Cliffs, Coasts and Classes

Palabra del día: Todo el mundo
Translation: The whole world (however, it is commonly used to mean "everyone")
Frase: ¿Todo el mundo va a la discoteca Camborio este jueves?
Translation: Is everyone going to the club Camborio this Thursday?

Comida del día: Croquetas
These are basically the Spanish equivalent of mozzarella sticks.  They are made of mashed potatoes mixed with cheese and either ham or spinach, and then deep fried so they are crispy on the outside and mushy on the inside.  They are commonly found at tapas restaurants, and Sole also makes the spinach variety in her mini frying machine as a side dish for lunch.

Foto del día:

This is just one of the gorgeous views from our 10 mile hike at Cabo de Gata last Saturday. The hike was along the coast up and down cliffs the whole way.  It wasn't easy, either!  At one point I was slightly worried that I was going to fall off the edge... then we hiked all the way down and had to climb over underwater rocks while trying not to slip or cut our feet.  However, we were on the coast the whole time so we got to enjoy the landscapes for the whole time, and we stopped at two secluded beaches for mid-hike swims in the Mediterranean.  It was an excellent day and definitely worth the 2.5 hour bus ride.

I haven't posted in while because things are starting to get busy here.  I'm in my second week of classes and I actually have homework for the first time in months! Not a lot of homework, but enough that I can't get away with going out for tapas every single night anymore.  My courses are very much Granada themed, which I think will make for a fun semester.  Four of them are at the IES center and one is at the University of Granada. My classes include:

-Islamic Art and Architecture: Once a week we go on a field trip somewhere in Granada to look at buildings and structures and to and learn about the history of those places.  I think it will be a good way to learn about the city I'm living in.

-Flamenco: Yes, I'm learning to dance!  It's been a bit hard for me to move my hands and feet at the same time, but I'm improving quickly.  I love the rhythms and the music, plus I got to buy these awesome black heels with metal on the bottom.  They make lots of noise!

-Spanish: All of my classes are in Spanish, but this one has been somewhat useful in improving my grammar and expanding my vocabulary. Nothing too exciting.

-Early music history course at the University of Granada: I had this class for the first time yesterday.  The bus ride was a bit of an adventure: I missed my stop, got off three stops later, crossed the street and took the other bus back until the friendly driver told me to get off.  Good thing I left early!  UGR is a HUGE university, with 80,000 students, (including 10,000 international students.)    I was hoping I would be able to meet some of these students in class, though when I got there everyone seemed to already know each other and didn't seem interested in meeting anyone new.  Hopefully this will improve over time.  The good news is that I could understand most of what the professor was saying, even though she talked VERY quietly.  She said at the beginning of the class that she is old so she can't talk loudly, so I think I'll make a point to sit in the first or second row in the future. I also liked being in a campus environment for the first time since I've been here, though it made me miss WashU! 

-Literature class about Lorca: Lorca is a poet and playwright from Granada and his work is very much centered around Granada.

Quote from my reading today of Lorca discussing Granada: "Las horas allí son más largas y    sabrosas que en ninguna otra cuidad de España."
Translation attempt: "The hours there are longer and more pleasurable than in any other city in Spain."

I think I would have to agree.

I joined a band!

Palabra del día: tiquismiquis
Pronunciation: Tee-kee-smee-kee
Translation:  Picky

Frase: Encontré crema de cahuetes en el Corte Ingles, pero soy tiquismiquis sobre la crema de cahuetes y por eso no la compré.

Translation: I found peanut butter in Corte Ingles, but I'm picky about peanut butter so I didn't buy it.

Comida del día: Crema de cahuetes
AKA peanut butter.  This is not a Spanish food and is in fact very hard to find in Spain.  My roommate brought a ton of pouches of peanut butter from home and has been eating them on her toast every morning. I also enjoy eating peanut butter for breakfast, so I was very happy when I found it in the Corte Ingles department store, which tends to carry some American brand products.  However, Corte Ingles is not Trader Joes and the only kind of peanut butter they had was filled with added sugar and trans fats.  I decided not to buy it and to continue to live my life the Spanish way, eating my toast with jam or another common spread of tomatoes mixed with olive oil and salt. It's very different from peanut butter, but it's not half bad.

