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Palabra del día: Home
The word of the day is in English because I'm in the US now, and did you know that in the US people speak English?  It was a bit of a shock for me.  I've actually been having some trouble understanding people speaking English on the street because I'm expecting them to speak in Spanish or Italian.  And don't even get me started on those strange Boston accents.
Frase: In the words of Dorothy, there's no place like home.

Comida del día: At the end of my trip to Italy I went to two jazz festivals: one was an hour outside of Rome in a little town called Collescipoli, and the other was wayyy up north almost in Switzerland in a town called Ambria.  In Italy, every region and sometimes even every town has its own culinary specialties, which of course always include a signature pasta dish, so I'm going to explain the pasta specialties that I encountered at the two jazz festivals.  And then I'm not going to talk about (or eat) pasta again for a very, very long time because unlike Italian people, I've learned that I have a pasta limit which I definitely surpassed by the end of my trip.

Pasta #1: Gnocchetti from Collescipoli are tiny versions of potato gnocchi served with a sauce of beans, tomatoes and meat (or senza meat for vegetarians).  I'm not going to include a photo because gnocchetti basically looks like little pellets covered in a gray-brown sauce... much better to eat than to look at!

Pasta #2: Combine northern European food with Italian food and you get pizzocheri, which are long, flat buckwheat noodles covered in a butter and cheese sauce, often mixed with potatoes and cabbage.  No olive oil necessary for the hearty diet of northern Italy!  Although, there was still an abundance of olive trees in the area.

Fotos del día: One of the best parts of being home is that after 10 months, I finally got to see Rosie again!

After 20 hours of traveling, Rosie and her wagging tail were the perfect greeting when I finally arrived home.

And there's no better place to recover from jetlag than the hammock in the backyard:

It's nice to be home.  I'm guessing this feeling will last about another week and then I'll be bored out of my mind and wishing I could go back to Europe and tackle my ever-growing list of places I want to go.  You would think that after 10 months in Europe I would have seen everything I wanted to see, but my list is actually longer than before, since the more I traveled the more places I found out about  and the more places I realized I wanted to go back to.  But for now, I'm finally sick of traveling and I'm content to stay at home for a while with the company of my dog and my hammock (and my parents, of course).

Since this is my last post and my year abroad is finally over, I was thinking that I would talk about some of the year's highlights.  Then I tried to think of highlights, and I just couldn't decide.  I've had one amazing adventure after another and to try to pick out the best ones is impossible.  However, I realized that what connects the numerous best parts of the past 10 months has been the people I've met. I've seen so many beautiful views, famous artwork and historical sights, heard some great music, and eaten the best food ever, but when I think back on all of the places I've been, I think not only about the things I've seen but also about the people that I enjoyed these things with.

The Moroccan countryside is definitely one of the most beautiful places I went this year.

And I'll never forget the gorgeous views of the reservoir of Iznájar!

I'm returning home from my year abroad with hundreds of photos, some nice new clothes, and a brand new handmade Italian leather bag, but the best souveniers are my new friends from Spain, Italy, Morocco, the Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, France, China, and all over the US.  I've been surprised by how quickly I met people, how friendly and welcoming they were right from the start, and how many invitations I've gotten to go to people's houses (and one of the biggest lessons I've learned is that if you get an invitation to go to someone's house, always go!)

It's great to have friends from all over the world, but at the same time there's a downside because I don't know when or if I will ever see these people again, and staying in touch is difficult when you're in different time zones.  I hope that we will see each other again, but whether or not we do, I learned so much and enjoyed the time I spent with each and every person I met, whether we knew each other for a few days, a few weeks, or 10 months.  Something that I will take with me back to WashU is that everyone has something to say, whether they live halfway around the world from you or right next door, and you never know what you will learn if you just take the time to listen.

Speaking of a few days, I was surprised by how quickly I made friends while traveling.  I think that sometimes when people know their time together is limited, they put in extra effort to get to know each other faster.  The Ambria jazz festival was a perfect example.  This was my last stop in Italy before returning home, and I had the opportunity to play three gigs at the festival, watch some great concerts, see some beautiful views, eat some delicious food, and meet some really nice people.  All in all, it was a perfect weekend and a perfect way to end my time in Italy.

I loved having the opportunity to perform with these talented professional musicians.  It was challenging for me but they were very encouraging and I learned a lot from the experience.

I found the perfect place to practice on the balcony of the house where I stayed!

Me with my friend Cabin and my new Italian host mom eating breakfast on our last morning.  Franca really did act like our mother for three days and insists that we come back next year and stay with her again.  Hopefully I will do just that!

The last concert of the weekend was at an ecotourism farm, so we got to play for ostriches as well as people.  I was a bit surprised to see that there was ostrich paté on the brunch menu!

