Nursing School

Well, today was my first day of nursing school, and according to my professors, the first day of my nursing career. Yesterday my mom and Sage helped me move down to Cedar, a 5 hour drivew from Logan to Cedar City, then they made the trip back to Logan after helping me move in.

I'm living in a huge house with 11 girls, all of which are awesome! Its a bed and breakfast for the Shakespearean Festival in the summer and student housing during the school year. The owner is remodeling the kitchen and repainting, so we haven't been able to use the kitchen. Before my mission I left all my silverware and kitchen stuff at my old apartment, so I don't even have stuff for the kitchen yet anyway. This morning for breakfast I found a plastic cup and had cereal in it using chop sticks. It actually worked really well. I'll just be glad when I can cook in the kitchen.

Nursing school seems like it will be intense but fun. This morning we had a welcoming meeting with all the students from all four semesters. They call us level 1, level 2, etc. according to the semester we're in. I coudn't help but feel like Harry Potter on the first day of wizard school nervous to see what I'm going to learn in the next few years.

Well, I have 2 chapters to read for tomorrow from a 3 inch thick nursing book so...that it all for now...

I'm home

Well, its been a while since I've updated my blog, so sorry to those who have been waiting to see what I've been up to. Like my life is that exciting anyway...
I'm back from Spain and am going through adjusting to normal life again. In the two weeks since I've been home I've haven't been too bored though. I've been to Bear Lake with my family, Provo with friends where I went to the Ute Stampede, and all over town on my dad's motorcycle. I'll keep you all updated.

tapas

Tonight we went out for tapas with Maite, Irene, and the neighbor next door. Tapas are like appetizers and they´re cool here because if you get a drink they´re free! We went to a place the neighbor owns so she actually gave them to us for free. We had Mexican pizza and tacos (they weren´t the real thing at all), shrimp, barbeque pork, chicken sandwich things, fries with ranch, and much more. It was amazing! In the restaurant there was a vending machine for cigarettes, which are really common in Spain. On the front of it it says For Adults Only! but that´s the only thing to stop kids from buying them. I thought it was interesting and added a picture. After tapas we went out for Italian ice cream. I´m going to miss the people here and the food!

Science Museum

I finally decided to go to the science museum in Granada the other day. Since I have school in the morning I went later in the afternoon with only 3 hours until it closed. I had actually met 3 nursing students from another town in Spain the day before and they invited me to go with them. 3 hours definitely wasn't enough time to see everything so I decided to go back the next day with Cindy. There was SO much to see, and most of it was really interactive. My favorite part was an expo on the human body that included real bodies and info. They had a presentation on the heart and the four of us nursing students went in to see it. The girl doing the presentation asked us if we knew anything about the heart and we told her we were nursing students. She got really nervous and said we could teach her. Some other highlights were the poisonous animal expo with real spiders, snakes and cool frogs, a huge chess set outside, a huge lookout tower, and a huge table and chair too tall to see over. Sadly I don't have pictures of those because my camera died. You'll just have to picture it in your head.

More pictures!

More pictures. That's where we ate last night, and the girls with Juan. He was visiting from Madrid and sadly he had to go back home today. That's the Alahambra in the background.

Back to school

Well, after a 5 day weekend we're back to school. Last week was the ferrial (fare) for Granada, so they saw it fit to give us a few days to take in the cultural experience. Some of the students from SUU went to Portugal for a few days but the rest of us decided to stay back and get to see more of Granada.

