Leah Hays

mpchegrl

Leah Hays

I am a Spanish teacher that tries to make it to a new country every summer. I love to travel and learn about new cultures. I travel for fun and for missions, however the opportunities are presented.

As a child I lived in Germany, Colombia and Mexico. I remember Mexico, but not Colombia and Germany. I would like to visit the last two.

2005 I travelled Costa Rica with a friend, absolutely LOVED it. I spent two weeks there and when to San Jose, Montezuma, Santa Elena/Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio

2006 I stayed in Nicaragua for 6 weeks for missions. I worked with Christ for the City international. It was a phenomenal experience. I had the opportunity to translate for teams that came for short term missions. I had the opportunity to visit Granada, and a few other locations.

2007 My trip to Ukraine was also for missions. I taught English in the churches there for four weeks. I had the opportunity to enjoy Kharkov and Khimilnietsky.

2008-09 I went to Puerto Rico over the Christmas Holidays with family friends.

Summer 2009 SPAIN!!!
00
DAYS 
00
HOURS 
00
MINS 
00
SECS

back home from Spain







Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián July 3rd 2011

Day 2…a day to relax, and take in the views It was a good day to relax in San Sebastian, as the weather was perfect! A wonderful 73 degrees with no humidity. It was amazing. Summer and I woke up at a leisurely pace and decided to take a café con leche in the plaza right beneath our hotel. FYI, if you want the ambience of sitting outside, expect to pay a little more. It always costs more to eat there than it does inside the bar. I say bar, because really that is what everything is here in Spain. It does not have the same feel as a “bar” in the states. Alcohol is not the same taboo as we have in the US, it is more cultural. You go to the bar to eat, ... read more
Monte Urgull
Monte Urgull
Monte Urgull

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián June 30th 2011

Day 1: San Sebastian Well, on my last journey to Spain for a while, it is going well yet again! There is something to be said about going to a place you already know. After a two hour delay of my flight, I made it to Madrid and went straight to the hotel to grab my girl Summer and then we headed to the bus station to grab our tickets and head our way to San Sebastian in Basque Country. It took about 6 hours on bus to head up to San Sebastian. Basque country is different than the rest of Spain, it is quite picturesque. For those who do not know, Basque country has its own language, though they still speak Spanish (Castellano). Much of Spain sort of has autonomous regions, and the Basques are ... read more
my sandwhich
dessert
sites in the city

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Granada August 12th 2010

Weeks 4 and 5 lots of studying and time for goodbyes! I bunched these two together because I really haven’t done too much that is super exciting. These two weeks have been more filled with school, exams and hanging out with the people that I have grown to love. Classes for the last two weeks have been good and helpful for the most part. We had one class which was all about movies. Our teacher had some interesting tastes and there were a few movies I absolutely did not watch half of due to the content in the scenes. During the reign of Franco there was a huge censorship. We watched few movies that were created by people who fled Spain, and then a few movies that were censored. It is interesting because really under the ... read more
1st lady day
1st lady day
1st lady day

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Granada August 1st 2010

Week 3… over half way there! This week has been a little bit more relaxed, which is nice. Classes are still going well, but not quite as intense as the first two weeks. Truth is I love the mentality of the teachers here is wonderful…the exam doesn’t mean so much as the fact that you have been here learning, so the exams are not too hard. What is hard is wanting to get all this information in my head but not having the time to do so. The work that is going to be the hardest is going to be my memoria, which I have now changed three times! Alas the life of a student. It will be a rough year coming up! The classes I have had this week are: Varieties in Spanish: basically where ... read more
Plaza Nueva
one of my friends!
more friends

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Granada July 25th 2010

Some interesting things I have learned / observed from my classes that have stuck with me: Political / Sociological: Our teacher was Carlos. Most women in the class had a crush on this 40 year old baldish guy. He explained the information in such a way you actually wanted to listen. He was a great teacher, and his tics were funny. He squinted his eyes when it was information he found profound or ironic that needed to be known, he would grab his belt when he was giving a summary, he would bite his thumb when he wanted us to really think about what it was that he said, and then rub his scruff-beard when he was trying to find the right words. It was pretty funny to watch, but also helped me to know what ... read more
Hotel
hotel
lobby

Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Granada July 18th 2010

Week 1 of my Masters and so it begins The first week has been full of work! The classes I have had have been Current Politics/Sociological issues, Spanish History, and the creation of my Memoria. The closest explanation of that is it is a research paper on the Master’s level that I will have to work on during the school year be experimenting in my classroom and researching my topic. I am a little bit overwhelmed about it, but it will be alright. On Tuesday night I went out to tapear (go to various tapas places and eat tapas). It was good to have a moment to relax with some of the ladies I met last year. Thursday night I got a group of people together to see the sunset from the Mirador San Nicolás. For ... read more
Sunset of the Alhambra
Sunset
Sunset

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona July 11th 2010

Day 5 The final day in Barcelona Well, today was the last day in Barcelona. The flight wasn’t until 8:20 at night so we had to find a way to kill a day.  First, we packed everything but our most valuable things in our suitcases so that we could leave them in the pension (low end hostel run by a family). There was just a space behind a desk that we left them. Not that I really had a fear of losing anything, but I would much rather have things that I can’t live without on me rather than leaving them where someone could mess with them (passport, computer, money etc.) With our backpacks filled with the “must not lose” items we made our way to visit some of the Gaudi homes in the area. ... read more
Casa Batillo
Sidewalk
Casa Batllo

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona » Monistrol de Montserrat July 10th 2010

Day 4 The weird rocks of Montserrat Well, again we decided to go out of the city. It was a much easier experience as we realized that we had to look for the train Cercanias sign. This time we had to go over to the Placa Espanya (it is pronounced the same way, however it is spelled in Catalan). Allison and I walked all the way from our pension to the plaza. I am not sure if I mentioned it, but it is so worth walking around in Spain, there is so much you miss if you depend on public transportation. There is such amazing architecture that it is well worth walking. Placa Espanya is well worth visiting. We ended up spending a few minutes there. There are two great towers that stand on either side ... read more
Towers
Palace
my man!

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona July 9th 2010

Day 3 Vilafranca - Penedes Today Allison and I decided to go on a tour of a winery in a nearby city. Somehow I had read about it and we decided to go, if everything could have gone wrong, it almost did. First: after we woke up the maid knocked on our door telling us that it was time to go! We weren't really sure about why we would have a wakeup call, but whatever. We got ready at our leisure and walked downstairs and out. The reception guy was not a very happy guy. We weren't sure why. We went downstairs only to realize I had forgotten my money so we had to return and the reception guy was yelling at us that we couldn't go back in our room and that we had to ... read more
Train station
Building in Vilafranca
Basilica

Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona July 8th 2010

Day 2 Let me give you a heads up, this blog will be LONG. (at least with all the pictures I plan to post) What you will find in this episode of the Barcelona Excursion: *Random walking through the town *La Sagrada Familia *Parq Guell *Catalan First, random walking Well, I went to bed late enough without a siesta that I was able to sleep like a rock for the entire night. That was wonderful. Allison woke me up with a “Its 10am, lets go!”. At 1130 we headed out for breakfast. We started our journey at the Plaza Catalunya. Our plan was to make it to the Sagrada Familia, and crazy Allison learned what that means with me….we walk…all...over…the…city. I am a fan of walking through the cities because you really get to see the ... read more
Random architecture
Motorcycles
Bike light




Tot: 0.349s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 88; dbt: 0.1085s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.3mb