Throughout the three days at the festival, I had the opportunity to get to know all of the people involved.  On both days, the organizer of the festival hosted the musicians, students, and organizers of the festival at his house for a delicious four course lunch that his wife and her friend prepared.  The food was of course amazing, with my personal highlight being the dessert of homemade tiramisu with peaches.  But, although this may be hard to believe coming from someone who loves dessert a little bit too much, the real highlight of the festival was not actually the dessert.  Instead,  it was the chance to talk to musicians from Italy and Germany, and to get to know people who live in these small towns in Northern Italy full of olive trees, apple trees, mountains and not much else.

My new friends from the Ambria Jazz festival

I left the weekend with a feeling that I had become a part of this small but special community, despite the fact that I live thousands of miles away and only visited for three days.  This wasn't the first time this year that I felt welcomed.  In fact, everywhere I went this year I was thrilled to find people who included me in their lives and provided me with a feeling of home, despite the fact that I was thousands of miles away from my real home.  I got this feeling when I played with the band in Granada,

and when I went to Christmas with (very) extended family in France, 

and when I did my internship at the elementary school in Granada,

Hiking with my bosses

and of course with these chicas bonitas,

and when I hung out in the Party Piso.

International dinner

These communities were what really made my year special. I'm thankful to everyone in them for including me, and going forward I'm going to try to always extend the same hospitality that I received to new people that I meet.

And now I have a few final adventures to share with you.  Before the Ambria Festival and after leaving Florence, I went to the JazzIt Festival just south of Rome, which had views like this:

At the festival we played in three concerts, one of them on a stage that looked like this:

Then, we stayed for one night at an ancient monastery, which now functions as a hotel, but based on the UFOs we saw while stargazing there is definitely some sort of spiritual magic left there (and yes, they were definitely UFOs and no, they were not airplanes or space-stations or rocket ships or anything else realistic that you might find in the sky).

The monastery looked like this:

And had views like this:

On the way to the monastery we stopped at this waterfall:

And then we spent two nights relaxing in a small town called San Gemini, and went to see some Roman ruins near there:

Two jazz festivals, a giant waterfall, a magical monastery, Roman ruins, new friends...I can't think of a better way to have spent my last week in Europe.  In fact, I still can't believe that the things I'm describing are actually my real life.

And now here I am, nearing the end of my last blog post.  If anyone wants to see more photos from this year, I am happy to give a private showing the next time we see each other (and I would love to see you - it's been a while!).  I would also like to mention that if you are planning to go to any of the cities I visited this year, I have a detailed list of recommendations for each one and I would be more than happy to share them with you.

I've really enjoyed writing this blog this year and I want to thank everyone who was interested enough in my life to follow it.  I sort of wish I could continue to keep a blog, but I'm guessing that not even my most devoted readers (I think my mom and my aunt Anita win that competition!) would care enough about me to want to read about how many episodes of Orange is the New Black I've watched.  But hopefully this isn't the end of my travel adventures, and hopefully after staying at home for at least a year (first I need to recover from jetlag, then finish college, then we'll see) I'll have the chance to continue to explore the places on my ever growing list of places to see.

A life of luxury

*Note: I wrote this blog post two weeks ago when I left Florence, but due to an epidemic of bad internet connections that’s plaguing small towns across Italy, I haven’t been able to post it until now.  This post is about the end of my time in Florence, and you should expect one more in a few days wrapping up my 10 months in Europe since I am now finally, finally home.

Palabra del día: La campagna

Spanish translation: El campo

English translation: Countryside

Italian sentence: La campagna di Italia e multa bella!

English sentence: The Italian countryside is gorgeous!

Spanish sentence: ¡Con el simpatico que es nuestro prisionero, vamos a tener un buen día en el campo!

Comida del día: One of the most interesting foods I've eaten in Italy were zucchini flowers stuffed with a potato mixture.  Did you know that zucchinis have flowers?  I had the opportunity to help prepare them when we spent a night in the countryside near Florence.  The flowers are orange and green and all you have to do to prepare them is open the flower, put potato inside them, close the flower, and then grill them in the outdoor brick oven.

Foto del día:

Spending a night in the Chianti countryside near Florence gave me the chance to enjoy some quality hammock time!

I ended up traveling this month much more than I thought I would.  The positive reason for this is that the Italian countryside is multa bella and a perfect place to enjoy summer weather.  The negative reason for this is that Florence is noisy and touristy, so I’ve been taking every opportunity to leave!  

Last week I took two trips.  The first was with my jazz program to play a gig at a bed and breakfast in the little town of Montespertoli in Chianti county.  It was a perfect overnight trip, full of cute children, a friendly dog, nice people, delicious fresh food, and the opportunity to play music.  The views from Monstespertoli reminded me a bit of the views around Granada, except that it was greener (with more grass) and in addition to olive trees there were also vineyards.  We got to the bed and breakfast in the afternoon, and I helped to prepare for the big dinner event they were having.  The dinner consisted of all sorts of fresh and local vegetables and salads and pizza and break baked in the outdoor brick oven.