On Wed we went to la Tarasca, a big parade for the kids. They didn't throw candy or anything, but it was better in my opinion. The parade started with police men on horses, followed by 4 big people in costumes, representing the first king and queen of Spain, and the Moroccans, who used to live in Spain before the Catholic kings took over (the whole celebration is based on the Spanish kings and the Moroccans). After them is a lady manican on top of a dragon, representing a disciple of Christ overcoming evil. Legend has it that many years ago there was a dragon invading Granada and she was sent to kill it. Now, in the parade, each year she wears a new dress which supposedly represents the new fashion for the year. Its a big secret what she'll be wearing until the day of the Tarasca. The dress is never very pretty however, and if you're told you're dressed worse than the manican, you know your clothes are way out of style. Following the dragon are the Cabasudos, people with big head costumes on representing people in the culture of Spain, such as Don Quojote, and bull fighters. The best part about them was they carry around ballons made of pigs bladders and hit people on the head with them. The little kids get scared and cry and the old ladies try to duck to avoid them. An older lady in front of us totally got wapped one. It was hilarious.

That night we went to the actual fair ground and rode a fare ride. The rides here are a lot more fun than the ones in Logan. It was more like Lagoon. We just rode one but after we all got sick and thought we were going to hurl. Actually, when we got off Shaka and Cameron (2 guys from SUU) put on a big scene acting sick and scared a lot of people into not going on the ride.

On Thursday we went to the Corpus Cristi (body of Christ). Its more of a religious celebration starting with Mass at the Cathedral and a long procession. We skipped mass but decided to see the procession. It was a hot day (over 100) and after 45 minutes of watching people walk by with candles we decided it just wasn't worth it. Two older ladies had already passed out next to us, and I just knew that I was going to be next. We decided to go get an ice cream instead. I guess when the actual Corpus Cristi comes by at the end you can look at it and its just like partaking of the sacrament for them. That way they don't have to actually eat it. It was interesting.

Friday we caught a bus and went to a beach called Almuñecar with 4 or us girls from SUU, Jared, a student from New Hampshire, and 3 member guys from the ward here. We sat in the sun all day and all got burnt. The water was cold but very refreshing. I´m learning to be very careful when I go to the beach because there´s a lot of topless girls. You wouldn´t see that at Bear Lake, that´s for sure.

Saturday we walked around Granada for most of the day and tried to recover from our sunburns. That night we went to Stake Conference and hung out with some of the members again.

Sunday was Conference and more time hanging out with the members.

Today we had school and had to force ourselves to get up early and get back into things. Its always hard to go back to school, even when you´re in Spain.

The Members ROCK!!

So today I've decided that the members in Granada totally ROCK!! Since I've been here they've been the source of about 70% of our fun, not to include how much they've helped us on our Spanish. There's a group of young single adults who call us all the time and invite us to hang out. My first Sunday here I didn't know a soul in Granada but I went to church and made some instant friends with 3 girls who not only fed me lunch but hung out with me all day until I had to meet the rest of my group that night at 8. Since then we've been to the fair, to eat tapas (typical in Spain), to play pool, to the beach, to a baptism, and FHE. Tonight while playing pool we played Americans vs. Spaniards, which was totally uneven because it was 4 American girls vs. 4 Spanish boys. Anyway, we almost won but then they put in the last 4 of their bolas (balls) and won. We owe them Italian Ice Cream now, but it was totally worth it. We'll pay up tomorrow.

The Best Worst Day EVER!

Saturday turned out to be the best worst day ever. Jim, our professor, and 8 of us students decided to take a bus down to Sevilla, an old Spanish City, for the day.

It all started when we had to wake up at 6am so we could get to the bus station in time to catch the 7am. Our bus was really nice but the driver was CRAZY. I don't think he know how to correctly shift the gears, and therefore I became DEATHLY ill within an hour. Ok, maybe not deathly ill but I thought I was going to throw up. Luckly I didn't.

We finally got to the bus station and I couldn't wait to find the bathroom. I got in there to find no toilet paper and no toilet seat, and no soap. Great. We all had to go so we just went. Luckly someone had hand sanitizer.

We started our day at the catherdal then went to Alcazar, a cool palace thing. Because we were all so tired we were dragging by 11. We ate a lunch of sandwiches packed by out host moms. Mine was some sort of pepperoni with butter, and most of the others had a weird tuna thing or one just had a hamburger bun with cheese. The one with the bun and cheese decided to feed it to the birds. Not the best food ever but hey, it was free.

