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My Spanish home

•August 22, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Yesterday I emailed my program to get the contact information for my Spanish roommate. I figured I have 2 weeks left until class starts, and chances are they would have given me the information soon, but since I’ll be in Spain next week I figured I should ask now to make sure I get the information before I leave the States.

My host is a librarian and lives with her husband. She and her spouse are about the same age as my parents. My sister commented that this makes it kind of like a homestay, except that I’m cooking for myself. They live in a 3-floor flat, and looking at the address I think they own the whole building, not just one floor (since it’s just a number, and not, say, 3 4º D/puerta 1/etc, which indicates a floor and room). The flat is a 20 – 25 minute walk to the school and located in the Triana neighborhood. I cross the river and pass a large supermarket on the way to class. My room is “luminous” apparently with a terrace and other students will be living in the building. I wonder if these will all be students in my particular program or various programs throughout Seville.

The .pdf that had my host’s information only had a name, address, and 2 phone numbers, but upon looking at the email it came in, they have an email address listed for her too. My sister only got a name, address and phone number for her housing, so she sent them a letter a few weeks introducing herself and providing her contact information (including email). They haven’t gotten back to her, so we don’t know if they never got the letter or what.

I plan on sending my host an email. I’m not sure what to say in it. I sure hope I’m not the first Black student they’ve ever hosted. Also, since other students will be living there, they could be potential friends, annoyances, or more likely people I’m more-or-less indifferent to. We’ll see.

7 days left.

Posted in My Spanish home, My Spanish hosts

Down to the wire

•August 18, 2011 • 5 Comments

11 days until I leave, almost to the hour. I’ve been working on some last-minute moving preparations, some which may seem obvious to those who have moved overseas before, but all are new to me. I know no one personally who can give me some advice, so it’s all been a learning experience.

I had some appliances that I wanted to bring with me. 2 kitchen appliances, a hair dryer, and a hair straightener. I was aware that my laptop/camera only need an adapter, not a converter, but I wasn’t sure if this was the case for my appliances. Also, I didn’t know why my laptop/camera only need an adapter. My sister linked me to an article about voltage and electronics in Europe, but neither of us understood if the article implied that I needed a converter.

So I asked the internet. I learned that yes, my appliances would need a converter if I brought them with me. My camera /laptop don’t need one because they have a voltage range from 100 – 240V (or something similar), meaning that they will work in all countries within that range, they just need an adapter to fit into the proper outlets. One of my kitchen appliances has a voltage of 120V, for example, so it would need to be converted. After reading the advice and anecdotes I was given, and after looking at the reviews of converters on Amazon, which seem to have an equal number of 5 star and 1 star ratings, it seems easier and safer to leave my appliances here and just some find inexpensive ones while abroad. People talked about fuses being blown, their appliances melting or catching on fire, or the converter itself making weird noises or starting to smoke, so it seems less stressful to just buy some European appliances. My suitcase is markedly lighter without these appliances, which is nice.

Next I need an international calling card. To call my parents in America, I’ll most likely just use Skype or Google Voice, but 1) I have some business to periodically attend to in America that needs an actual phone, and 2) I need something that will allow me to call international phone numbers from outside of Spain, either with my cell phone or a landline/payphone. I went to Amazon, and they mentioned Digitz. I went to the website and these cards seem to be good, but the information available on the website is about calling internationally from America, not the other way around. I wanted to call the website to see if I could call the US from abroad, and the website itself says call or email if you have questions, but no phone number is listed so I emailed.

Just in case Digitz is indeed just for Americans who wish to call abroad, I’m looking at another company and card, the ZapTel True North card. According to the blog I found this link off of, this card does indeed call worldwide. They also boast no hidden fees, just like Digitz, so hopefully between one of these companies I’ll be taken care of.

I think these are the last big things I need to take care of. I have a couple of odds and ends to purchase, like a little more cooking supplies and some American measuring cups/spoons. But I think I’m almost ready. Any day now.