I also had the chance to go for a walk in the countryside with this lovely dog named Ulysses:

Who led me to this view:

Spending a night in the countryside was so relaxing and such a nice change of pace from living in the city that when I got back to Florence I stayed for only three hours before leaving again.  I also left because I was invited to my friend's lake house and I've learned this year that when you are invited to someone's house, you should always go.  The last minute trip was with my jazz professor and my friend to his family friend’s house on Lake Garda, in the town of Saló in Northern Italy.  My friend’s name is Cabin (don’t ask me why…), so when he told me we were going to a house on a lake I just sort of assumed it would be a log “cabin” in the woods near a beach and that we would go swimming and sit in the sun all weekend.  I couldn’t have been more wrong:

I'm pretty sure that this beautiful house that I had the opportunity to stay in is the exact opposite of a cabin.

Cabin’s family friend is a designer and designed this house himself.  The bottom floor has a loft bedroom and big windows that look out on the lake, so when you're up there it feels as if you're on a boat in the lake.  On the second floor, there's another gorgeous lake view and the house is full of beautiful furniture and artwork.  I felt like I was staying in a museum!

I would have been perfectly happy staying at the house all day, but Cabin’s friends (who weren't even at the house while we were there) wanted us to see the area and planned our our trip for us, including a personal driver to bring us from one place to another.

First stop, this mansion-museum-garden called the Vittoriale, which was home to an important Italian figure in World War I named Gabriele d'Annunzio.  The gardens felt like an ancient Roman paradise:

Next stop, lunch at the fanciest and most expensive restaurant I have ever been to.  It was located in a hotel that was previously Mussolini’s house

This is the restaurant:

This is the view:

And here's what I ate:

Caprese salad.  I took one bite of the fresh buffalo mozzarella and thought, "So that's what mozzarella is supposed to taste like!"  It barely resembled the stuff you can buy at grocery stores in the US.

Pasta with seafood and lemon sauce:

A custardy tiramisu flavored dessert:

Everything I ate during this meal tasted like luxury, I didn't have to pay for any of it, and with the help of the gorgeous lake views I had a hard time believing that I wasn't dreaming.

I was expecting to have a full day to spend hanging out at the lake, and although that didn't happen, I still managed to go swimming twice.  The water was a bit cold but clear and perfect for an early morning swim, reminding me of all of the summers I spent in the lake at camp.  Both times that I went swimming, no one else was in the water - it seems like most people with lake houses in the area avoid cold water and the fishies and instead use climate controlled chemical-filled swimming pools. 

Throughout the whole weekend I felt like I was living a life of luxury and the trip was so last minute and so far from what I was expecting that I’m still not convinced that it actually happened.  However, I somehow ended up with a beautiful dress from Cabin’s friend’s designer store that was valued at 700 euros and which I didn’t have to pay for at all, so I have physical proof in my closet that it wasn't all a dream.  

After that weekend, I for some reason started thinking about my trip to Morocco last November, when we visited the family in the rural countryside and got a taste of their lifestyle.  I realized that living this luxurious life in the lake house was the complete opposite of the simple lifestyle I experienced with that family in Morocco, and I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunities to see both ends of the spectrum this year.  Certain parts of the weekend at Lake Garda felt a bit over the top to me, and although it was fun for a short period of time, I remembered that the family that we met in Morocco had everything they needed and seemed happy and content with their lives despite the fact that they would never be able to eat the best caprese salad in the world.

On the way back to Florence, we made two stops.  First we went to Verona, which has some beautiful plazas, a coliseum used for opera performances, and the balcony that Romeo and Juliet was based on.  Next we stopped in Bologna, which felt like a non-touristy version of Florence, and went to a really old monastery.  And then finally back to Florence for my last week in the city.  It’s really not such a bad city, but it just can’t compare to open fields of olive orchards and houses that look like boats. Here I am at the top of the Duomo (cathedral):

It was windy up there!

And now I’m writing this blog on another train after having left Florence for good.  Since leaving Granada, I've realized that it’s not feasible to stay in Europe for the rest of my life.  I've been so many places that sometimes I get this feeling that I don't know where I am or how I got there, which I think means that it's time to go home.  But before that, I have another week and a half of playing music in the Italian countryside - I can't wait! 

Florence is figo

*Note: The title of my blog is no longer accurate because I am not in Spain and sadly don't have plans to return there anytime soon.  However, I've decided to continue to describe my European adventures until I return to the US.  If anyone has ideas for a more accurate blog title, I'm open to suggestions!

Palabra del día: Multo figo
Spanish Translation: Muy chulo
English translation: Really cool
Isn't is multo figo that my blog has become trilingual?

Comida del día: Pesto. Pesto has always been one of my favorite foods and I've decided to eat it every day while living in Florence.  So far, 100 percent success.

Foto del día: Two day trips, two photos.

The first day trip was to Siena, this gorgeous and relaxing small town an hour outside of Florence with an elaborate cathedral and this gorgeous view.

