Where hello means goodbye

Palabra del día: Hello

In Hungary, people use the word “hello” as a greeting and as a way to say “goodbye,” just like “ciao” in Italian means both “hello” and “goodbye.” To complicate things further, the Hungarian word for both “hello” and “goodbye” is pronounced “see-ya.”  So in Hungary, it’s perfectly normal to greet someone by saying “see-ya” and to say goodbye with the word “hello.” All of this confusion explains why Annie and I chose this song as our Budapest theme song:

Comida del día: Lángos

Our tour guide described this food as “communist pizza,” which seems pretty accurate to me.  It’s the same idea as a pizza except the dough is fried and it is usually topped with sour cream and cheese.  Apparently during the communist era they needed to make cheap food quickly, and this was one way to do it.  I tried it, but I wasn’t a fan – I would much rather have Venezian pizza!

Other foods that Hungary is known for include goulash (a beef stew), paprika, and strudel, though Hungarian strudel is very different from Austrian strudel since it has more filling and less dough and can be filled with apples, plums, poppy seeds or even cabbage.

Foto del día: 

On the way to Budapest, we stopped for a day in Vienna.  We did the Rick Steves walking tour of course, then we saw a museum with a great collection of old instruments and armor, then toured the opera house and ate some great Viennese cakes.  Here’s a picture with me and my good friend Mozart.

When I got off the train in Budapest, my first thought was, “I’m not in Kansas anymore!”  Except that in this case Kansas was Italy, or maybe even all of Western Europe.  Budapest is very, very different from anywhere I’ve ever been.  After going to three very touristy large cities, it was immediately clear to me that Budapest is much less for tourists and much more for real people.  When we got off the train, we had no idea how to find the metro and there were no signs in English or any maps to help us out.  Additionally, the Hungarian language is like nothing I’ve ever heard before; the currency is called forints and a typical bill has at least three zeros; and according to the Center for Disease Control website, the water in Budapest isn’t safe to drink.  Once we found our way to the AirBnb apartment, figured out the conversion rate, and bought some bottled water, though, we were ready to explore Budapest’s unique tourist attractions and discover its authentic charm.

I was surprised to find that many aspects of Budapest felt more like the US than, for example, Spain.  The daily schedule and the pace of life, with people rushing around with their to-go coffee, was definitely different from the laid back siesta lifestyle in Spain and Italy, and the numerous cafes all seemed brand new and boasted strong wifi connections. I was a bit confused about this modern feeling because “modern” isn’t generally a word I associate with Europe.  But then I learned that much of Budapest is brand new, built within the last two decades after communism ended in Hungary in 1990.  I hadn’t quite realized how recently Hungary had become a democratic country, and after learning this I was impressed by how much had been rebuilt in such a short period of time. 

One of the most informative sights I went to is called the House of Terror, located in what used to be Budapest’s communist headquarters.  The museum now serves as a way to educate people about communism and as a memorial to its victims. It was disturbing to walk through the jail cells in the basement, and at the end of the exhibits there were hundreds of photos of Hungarian communist police who still hadn’t been brought to justice for the atrocities they had committed, serving as a reminder of how recently communism was present in Budapest’s history.  I was especially interested how communism had affected religion: religion was virtually banned during that time period and instead people were expected to worship their communist leaders.  Although it affected people of all religions, I was especially interested in learning about Hungary’s Jewish population due to my personal connection and the fact that communism ruled Hungary directly after World War II when so many Jews were wiped out in the Holocaust. 

After visiting the House of Terror, I toured the largest synagogue in all of Europe (and the second largest in the world after a reformed synagogue in New York City).  Budapest’s Great Synagogue was built in 1859. It survived World War II but was severely damaged by four bombs, and stayed damaged until 1990 when it was finally fixed up.  The synagogue is unique because it has many elements of a basilica, since the people who first built it were trying to create a Hungarian-Jewish identity for themselves rather than just a Jewish identity.  It’s the shape of a basilica, and has pulpits and even an organ!  The synagogue also has a cemetery next to it, which is rare since Jewish cemeteries are usually far removed from synagogues.  However, this cemetery holds the bodies of thousands of Jews who died from terrible living conditions in the Jewish ghetto, and it was impossible at the time to create proper burial sights. 

