El día final en Granada

It's been almost a month since I last wrote.  Let's just say life has taken over, as it normally does towards the end of November: homework, final papers, teachers feeling the need to catch up on things because they didn't move as quickly as they had hoped.   I had more work this semester than I have ever had at Ithaca, which was really inconvenient because of any semester, one would expect this one abroad to be the easiest, most relaxed.   I don't know exactly why its been such a tough semester but I can hypothesize:

1. Different type of course load -  up until now I have never taken a semester without at least 4 credits being a science class.  Here I didn't take any classes for my major, so all of my were writing/reading heavy which is completely different from the science classes I normally focus on.
2. Different language - I suppose this one is pretty obvious but since all my classes were taught in Spanish (some with professors who know some English, others with professors who don't know one word of English) all my papers, my reading and my lectures were in Spanish.  My notes took on an effective version of Spanglish equating to which ever language has the shortest word with needed meaning was used.  There are many things that I learned that I don't know how we would call it in English.  For example, I learned on the day of my Art and Architecture exam that fachada is "facade" in English (the spelling I just learned to write this blog).
3. Different schedule - At home if I have work that seems to be threatening to not be finished, I work through lunch: here I ate lunch with my Señora and we talked and watched the news.  At home, if its 8:45 PM and I want to start that research paper that is due tomorrow, the library is open until 2 AM. Plenty of time!  Here, every library CLOSED at 8:30 PM...and on the weekends.  I still don't understand how Spanish students go to class and get all these research papers done.
4. I refused to not go out because I had work - At home, if I had too much work, I would dedicate a weekend to studying, but here I refused to do so.  I wanted to experience every bit of Granada that I could, even if it wasn't by traveling every weekend like some students, or going to the discotecas every Thursday and Friday.  
   

Though this all made for a stressful semester as far as work goes,  As a whole, my experience was excellant excellent (my English spelling and grammar has gone down the drain, but my Spanish grammar and speaking has improved quite a bit, I hope) and I have too many memories to record here.

A quick overview of the last month:

• Thanksgiving Dinner - we went to a restaurant that rotates slowly so you can see all of Granada while eating - really neat.  The food was not Thanksgiving the way we remember and cherish it.  The turkey (or what they called turkey, I swear it was ham) was in the form of a meatloaf kind of deal, with a cranberry sauce, with little "poofs" of mash potatoes on the side.  I wasn't too impressed with the Turkey Creation, but I was also half expecting them to put a Turkey and some potatoes on the table in the traditional Thanksgiving way.
• Madrid - I went to Madrid with my friend Celia to visit the city but most of all visit my friend from home Caitlin.  Caitlin is also studying abroad this semester.  She had come to Granada a few weeks before so I made the trip up to see her.  Celia also had a friend, Aser, to meet up with and we all had a great time.  The best part about that was while Aser knows English, his friends do not.  When hanging out with them we were forced to speak Spanish except to ask help with a word.  It was great practice, even if a bit frustrating at times.  We saw a lot of Madrid and though we attempted to check out the night life, we realized quickly that you have to either see the sights or experience the nightlife when you're some place just for a weekend, we chose the sights.

• Alemania y Polonia - Some big religious holiday occurred on the first weekend of December, thus Celia and I had planned a trip to Germany and Poland to take advantage of being in Europe. What a great weekend.  It was cold and rainy for most of it, but we donned our rain jackets, and ventured outside for most our time there.  In Germany (Berlin to be exact) there were tons of festivals for Christmas where they were selling food, crafts, beer. Wonderful stuff.   

          We had planned to take a train to Warsaw and it left at 4 AM.  We got to the train station early because being cold and rainy, once everything closed there was no where else to go.   The McDonald's in the train station was the only thing open until 2, so after hanging out there for as long as possible, we played the "Squiggle" game (one person makes a squiggle, and the other person had to makea  sketch out of it) until we had to head to our track.  When we got up there we stood for a about 20 minutes and then hear an announcement in German.  We didn't know what it said because our German is limited to danke.  A few backpacking men who  (thankfully) spoke English, German and Polish came to us and said "Are you going to Warsaw? If so, you have to go to the other station."  As I said thank God for these men and trilinguality because we would have missed our train to Poland.  So long story short, we took a metro to the other side of the city, got on the train that was then 40 minutes delayed.  We slept as best we could on the train before arriving in Warsaw.  The first thing we did in Poland was get pierogies.  They were absolutely delicious.  We went to this small little restaurant that specialized in pierogies (recommended by our hostel) and I got cheese and spinach pierogies that were absolutely heavenly.  They were so good we went back for more the next day.  Again we walked around a bit, sometimes in such downpours it was hard to be anything but a little miserable.  I really loved Warsaw and hope to get back to see more of Poland in the future.  On the way home we missed the middle leg of our trip so we were in the Switzerland airport for a while.  When we finally got on a flight we went to Barcelona and then to Madrid, and had effectively missed our last leg of the flight.  Luckily, Aser was waiting with his friends (we felt so bad as they were waiting for us for a while as we had expected to have 6 or 7 hours of layover in Madrid), and we got a ride to the bus station to get a bus from Madrid to Granada.  I got home at 5 in the morning and had class the next morning.

