This post is going to be short, I just want to say a few things.
First, I told you that I had finished the training course for teaching English and I was assigned a class already. I will be teaching a 13 year old girl in a very nice part of town north of where I live. I teach her every Tuesday and Thursday from 5 30 to 6 30. I was supposed to begin today, or at least I thought, but when I arrived at the house, the mother said that I was beginning after the break. We have Thursday and Friday off from school and everyone travels during this time. I guess she didn't want to have one class and then wait a week for the next. I think this girl has a fairly good grasp of English already because she has requested 30 min of grammar and 30 min of conversation. Can you believe that, I get paid to talk to her for 30 min, in my native language none the less. As soon as I finish the 10 internship teaching hours, this teaching gig will be worth every penny. I do actually have to do work, so it's not all fun and games. I prepare lesson plans and games and topics of discussion. I will let you guys know how it goes after my first class.
As for this trip I am taking this weekend, things have changed a little. We originally planned on renting a car and driving along the coast of Portugal until we found surf but I don't think that is possible anymore. Although it would be an amazing and beautiful drive, I can't afford to rent a car when I could easily get to most cities in Portugal for half the price or less. So far all that is planned is our tickets to Cádiz. We are going to try to surf there for a day and then figure out what we want to do, who knows, we might spend the whole weekend in Cádiz if the surf is good.
I have added a few more pictures to the Madrid photo album and I have added one more photo of my room with all my stuff in it. Next time you here from me, will be sometime next week.
Patton
martes, 30 de octubre de 2007
sábado, 27 de octubre de 2007
English classes and a weekend trip
Recently I have been very busy. As you know, school is tough and I am working pretty hard. Because I am working really hard I usually forget to take my camera with me. I have uploaded a few photos into a general Madrid photo album and I will constantly update that one with more photos.
I have started this program here in Madrid where I can be certified in 20 hours to teach English. I just completed a 10 hour training course and I am beginning the 10 hour internship the first week in Nov. The great part about this program is it is completely free! I didn't have to pay a dime to take the courses. Also they guarantee at least 13 Euro an hour, which is about 18 to 19 dollars an hour with the exchange rate we have right now. I hope this will bring in a little extra spending money, so that I can finance some of my day trips or even the longer ones. I also was looking for a job as a waiter or something similar but had no luck. I thought that would be better, especially for practicing Spanish, but I was unable to find anything. Most places require you to have a working Visa, which I don't have. I am not going to teach that much during the week, maybe 6 hours a week, so hopefully it won't affect my Spanish.
As far as some upcoming trips, I have planned to rent a car and drive the coast of Portugal and surf with a few of my buddies from Mexico. We are taking a night bus on the 31 of October to Cadiz in the south of Spain, and surf there for a day. From there, we are going to Jerez, a few kilometers north for some sherry tasting. And finally renting the car and driving to the west coast of Portugal. It should be beautiful and really fun. The weather is supposed to be sunny and excellent so cross your fingers. My buddy James speaks a little Portuguese so we will be able to get around just fine. I will let you know how it goes.
That is it for now. More news when I return from my trip.
I have started this program here in Madrid where I can be certified in 20 hours to teach English. I just completed a 10 hour training course and I am beginning the 10 hour internship the first week in Nov. The great part about this program is it is completely free! I didn't have to pay a dime to take the courses. Also they guarantee at least 13 Euro an hour, which is about 18 to 19 dollars an hour with the exchange rate we have right now. I hope this will bring in a little extra spending money, so that I can finance some of my day trips or even the longer ones. I also was looking for a job as a waiter or something similar but had no luck. I thought that would be better, especially for practicing Spanish, but I was unable to find anything. Most places require you to have a working Visa, which I don't have. I am not going to teach that much during the week, maybe 6 hours a week, so hopefully it won't affect my Spanish.