And the second day trip was to Cinque Terre, which literally means "Five Lands" to represent the area of five tiny villages on the coast with colorful houses and rocky beaches.  Cinque Terre is also the birthplace of pesto, which made me very happy.

My first night in Florence, I decided to go for a walk and I saw this sunset behind the famous Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge):

So despite being depressed about leaving Granada, I wasted no time before starting to enjoy Firenze.

I was expecting to be sad about leaving Granada while starting my jazz program here.  What I wasn't expecting was that I would go through full blown culture shock.  I figured that since I was moving from Spain to Italy, both of which are in Europe, the cultures would be pretty similar and I could put off my culture shock until I got back to the US.  I should have known better.  Spain and Italy are more different than I expected, and I'm now thoroughly confused as to whether I'm adjusting from Spanish culture to Italian, American culture to Italian, or even Spanish culture to American.

Before I attempt to analyze Italian culture, I should explain what I'm actually doing here.  WashU has a month-long jazz studies program in Florence which I've wanted to do since my freshman year, and this year since I was already in Europe, it was too convenient to resist.  So now my life consists of three hours of Italian classes in the morning in which I attempt to speak in Italian, end up speaking in some combination of Spanish and English, and still get things right about half the time.  In the afternoon I have a jazz seminar with a WashU professor and group of five other quirky WashU students.  We also have 1-2 gigs or concerts per week which we play with a rhythm section made up of Italian jazz students.

I live in an apartment one minute from the Duomo (Florence's Cathedral),

with three other girls: one from France, one from Brazil, and one from Mexico.  In case you are wondering, we usually speak English, although I do get to practice my Spanish with the girl from Mexico.

So, I've continued to meet a lot of friendly and interesting people from all over the world since coming to Florence, and I've especially enjoyed the chance to meet Italian students and talk to them about what their lives are like in the city I currently live in.  I've also enjoyed the performance opportunities, which at times have pulled me out of my ever-growing comfort zone.  For example, last week we played in a concert and we were asked to introduce ourselves before playing, and I successfully introduced myself in Italian (a language I had been speaking for a week and a half) in front of an audience.  And yesterday we played at our weekly gig at a restaurant right on the river, and we ended up performing a song I had written as an assignment that day for my jazz seminar.  I'd never written a song before, let alone performed one I'd written on the same day!

The Italian musicians I've met seem really impressed by the fact that I play jazz on the French horn!  Which means that at first they don't seem to notice if I play a few wrong notes some of the time...

Ok, now that you understand what I'm doing in Florence for a month besides eating lots of gelato, let's go back to the topic of culture shock.  Here are some things that stick out to me as unique aspects of Italian culture:

• One of the hardest things for me to get used to has been the daily schedule.  By the end of nine months in Spain, I actually started to like eating a big meal in the middle of the day and then taking a siesta.  So when I started classes here and found out that I only had a half hour for lunch at 12:30, I was really stressed out.  12:30 is way too early for lunch, and half an hour is barely enough time to eat, let alone take a siesta.  I'm still struggling with this schedule and I am usually more than ready for my siesta at 2 pm, right in the middle of my jazz seminar...

• Speaking of trying to stay awake, I'd like to talk about Italy's coffee culture.  In the US, we get giant cups to go; in Spain, you sit in a cafe for at least an hour and usually drink a simple café con leche; but in Italy, it's a bit more complicated.  In the morning, it's normal to enjoy a leisurely latte with a croissant for breakfast, but throughout the day, it's more common to stop into a café and order a shot of espresso while standing at the bar for a pick-me-up that takes no more than two minutes and doesn't involve any plastic cups.  I usually don't drink any coffee at all, but I've realized that a shot of espresso in the half hour break during Italian class in the morning causes me to participate much more during the second half of class, and participation of course helps me to improve my knowledge of Spanglitalianish. 

• Despite the super speedy lunches and lack of a siesta, life in Italy is still pretty laid back.  Instead of long lunches people have long dinners, and the fact that coffee breaks are so quick means that it's possible to take coffee breaks three (or four or five) times per day.  Now remember the fact that I'm in laid-back Italy for a jazz program, and that jazz musicians are known for being, shall we say, super chill.  What I'm trying to say is that most of the events for my program have been planned extremely last minute and sometimes I feel like I spend a whole afternoon trying to do things that never get done.  This disorganization and lack of productivity has been agitating certain high-achieving WashU kids in my program, so in this sense I'm glad that I came straight from Granada, the land of no pasa nada where I learned to wait for hours, weeks or months for things to happen that sometimes never actually happen.  The moral of the story is that it's important, especially in Spain, Italy, or when spending time with jazz musicians, to just go with the flow.

The one and only thing I like more about Florence than Granada is that Granada doesn't have any grass, and Florence has lots and lots of it.

