Menu del Dia, Tapas, and Kebaps

As if all of these food post's today haven't made you hungry enough already, here's one more just to make sure :)

I had another menu del dia the other day, this time for the first course I had something that I think was called caldo, fried calamari for the second course, and an incredible chocolate cake drizzled in raspberry sauce for dessert. 

"Caldo" or maybe the broth is called Caldo. This was a meat dish that tasted similar to BBQ, spread on a piece of toast. The broth that was with it was kind of like a french dip, and it was very good when you dipped the toast in it. 

Later on, I went and had two of my favorite tapas, Paella, and Tortilla Espanola.

And finally......a kebap!!!!! The kebaps that people eat here in Spain, are not the same type of kebaps that people in the States typically think of (meat or vegetables on a stick). Kebaps are a type of fast food in Spain, and it's kind of like a pita sandwich with either chicken or steak, lettuce, tomato, onion, and some type of white sauce, and red sauce. The meat is rotated on a pit kind of like BBQ, and shaved off when you order your meal.

This is a picture of the meat being shaved off. I'm not really sure how they get chicken/steak to look like that but it tastes too good to ask too many questions ;)

Un Kebap!

Excuse the weird smile, but I was sooo excited to have a kebap again.

Best Pasta Ever???

On my second day at the hostel, I met Pierrick aka el loco. While Pierrick left us all with many fun memories, I don't think any of us will ever forget the pasta he made us. One day while we were at the beach, he casually goes "so I'm going to make yall dinner tonight." We were all like ok...sure (don't forget his nickname was el loco). We went to the grocery store and he wandered around for a bit, not really sure of what he wanted to make, and I'll admit that I was more than a bit skeptical about what he was going to cook. However, when I say he cooked one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had....

Dinner

Shrimp, clams, and chorizo

I had never eaten a clam a day in my life until he made this dish.

The chef, Pierrick

The aftermath...

Spanish Word Of The Day

"La Comida"

Comida (co-me-da): Food

Simply put, the food here in Spain is delicious. Due to siesta, a break that all Spaniards take in the afternoon, the traditional "eating schedule" in Spain is different from the typical schedule in the US. Spaniards typically eat a light breakfast in the morning--and when I say light I mean toast and juice, then eat lunch around 2pm, and dinner around 9pm.  Lunch in Spain is the main meal of the day, comparable to dinner in the US, and many restaurants offer a menu del dia which consists of two courses, a dessert, bread, and a drink for about 10 euro.

I went to a restaurant with my French roommate Andrea, and another French guy Pierrick (more to come on him later), and had my first menu del dia. For my first course I had pasta bolognese, and for the second course I had fried octopus.

First Day

My first day here, I didn't know anyone, so my day consisted of getting a cell phone, and walking around by myself trying to get my bearings. I got lucky because my hostel was in the center of town, and close to everything. 

As I began my walk in search of a phone, I casually walked upon some ancient Roman ruins.

The Teatro Romano was built in the 1st century by Caesar. The ruins were buried for centuries, and weren't discovered until 1951. 

I then continued my walk towards the area where all of the shops are, and saw some beautiful architecture. 

Since it was my first day, and I didn't know how to get to the beach, I just walked towards the water and headed towards the Port of Malaga. 

The Flight

To arrive in Malaga, instead of taking the typical route through Madrid, Spain's capital and largest airport, I flew into Lisbon, Portugal, then straight into Malaga. While I usually have horrible luck with air travel-- bags being lost, having flights delayed, and missing connections-- I was surprised at how smoothly this trip went. All of my flights were on time, and all of my bags were ready, and waiting for me when I arrived in Malaga. 

On my transatlantic flight, from New York to Lisbon, I traveled Air Portugal and was pleasantly surprised at the dinner that was served on the flight. 

I had chicken and vegetables with rice pilaf, a salad, bread, and black forest cake, and it was actually pretty good for airplane food.

As if I wasn't already excited enough to be arriving in Spain, there was a great article in the in-flight magazine on Madrid, that featured pictures of churros and tapas that would make your mouth water.

Churros with chocolate. Churros are basically strips of fried dough that taste just like funnel cake; they are served with a cup of really thick hot chocolate that you dip them in to experience your own little slice of heaven :)

Atocha, Madrid's main train station.

Spanish Word Of The Day

"Por Fin"

 

Por Fin (poor feen [like fiend] ): Finally

After a week of struggling without internet in my apartment, when my roommate walked in the house last night with our router, I literally screamed por fin! It makes things so much easier having internet at home, versus going to the locutorio (internet cafe) and having to pay just to check my e-mail.