As far as some upcoming trips, I have planned to rent a car and drive the coast of Portugal and surf with a few of my buddies from Mexico. We are taking a night bus on the 31 of October to Cadiz in the south of Spain, and surf there for a day. From there, we are going to Jerez, a few kilometers north for some sherry tasting. And finally renting the car and driving to the west coast of Portugal. It should be beautiful and really fun. The weather is supposed to be sunny and excellent so cross your fingers. My buddy James speaks a little Portuguese so we will be able to get around just fine. I will let you know how it goes.
That is it for now. More news when I return from my trip.
viernes, 19 de octubre de 2007
School
So school has been going really well.... I think. I am having trouble understanding what the teachers expect from us, us being foreign exchange students. Some teachers hand out entirely different syllabus' for the exchange students. Our program director helped us pick out classes and teachers that she thought we would be able to handle. She would tell us whether they would fail or be kind to the fact that we are not native speakers. As for me, my classes are as follows
Monday and Tuesday:
Developmental Economy - 10:00 to 11:30
Latin American Novels in the 20th Century - 1:00 to 2:30
Spanish Literature from 1975 to present - 3:00 to 4:30
Wednesday and Thursday:
Advanced Grammar and Composition - 10:00 to 11:30
Friday: NO CLASS!!!
We have just finished our third week of class and on Monday we will begin our fourth. I have visited a few of the teachers to talk about the classes and I will finish up the rest next week. I would like to take some other classes like a history of Spain class but I don't want to overload myself, especially since classes are in Spanish and that is not my native language. I have decided to take on the Spanish Minor because I am fairly close to completing the minor just by coming on this trip. The classes I am taking will (hopefully) all count for credit but I must petition for it when I return.
On other news, Madrid is great. John's parents and Seara's mom and aunt have been visiting for the past week and a half. It has been great company and I enjoy sharing our experiences with them. I have seen some parts of town that I have not seen before, which I am noting in my notebook for future reference. As well as eating at some great restaurants which I have noted as well. Don't worry mom and dad, Seara's mom and Aunt are checking out all the great hotels in the area. They had a little trouble with flights and ended up spending the week in Madrid when they originally planned on traveling a little. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, I continually forget to bring my camera out with me but hopefully I can retrieve some pictures from Seara's camera and John's camera.
Last weekend my roommates and I hung out all together for the first time and it was a lot of fun. We have a very small salon but it was fun, all of us crammed into the tiny room. I would like to have more of those small gatherings. It is good for my spanish to practice and good for our relationship. Being as Seara's mom and John's parents have been here, I haven't practice that much spanish, oops. There almost gone, it's ok, haha! Cooking here has been great. I buy smaller portions which is working out pefectly. The grocery store is two doors down from my apartment which is really convenient. Also, buying small portions allows me keep the food that I buy fresh instead of throwing it away. I have to learn how to make some awesome traditional Spanish dishes, some day...
That is all I can think of now. Next time there will be pictures, I promise!
Patton
Monday and Tuesday:
Developmental Economy - 10:00 to 11:30
Latin American Novels in the 20th Century - 1:00 to 2:30
Spanish Literature from 1975 to present - 3:00 to 4:30
Wednesday and Thursday:
Advanced Grammar and Composition - 10:00 to 11:30
Friday: NO CLASS!!!
We have just finished our third week of class and on Monday we will begin our fourth. I have visited a few of the teachers to talk about the classes and I will finish up the rest next week. I would like to take some other classes like a history of Spain class but I don't want to overload myself, especially since classes are in Spanish and that is not my native language. I have decided to take on the Spanish Minor because I am fairly close to completing the minor just by coming on this trip. The classes I am taking will (hopefully) all count for credit but I must petition for it when I return.
On other news, Madrid is great. John's parents and Seara's mom and aunt have been visiting for the past week and a half. It has been great company and I enjoy sharing our experiences with them. I have seen some parts of town that I have not seen before, which I am noting in my notebook for future reference. As well as eating at some great restaurants which I have noted as well. Don't worry mom and dad, Seara's mom and Aunt are checking out all the great hotels in the area. They had a little trouble with flights and ended up spending the week in Madrid when they originally planned on traveling a little. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, I continually forget to bring my camera out with me but hopefully I can retrieve some pictures from Seara's camera and John's camera.