• Ok, now my favorite topic related to cultural differences: besos! (AKA bacetti AKA kisses). In Italy, like in Spain, the proper way to greet someone when meeting him for the first time is by giving a kiss on each cheek.  However, in Italy they kiss the other person's left cheek first, while in Spain they go right then left.  I've become used to the Spanish way which has caused some problems: if I go for the other person's right cheek and they go for my left cheek, there's a strong possibility that we'll meet in the middle and end up kissing on the lips.  Thankfully I've avoided this so far, but I have had some close calls.  Meeting and greeting new people is further complicated by the fact that I've met people here from all over the world.  Apparently in Mexico the proper way to greet someone is a kiss on only one cheek.  So when an American meets a Mexican in Italy, there are three options: a proper American handshake, a kiss on one cheek, or a kiss on both cheeks.  How do I ever decide?

• And speaking of kisses, I'd like to talk for just a moment about Italian men.  Some of whom are very handsome.  And all of whom have a certain reputation, am I right?  There's a word in Spanish, ligar, which can best be translated with the definition, "to flirt with a purpose".  I was warned by certain friends when leaving Spain to be careful of Italian men because they are muy ligados, and I have found this to be true.  For example, my very first morning in Florence I went to a cafe for breakfast.  The waiter brought me the wifi password on an index card and joked, "Here's my number; so when can I get yours?"  And other similar incidents.  In my opinion, maybe it's a bit too much.

So aside from beautiful sunsets and handsome but overly forward men, what does Florence have to offer?

1. Great art: I haven't seen all of the museums yet, but I did see Florence's highlight, Michelangelo's David statue, which is known as being a masterpiece and in my opinion seeing it firsthand, it lived up to it's reputation of perfection.  

Obviously its impossible to capture the magnificence in a simple photo, but you can tell that he's quite a handsome guy.

2. Waaayyyyy too many American tourists screaming outside of my window late into the night (and in the same vein, wayyy too many mosquitos buzzing in my ears and making me itchy late into the night).  I don't think I've been around this many people from the US since I was in the US nine months ago. I've heard a few people describe Florence as a "preserved Renaissance disneyland," meant for tourists to enjoy but lacking modern cultural development.  Walking around the center of the city, I've noticed more people speaking English than any other language.  I've also met tons of people like me who come here from all over the world to study for a few months, making them not quite tourists but definitely not locals either.  Something I loved about Granada was that despite the tourists and loads of study abroad students, there were still plenty of places once you left the main plazas that were purely Granadina.  In Florence, I have yet to find these places, but to be fair, perhaps it just takes more time to discover them.  

Do I spot pesto on that pizza?

3. Great food.  Pizza pasta gelato what more can I say?

9 month anniversary

Palabra del día: Ciao
Translation: Goodbye in Spanish, and hello and goodbye in Italian.  All too appropriate, since I just said goodbye to Granada and hello to Florence!

Comida del día: homemade pizza
Speaking of Italy... actually the pizza we made a few weeks ago would probably not at a high enough standard to be qualified as pizza in Italy, but in my opinion it was pretty tasty.  I also learned that making pizza from scratch is super easy and a great thing to make when you have hardly any food in the house.  For the dough, all you need is flour, water, and some sort of yeast. Or if you can't find any yeast, baking soda seems to work just fine.  And if you can't find a rolling pin, use a zucchini! (it worked perfectly). And then all you need is some combination of veggies and cheese.  We had a pizza making party a few weeks ago and look how nicely they turned out:

Foto del día:

Typical day hanging out in the Party Piso with Alberto and Nabil.  I'm definitely going to miss this!

After nine happy months together, Granada and I had to separate.  It was for logistical reasons rather than relationship problems, and we were both extremely sad about it.  I've cried about 10 times in the last month, and it rained all afternoon in Granada the day before I left, which I like to think was Granada crying for me.  And now I'm in Florence for the next month!  I'm slightly less excited that I should be because this transition is colored by the fact that I'm depressed about leaving the city I fell in love with this year and all of the amazing people I met there.  So far, Florence seems like a lovely city, but it has some steep competition if it wants to try to win my heart. 

Some of you may find it hard to believe that even after nine months in Granada, and five months longer than I originally planned, I still wasn't ready to leave.  Deciding to stay for the full year was definitely the right decision for me and one of the best personal decisions I've made in my entire life.  In fact, I'm fully convinced that spending a year abroad in college should be the norm, rather than the exception.  A semester abroad gives you the chance to travel a lot, party a lot, study a little, learn some things about the culture and maybe have a conversation or two with people who live there.  A year gives you a chance to do all of those things as well as form real relationships with people from other cultures, and for me these relationships were the highlights of my time abroad, as well as where I learned the most.  And although Granada is a pretty small city, I was still discovering new things right up until the very end.  In my last week, I went to a beautiful garden near the Alhambra for the first time and found out that one of my favorite concert venues has jam sessions on Tuesdays which I had been missing all year, but Thankfully I managed to go to one my last week.  So despite its size, Granada is full of hidden places and fun things to do.