• Week of papers, homework and catching up on sleep...
• Final exams... last couple days here... :(

There have been times I have wanted to come home, but there are just as many moments when I would stay here for a while longer.  I really enjoyed the experience.

Rockclimbing, Horse Shows and Tío Pepe

Over the weekend we went to Cádiz, though that's actually false advertising as we spent less than 12 hours in Cádiz, a short visit after a 4-5 hour bus ride, only to drive back the next day.  Thankfully we made stops on the way there and back, but it still made for 2 very long travel days.

On the way there, we stopped at El Torcal Nature Reserve in Antequera.  When we arrived I seriously thought we had landed on the moon.  I had closed my eyes for a bit back when the landscape was similar to the country sides of California.  When I opened my eyes we were surrounded by humongous pieces of limestone.  It was quite shocking.  We headed down a normal path, quite similar to other nature reserves and state parks.  About 3 minutes into the hike, Javier, the director of IES Granada, turned around and said "Anyone who wants to go a bit more difficult route follow me!"

I followed.

And it was awesome.  We left the trail and just climbed all over these humongous rocks from when this area was covered in water years and years ago.  We spent a couple hours climbing and exploring, and then reluctantly returned to the buses to eat our picnic lunches :(  When we go on trips like this, since our families give us breakfast and lunch, we get bagged lunches.  This would be fine, except for we all get humongous sandwiches (bocadillos) of jamon y queso which after sitting in our backpacks from 3 in the afternoon, are not too appetizing.  I won't be missing the bocadillos. 

As I said, we did not have a lot of time in Cádiz. When we got there we walked around a bit but other than that we had quiet night. Before we left for Cádiz I had looked into restaurants and there was a restaurant that was known for a tomato soup, not gazpacho, but another type of tomato soup, salmorejo.  I was really excited to try it, thinking it would be more like our comforting tomato soup (best served with a grilled cheese sandwich) than gazpacho is. I unfortunately was wrong.  It was COLD and not my tomato soup that I was craving.  

The next morning we went to La Yeguada de la Cartuja, a horse stable.  They have about 300 horses, all Cartusian horses, a sub-breed of the Andalusian horse.  It was really cool to see the stables, and the young horses... there was a horse show at the end that got my camera really dusty and was a little boring, but for the most part it was a fun stop.  

Our last stop was in Jerez de la Frontera, the Tío Pepe winery.  Supposedly, this sherry, as it would be called, is famous and shipped around the world.  I've never heard of it, though I suppose that's not surprising, I'm not very well learned in my sherries.  It was interesting to get the tour and see how they make the sherry, but the tasting part of the visit was disappointing.  We only got to try 2 types of sherry, I was expecting to be able to try more types to see if there was something that I liked.  Of the 2, I didn't really like any of them, so there will be no Tío Pepe coming home for the holidays.  Its possible that people of a better knowledge of wines and sherries would like the wines, well, more than possible as it is indeed famous, but I myself could not appreciate it.  After the wine tasting we went back to Granada.

Check back later this week for photos... I don't have time to put them in right now. I'm not even sure they're on my computer yet. 

La Vida Mia

I just want to make a quick update, I've been pretty busy, but feel like nothing is getting done. 

As far as school work, I have a test tomorrow in Flamenco class, them I'm off to Cadíz with my program for 2 days (not really school work... but school planned), and next week I have some rough drafts of research papers due and a test in my Translation class.  Eek!