Posted in Still prepping and planning

Comer y viajar a Italia

•August 6, 2011 • Leave a Comment

My family and I are watching “From Spain with Love” right now. Tonight’s show is about Southern Spain, so we’re familiarizing ourselves with the cuisine from this region, our region. As someone who loves fish, I’m glad that various types of pescado are cooked there. Hopefully they’re a fairly reasonable price, both at restaurants and supermarkets.

Although we have time, my sister and I are trying to figure out our Christmas and New Year’s plans. Her program ends on December 23th (mine a month later), and while she was originally going to just go home, she’s decided to stay about a week and a half longer so we can travel. All I can say is Gracias a Dios that I will not be spending the holidays alone lol. My school is off for 2 weeks and while I figured I’d travel, a lot of it was dependent on whether or not I have friends. Granted, I imagine that some people would possibly befriend me but it’s really almost all up to chance. And even if I found friends, would they like me and I them enough to travel for a couple weeks? Now it’s not an issue.

We’ve decided to go to Italy. I want to see a city or two there, as does she, and we feel like there’s nowhere else we’d want to spend a week at, so Italy it is. I’m trying to not get too worried about exact plans just yet, as I have a traveling buddy and that’s the most important part, but my sister wants to have more definite plans.

-We need to figure out how to cheaply travel to and from Italy (NOT RyanAir) and within the country itself (Eurorail? Eurobus?).

-The exact cites to visit are yet TBD. I’d like to see Florence and maybe Siena, she Venice and Milan; if we each must pick one than Florence and Venice (Like hell we’re going to Southern Italy lol).

-When should we leave? Before or after Christmas (Christmas is a Sunday this year)? This may be dependent on whether any Spaniards would like to welcome us into their home on Christmas. And if we do spend Christmas in Italy, would there be anything for us to do?

-What is there to do on New Year’s Eve, and which city would be best?

-How much should we budget for everything? We don’t want to be overly stingy, as part of the motivation for having this trip is to have a nice long vacation rather than solely weekend trips to fit in our respective schedules while class is in session, but I still have bills to pay.

I’m excited because I’ve never been on a vacation that was at least a week long in my 26 years of living. I’ve been in the process of vacating (aka on the road traveling ugh I hate road trips so much) but I’ve never spent a week at any destination anywhere. Save for maybe a summer at my grandparents’ house when I was 3 or 4.

So yeah…excited already 🙂

Posted in Food, Italy, Restaurants, Traveling

Pinching pennies

•August 6, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Every dollar counts.

Like I’ve mentioned, I’m stocking up on various things that I’ll need while abroad, mainly toiletries, hair stuff, things for the kitchen, and food to cook that I imagine isn’t available abroad. I also need to purchase a couple things for my netbook that I’ve been putting off until absolutely necessary. My sister and I are planning to make a couple of natural hair/body products to bring with us instead of paying big bucks for them. Because they usually have the cheapest prices, 95% of our shopping is done on Amazon and at Wal-Mart.

As inexpensive as things are at Wal-Mart, compared to the competition, I still needed to be careful and wanted to make some charges. You know it’s sad when you have to return products to Wal-Mart because you feel you paid too much for them, but times are rough and my money needs to stretch.

Initially, I had planned on returning just a few things: my Mederma scar gel, a 2-bottle pack of Nyquil, and some lotion. With the scar gel, I felt that I was very happy with the Walgreens brand gel I currently have, so I went to get that.

When I went to Walgreens, it took a while to find the Walgreens brand because it was in the lotion section and not first-aid where some of the other Mederma stuff was. While the Walgreens brand was technically more expensive ($21 vs $15), it was 2.5 times bigger than Merderma (1.76oz vs .70oz), and since I use this stuff pretty diligently I decided to purchase it.

For whatever reason, upon paying for my gel, it occurred to me that there were a lot more things I could return: the couple packs of overnight sanitary pads I bought, the 2 packs of razors I had, and some spices, in addition to the aforementioned things I had.

With the Mederma, while I technically spent $5 more, I essentially saved about $17 when the net ounces of the products are taken into account.