Last weekend my roommates and I hung out all together for the first time and it was a lot of fun. We have a very small salon but it was fun, all of us crammed into the tiny room. I would like to have more of those small gatherings. It is good for my spanish to practice and good for our relationship. Being as Seara's mom and John's parents have been here, I haven't practice that much spanish, oops. There almost gone, it's ok, haha! Cooking here has been great. I buy smaller portions which is working out pefectly. The grocery store is two doors down from my apartment which is really convenient. Also, buying small portions allows me keep the food that I buy fresh instead of throwing it away. I have to learn how to make some awesome traditional Spanish dishes, some day...
That is all I can think of now. Next time there will be pictures, I promise!
Patton
miércoles, 10 de octubre de 2007
Everything up to this point!
So I have decided to create a blog. I decided that it would be the best way to write down stories and tell my friends and family without dictating to them through emails a million times. Also I will be able to look back at this blog and read what I have written about my travels and reminisce. I am going to give a quick over view of what I have done so far but after this one I will try and write more frequently. Let's see, where to begin.
Leaving Mexico:
Of course I had trouble flying. For those of you who don't know, I run into a lot of trouble coming home from Mexico. I was stuck in Mexico City airport without a flight or a place to stay and I had to think quickly. I was supposed to go directly to SF from Mexico City but I missed my flight due to my previous flight from Morelia arriving late. I got the next flight to LA, which was the only thing left available that day (otherwise I would have had to wait for a few days which wasn't going to happen!). From LA I was supposed to buy a ticket to Oakland but by the time I got to LA the airport had closed and no more flights were leaving that day. I spent the night in LA airport with all my luggage and first thing the next morning, I bought a ticket to Oakland at the earliest possible time. Finally I made it home and spent some time with my mom before she left that morning to help my sister move into her dorm room at Morehead State University. I was supposed to arrive on the 15th, in time to take my mom to the airport on the 16th, but I did not arrive until the morning of the 16th, with just enough time to get my mom to the airport.
Arrival:
So, things were going very smoothly when I left SFO on the 23rd in the afternoon. I had a lovely 1o hour flight London and I was excited about the last leg of my trip to Madrid. Of course, I had flight problems. It started out by waiting on the plane for 3 hours without moving at all. At this point I was already worried because I told Seara to meet me in the airport at a certain time, the time when I was supposed to land. I was already late. Three hours later, they tell us there is a technical difficulty with the plane and they are going to have to deboard and move us to another plane. By this time, everyone is a little ticked off. We now have to walk halfway across Heathrow airport to the other boarding gate and board another plane. By the time we all get there, over the loud speaker, a voice tells us that our flight has been canceled and we must make our way back to the ticket office and reschedule our tickets. Everyone is pissed! We walk all the way back, again, and wait in huge lines to get a rescheduled flight. At this point, I was a little fortunate. I met a few people who were students doing the same thing I was. We bonded of course and hung out that night. The airlines were gracious enough to provide us with water while we waited in line and fully refund our tickets. They also gave us a place to stay and food for the night and next morning. Now I am really worried about Seara but I had no way of contacting her. It was very stressful. I finally get to the airport and take a taxi to the meeting place and who is waiting in the Lobby, Seara! good timing. After that, everything went smoothly. We had orientation, a free day and the school started for the Intensive language program, ILP
ILP:
Great month! I met a lot of people, had a great time. Classes were going well, and everything was great. I learned a lot from my classes, history of Spain and Madrid, Spanish Literature and a lot of grammar. At the same time, it was stressful. I was crushed for time to find a place to live for the year. It is more difficult than one would think. If you like a place, you can't wait around and think about it because someone else will have already signed the lease, it was very competitive. I found a great place and I am living in it right now and I love it. Here are some pictures. Its great!