This is where the story starts to get interesting. Some of the students wanted to go see some ancient Rome ruins, but Haylee, Courtney, and I wanted to walk around. We headed to a cool plaza then to the bull fight arena. On the way Haylee got a carmel ice cream sundae at McDonalds. Courtney, who was the one who donated her lunch to the birds decided about now that she was starving. I was worried she may eat my left arm so I decided it would be best to find somewhere to eat, and soon. We found a pretty good looking place and I asked for some menus. The waiter told us that we couldn't eat our sundae there and refused to let us sit down. We felt so discriminated against, it was rude.

After we left we found a cool cafe with a paneria (bakery) and a heladeria (ice cream) so we went in. They weren't much better and only had pasta so Courtney ordered that and I got a ham and cheese pastry. Mine was cold and hers was really small, but we didn't care a lot by then. We got a chocolate pastry on the was out and went to sit by a river while we ate them. The pastries weren't good at all and made us both sick, so we immediately regreted our decision. We sat there laughing at our situation and the soreness of our feet when we said "the only thing to make this day worse would be if it rains on us." Ha, we thought we were funny, but that's exactly what happened. It started to pour. We would've gone inside somewhere but Haylee had to use the bathroom, so we headed out in the rain.

We got back to the McDonalds but by then we were drenched. The bathroom didn't have toiletpaper, of course, but the good news was there was a toilet seat and soap. We left the bathroom and on the way out I realized everyone was staring at me. Well, you know how in the movies people leave the bathroom and have a huge trail of toilet paper stuck to their shoe? That's exactly what happened to me. Instead of being embarassed, all three of us just busted out laughing. It was hilarious. In fact, so hilarious that one of the girls peed her pants. I still don't know how you pee your pants right after you use the bathroom, but somehow she managed to do it. Luckly we were already drenched so no one noticed.

As we were leaving the restaurant I realized that my blood sugar was low, and we had to hurry if we were going to get back to the bust station on time. I got an ice cream cone and we booked it out of there.

The bus ride home wasn't too bad. I didn't get sick, although Haylee did, but we were glad to be able to sleep. To top the day off Courtney lost her cell phone. We decided that since were were laughing all day, it would only get funnier the more time passed. I guess we'll see. Although Sevilla is an awesome city, I'm not so sure I'd be happy to go back any time soon.

Night Life

Wow, so I haven't had a lot of time to write on this thing. I'm so glad that people are reading it and following it.

So there's been a TON of stuff that we've done but I'll spare you the details (I tend to ramble) and get to the good stuff.

So here the night's are wild. Almost everyone including your grandma and dog (and the little kids) stay out at least until 1 or later. When we went to Sevilla on Saturday we had to leave at 7am and the only people on the streets were us, old men going to work, and other people our age going home from the bars. I think the only reason they're able to stay out so late is because they have siesta every day and are able to sleep in the afternoon. It's quite common to sleep 4 hours at night and 4 hours in the afternoon. Crazy!

I haven't been much of a partier. I think the latest I've been out is about 1 and even then I was dragging and couldn't wait to get home to bed.

Sunday adventure!

On Sunday I had quite the adventure. Everyone left me here in the morning and I decided to head off to find church. I was told that it was a 10 minute walk but it ended up being more like 45 minutes. I had left most of my stuff with my host family but I still had my computer, some food, and a ton of other stuff so that 45 minute walk seemed like forever. I only got lost once and only asked 3 people for help. Eventually I could see the steeple above the buildings and was so happy I took a picture of the chapel (like I´ve never seen one before). I went in and sat down by myself when about 10 minutes later a guy named Carlos came and sat by me. He was really nice. He carried my heavy backback around for me and introduced me to everyone. I met 3 other young single adults and had some instant friends. After church they invited me over to one of their apartments where we had lunch, sat around and talked, and played games. I truly am amazed by what the gospel of Jesus Christ does for people. Only in the church could you travel half way across the world to a place with a completely different culture, meet people, and instantly trust them and be their friend. I didn´t have anywhere to go until 8pm so I was grateful to have them to hang out with.