The generic 2-pack of Nyquil cost less than half as much as the brand name ($5.96 vs $12.46). My sister says Equate is a pretty decent generic brand, so I’m trusting her that this will do the trick (she also bought this particular product).

With the lotion I’m unsure if I want to replace it, so I returned it for $7.87.

With the razors, instead of keeping the $9.94 5-pack of razors and the $5.87 3-pack of razors, I decided to get 2 sets of a 4-pack (3 razors with a bonus razor) for $11.74.

When I thought about what I used my sanitary napkins for, it made more sense to me to get a smaller package of overnight pads (about $3.70) and a box of pantyliners (about $5-something) instead of the $11ish I spent on the couple packages of pads. I was hoping to get the pantyliners for cheaper, since the Equate box had 100+ liners and I only wanted like 50, but to get 50 or so liners of other brands cost more than the 100+ Equate brand.

The spices were only a couple dollars, but my mom told me she buys spices in bulk so I could just use some of hers.

Lastly, on a related note, I decided to purchase some clothes through a “Happy Hour” online sale that Charlotte Russe had, where everything on the website was 20% off for 3 hours. They also have a “BFF” promotion when you give them your email, so since I used my actual email address the last time I bought from them online, I used another email address and got an additional 10% off, so 30% in total. Additionally, I had a CR gift card. Last time I bought from the website, I needed to return an item, which I bought using PayPal because the main website was giving me trouble. The salesperson at the CR store at a nearby mall told me that I was only able to get a gift card in return because of it, worth about $38. What’s nice about the card is, even though I paid for it with my money, since I paid for it months ago it almost seems like it’s “free” money, or “found” money. Anyway, between the discounts and the gift card, $94 of merchandise, shipping, and taxes dwindled down to $29.97.

ETA: According to WordPress, this is my 40th post. 40 posts before I’ve even left the country for the first time. Kind of pitiful lol :-p

Posted in Money, Still prepping and planning, Thriftyness
Tags: Money, Preparation

Lo que me preocupa

•July 27, 2011 • Leave a Comment

A little over a month remains before I leave.

Like I mentioned in my last entry, I’m trying to obtain everything I need as early as I can, lest it’s not available at the last minute or I forget it. With the exception of the water filter and cheap mp3 player to sleep with, nothing I bought is something that I wouldn’t have bought eventually, it’s just that buying it all at once is costly.

As I spend more and start to fill my suitcase, this whole experience is becoming more and more real. Part of me is excited, but I’m also nervous too. Some things I’m concerned about are Spain-specific and others are moreso just due to my own fears and experiences. While I think I’ll have a great time, I don’t want to romanticize Spain either, and I think it’s good to at least be aware of potential challenges.

-I’m a little worried about the racism in southern Spain.
I’m aware of how Black women are often portrayed in Andalusia. Honestly, as a Black woman living in the Chicagoland area (predominantly Black) who once lived in central Illinois (practically no Blacks), I feel like people have implied/said things about me and it was nothing I couldn’t handle. It was worse, to me, than implying that I’m a prostitute, or an illegal African immigrant, but do I worry I’ll have more to deal in Seville with than a simple déjeme ya or soy estadounidense will fix. I always hear mixed reports of Spaniards from Blacks, either the Spanish were extremely pleasant and hospitable, or they had to deal with various comments and behaviors towards them.

-I’m a little concerned about how forward the men will be.
This ties into the above, but it’s moreso related to what I hear about Sevillanos in general. It’s probably not too much that I haven’t already dealt with, I’m just wondering about the frequency that I’ll have to deal with it in Spain.

-I’m worried that I won’t make friends.
In America, I don’t really have any friendships, not anymore. They’re distant at best and nonexistent at worst. I’ve talked to a couple people and we’ve all said that there’s something particularly challenging about making friends as a adult. Honestly, I don’t expect not one person I meet to want to continue talking to me once I leave Spain, but will people like me enough to at least keep me company while I’m there? Will they want to befriend a foreigner? A Black foreigner…who is American and female? Will the locals be patient with my Spanish, and I patient with their quick speech and particular accent? Will my fellow students enjoy my company?