One of our classes was the history of Madrid, which was probably one of my favorite classes. Every Tuesday we learned about Madrid and then went on excursions on Thursday. After the Excursions the teachers took us all out to typical Spanish food, Tapas. It always was a lot of fun. The teachers were also a lot of fun and they say they are going to contact us for Thanksgiving, we might have a big dinner together! Even though the ILP was a lot of fun, I was not quite settled in anywhere. Now that I am settled in my apartment, I feel more Spanish and more comfortable.
Here are some more pictures from the ILP.
Week Vacation:
In between real classes at the university and the ILP, there was a week break. Seara, Rebecca and I travled to Brussels and Lille, then Seara and I went to Amsterdam and then back to Brussels. The night we left for vacation, Madrid had a huge cultural festival called Noche en Blanco. All the museums and cultural centers were open all night and anyone can go in for free. There were also concerts and people everywhere. Being as there was people everywhere, we had a lot of trouble getting to the airport and almost missed our flight. I remember thinking "Oh no, here we go again" but thankfully we made it. We had to take a night bus to the airport which was filled with people trying to get home from the Noche en Blanco, that is why it was so tough. The bus also dropped us off about 15min from the airport and we had to find our way to the airport. We could see it across the freeway but we weren't sure how to get there until we asked for directions. Finally we made it. As for the trip, it was amazing. Brussels, Lille and Amsterdam are all beautiful Cities. If you are thinking Belgium Waffles right now, you are on the right track. They are amazing! The Chocolate is also amazing. Brussels is just an all-around great city. It has so much to offer, I wish I could have spent more time there. In each town, we came across guide books that had recommendations for tourists and such like that. Of course we went to some cool museums and as well some cool local spots. I won't spend that much time describing the whole trip but I will say that those three cities are must-see. Lille has the second biggest art collection in France (second compared to the Louvre), Brussels has waffles, chocolate and the European Parliament building. Also Waterloo is just south of Brussels. Last but not least, Amsterdam, which has more museums per square kilometer than any other city in Europe.
Here are some pictures of the places I went.
Now:
Now we are in our second week of school and it is a lot of fun. School will be tough but I am looking forward to challenging myself. It's nice to know that everyone else is doing the same thing. I have seen a few friends since I have been here, such as John Sloat, Matt W., James and Katie from Mexico, and my friends I met in London in Heathrow. Everything is going great. I love my place, my roommates everything. I haven't taken many pictures in a while because I am in school now and I haven't gone many places but around town. Soon more pictures will be up and more stories. Look our for some more soon.
Patton
Leaving Mexico:
Of course I had trouble flying. For those of you who don't know, I run into a lot of trouble coming home from Mexico. I was stuck in Mexico City airport without a flight or a place to stay and I had to think quickly. I was supposed to go directly to SF from Mexico City but I missed my flight due to my previous flight from Morelia arriving late. I got the next flight to LA, which was the only thing left available that day (otherwise I would have had to wait for a few days which wasn't going to happen!). From LA I was supposed to buy a ticket to Oakland but by the time I got to LA the airport had closed and no more flights were leaving that day. I spent the night in LA airport with all my luggage and first thing the next morning, I bought a ticket to Oakland at the earliest possible time. Finally I made it home and spent some time with my mom before she left that morning to help my sister move into her dorm room at Morehead State University. I was supposed to arrive on the 15th, in time to take my mom to the airport on the 16th, but I did not arrive until the morning of the 16th, with just enough time to get my mom to the airport.