At 8 I met with my group from SUU (I hadn´t met any of them yet since I was on my mission while they were planning everything) and walked up to our school.

After that Taryn (my roommate) and I walked down to our host family´s house where we had dinner and unpacked. Its nice to have a closet again and not have to live out of a suitcase.

My host mom´s name is Mayte and she has a 4 year old daughter named Irene. They´re both adorable and very friendly. She´s an amazing cook as well so that makes it nice. I hope I don´t gain a lot of weight though. We´ll see...

Right now its Monday morning and I just took my level test to see which class I´ll be in while I´m here. I find out tomorrow. The questions seemed pretty easy but I didn´t know on some of them. I haven´t actually had a formal Spanish class since about 6th grade so I´m excited for the experience. Its a weird feeling to be a student again.

Back in Granada

Well, We´re back in Granada. I don´t even know where to start. We haven´t had interned for a few days so I havent´been able to keep up very well.

We left Granada on Tuesday the 26 and went down to Algeciras, a little town right on the southern tip of Spain. We spent the day walking around and seeing the sights. This town stinks! Literally. Its pretty though, and right by the ocean.

On Wednesday we took a ferry town to AFRICA (Morocco) where we got a tour of the city of Tanger, rode a camel, ate lunch, and got mauled by vendors trying to sell us their products. The culture here is very different. They speak Arabic and are mostly Muslim. They make a lot of products like fabric, rubs, pottery, ect. It was all pretty, but man were we ready to leave. We waited at the station for the boat for 4 hours until the boat finally showed up and didn´t actually get back to the hotel until 10pm. The wind was blowing a lot so the boat rocked back and forth. It was a good thing we took some Dramamine or we would´ve been in trouble :) I´m proud to say that I have now been to 3 continents, and I have the stamps in my passport to prove it.

On Thursday we drove over to Gibraltar, another town in Southern Spain, which is actually owen by Great Brittain. They may have been my favorite part of the trip so far. We got to see some cool caves, a castle, play with monkeys, and eat pub grub. Most everyone here speaks English and Spanish. It was a huge change from yesterday in Morocco, that´s for sure. Tonight we headed out for Malaga, a costal town. We got a nice hotel with a pool and a view of the ocean.

On Friday we just spent the day at the beach and the pool. I swam with Sage all day while the adults of the group took a nap (I´m still a kid and proud of it). I think this had been Sage´s favorite day so far.

On Saturday we left early to go back to Granada, and that´s where we are. Janette and Cindy are off to Paris on Sunday and Mom and Sage head back to Utah Monday morning. I start school Monday morning as well.

Granada!

Well, today we're in Granada, a few hours south of Madrid. Yesterday (Sunday) we woke up early and packed up our stuff then headed for the subway to find our way to church. We only got lost once and eventually found the make-shift chapel in the middle of a busy street. I translated for my mom during Sacrament Meeting while the rest of the group tried to stay awake. We met about 5 or 6 sets of missionaries and talked about the work in Spain. There's a lot of immigrants in Spain so most of the members are not from Spain but from places like Peru, Columbia, and Ecuador. I guess the work is kind of hard with the Spainish people because they have more of the European mentality and aren't as humble to accept the missionaries into their homes. The missionaries seem to have a lot of work though. After church we went to a cool park called el Parque de Renata where they had a pond with boats, statues, concerts, etc. We ate a packed lunch and enjoyed walking around, then headed back to the hostel to get our suitcases and head out. We boarded the Euro-rail train at about 3:00 and got to Granada around 9:30. I slept the whole time and have a sore neck to prove it :) We got to our new hotel and crashed for the night. I can't believe how tired I get just traveling. This morning my alarm went off at 7am and I pushed snooze. At 7:25 I realized that the alarm wasn't working (no, really) and decided the $4 travel alarm from Wal-mart wasn't such a good idea. We headed up to the Alambra for the day. Its a huge castle in Granada that's really famous. We decided to walk up from our hotel to the Alambra but we got lost and had to catch a bus to get up there. The Alambra was amazing! By the time we got done today we were all exhausted. We ate at a little cafe then went to a Catholic Cathedral. It was a good day. Tomorrow we're off to rent a car and travel to the beach!