Foto del día:

I went on a run on a path along the river yesterday.  This was what I got to look at the whole time!

Monday was our first day of classes, and it was also my first day of rehearsal with the Asociación Musical San Idrio de Granada.  What I'm trying to say is, I joined a band!  It's a community band that rehearses in a little town called Armilla, 15 minutes from Granada.  I had to take a bus there, which I hadn't done here yet because you can get pretty much everywhere in Granada by walking.  It was a little bit tricky to find the right bus stop, even more tricky to get off at the right stop, and almost impossible to find the rehearsal space after I got off the bus.  But after asking 4 people on the street as well as the bus driver for directions, I made it to rehearsal in one piece.

The band is made up of people ages 9-60 who live in Armilla, Granada or other towns nearby.  There is no music education within schools in Spain except for in high schools that specialize in music and feed into conservatories.  Because of this, kids who play instruments join community bands at young ages, in addition to adults who decide not to pursue music as a career but want to continue playing.  These community bands exist in the small towns around Granada, but for some reason there aren't any located inside of the city.

Everyone was extremely friendly and excited to meet me.  I was first introduced to a girl from England who had lived in Granada for 9 years, but after that I met some other people and got a chance to show them that I could actually speak some Spanish.  When the conductor asked me a question about my music, however, I realized that I need to study the Spanish words for note names, sharps, flats, and other music terminology... I wish I had thought of that beforehand!

Because of the age range, the quality of music wasn't the greatest.  However, it was still fun to play and meet new people, and I'm hoping this will provide an opportunity for me to make friends with Spanish people.  Someone was even nice enough to drive me back to Granada afterwards, so I didn't have to deal with the bus again.  Rehearsals are twice a week though, so I'm headed back there tomorrow evening.  I'll make sure to study the Spanish word for F-sharp before I go!

Field Trip! Ronda and Sevilla

Palabra del día: Vista
Translation: View
Example: Hay vistas fantasticas en todas partes de Granada.
Translation: There are beautiful views all over Granada.

Comida del día: Bocadillo
This is a sandwich made with a baguette.  On our field trip, Sole packed me a picnic lunch with a tomato and cheese bocadillo.  Last night, I discovered a vegetarian tapas restaurant where I had a bocadillo filled with eggs, brie, tomato spread and peppers.  Yum!  However, since this is Spain, a typical bocadillo is filled with ham and cheese or some other variety of meats.

Foto del día:

Beautiful view in Ronda.  I just put 119 photos on facebook, so definitely check those out if you want to see more!

This weekend, IES organized a two day field trip for us to Ronda and Sevilla, two cities a bit west of Granada.  Ronda is absolutely gorgeous and the vistas were some of the best I've ever seen.  We stayed there for one afternoon to go on a short hike, tour some ancient Arab baths, and have a picnic. 

Then we continued with a very hilly and hot bus ride to Sevilla.  Once there, I opted to do a bike ride around the city, which was a great choice because it was a change from all of the walking I've been doing, and provided a breeze as a relief of the 100 degree weather.  Sevilla is a very biker friendly city, although unsurprisingly the bike paths weren't quite wide enough for our group of 24 people.  We biked along the river to Plaza de España, which was a beautiful mansion with a fountain and paintings of every region of Spain.  That night we went to a flamenco show at Casa de la Memoría, which specializes in flamenco in its most traditional form.  The concert venue was small so IES got a private show.  There was a guitarist, two singers, and two dancers.  I had no idea that it was possible for someone to move their feet that fast!  The guitar playing was virtuosic, the singing was loud and sad, almost like wailing at times, and the dancing was overly dramatic in a very entertaining way. I'm hoping to go to more flamenco concerts in Granada, and when classes start tomorrow I will start learning the dance form myself!

