Self Control

So I was talking to my one friend, and I realized... its gonna be freaking HARD to keep my hands to myself with all the cute suave European men over there!
This is a demonstration (with my fabulous art skills) of what could happen without practicing proper control:

as you can see, if I am not careful, the poor, unaware, sexy European guys might get attacked. Lets all hope this does NOT happen so all those sexy Europeans can keep their backs unbroken ;)
For those of you looking to practice control, carry around a blindfold! ;D



hehehe this was just a humorous lil' post. I promise to not jump any European men! :P Merry Christmas everyone!

29 days!!!!!

-Christy

Granada, España!

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Well, 38 days left here in America until I'm flying away for Spain, but who's counting? I was thinking about what I could write about before I left, and then I realized I hadn't really said much about where I was going.

So this post will be about what I know about the city of Granada!(With a little help from my good friend, Wikipedia.)

Granada, España is in the south of Spain, in Andalusia. It is about an hour from the coast of the Alboran Sea. It's also very close to the Sierra Nevada National Park which is a popular ski location.

The population of Granada is somewhere around 250,000, however the entire urban area of Granada contains a little less than 475,000, ranking it as the 13th largest urban area in Spain. 

one of the things Granada is most famous for, is the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a giant castle/fortress that was originally constructed around the 10th century by the Arabic ruler Badis ben Habus. It was re-conquered by the Spanish Catholic Monarchs around 1492 and parts of the castle were added on by Charles V. The castle was abandoned and fell into disrepair until "rediscovered" in the 19th century by European scholars. It is one of the top attractions in Spain and is considered by some to be one of the 10 wonders of the world. If you would like to read more about the Alhambra, go here. 

The University of Granada is one of the top ranked Universities in Spain and is one of the top destination Universities for europeans and exchange students. The city of Granada itself is considered one of the cheapest cities for college students to live in. It is also famous for its free tapas, which are like little appetizers. Granada offers many cultural activities and Flamenco is popular there. 

I'm sure most of you can understand why I'm so excited to go to Granada. I will definitely post more about my views on the city while I'm there as well as a lot of photos! :)

VISA!!!!!

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Well, I've been kinda sorta panicking this week. It always seems before something good happens, I start to freak.
For example:

I had applied to one college when I was a senior in high school. I guess I could have applied to more schools  but I'm gonna be honest with you. I did NOT want to write any essays. So I applied to IUP because I didn't have to write one (although it was strongly recommended). I had good grades and rather decent SAT scores, so I was decently confident I would make it in without a problem. A couple of weeks go by after I send in my application and I'm thinking, Okay. This is normal. They have a lot of applications coming in and it will take them a little bit to get to mine. A couple more weeks pass and that's where I start to freak. I wasn't going to be accepted. It was taking way too long! I didn't write an essay. . . WHY DIDN'T I WRITE ONE??!
 I started having nightmares about being rejected. What the heck was I going to do? It was too late to apply to other schools. I was going to be a sad McDonald's employee for the rest of my life.
When I finally resigned to my fate of flipping burgers and frying fries, I got the letter in the mail. I was accepted into college!

Anyways, my point is, I tend to overreact before things happen - especially when that thing is important to me! The same thing has kinda been happening with my visa over the last couple of days. It's been on my mind constantly! What if I don't get it? What if it gets lost in the mail? What if I filled out my forms incorrectly and have to reapply? I was so worried that if I didn't get it, I would still have to pay the fee for the program, which isn't cheap ladies and gentlemen! But, God has an awesome way of working things out and I found out today, after resigning to the fact that I wasn't going to get it, that it arrived in the mail with my passport! :D

So, plane ticket - check! Visa - Check! Passport - Check! Camera - Check! Journal - Check!
Looks like I'm almost ready to go!

48 DAYS!!!!!!

-Christy

Who am I?

Well, I figured while I'm wasting time, I might as well introduce myself for those of you who have stumbled upon my page and have no idea who I am.