Day 3

Day 3 or our Spain trip has been a good one. This morning we woke up at around 3am to partying in the street (which lasted until about 5am). Most everything here happens at night and partying is a huge thing. We went pack to sleep and didn't wake up intil 10am when Janette and Cindy came to jump on us. We ended up sleeping for 12 hours! It was nice. We went out and saw some sights around the city then headed to the Madrid Temple. It was beautiful! Here they have an MTC and a whole temple square, like in Salt Lake, minus the visitor's center and conference center (ok, so maybe it doesn't have most of what SL has :). My mom and I went through a session while Janette, Cindy, and Sage waited outside (Sage is only 11 so she couldn't go in). There were only 6 women in the session and one man, and most of us spoke English so the session was in English. I was really excited about doing it in Spanish so I got a head set translator and did my first Spanish session! After the temple we took the subway back to around our hostal, had dinner, and just talked. There's a lot of statues, castles, and old buildings around here, so there's lots to see. Tomorrow we're off to church, then to Granada where we'll be for a few days.

I'm in Spain!!
Well, today was our first day in Spain. What a long day its been! Well two really. We started the trip yesterday, May 21st at 11:30 am and arrived in Spain at 1:30 Utah time, 9:30 am Spain time. Basically we missed our eight hours of sleep and just kept going. We’re EXHAUSTED!! After we got here we met up with my aunt Janette and her friend Cindy, and took the metro to out hostel. Wow, what a trip. I ended up bringing two suitcases (not a good idea) and had to haul them all over Madrid, transferring trains and carrying them up long frights of stairs. By the time we made it to the hostel (with is on the 4th floor by the way) we were all worn out, hot, and sweaty. My mom and Sage (my 11 year old sister) took a nap while Janette, Cindy, and I went to explore and find some lunch. It was fun for me to hear Spanish spoken on the street and be able to talk to people (I’ve really missed Spanish these last eight weeks since I’ve been home). We ate at a little Italian restaurant where we got some chicken sandwiches in a pita (mmm, good), and window shopped. Tonight we went to dinner at a little restaurant/bar and ate some real Spanish food. It was a potato with a ranch type sauce and fried eggs with some strange type of sausage. It was pretty good actually. I'll post some pictures later. We're off to bed now.

I only have two days before Spain!! I'm getting really excited, but a little nervous. Today I went shopping and got the last few things I need before I go, then I went to FHE for the last time. It seems like I was just getting settled into life and its changing again. I won't complain though. When else will I get the chance to travel the world? I just found out that the church website has a new radio station thing where you can listen to church music 24/7. Its pretty sweet, so I thought I'd share it. Its just on lds.org.

Well, I've never been much of a blogger but after several people suggested to me that I start one, I figured I'd give it a try, so here goes. As most of you know, I just got back from the Arizona Tempe Spanish Speaking Mission, and am trying to adjust to "normal life". It hasn't been the easiest thing ever, but I'm getting by. I currently work at Pier 49 Pizza in Providence, and work with awesome people. This Thursday I'm heading off to Spain for 6 weeks to study Spanish, and run with the bulls. Its kind of a random adventure, but hey, I'm all about random adventures. My mom and my 11 year old sister Sage are coming with me for 10 days to tour, then they'll leave and I'll stay behind to study. There's 10 of us students from SUU going, and I still don't know any of them unfortunately. I guess that's what I get for going to school so far away from home, right. I just went out on my dirt bike today to get in some riding time before I leave, with was a blast. I'm going to miss it, but I went 18 months without it so I guess 6 more weeks isn't too bad. Well, that's about it for now. I'll keep you posted on Spain and all the fun adventures we take!