write tomorrow.
Friday, February 2, 2007
I'm here!
After driving down to the Indy airport, flying to Atlanta, to Madrid, and then to Pamplona, I am finally here. There is a large time difference here (I'm sure everyone is in bed right now), so I lost hours of sleep crossing the Atlantic, but I think I caught up last night. Let me just say that it was really nice to have a bed. I think I will like it here. There are mountains all around the city, snowcapped and beautiful. It is easy to get around (walking/buses) and I'm sure that there is enough to do to keep me more than occupied. I met my flat mates and found out that I don't have a room there until the 4th of February (when one of the girls is moving out). But, I'm sure that the university will put me up until then (except today). The girls showed me to a hotel (how to walk there) and I checked myself in. Hotel Avenida is nice: small, but nice. There is free wi-fi internet here, so I am using it to talk to you. I met a girl from the US who is studying in Pamplona too on the plane, she seemed nice enough (I'm ashamed to say I don't know her name). I took a taxi to the apartment, and the driver was really nice, we talked about things (where I'm from, Pamplona). Then I walked from there to here, leaving my big suitcase at the flat. This morning I have an informational meeting at the university at 11 (it's now 9) and I will meet the owner of the flat this evening with the other girls who live there.
Well, hasta luego,
Erica
Well, hasta luego,
Erica
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