-Money.
Is money ever not a stress? Groceries, cell phone, student loan payments, entertainment, travel and internet, if I can even afford the last three. Part of the reason I’m living with a roommate (and need to prepare my own meals) rather than a family (where meals are provided) is because it’s thousands of dollars cheaper. I think in general I’d be more at ease if I had at least several hundred more dollars in my bank account, but who wouldn’t be?

-Culture shock.
This is obviously inevitable if you ever wish to live abroad, or really, to simply move to an area much different than where you grew up (for example, I didn’t enjoy my time whatsoever living in central Illinois at a small college in a place with a relatively small population, growing up in/near Chicago). Some things may be excitingly Spanish. But I imagine it’ll get to the point where it’s less of a novelty and more of a pain in the ass, and I’ll end up missing and yearning for the country and culture I was so excited to leave.

I know everything I’ve listed is fairly minor. Some of the reasons I chose Spain versus various places in Latin America is to avoid bigger concerns, such as general safety, violence against foreigners, etc. Also, I don’t think anything I’ve listed will prevent me from enjoying myself overall. My concerns with the locals are things that, being Black and female, I’d probably have to endure everywhere on the planet to some extent. While it’ll be sad if I can’t find halfway decent friends, I’d still rather be in Spain, learning Spanish, pursuing my dream and working towards my career, then friendless at home. Money will always be a concern.

I know what I need to look out for. I don’t think that’ll ruin my time there. I have a feeling this will be one of the best experiences of my life, and without a doubt the best experience thus far.

Can’t wait.

Posted in Challenges and concerns, Still prepping and planning
Tags: Countdown, Language Immersion, Money, Preparation, Spain

Mi visado está listo

•July 21, 2011 • 2 Comments

My visa has been approved. I need to pick it up between 1 – 2pm, Monday through Friday, so I’ll just head down there after class tomorrow on my way home. That’s the beauty about living in the Chicagoland area. Everything is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. To get to the consulate initially, I just got off the train and literally walked one block. I left the consulate at 11:25am and managed to catch the 11:30am train with time to spare. I can’t imagine living in, say, North Dakota and having to head all the way down here for a 10-minute meeting and then back again once the visa is ready.

My current session of Spanish classes is going well so far. Initially, my teacher was the one I had last year, whom I adore. The school told me that they have a teacher from Spain, but they had informed me that she only works in the late afternoons and evenings, whereas I’d prefer a late morning/early afternoon class. Well, I guess my teacher talked to someone because they called me and said that the teacher from Spain has an opening on Fridays at 11am. I felt that was very selfless of my former teacher because not only was I paying her, but I imagine I’m a fairly enjoyable student, in part because I love the language, have a strong grasp on grammar, and have an oddly extensive vocabulary given that my formal education in Spanish essentially ended in high school.

I started buying some things in preparation to leave. Not too much right now, but I’ve started to stock up on my toiletries and such. I never realized how much I spend on this stuff until I needed to buy several months worth at once. $20 for Tampax Pearl (and I might need one more box)? $12 for deodorant (and I should probably buy a little more before I leave since I’m almost out)? Goodness. Don’t even get me started on my natural hair products that I’ve yet to purchase. But better to 1) pay these prices than the prices in Spain, given the exchange rate, 2) get my beloved items than take a chance that what I want is unavailable. Especially the hair products, being Black and all.

Anyway, now that the visa is ready, I wonder if I can relax and feel some assurance that nothing else will go wrong. *knock on wood* Just a few weeks left.

ETA: OMG we can like WordPress posts now? I totally just liked this just to see if I could. No more after this lol.

Posted in Spanish classes in Chicago, Still prepping and planning

Almost there

•June 20, 2011 • 5 Comments

Spanish language immersion program: paid for

Round trip tickets to Seville: purchased

Visa application: Process started today, should be ready to pick up in 5 weeks from the consulate

As you see I’ve had a productive few months. I didn’t want to post again until more progress had been made.