The next day in Sevilla, we toured a palace and garden, both of which were constructed to resemble a maze or a labrynth, which our group leader explained represented the winding path to God.  There was a maze made of bushes in the garden that we all got lost in and struggled to get out of.  Then we went to the biggest cathedral in Sevilla, which was one giant open room and a stark contrast to the smaller rooms in the palace.  We climbed up the 34 ramps (ramps instead of stairs because people used to ride horses up them!) and saw some beautiful views of Sevilla.

It was a short trip, but I'm glad to be back in Granada, and I'm still convinced that this is the most beautiful city in the world.

Cumpleaños

Palabra del día: Cumpleaños
Translation: Birthday

Comida del día: Tartitas
AKA pancakes!  Sole made them for a great birthday breakfast this morning, and we ate them with fresh figs from her daughters garden.  "Tarta" is the word for cake, so "tartita" means little cake.

Foto del día: Me and my roommate at my birthday lunch.  Sole cooked salmon (my favorite) and a delicious chocolate cake!

This has been a great birthday so far!  In addition to so much good food, my host mom gave me a beautiful necklace.  And I'm going to continue to celebrate Spanish style tonight by going out for tapas with some new friends.  Tomorrow we have a two day field trip to Ronda and Sevilla, so I will be sure to fill you in on all of the details when we get back!

Lunch at 2:30

One of my reasons for studying abroad was to experience the lifestyle of a different culture, and I've been somewhat surprised this week by how many differences there are between life in Spain and life in America.  I'm having the most trouble adjusting to the daily schedule, and specifically the eating schedule, which usually goes something like this: small breakfast around 8, huge lunch at 2:30, small dinner at 10.  I have yet to figure out how anyone can survive from 8 until 2:30 on one piece of toast, so my stomach is always growling loudly by the time our Spanish class ends at 2. A typical work day here goes from 10-2, then a three hour break for lunch and siesta, and then back to work from 5-9.

It is interesting to me that there are so many differences in the schedules that have developed in two different cultures. When we described the American work and eating schedule to my host mom, she immediately commented that it must be nice to leave work at 5 and have then rest of the evening off.  On the other hand, I spend my summer working in an office for 7 hours in a row every day, and I always felt like the day dragged on and on.  Perhaps it would have been better for my attention span to have a long break and an optional nap in the middle.


Here are some other differences I've noticed between life in Granada and my life at home:

• People here take "army showers," which means that you turn the water off while you are using soap, then turn it on again to wash the soap off.  There is a big drought in Spain, and the cost of water is very high, so people try to conserve as much as possible.  It's actually a great way to save water: I've been taking showers where the water is running for less than a minute. 
• People walk everywhere.  There are some cars, but the streets are so narrow that they don't end up moving much faster than the pedestrians who tend to walk in the middle.  The nice thing is that Granada is a small city so you can walk pretty much anywhere that you want to go.
• There is tons of nightlife.  The other night I happened upon an outdoor concert at midnight, and most of the people dancing were over 50.  The restaurants become busy around 10, and the clubs open around 2, so there are things to do at any time of the night.
• Going barefoot is not acceptable, even inside. 
• Kids live with their parents for much longer.  It is very normal for someone to live with their parents at the age of 25.  My host mom's 39 year-old son still lives with here.  This is partly due to differences in family relationships and partly due to the lack of jobs for young people due to the economic crisis here.

Foto del día:

I just can't get over how beautiful this city is!  This is from a walk through the Sacromonte neighborhood at sunset.  The neighborhood is known for its caves, flamenco, gypsies, and beautiful views of the mountains and the Alahmbra.

Palabra del día: Grathiath
Explanation: This is how someone with an Andalusian accent typically pronounces"Gracias", or thank you.  People here really can't pronounce the letter "S."  I'm determined not to develop this lisp, but I've already caught myself saying "grathiath" a few times...

Comida del día: Churros y chocolate!
My Spanish class went to eat churros y chocolate today, and they are delicious.  It is basically fried dough that you dip in hot fudge (the churros aren't covered in cinnamon sugar like they are in Latin America or the US).  Apparently this is also an acceptable food the eat for breakfast here!  But the best time to eat it, from what I hear, is early in the morning after spending the whole night at a discoteca with friends.