On the not-so-studious side of things, I will be seeing a puppet show from South Africa on Sunday, which is geared towards adults and should be lots of fun! I have been meeting semi-regularly with a student of the Universidad de Granada, named Oresti, to practice Spanish, and so that he can practice English.  Our time together involves lots of miming and some confusion as we try and express ourselves in each language, but for the most part I think its helping. It's certainly making me think about my English as he asks questions like "What is the difference between 'heard' and 'listen'?" My friends and I have made ourselves regulars at a Mexican restaurant.  We go every Thursdays, which is 1 Euro Margarita night (making them cheaper than water!), and get either nachos, or tacos, or a chimichanga (which I'm not completely sure what it is, but Monique really likes it) and spend a few hours laughing and telling stories of our week.

Celia and I are making plans for our Germany and Poland trip in the beginning of December.  We will fly into Berlin, spend a couple days there, and then take an overnight train to Warsaw, spend a couple days there and return home.  I'm really excited to see Berlin and Warsaw, even though if given the option they wouldn't be my first choice of places to go.  We have the transportation booked, we just need to find a hotel or hostel to stay in and choose things we want to see.  I will update you as I know more :)

I've almost figured out what classes I'm taking next semester which is always a fun/stressful time as you sign onto the school's website and type in numbers as quick as possible, hoping not to get closed out of the perfect schedule you've spent more time creating in the past week than on homework. In the past 2 years I've had great luck with my schedule, but this time I got closed out of the American Sign Language course I was hoping to take, but am hoping maybe I'll be let in by some act of God.  It's notoriously impossible to get into, so I wasn't too surprised, but I'm not giving up yet.

I must be off to class, hope this update finds everyone at home healthy and well.

¡Hasta luego!

When homesickness hits

This past week has been a tough one.  As I said in the last post I was not feeling well in Morocco, but thankfully was only left with the sniffles (which don't seem to ever want to go away) by the time I got back into Granada.  Then a worse ailment hit: Homesickness.

I feel like homesickness always comes at the worse time, and that was certainly the case here.  It really made my two day week seem like it would never end.  For some reason I decided that this was the week to worry about the 3 papers that I will have to write for the end of semester, when really I only had to worry about having a topic right now.   The papers seem extra daunting because they have to be written in Spanish, and are still expected to have the same quality of any other college paper. 

On top of the self-induced stress, my Señora decided this was the week she would complain about the fact that I didn't eat my entire fish at lunch (which I guess was expensive, but I can't help it, as much as I have learned over here that fish isn't bad, I never crave it and still don't love eating it) and that my room wasn't clean enough for her.  I felt a bit unwelcome, and truthfully like I was back in high school.  Well, not even high school since my parents never made me clean my room, but you get the idea.  My roommate was going to Barcelona for the weekend so I was really worried about it just being the two of us in the house.  In the end, being just Juana and I has proved to be nice.  I find I'm conversing with her more, because often times Lily would dominate the conversation with questions. 

Finally, this weekend Caitlin, a really good friend from home who is studying in Madrid for the semester, was here to visit.  As much as I was looking forward to seeing her I think it just added to the homesick feeling.  It reminded me of everyone at home who I haven't seen or talked to in a while.  In the end, seeing her may have actually been the cure for my homesickness.  Though we didn't see each other too much (she was here to visit her boyfriend, who understandably dominated her time), when we were together it was just like being at home. 

After she left, I read for about an hour on a park bench until the sun set and I was only reading by the weak street lamp.  Walking home I found myself in awe of the city I was walking through.  It was as if it was the first time I walked down that street (which it was probably the 15th time this weekend). I felt lighter, I felt empowered.  I don't know what changed laying on that park bench reading Shopaholic and Sister but something did.  The homesickness disappeared.  Maybe it was the fresh air, maybe it was being around someone from home, maybe it was just time for it to go away.  All I know, is that I'm glad its gone.  It will probably return, but I feel a little more prepared for when it does.

Mama, can I 'ave one of those monkeys?

This past weekend was our fall break and as a group, we went to Gibralter and Morocco!

The morning we were leaving I woke up not feeling too great, but I decided I wasn't going to give up the chance to go to Morocco just because I was feeling a little under the weather.  We started out in Gibralter, of which I only knew there was a rock with monkeys on it.  It turns out to be a cute little British town with very little to do as a tourist other than go up the mountain and see the monkeys.  We had a slightly crazy busdriver/tourguide named Paul who enjoyed telling bad jokes.  We saw these amazing caves that the British considered using for a hospital during World War II, but after finding a lake inside the caves, decided against it.  I personally didn't see the logic in a hospital as the only access was the twisty-turny road we used to get up there.