That being said, expect about a million a few posts today to update everyone about how my first week has been Spain! Isn't it weird to think that I had been counting down for so long to leave and come to Spain, and now I've already been here a week :)

Addicted To Internet?????

Sorry I haven´t posted in so long. Although we found this wonderful piso, it doesn´t have internet. I never really realized how much I depended on/was addicted to internet until I had to go the last three days without it. It feels so weird not being able to check my e-mail or even update my blog, but, I now live in Malaga. What do you do when you live in the South of Spain and don´t have internet.....go to the beach!!! I´ve literally been to the beach almost everyday since I got here :) 

I don´t know if I mentioned this before, but Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, and the city takes great pride in this. So yesterday, I went to the Picasso museum with one of my friends from the hostel, and it was a special treat because the museum is free on the last Sunday of every month. It was amazing to see such a large collection of Picasso´s works! There was a special exhibit of photographs of Picasso, and it was so cool to see him captured in the moment of painting some of his works, and then walk into the next room and see the actual finished artwork! 

Hopefully we can get our internet set up in the next couple of days and I´ll be able to share some photos. 

Until then...I´m going back to the beach :)

Spanish Word Of The Day

"Piso"

Piso (pee-so): Apartment

Piso is the word used in Spain for apartment.  I'm pretty sure this word is unique to Spain because I told this Dominican guy that I was going to find my own piso in Spain, and he had no clue what I was talking about, and said he had never heard this word before; some other countries use apartamento for apartment.

I chose piso as the SWOD because I think I finally found a piso!!! The piso is right in the center of Malaga, and only about a ten minute walk from the beach :) The piso has four rooms and if everything works out, it will be myself, my friend Andrea from the hostel (who is French), and two Italian girls who are in the same Erasmus program as Andrea.

I think it's cool that even though none of us are from Spain, Spanish is the only language we have in common. I also think it's cool that one of my goals before I came to Spain was to learn French, so now I have the chance to learn French and Italian without even leaving my piso. 

 

Day 2

Even though I was talking all of that stuff yesterday about how I wasn't tired even though I had been awake for a couple of days, when I finally went to sleep...it was a different story. I had plans to go apartment hunting with a girl I met at the hostel at 10 this morning, but I definitely didn't wake up until 1:30 this afternoon ;)

Since I got a late start, I just started looking for apartments on the internet, and calling to see if they were still available. Most of them had already been rented, or were too far out of the center. Luckily, the girl I met in the hostel, Andrea, has quickly become a friend and apartment hunting life saver. She has been here a few days, and has already been to about eight apartments, so she has seen what is out there.

I tagged along as she visited an apartment with a great price and perfect location in the center of Malaga; but just like everything else, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. Although the apartment had a large, open, living room with french doors made out of glass leading to a balcony, the kitchen, rooms, and bathrooms were very small. 

Luckily, we now have a lead on an apartment from one of the guys who works at the hostel, and we hope to go see it tomorrow. After apartment hunting all day, I'm going to try to go to dinner with some other Auxiliares who are also here in Malaga, and go to a salsa club tonight with Andrea. 

Dinner and salsa lessons...sounds like a great night :)

I'm Here!!!!!!

After three planes, three countries, and two days...I'M HERE!!!!!! After all of the anticipation and preparation, I finally made it back to Spain. I had very smooth trip the entire way, and easily caught a taxi from the airport to my hostel. I didn't do much today, I got to my hostel about 1:00, walked around the city a bit, and got a Spanish cell phone.

Even though I've been up for so long--I left at 8 am EST on Monday, and it's now 1:08 am on Wednesday in Spain--I am not tired at all! Malaga is a beautiful city with centuries old architecture, and the wonderful combination of eternal sunshine, no humidity, and smooth breezes off of the Mediterranean.

Here are a few pictures I snapped while walking today:

Teatro Romano

The Mediterranean close to the Port of Malaga

I think the shadows off of the palm trees look kinda cool in this one.

***1,000***

So I was going to write this post about how I have "x" amount of hours left until I leave, and how I have no idea how I'm going to finish packing...BUT, I just checked my stats and I've passed 1,000 views!!!!!

I posted before about how I enjoy seeing all of the different countries where people have read my blog, and even though I have been super a little slow posting this week because of the big move Monday, I managed to accomplish another blogging goal: having my blog read on every continent (minus Antarctica).

I quickly found readers in North America and Europe (United States and Spain), and I have a cousin who was studying in Argentina who crossed South America off of my list for me. Then after joining 20 Something Bloggers, I found readers in Australia and Japan, so the only continent (still not including Antarctica) that I was missing, was Africa.