A few weeks ago, I was browsing through some old blog posts, reminiscing, and trying not to cry (but yes, I was crying...) and I found the post where I described my decision to stay for the year.  Within that post I had written my goals for the second semester, which were nice to read because I could easily see which ones I had completed and which I hadn't.  The results went something like this:

1. Spend more time with new Spanish friends
I definitely succeeded with this one!  Although I should really edit this goal to "Spend more time with non-American friends".  Last semester I generally ended up hanging out with large groups of American girls, and although this was fun, I loved having opportunities this semester to spend more time with Spanish people and people from all over the world.  My housemate Alberto never hesitated to invite Rebecca and I along to whatever fun event he happened to be going to and for some reason seemed to genuinely want to hang out with a bunch of American girls most of the time.  I also had the pleasure of living with Nabil and half the time his sister Mariam as well, with whom we had some great discussions about current events, Moroccan culture, and anything and everything else (they both love to talk!)   In my last post I wrote about the "international dinner" we had a few weeks ago, and I don't think I've ever been in a room with people representing so many different cultures.  From these people I've learned all sorts of new things, and it's been a wonderful experience to find out how my life is similar and different to people in other countries.  And also of course to learn swear words in a whole variety of languages!

2. Study a bit more
This definitely did not succeed in this one...but no pasa nada (Do you remember this Word of the Day?) The truth is, I learned more from meeting all of the people I mentioned above than I could ever learn in my classes.  And it turned out that my course load was easy enough that I didn't need to study all that much to do well in my classes.  My reasoning for this goal was that after one semester I would be adjusted enough to life in a new country that I could focus more on school.  However, second semester turned out to be drastically different.  I mentioned that my friends were different, but I also had to adjust to living in an apartment, cooking for myself (remember how I struggled to light the stove for a good long while?), making new friends since many had left, and starting a new internship, and I also got the opportunity to explore Granada with people who have lived here for years, so there were tons of new places to discover. All of these adjustments were great because it allowed me to have two very different study abroad experiences from one semester to the next, and in my opinion new experiences are what studying abroad is all about.

3. Take more music classes, learn flamenco guitar, and do an internship: done!

So all in all, two out of three goals accomplished, and I have no regrets about not accomplishing the other one.

I truly cannot believe that the semester is over.  During my last week, I slowly said goodbye to all of the people and places that have become important to me: my host mom, my internship supervisor, my favorite bakery, the people in the band, my friends from the US...and it's scary to think that I have no idea if and when I will ever see these people again.  Although I'm incredibly sad, I've realized that goodbyes often end up being celebrations and can be lots of fun.  For example, at my last band rehearsal Rebecca and I brought chocolate chip cookies and a photo collage with thank you letters, and then afterwards we all went out for tapas, of course.  It's depressing to think that that was the last time I will ever go out for tapas with the band, especially since they've been such an incredibly welcoming community, which is something that is incredibly valuable while living in a foreign country.  But of course while we were out we had a great time with lots of jokes (many at my expense), just like always.

We also of course had to have one last party in the Party Piso, with my housemates and honorary housemates in attendance, a bunch of people from the band, and a few other people who I've managed to make friends with over the course of the year.  This was on my second to last night in Granada.  My last day I spent with my closest friends.  I made lunch for all of my housemates and honorary housemates, giving one last go at cooking Spanish food while Spanish people were around to help me.  I made my host mom's paella recipe and salmorejo (cold tomato soup that's thicker than gazpacho).  Look out for the recipes soon!  Then at night we went to a jazz-themed cafe called Cafe Bohemia, which we seem to end up at every time it's someone's last night in Granada.  I guess even in a year we were able to start a few traditions.

One of the reasons it's so hard to leave Granada is that I made some of the best friends there that I've ever had in my life.  In addition to my friends from all over the world, I also became best friends with Annie, Rebecca and Silvia (three other American girls from my program).  We ended up spending a ridiculous amount of time together due to the fact some of us lived (or practically lived) together, had classes together, did some of the same activities and had incredibly active social lives to fully enjoy the Spanish culture.  By the end of the semester I felt like we were more like family than friends - we even sometimes had "family arguments"!  I think the fact that we were all so far from home also brought us closer together.  Although I loved having friends from so many different cultures, sometimes it was nice to hang out with three other Americans, talk about anything and everything, and feel a little bit more at home.  I've been so many amazing places this year, but even so, some of my best memories are just of hanging out in the Party Piso, playing games, eating, chatting, making jokes and enjoying the opportunity to spend time with good friends.  At WashU, it's easy to get caught up in studying and to-do lists and spending time with friends often gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list.  I've learned this year how important friendships can be and how much I can learn from spending time with other people, and going forward I'm going to try to make that a more important part of my life.