My name is Christy, I'm 21 years old and I'm a Spanish major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, or IUP for short. 

My personality is kinda indescribable, but I've been told I have a loud (slightly obnoxious) laugh that is rather contagious, and a happy-go-lucky personality. I try to stay positive and look at the world with rose colored glasses. 

I'm addicted to traveling and learning about new cultures, which is probably why I decided to be a language major. After graduating from College with my degree in Spanish, I want to get my certification to teach English in foreign countries and then go to South Korea to teach for a year. From there, I want to go to Spain to teach, then the middle east, and then finally, China. 

By this time I should know about 5 different languages (including English) and I will hopefully be able to return to the states and be a translator or interpreter, possibly for the government. 

If those plans fail, I'll be either a flight attendant, a street performer, or join the circus. Who wouldn't want to learn how to swallow knives??! 

I've always wanted to travel to Spain/Europe and now that this dream is coming true, I'm so excited to share it with everyone!! I know how hard it can be for some people to travel with jobs and such, but I'm really hoping this blog will take you along with me and we can explore Europe together! :) 

What has always been your dream destination?

Besos!

-Christy

Prep prep prep!

Oh Goodness.
It is almost exactly two months until I hop on flight 8046 to Granada, Spain to spend 4 ENTIRE. MONTHS. there.
Alone.

I'm freaking out here.

I'm already starting to plan everything out. I have a packing list already pre-made, I'm already busting my wallet for my "Spanish wardrobe", and my journal has already been bought! I've been DYING to write in it - hence this lovely little blog that I've created! I actually wrote a lil' quote in it already...shhh, don't tell! ;)

And more importantly, my Spanish dictionary is starting to fall apart a little from all the use its been getting from my two Spanish classes! I'm so nervous my Spanish will not be "up-to-par" when I get there. But, I need to keep reminding myself that I'm going to Spain to LEARN Spanish - NOT to go there and be like, oh hey! I already know Spanish....why am I here again?
That would be kinda pointless.
And too easy. Where's the fun in that?

Anyways, Spain.

I bought some tourbooks (heh. by some, I mean 4. I'm kinda a secret tourbook junkie. I spent like 2 hours sitting in barnes and noble trying to decide which book to get and then ended up just buying them all because I seriously could. not. decide. Did I mention I'm also hopelessly indecisive? I did? Good.) and I've been obsessing over each and every one of them. Two of the books are specifically on Spain: Lonely Planet's Spain (Here) which I enjoyed. I really liked how they had a "understand Spain" section in the back. Really useful information! The other Spain book I got was Rick Steves' Spain 2012 (here) which was also really good. Apparently if you show his book to the places he mentions in his book, you can get discounts! (even the e-book on your kindle, which is what I have.)
The two other books I purchased were Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring (here) and Let's Go Europe 2012: The student travel guide (here).
As Good as the Lonely Planet guides are, ( I would recommend them in a heartbeat to any traveler! They are very good sources!!!) I LOVE the Let's Go Europe 2012 book! Maybe its because I'm a poor college student and it practically spoke to me when I read it. It gives information on Hostels and cheap dining, as well as interesting locations specifically for the traveling college student. It's, in a word, AWESOME.
I would HIGHLYYYY recommend it for any college student that is looking fora  cheap way to travel!
I'm planning on touring around Europe. After all, why not? I'll be in Spain. Might as well see it all, right?
I'm thinking I'm going to hit up Italy, Greece, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, as well as others. I'm so. excited.
It has ALWAYS and I mean alwayyyssss been my dream to backpack around Europe. So this is kinda like a HELL YES moment in my life. Besides, do it all while your young because you only live once. Pretty soon, you could be married, with babies...and cats. And who can travel with 8 children, 12 cats and a husband? Not this girl, I can tell you that!

Anyways, I'm not planning on posting very often before my trip, but whenever I get excited about Spain and get an uncontrollable urge to write about it, you'll know.
Trust me.
Until then, stay awesome.

Christy