The organ in the Great Synagogue

Part of the Holocaust memorial behind the synagogue

 But Budapest has come a long way since its Communist era.  Now, the Jewish district is one of its most entertaining neighborhoods, with tons of unique bars and international restaurants.  The buildings that were ruined in the war have been converted into “ruin pubs,” and their concrete floors and mismatched furniture make a perfect setting for a fun night out. 

Despite its recent history, Budapest to me felt like a fun city that was growing rapidly and offered unique experiences.  In one day, Annie and I managed to go ice-skating in City Park in the front yard of a beautiful castle.  Then we went to the Schelenkyi baths, got massages, relaxed in a few cafes, and went to the opera!  The baths are probably what Budapest is best known for. There are a few of them in Budapest, but the ones we tried had indoor and outdoor pools in a variety of temperatures and are used by tourists as well as locals simply as a way to relax.  In one of the outdoor pools there were even people playing chess! Even though it was 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) and cloudy outside, I couldn’t feel the cold at all while I was in the baths – only when I was running from one pool to another!

Going to the opera was also a highlight, since Budapest’s opera is known as being almost as good as Vienna’s and much less expensive.  Since the tickets were only $7 (for seats on the ground floor!) we decided to go two nights in a row.  I was worried I would get bored with this much opera, especially since it was sung in Italian and the supertitles were in Hungarian.  However, I made sure to read synopses beforehand, and shows were so different and entertaining that I was able to thoroughly enjoy six hours of opera in two days.  The first night we saw a modern Hungarian opera that had premiered two days earlier called Spiritiznák, which had great costumes and set, and the next night we saw a more classical comedic opera called Don Pasqual.  I also enjoyed sitting in the theater and admiring this gorgeous ceiling:

And now that I’ve said “hello” to Budapest, it’s time to say “hello” to Prague!  Or, as they say in Czech, “ahoy!”  Maybe a pirate themed song will be our next city’s theme song?

A taste of Italy

Current location: Budapest!  Though when I wrote this, I was on an overnight train somewhere between Venice and Vienna.  We spent a day in Vienna before finishing our journey here.  I've been moving around so much that it's hard to keep my blog updated! 

Palabra del día: arrivederci
Translation: "Hasta luego" in Italian. I wasn't ready to leave Italy, but with some luck I'll be back soon, hopefully this summer! So in the past month I've been in countries where they speak English, Spanish, French and Italian.  Now that I've covered all of the Romance languages, I'm moving on to German, Hungarian, and Czech.  I'm guessing by the end of this trip I'll be able to say "see you later" in seven different languages and not much else in any of them.

Comida del día: If I had to deicde the one best thing I ate (which is next to impossible because all of the food was soooo good), I would say it was tiramisu at a restaurant in Venice called Tratoria alla Riveta that was literally located under a bridge.   The waiter claimed it was the best tiramisu in all of Venice, and it only took one bite to convince me that he wasn't falsely advertising.  

Other than tiramisu, I ate pizza, and pasta, and more pizza and pasta, and biscotti, and gelato, and cappuccinos, and more gelato, and massive man-ger-ahngs (which is how Annie incorrectly pronounces the word “meringues”) and these interesting things called ciccetti which are basically Venice’s version of tapas.  They consist of all sorts of combinations of seafood and vegetables and you order them as an appetizer with a pre-dinner drink (or if you order enough of them they can turn into dinner).  It was fun to try Italy’s version of tapas, but I have to say that Spain does it much better.

Venice is known for its seafood, and some of the animals at the Rialto Market were actually moving as they were being purchased!

Foto del día:

Actually two photos! One of Rome: 

This is the Roman Forum, the ancient city center that contains ruins of lots of old important structures such as temples, monuments, and even Julius Caesar's grave.

And one of Venice (standing up on boat to Rialto market)

We arrived at the Rialto market by crossing the canal standing up on this type of boat, in the rain.  I was convinced I was going to fall into the water but thankfully I managed to keep my balance.  