To summarize this leg of my plans, since I’ve made so many changes along the way: On August 29, I’ll be heading to Seville to do a language immersion program. I’ll be there until January 21, 2012. It kept getting pushed back and I didn’t think it’d happen at all, but it appears that I’m on my way (I don’t want to get all that excited until my feet are on Sevillan soil, there are still 10 weeks for something to go wrong).

As it’s turning out, it’s a good thing that my plans were pushed back. My little sister decided that she wants to study abroad in Seville. We google-maped our schools yesterday and they are literally about a block or two away from each other (4 minute walk, apparently).

At the moment, I’m working on improving my Spanish (mainly my vocabulary) to the best of my ability before arriving in Spain. It’s already at a good level, but my ultimate goal for my Spanish is to be at the C2 level of the CEFR. I had been learning French and Italian, but I figured I won’t be living in France anytime soon, and probably not in Italy at all, so they can wait (I’m coming up with a plan to work on my French fluency, but I’m waiting to mention it until said plan is underway, and that won’t be until I’m mostly finished with my Spain trip).

So yeah…almost there. Then this blog should start to get interesting lol.

Posted in Still prepping and planning

Long time, no post

•March 25, 2011 • Leave a Comment

I haven’t wanted to update in a while. I thought about my plans and talked to my parents and got their input. I have a new plan that I’ve had for at least a few months, and I’m very happy with it. I didn’t want to update this until my plan was more underway, but since I am making some headway, let me tell you my new plan, and why I changed the old one.

I told my parents about going to Spain. How I was planning on living in Spain for 2 years, being a language and culture assistant, and how I was going to raise money and eventually do a language immersion program, a 3-month one. My parents thought about it and said, “Why work in Spain for 2 years to earn a little bit of money, when you could work here, earn more money, then do your language immersion and do more things abroad?” I thought about how I wanted to live in Spain long-term when my mom said, “You want to go to grad school there, so it’s not like you won’t be able to live there for a while” The Spain language immersion program is taken care of, so my new aim was to figure out a way to earn money for a similar French one (and possibly a short Italian one, but let’s not get too ambitious).

If I could find a job here, I would be earning more money. I recently opened an account with Scottrade, so if I found a job and invested my money, hopefully it’ll appreciate.

I thought my family had a point…but I was worried about where I was going to find said job. I have been unemployed for a while, and seem to be over or under-qualified for most job listings available. I had a feeling that even if I had more experience, I’d still be unemployed. It’s just hard to find work.

A few weeks ago, I had a lead. My friend told me her uncle was sort of looking for someone to handle his administrative work, which is something I have experience in. I scheduled an interview with him, he blew me off the day of said interview, I called him, he called me and told me to call him, I did indeed call him…then I called him about 1.5 weeks later. Nothing. So much for that.

Today I had a job interview for another opportunity. This particular position seems more promising. The interviewer said that she’s going to mail the information about me to corporate and that someone should contact me regarding next steps, so if I get hired it’s unlikely, in my opinion, that it’s going to be particularly soon.

Posted in Still prepping and planning, Trying to finance my dream

Plan Q

•December 26, 2010 • Leave a Comment

I have come up with a new set of plans for Spain, plan Q, which goes as follows.

This summer, I will buy a one-way plane ticket to Spain. I will get to Spain for my English TA program in September. While teaching those first few months, I will apply to renew my grant for the following academic year to continue teaching. Throughout this time I will offer tutorials to Spanish youth/adults to earn extra money.

During the summers after each year, I will stay in Spain and teach at an English summer camp. After those 2 years, I will enroll in a 2 – 3 month language immersion program with the money I have saved while working, hopefully ~100 euros a month. I will renew my visas before they expire each year while in Spain (I’ve read a little about how to go about this, although I admittedly need to get more information). I will not come back to America until December 2013.

As is the case when I feel the need to come up with a new plan, I’m not crazy about it, as I would like to do the language immersion program first, but the money is just not there. This way, I’d be funding the entire experience. I need to make sure I put 100 euros/month aside to make sure I could cover the price of tuition, room, and food when I ultimately enroll in my language immersion program, which I think is doable if I’m teaching enough tutorials and limit my traveling.