Then it happened...I got a view from Zambia!!! The only things I know about Zambia are that it is in southern Africa, and it helped me complete my list (North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia) of continents where my blog has been read. It's kind of cool to be able to say that your blog has literally been read all over the world :)

Thanks to everyone for reading and I hope everyone is excited as I am to leave tomorrow and begin this adventure in Spain!!

Last Day

It's hard to believe tomorrow is my last day in the U.S. for at least a year--maybe two. Even though I've said goodbye to all of my friends, gone to visit my grandmas and extended family, and started packing, it still hasn't hit me yet that in two days, I will be moving halfway across the world. 

I keep telling myself I only have two more nights to sleep in my bed, two more days of driving my car, and two more days of being in North Carolina period, but for some reason, this still feels like any other week. When I studied abroad in Spain, it didn't sink in that I was moving out of the country until I was literally at the airport, so at this rate, hopefully Monday morning I'll wake up and be able to comprehend that it's the last time I'll wake up on American soil for the next year.

If you had twenty-fours hour left in the U.S. before you moved abroad for a year, what is the one thing you would make sure to do on your last day in the States?

Spanish Word Of The Day

"Visado"

Visado (vee-sah-doh): Visa

It's here!!!!!!! The last thing that I have been waiting on to make my move to Spain official was my visado, and today, it arrived!!!!! A few weeks ago, I did a post about all of the paperwork required for the Visa , and after all of the waiting, all of the background checks, and a trip to Washington, DC...it's here!!!

 Now it truly is official, next Monday morning I'll be moving to Spain. :)

Six Days!!!!!!

SIX DAYS

In six days, I will be boarding a plane with a one-way ticket to Spain. I've waited for this for soooo long it almost seems surreal to have less than one week until I leave.

Spanish Word Of The Day

"Medicina"

Medicina (meh-dee-scene-ah): Medicine

Today's SWOD is pretty straight forward. Medicina is only one letter different from it's English cognate, medicine.

I went to the dentist today to get a filling, and even though it was a quick and painless process, I literally couldn't feel OR move the right side of my mouth for a couple of hours after my appointment. This made for a very interesting afternoon at work trying to speak Spanish only having the ability to move one side of my mouth. Needless to say, there were plenty of laughs all around :)

A "Real" Blogger

Since I began the process of applying to the program to teach in Spain, I have known that I wanted to start a blog to document my experiences. For months I read other blogs daily, made notes of features that I liked and disliked, and thought of possible posts that I would like to share.

At first, blogging seemed sooo easy--just pick a pretty background and write about whatever you like. Although I have to admit that Blogger has been very easy to use (especially for someone whose use of the computer extends to skype, music, and the internet), I've learned that blogging is so much more than I thought it was. While you have all of these great ideas for blog posts, things get more difficult when you have to decide whether you want to write long, thoughtful posts, or short, informative or even funny posts. Then once you know what type of posts you want to write, it's amazing how hard it is to actually continue to post regularly.

 That being said, after all the trials and tribulations, I now feel like I am officially a blogger. I have been featured on another blog, made some "blogger friends," and have been welcomed as a member of 20 Something Bloggers --an international group of ummm...bloggers in their twenties ;)

  

For all of you bloggers out there, when did you start to feel like you were a real blogger?

Featured

I've got some exciting news!!!! For the first time, I've been featured on another blog!!!  Cathy, one of my first "blogger-friends" (by the way Cathy, we're now blogger-friends) has featured me as her first ever Reader Spotlight! 

Cathy had a great idea to feature one of her readers every month and I was lucky enough to be chosen to be her first featured reader. Head on over and check out her blog, Mi Nuevo Capitulo...My New Chapter!

Two Weeks

TWO WEEKS!!!!

In exactly TWO WEEKS I will be hopping on a plane to start my new life in the South of Spain ;)

5-0-0

***500***

We've just passed 500 views!!!! I know it was a little slow getting here due to my very irregular posting habits, but now I've had over 500 views. Even though I know that this is still a small number of views in the blog realm, it means a lot to me. I love following my audience stats and seeing where my readers are from--so much in fact that I've added a live traffic feed to the left so everyone can see how diverse the audience is.

It's so cool to me that I've had people read my blog from Jamaica, Argentina, Germany, Canada, and even Australia!! I'd like to thank you all (that might be the first time I've ever said you all instead of yall) for reading, sharing, and commenting on my blog! 


Let's see how quickly we can reach 1000 ;)

Spanish Word Of The Day

"Piscina"

Piscina (pi-scene-ah): swimming pool

 

Since I'm at the beach this weekend, I thought I would give a "beach-themed" SWOD (please forgive the fact that I still have been lacking in the daily part.)

On those hot summer days, people worldwide love to spend their day at the piscina.

My view today at la piscina.