Something I've been wondering is whether I've changed throughout this year in Granada.  This is probably a question that you can answer better than I can, but I'll give you my best guess.  In some ways I think I've changed a lot.  I've had a much more active social life this year, I've loved meeting new people and I've realized the value of the things you can learn from simply having a conversation with someone new.  I've also jumped at many chances to try new things this year, and in some of these cases I might have been more likely to hesitate in the past.  I've realized that trying new things is invigorating and educational, but I certainly haven't left my old logical self behind who always thinks before she acts.  And then there are the little things that have changed: I've completely adjusted to the Spanish eating schedule and I love taking an afternoon siesta.

But I've also realized that I have certain core values that will always stay the same, and these values stick out even more when I'm in a completely new setting.  For example, I was worried that I wouldn't have time or resources to play music while in Granada, but I ended up spending lots of time playing music and meeting friends through playing, just like I've always done.  Playing music is something I love to do and if it followed me to Spain, it makes me think it will follow me for the rest of my life.  Another thing I've noticed is that although my social life is more active here, I still need time for myself.  My WashU friends always make fun of me because I go to bed early, and my friends here are always convincing me to stay out later (although at WashU "early" means midnight, and in Spain it usually means 3 am...)  But in the end, I'm still the same person, and I still need my eight hours of sleep every night.

One last beautiful view

Throughout this last week of saying goodbye, many people said to me that I could always return if I wanted to.  That seemed unlikely to me - the US is very far away from Spain and I have no idea when I'll be back.  It also didn't help much to think I could return, because I know that if I return many of the people I've met this year probably won't still be there.  However, as my plane was taking off from Granada and I looked at one last view of the mountains and the olive trees that make up the beautiful landscapes of Andalucia, I realized that although I don't know when, I will definitely be back someday. But for now, all I can say is ciao, Granada, until we meet again.

Why is Granada so beautiful?

Palabra del día: Llorar

Translation: to cry

It's not going to be easy to leave Granada in three days... I've already cried about it six times!

Comida del día: Quinoa lentil salad.  A variation on this recipe: http://www.nomsforthepoor.com/2014/03/jerusalem-inspired-quinoa-salad.html
This is definitely one of the highlights of things I've cooked this semester.  Although as the semester got busier, I started surviving on a lot of pasta, eggs, sandwiches and salads, so maybe it doesn't have that much competition?  Either way, it was absolutely delicious.  I had lots of lentils so I used those instead of chickpeas, and I also skipped out on some of the herbs.  I did use cilantro which made it super yummy and gave me an excuse to make lots of guacamole the next day to use up the extra.

Foto del día: 

One last Alhambra photo.  Are you sick of looking at it yet? I'm definitely not.  I took this photo after a wonderful day of hiking on the paths above the Alhambra with my friend Rebecca.  I also discovered a new garden next to the Alhambra that had towers, ducks and beautiful views.  It's hard to believe that there are parts of Granada that I still haven't seen after all of this time!

I'd like to start by sharing two "Only in Granada" moments that I experienced within hours of each other last week.  First, I went to an end of the year party at the elementary school where I did my internship and there was a bar with beer on tap set up on the patio.  Can you imagine a bar with alcohol at an elementary school party in the US?  Only in Spain.  The second moment was later that day when I went for a run and saw a man just casually riding his horse down the street.

I have three days left of my year in Granada, and I'm not at all ready to go.  But I'm going to avoid that subject for now (look out for another blog post in a day or two about that depressing topic) in order to update you about all of the recent fun activities I've been up, since I've been fully taking advantage of my dwindling time in Granada by enjoying my time with the beautiful weather, landscapes and people that I'm so sad to be leaving.  Here's the highlights of the last month, summarized into a nice bullet-pointed list with plenty of photos to facilitate easy-reading and avoid the boredom that is often caused by reading trivial details about someone else's life:

• My theater class went to a puppet show in the puppetier's a small pueblo (village) called Conchar, and first we got to walk around, enjoy the views, and pick oranges off of trees. 

                                               

• Finally went to a Spanish fútbol game! Granada lost, but it was still fun, and we could see the mountains from the stadium!

• We had a four day weekend and for once I wasn't traveling, so I took a "staycation" and went on a few day trips.  First I went to a town called Quentar and hiked to a giant reservoir, then swam to a cave, then hiked back.  What an adventure!   I also went to a town called Guadix which has a very large neighborhood in which all of the houses are built into caves.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much else to see in Guadix and we had to kill three hours in cafes waiting for our bus home.  The third day I spent at the beach, and the fourth day was a festival in Granada called Día de las cruces (Day of the crosses) in which the whole city was out on the streets and many patios were decorated with flowers and crosses on display.

The cave that we swam to at the Quentar reservoir.

Decorated patio for the Day of the Crosses

• We had an international dinner in the Party Piso, with people and food from Spain, Morocco, Italy, the Czech Republic, the US, Mexico, Armenia, and I'm probably forgetting somewhere!  It's been an amazing experience to make friends this year with people from so many different cultures.

My friend Anna from the Czech Republic made a wide variety of delicious cookies which she said she always eats at Christmastime.