Why I already love this city

It's absolutely gorgeous here!  I haven't been great about taking photos, but here are a few to give you a taste of how beautiful this city is.  And don't worry, there will be plenty more!

A fountain two blocks from my house. 

View of the Sierra Nevada from the top of my street.

The Alahmbra: the ancient Moorish palace that Granada is known for.

View from the Albayzín, the historically Arabic neighborhood with narrow streets, steep hills, and beautiful scenery.

I've arrived!

I've successfully arrived in the beautiful, small city of Granada, and so far I love it here!  But  I'll start with my arrival in Malaga on Tuesday, which is about an hour from Granada, on the coast. I met everyone in my program at a hotel, and we spent our first afternoon walking along the beach and touring the city. It's a beautiful, slightly touristy city with a giant cathedral, and I would like to spend more time there at some point.  The next day we had some orientation sessions and then rode an extremely comfortable bus to Granada so meet our host families.  Apparently it was a beautiful ride, but I can't quite describe it because I slept the whole way.

My host madre is named Sole (short for Soledad) and she lives in a nice though somewhat small apartment with her 39 year old son.  She has two other kids, also in their thirties, who are around a lot, and two young grandchildren who I have yet to meet.  The apartment is located in a neighborhood called El Realejo, which is where all of the Jews lived before they got exiled.  It is known for its hills and views of the alhambra, which I'm hoping to visit soon.  Sole is really upset because there is a building under construction next door that is blocking the view that she has enjoyed for 33 years.  I'm sharing a room with my IES roommate Hannah, who is from LA and goes to Occidental.  The best part about my homestay so far is that Sole cooks delicious vegetarian food, which isn't very common in a country overrun with jamón.  My favorite food so far is called tortilla española.  Apparently in Spain, tortilla means eggs rather than the thing you put a burrito into, and tortilla española is basically an omelet with potatoes and sometimes onions.

Warning: I really like talking about food, so I'm tempted to turn this blog into a daily log of what I eat for every meal.  However, I realize this subject isn't as interesting to the average reader as it is to me, so I will try to stick to just the highlights. Please let me know if I fail to do so.  If you are interested in hearing about every meal that I eat, please let me know.  I would be more than happy to give you personal updates.

Orientation so far has consisted of five hours of Spanish class in the morning, although we've been learning some useful things.  Yesterday we learned about the unique Granada accent, in which they swallow all of their S's and pronounce the letter Z as "th."  Today we had to interview people on the street about their favorite parts of Granada, which was slightly awkward but provided some great recommendations for restaurants and tapas bars.  We were supposed to go on a field trip to Cabo de Gata this weekend but it was postponed because of a chance of rain.  This is actually less of a disappointment for me because in two weeks my mono will (hopefully!) be gone forever, so I will be able to fully participate in the 10 mile hike along the coast.  As for this weekend, I'm looking forward to exploring the city that I will be living in for the next four months.

Spanish word of the day: Chulo
Translation: Cool (slang)

Example: En Granada si compra una bebida recibe una tapa libre.  ¡Que chulo!
Translation: In Granada, if you buy a drink you receive a free small plate of food.  How cool!

College Student Goes to Spain

I hate to infect the internet with another site called "College Student Goes to Spain," but certain family members have expressed great enthusiasm at the prospect of reading my study abroad blog, and I wouldn't want to disappoint them!

Despite the fact that I've spent the past two weeks packing and preparing (although mostly napping due to my lingering case of mono), it's hard to believe that I'm leaving for Spain tomorrow.  I've somehow managed to fit all of my life's necessities into one rolling duffel bag, weighing in at a meager 46 pounds:

And then, of course, there's my french horn...navigating the airports tomorrow should be a breeze.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited, and I definitely am.  However, at the moment I've also convinced myself that the seven pairs of shoes that I just had to pack will make me stick out like a clueless American, that my host mom will feed me meals with meat hidden in strange places, and that my mono-plagued self will never be able to adjust to 10 pm tapas.  I'm guessing that I'll have no trouble adjusting to afternoon siestas, though!

Despite all of my pre-trip jitters, I'm looking forward to the new experiences I will have over the next four months, and I will try my best to share them all with you.