The cave

After going into the cave we got a chance to do some shopping, though everything was overpriced.  The purchase of all the touristy things that are offered in towns we visit, have been hard to justify buying as I don't feel like a tourist.  I don't want to spend 7 Euros on a cheap thing that will only collect dust once I go home.  I suppose if nothing else, traveling a lot has made me a bit more aware of what actually sparks memories.

 

A view from on top of the rock

Also on the rock we got to have a monkey sit our shoulders. The monkeys, actually called Barbary Macaques, have been on the rock for a long time.  In World War II, the British army started naming the monkeys and giving them ranks.  They are now quite tame and will come to you with only the help of a peanut.  One girl did get bitten but for the most part everyone had fun encounters with the monkeys.  I actually had 2 sitting on my shoulders for a little bit as one decided to jump on uninvited.

MONKEY!

We slept outside of Gibraltar and then took a bus to Algeciras where we were getting the ferry.  At the port we met our fantastic group leader, Katy.  She had been in the Peace Corps for 2 years stationed in a small village in the south of Morocco, and she was fluent in arabic.  It was her first time leading a group, but you wouldn't know it.  She was fantastic.  

 

Me, with Africa, continent #6 in the background!

When we arrived in Tangier, we went through customs and made our way to Darna Woman's Center.  The center is a place for women to go and learn skills such as cooking or sewing so that they are able to find jobs.  We talked to a couple students who were getting their Bachelor's or Master's in English, who helped out with the center.  They had some interesting things to say about the way the look at other countries and specifically the United States.  We ate lunch at the Women's center and had cous-cous with chicken and vegetables.  It was good, but I don't think I'm a huge fan of cous-cous.  We started our journey towards Rabat while making a couple stops on the way. 

First stop: Riding camels!  My friend, Celia, was so excited about meeting and riding camels that we probably could have gone home after this stop and she would have been very content.  I was no where near as excited as Celia, but it definitely became a highlight of the trip.  

Riding the camel

 

Photo-op with a camel

We then went to Assilah to visit a small Medina, or enclosed city.  This medina had lots of artwork on the walls of the city and the buildings. Every year they have a festival where artists can come and paint murals on the walls.  They are enjoyed for the following year and are then painted over so new murals can be created.  In this way, this medina could be different everytime you visit it. 

One of the many murals

We continued on to Rabat where we met our homestay families, ate dinner, and in my case, went to bed.  Our homestay consisted of a Mom, Dad and their son.  Only the mother spoke English, which she learned through classes and watching English movies with arabic subtitles.  That really made my struggle with Spanish seem even worse.  They have so many channels from lots of different countries so she definitely has the benefit of hearing English everyday that I do not have at home.  

The next morning I woke up with a fever and after much consideration, decided that it was best for me to stay in bed for the morning and see how I felt that afternoon.   While I slept, the group went to meet up with students from IES who are studying in Rabat, and to see a (fake) Roman ruin.  I was told I didn't miss too much, which made me happier.  I still didn't feel 100% but I went out that afternoon with group and had shopping time with students of the university in Rabat.  It was a very, how do I say, awkward few hours with the students.  There were four of us girls and three guys from the university.  We walked through the market, but none of us really felt like shopping with the guys en tow. We ended up going to a café to have some drinks, tea for them, Fanta, Coca-cola or Sprite for us.  We mainly talked to one of the guys, the other two didn't seem interested at all.  We weren't really sure why they came if they didn't want to talk. When it was time to go, we were all going to put in money and pay when one guy told one of us to pay and that we would be reimbursed by Katy, so Celia paid the 100 Dirhams.  Finding out that this wasn't actually the case (though Celia did get reimbursed after we explained the situation) really made me uncomfortable with the situation.  Others really seemed to enjoy the experience, but I just did not.  

We then went to the public baths which was basically like showering at your school gym except you just filled a bucket with water that you used to wash with instead of each person having a personal shower head.  Maybe we should suggest this to schools where the water is always cold and there are always more people who need to shower than there are showers.  After the baths we got henna and called it a night. 

The next day we left early and drove to a small mountain village on Rif Mountain.  There were times it seemed questionable whether or not the bus would get up some of the hills but we all got up safe and sound.  There we met with a man who actually lived in a different mountain village, but his sister lived in the one we were at and we were able to talk to him about life on the mountain.  It's amazing how much poverty existed in the village.  The villages were small, everyone seemed to know eachother, kids seemed to just go from house to house.  The house we went to was very small, but the family was very welcoming and hospitable.  We brought things for sandwiches for ourselves, but they also made us more cous-cous with chicken and veggies.  