There are 2 things I really don’t like about this plan.

1) The time. I’m already old going into this English TA program. The average person is fresh out of college and I’ll be a few months shy of 27 when I arrive in Spain. It’ll take me over 2 years to learn the language as fluently as I’d expect from myself and the whole process won’t start until the upcoming Fall. I’m stuck in Chicago with little income until that time. I won’t be able to come home during the entire 2+ years, as I need to work and most importantly, won’t be able to afford a language immersion program if I have to spend $1500+ to visit America.

2) My Spanish fluency is almost entirely dependent on my ability to make and retain friends. Spanish friends, not other American teachers and expats. If I were to do the language immersion program first, this wouldn’t be an issue. Since I can’t, I need to learn from the environment, from the locals. I don’t have anyone “locally” who I’d consider a friend in Chicago. Who would befriend some Black foreigner who doesn’t fluently speak the language? I won’t be able to entice them with my wit and sarcasm, or my insightfulness if they open up to me with their personal problems, or my general intelligence. It’s hard to sound intelligent when you can’t fluently speak a language. I don’t have faith they’d be patient with me.

But that being said, learning foreign languages is my dream, goal, and most importantly, my career ambition. It’s what I want to do, and this plan is what I need to do. I’ll get over the fact that it’s not ideal. Life has never been ideal for me, but I’ve always been driven. Just gotta stay driven.

Posted in Language and Culture Assistant, Still prepping and planning, Trying to finance my dream

auxiliares de conversación

•November 18, 2010 • 3 Comments

Still working on the language immersion program. We’ll see if that works out.

In the meantime, I’m applying to the language and culture assistant program in Spain. A couple days ago, I googled the program and found a message board about it, which gave me some extremely important information about applying.

On the program manual on the program’s website, they say you should send your paperwork (transcript, letter of rec, personal statement, background check, etc) soon after submitting your online application. Since this year, the program requires an FBI background check to apply, I was going to wait until it was ready in January to submit my application online. That would have been a bad decision. According to the message board, which includes emails applicants have posted from people at the consulate, what’s important is submitting your online application as early as possible. As long as you have your paperwork in by April, you’re good.

This comment from a member also explains a good point about the program in general:

The folks at the Spanish consulate aren’t U.S. college admissions officers. They are bureaucrats. They’re not looking for the best and the brightest. They’re not waiting or even expecting to have their calcetines knocked off by the applications of the American auxiliares. They’re just looking for native English speakers with a college education. Period.

I feel sorry for those of you who took the time to craft a splendid application in hopes that it would help you stand out from the crowd. It didn’t. You would’ve been better off submitting a ho-hum (but complete) application back in January than waiting until April to submit a package that was stellar.

I’m especially glad I found this information because this program has become wildly popular in the past few years. According to the message board, about 275 people had applied for the 2009 – 2010 program by late February (based on the “inscrita” numbers, which is the number you get after submitting your online application). 700-something had applied by late January for the 2010 – 2011 program. I applied yesterday for the 2011 – 2012 program, 2 weeks after the application was open, and I was number 496. I really lucked out finding that information when I did. If I waited until January, it might have been too late.

For my top 3 region preferences, I picked Andalucia, Cataluyna, and Pais Vasco. I wanted to do Madrid and Andalucia as either 1 or 2 and Cataluyna as my 3rd, but they group regions together, probably in part based on popularity. Madrid and Andalucia are in the same group. What appealed to me about Madrid is: 1) assistants get paid 300 euros more in Madrid than the ones in the rest of Spain (Yeah, Madrid is more expensive, but 300 euros is a lot), and 2) since the autonomous community of Madrid is so small, no matter where you were placed, you’d be no more than about an hour or so away from Madrid proper. However, since I know Madrid is the most popular option, and since I do like the thought of spending more time in Andalucia, since I want to do my language immersion in Sevilla, I figured I’d rather pick Andalucia as my first choice and get it, than pick Madrid and not get it.

Posted in Language and Culture Assistant, Still prepping and planning

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