Arrival:
So, things were going very smoothly when I left SFO on the 23rd in the afternoon. I had a lovely 1o hour flight London and I was excited about the last leg of my trip to Madrid. Of course, I had flight problems. It started out by waiting on the plane for 3 hours without moving at all. At this point I was already worried because I told Seara to meet me in the airport at a certain time, the time when I was supposed to land. I was already late. Three hours later, they tell us there is a technical difficulty with the plane and they are going to have to deboard and move us to another plane. By this time, everyone is a little ticked off. We now have to walk halfway across Heathrow airport to the other boarding gate and board another plane. By the time we all get there, over the loud speaker, a voice tells us that our flight has been canceled and we must make our way back to the ticket office and reschedule our tickets. Everyone is pissed! We walk all the way back, again, and wait in huge lines to get a rescheduled flight. At this point, I was a little fortunate. I met a few people who were students doing the same thing I was. We bonded of course and hung out that night. The airlines were gracious enough to provide us with water while we waited in line and fully refund our tickets. They also gave us a place to stay and food for the night and next morning. Now I am really worried about Seara but I had no way of contacting her. It was very stressful. I finally get to the airport and take a taxi to the meeting place and who is waiting in the Lobby, Seara! good timing. After that, everything went smoothly. We had orientation, a free day and the school started for the Intensive language program, ILP
ILP:
Great month! I met a lot of people, had a great time. Classes were going well, and everything was great. I learned a lot from my classes, history of Spain and Madrid, Spanish Literature and a lot of grammar. At the same time, it was stressful. I was crushed for time to find a place to live for the year. It is more difficult than one would think. If you like a place, you can't wait around and think about it because someone else will have already signed the lease, it was very competitive. I found a great place and I am living in it right now and I love it. Here are some pictures. Its great!
One of our classes was the history of Madrid, which was probably one of my favorite classes. Every Tuesday we learned about Madrid and then went on excursions on Thursday. After the Excursions the teachers took us all out to typical Spanish food, Tapas. It always was a lot of fun. The teachers were also a lot of fun and they say they are going to contact us for Thanksgiving, we might have a big dinner together! Even though the ILP was a lot of fun, I was not quite settled in anywhere. Now that I am settled in my apartment, I feel more Spanish and more comfortable.
Here are some more pictures from the ILP.
Week Vacation:
In between real classes at the university and the ILP, there was a week break. Seara, Rebecca and I travled to Brussels and Lille, then Seara and I went to Amsterdam and then back to Brussels. The night we left for vacation, Madrid had a huge cultural festival called Noche en Blanco. All the museums and cultural centers were open all night and anyone can go in for free. There were also concerts and people everywhere. Being as there was people everywhere, we had a lot of trouble getting to the airport and almost missed our flight. I remember thinking "Oh no, here we go again" but thankfully we made it. We had to take a night bus to the airport which was filled with people trying to get home from the Noche en Blanco, that is why it was so tough. The bus also dropped us off about 15min from the airport and we had to find our way to the airport. We could see it across the freeway but we weren't sure how to get there until we asked for directions. Finally we made it. As for the trip, it was amazing. Brussels, Lille and Amsterdam are all beautiful Cities. If you are thinking Belgium Waffles right now, you are on the right track. They are amazing! The Chocolate is also amazing. Brussels is just an all-around great city. It has so much to offer, I wish I could have spent more time there. In each town, we came across guide books that had recommendations for tourists and such like that. Of course we went to some cool museums and as well some cool local spots. I won't spend that much time describing the whole trip but I will say that those three cities are must-see. Lille has the second biggest art collection in France (second compared to the Louvre), Brussels has waffles, chocolate and the European Parliament building. Also Waterloo is just south of Brussels. Last but not least, Amsterdam, which has more museums per square kilometer than any other city in Europe.
Here are some pictures of the places I went.
Now:
Now we are in our second week of school and it is a lot of fun. School will be tough but I am looking forward to challenging myself. It's nice to know that everyone else is doing the same thing. I have seen a few friends since I have been here, such as John Sloat, Matt W., James and Katie from Mexico, and my friends I met in London in Heathrow. Everything is going great. I love my place, my roommates everything. I haven't taken many pictures in a while because I am in school now and I haven't gone many places but around town. Soon more pictures will be up and more stories. Look our for some more soon.
Patton
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