The best word to describe Rome is “old” (duh…) There are so many significant historical sights in such a concentrated area, and all of them are so ancient that it’s impossible to comprehend people’s lives that long ago.  Even normal buildings, like hotels, offices, and grocery stores, seem to be located in buildings that look like they are 2,000 years old.  However, the city of Rome does a lot to help modern day tourists understand, and so does my favorite travel guide writer, Rick Steves.  The sights we saw included the coliseum, which was Ancient Rome's version of going to a baseball game except instead of baseball, they watched people getting attacked by large animals. We also went to the Forum, the Pantheon, the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica.  I was impressed by the Vatican and especially the Sistine Chapel.  Sometimes when historical sights are so famous, people are disappointed when they finally see them, but for me the Sistine Chapel lived up to its reputation – it was absolutely gorgeous, with its original colors preserved, and the longer I looked at it the more intricate details I noticed.  I also loved the Borghese Gallery, a beautiful art collection in a mansion with overly elaborate floors, walls, and ceilings all in the colorful Roman style.  After the Borghese gallery we took a break from all of the history and enjoyed the beautiful weather (50s and sunny!) with a bike ride through the Borghese Gardens.  And then of course we did some shopping too (there are still great post-Christmas sales in all of Europe!)

Nice view of Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica

To make some more general observations about Rome, it seemed very touristy, but not completely.  Especially in the off-season that is January, the locals are easier to spot (there aren’t many, but they do exist!)  Romans are also the worst drivers I have ever seen in my life, and I’m from Boston, so that’s saying something.  I was warned about the pickpockets before going to Rome, but once I got there I was much more worried about being hit by a crazy driver.  Thankfully, I avoided both problems and left Rome still in possession of both of my kidneys and my laptop.

Ok, now on to Venice.  So different from Rome!  First of all, there are no crazy drivers because there are no drivers at all, just boats.  Lots and lots of boats.  My word to describe Venice is “charming.”  I loved the narrow streets, the bridges, the canals, the shops with crafty window displays, and the tiny cafes.  We spent most of our time in Venice wandering the streets and getting completely lost while window shopping to admire the masks, glass, and other crafts, and taking photos on bridges.  Like this one, where I turned into Mary Poppins and flew away with my umbrella. 

I started out in Venice on my own, since Annie decided to do a speedy trip to Florence.  I had never traveled on my own before, but I found it to be quite pleasant and not lonely at all, and I enjoyed the freedom it gave me. But I was happy when Annie came back.  She’s so good at navigating and finding cool things to do, plus we each worry about completely opposite things, which assures that we always have all of our bases covered.

In terms of tourist attractions, I loved the Correr Museum, which is a mansion on St. Mark’s Square containing all sorts of old Venezian objects and household items.  There were two beautiful rooms full of shelves and shelves of old books, some plates painted with scenes of canals and gondolas, and some gorgeous chandeliers with blown glass flowers.  Venice is known for its glass-blowing, and there were so many little shops full of brightly colored glass jewelry and other fun items.  I also enjoyed the Guggenheim collection, which is Peggy Guggenheim’s personal collection of modern and surrealist art, now displayed in her house right on the Grand Canal.  It was nice to see some more recent paintings after seeing so many ancient things! 

Our last day in Venice, our hungry stomachs and desire to escape the rain brought us to El Faro restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto neighborhood of Venice, which was actually the first Jewish ghetto and where the word “ghetto” originated.  We were so hungry after a long morning of window shopping in the rain that we probably ordered half the menu (we also wanted to fully enjoy our last meal in Italy).  Because of this (and also because we were the only people in the restaurant at 3:30 pm on a rainy January afternoon), we became great friends with the waiter, who took this photo of us with our seafood risotto and pesto pizza.

And I can't finish talking about Venice without showing you a photo of some beautiful masks: 

And now I'm in a completely different part of the world, where the language is like none I've ever heard before and the word "hello" actually means "goodbye"(more on this later).  But I should go – it's time to get off the internet and start enjoying Budapest!

Football pitches, zebras crossing streets, and other rubbish from London

Current location: Rome! But I'm going to backtrack a bit since I still haven't told you about London. Don't worry, I still have one more day in Rome, so after that I'll give you all of the details about this wonderful ancient city.