After lunch, we took a short walk around the village, and then, to our surprise, we got to go to a WEDDING.  All 16 of us were allowed to go to the wedding celebration of a couple in the village. When we got there there was music playing but no one was dancing.  They got us chairs (even though everyone else was standing), and we sat down wondering what exactly was going to happen next.  An elderly lady, about half my height and maybe 4 times my age, started dancing and pulled one of the guys up to dance with her.  Soon we (as in all of us IES students) were dancing and everyone else watched and chuckled.  When the song was over we clapped and sat down only for them to bring us tea and cookies.  The tea in Morocco is very sweet.  Lots of people love it, but there is just too much sugar in it for me.  When the music started again we once again start dancing but this time we coerced the young girls who seemed so eager, but too shy, to dance.  When that song ended the wedding car arrived with the bride (only the groom was present for this specific celebration) and we made our way back to the bus.  We followed the wedding party out of the village to the main road, where we turned opposite directions and continued our separate, but now connected, lives.  

That night we had shopping time in Chefchaouen followed by dinner at this really nice restaurant.  I had chicken and beef/lamb kabobs which were the first things I'd actually had an appetite for since being sick.  In the morning there was a walk around the village but I unfortunately was still feeling badly and was worried it was developing into something worse.  We then got on the bus, and went home.

A break from Spanish

As I was writing a summary of my trip to the Alhambra for my art history class, Zach shared this link with me, with the explanation of "This IS Reggie."  For those of you who don't know Reggie, Reggie is Zach's kitten who is absolutely crazy.  He can spend hours just darting around the house chasing flies, dust or basically anything that could move.  As I watched the video, I quickly agreed.  This is very good example of Reggie.  As I thought more, the list of cats that this video described grew and I decided I needed to share it with others.

And here are some photos of the crazy cat:

And all crazy cats need to rest:

Long time no see...

Where have I been! The last couple weeks have completely flown by, and I've realized the last 10 (can you believe it?) will probably fly by quicker.  I'm in the full swing of life here.  I should be writing a diario for flamenco class, but instead I was procrastinating, happened upon the blog of a friend, and decided it was about time I updated.

Since I last wrote we went on an excursion to Córdoba, a fun but sight-seeing packed day.

We went to the Mezquita that reminded me of a candy cane palace...

sat in the pews of the Catholic church that planted itself precisely in the middle of the Mezquita to show their power...

decided against an art museum... and did some outdoor playground exercising/playing instead!





Something strange: We were waiting for our group to reassemble and a little girl, about 7 or 8 years old, with only a t-shirt and tights on came over and started patting our heads, as if to play duck-duck-goose.  We kind of just ignored her, figuring she would go away, but she started touching Celia's face, hugged Ashley and "attacked" me.  It was quite a bit out of our comfort-zone, but we didn't know what to do.  I tried to ask her questions: "¿Como te llamas?"  "¿Vives aquí?" but she kept on intruding our personal space.  We ended up getting up and walking away because we didn't know what else to do.  It was a strange experience for me because it was the first time I have ever felt uncomfortable or unable to relate to a child.

After this experience, we went to the ruins of Medinat al-Zahra - a palace made by Abd al-Ramam III to show his wealth and power.

Ashley and I overlooking the ruins

 

This past weekend I went to the Alpujarras, or the white villages, which are close to the Sierra Nevadas.  Celia had invited me along with her mom and a couple of her mom's friends, and I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to see another part of Spain. We took a 2 hour bus ride (first time using the public transportation here!) and were dropped off in Pampaneira which was lively with markets and music even though it was a Sunday.  After having to ask for directions twice we found a trail that took us to Bubión, another white village.

The trail was a lot more rugged than we were expecting, and Bubión was a ghost town compared to Pampaneira.  We ended up waiting for a bus back down instead of walking because of the trail being steep and us not having proper footwear.  It was a really nice break from being in Granada, and absolutely gorgeous.  By the time I was home, I was exhausted and appreciated the familiarity that Granada has become.

Today I visited the Alhambra for the 1st of 3 times we will see it.

We got special entrances into parts that aren't normally shown to the public because we were seeing it through a class.  We even saw a tower that students of IES had not seen in 5 years because it is being refurbished.  We had to fight off a couple angry tourists who didn't understand why they couldn't climb up the dim stairwells of the towers and down to La Puerta de las Armas. Other than that it was full of fun facts for class... and thankfully NOT for our midterm on Wednesday.

Well, now that I have thoroughly wasted some time/procrastinated it is time to return to the homework.

¡Adios!