• I went on the IES field trip to Cabo de Gata, which I had done last semester as well, but this semester we went for two days instead of one.  The first day was a long hike and the second day we spent relaxing on the beach, doing yoga, and kayaking.  And I was thrilled to get the opportunity to look at this view again! 

• I also went hiking one weekend with my friend Silvia, my internship supervisor Carlos, and another teacher from the school where I did my internship.  The hike was beautiful, of course. 

• While on the hike, we started talking to Carlos about the pueblo where his family lives, and then he mentioned he was going there that very day and invited us to come along!  Of course we took him up on the offer.  The pueblo is called Iznájar and is about an hour from Granada.  It is definitely the most beautiful pueblo I have seen in this area.  It has the biggest reservoir in Andalucía and is surrounded by olive trees, with the main part of the town built on a hill and consisting of the typical small white houses that are in many of Andalucía's hill towns.  Carlos was incredibly generous to show us his home and introduce us to some friends and family.  Our first night there we watched the sun set over of the reservoir, and the next day we hung out on the beach, went kayaking, and went for a walk to see gorgeous views of the town and the reservoir.  Before visiting Iznájar, I couldn't understand why Carlos would leave Granada every weekend to go home to a tiny pueblo, but now I'm incredibly jealous that he has the opportunity to be in such a beautiful and relaxing place so frequently and I've been wishing I could go back.

Spending time with Carlos also gave us a chance to talk about our internship experiences and the Spanish education system in general, since in the midst of all of these fun activities and beautiful views, I also managed to finish up my classes and my internship, take exams, and write final papers.  It still amazes me how little I've had to study this year, and I know that with my full WashU course load next year I'm going to be in for quite a shock.  Even so, I still managed to learn a few things in my classes, especially about the Spanish education system.  With my internship, I got to see firsthand how an elementary school works here, and I also had the opportunity to take two drastically different classes at the University of Granada.  I didn't notice too many differences between elementary schools in the US and Maristas, but I did learn that the options for schooling are a bit different.  Just like in the US, there are private and public schools, but Maristas falls somewhere in between: it is funded by both the government and a private foundation, in this case a religious one called the Maristas Brothers, so some of the teaching ideology is Catholic.  Within the school, one of the biggest differences I noticed was that when teachers give feedback to students, they often say, "Muy mal!" ("Very bad!"), which is the kind of feedback that in the US would have kids crying and parents on the phone to the principal.  This probably fits in with one of the cultural differences I've written about before, which is that Spanish people tend not to sugarcoat things - they tell it like it is, and apparently this starts at a young age.

I also learned about the Spanish education system through my music education class at the University of Granada.  This class was actually a bit of a joke: we had hardly any work and therefore I barely learned anything, although this was partly due to the fact that the people in the class didn't know anything about music, so the class focused on learning basic music rather than learning how to teach music, which is what I had hoped to learn.  I was confused why this class ended up being so much easier than the music history course I took last semester, and it turns out that classes vary widely depending on what school they are in: the history course was in the school of Filosofía y letras (history, literature, etc.) while the music education course was in the education school.  Apparently, Spanish students take exams in the middle of high school, and their scores on these exams affect which school they are allowed to study in for college.  For example, people with the highest scores can study medicine, and people with lower scores can't.  The education school has some of the lowest score requirements, so the students end up being less bright and the classes less challenging.  In my opinion, it should be the opposite: we need smart teachers to teach the next generation because they create the future.  But apparently teaching is not highly valued, similar to the US where although we don't have exams to determine who can study what, people are often deterred from teaching because of low salaries, and being a teacher is generally not considered one of the most highly respected professions.

So although my classes weren't all that challenging, I enjoyed the opportunity to learn firsthand about the Spanish education system and to experience a university class that was the complete opposite from my class there last semester.  After having both of these experiencies, it makes me think that there has to be a middle ground somewhere... but I think I'd rather go back to taking WashU classes, despite all of the hard work that is necessary, than attempt to find a class that suits me at the University of Granada.  My internship also helped me to think about whether teaching is something I would like to do in the future.  I enjoyed spending time with kids, although I realized that in terms of teaching I would rather teach older kids (I worked mostly with first and second graders) so that I can focus more on the material and less on behavior.  The two music classes I helped out with were definitely my favorites, so it was nice to learn that teaching music is something I enjoy.  In addition to teaching, this year abroad has also caused me to consider ethnomusicology as a career option, since I've loved learning about Spanish music through playing in the band and taking flamenco guitar and dance lessons.

• Annnddd finally, one more day trip: my friend Annie left last Sunday (sob) and before she left her parents came to visit for a few days.  They rented a car and my friends Silvia, Rebecca and I got to go with them on a day trip to the Alpujarra mountain towns and then back to the Quentar reservoir.  Yet another opportunity to enjoy the beauty of Southern Spain, with some great friends.  These are some people that I am definitely going to echar de menos!