Palabra del día: During my time in London, I felt like I was learning a new language. I could understand British English about as well as I can understand Spanish: there were certain words I didn't know and there's also a weird accent.  Instead of choosing just one word, here's a list of all of the British words I learned.  Try to guess their definitions (some are more obvious than others). Answers are at the bottom of the post - don't peak!

1. Jumper 
2. Floor
3. Flat
4. Zebra (pronounced "Deborah")
5. Way out
6. Car boot 
7. Trousers 
8. Buckets
9. Chips
10. Match
11. Pitch
12. Rubbish
13. Toilet, gent or ladies, or loo 
14. Cycling
15. Pavement
16. Muffin
17. Petrol station
18. Lift
19. Queue
20. Crisps

Comida del día: afternoon tea 
Afternoon tea is a wonderful thing.  It's basically an excuse to eat mini sandwiches, scones, and three desserts in the middle of the afternoon while feeling classy, proper and caffeinated.

Foto del día: The red phone booths actually exist!

I've been moving around a lot recently.  Two weeks ago, I was on top of the Eiffel Tower.  Since then, I've been in London, Granada, and Rome, and tomorrow I'm off to Venice!  I sometimes have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming because I still can't begin to believe how fortunate I am to have the chance to travel to so many new places.  I keep thinking that traveling makes me feel like a little kid.  I get endless enjoyment out of the green guys in the walk signs (they're brown in the US), the mini smart cars instead of giant SUVs, and the announcer's accent on the subway, and whenever I can decipher a street sign or advertisement in a new language I have the urge to say, "Look Mom, I can read!"

I've now seen three cities and I have plans to see four more.  In general, I'm hoping to avoid the one tall building in each city that tourists always feel the need to climb.  It's usually overpriced and crowded and there are better views in other places (I made an exception to this rule for the Eiffel Tower, because it's the Eiffel Tower, of course).  As I travel, I also hope to meet people along the way so that I learn not just about the museums in each city but also about people's culture and lifestyle.  I hope to find the right balance between educational activities and fun activities; and to not wind up broke (which is a bit difficult because shopping in Europe is so good and there are too many good sales after Christmas!)  

Now I will finally describe some highlights about London, even though it already feels like forever ago since I was there!

• Weather: Rainy. Windy. Cold. Dark.  I don't recommend it.

• Food: There's no sun in England, so vegetables don't grow there unless they grow underground.  There's a lot of meat and potatoes, and a few beets if you are feeling a vitamin deficiency and search for a bit.  You may be able to tell that as a vegetarian I wasn't the biggest fan of traditional British food, except for the tea and the fish and chips.  The good thing is that London is a large and diverse city, so I ate some of the best Indian food I've ever had.  Also, people eat dinner at 6 pm.  How strange is that? 

• Tourist attractions: I loved visiting the British library, which had original copies of works by Shakespeare and Chaucer, the original score of a Mozart horn concerto, and handwritten Beatles lyrics. 

• Public transportation: the train in London is called the "Underground" and it's definitely the best public transportation system I've ever seen.  It's clean, user friendly, goes almost everywhere, and you never wait more than five minutes for a train.  The only downside is that it's quite expensive (along with everything else in London).

• Shopping: There are a lot of department stores, but after the boutique shopping in ever fashionable Paris, London shopping was a bit of a disappointment.  I did enjoy the Brick Lane markets in east London though, which takes place every Sunday and include a flower market, vintage shopping, flea markets, food markets, and basically any crafty item you could ever want.  

These hats were definitely the best things Simone and I found while shopping in London department stores.

Parts of London to me felt exactly like New York city, except older and with a funny accent. But it was more like the US than any other city I've been in recently.  I did a double take when the waitress at a restaurant my first night in London spoke to me in English, because that hadn't happened in four months!  I didn't fall in love with London as much as I did with Paris, but I still enjoyed everything I saw and did there.  Despite all of the clouds, I loved the views of the bridges on the Thames river, and the lack of sun made sunny moments even more enjoyable. 

British word solutions: 
1. Sweater
2. Ground (in London, floors can be outdoors as well)
3. Apartment
4. Yes, its the animal, but it also means crosswalk (since there are white stripes on black pavement)
5. Exit ("Way out" was written on all exit signs, although "exit" was still used for "Emergency Exit")
6. Trunk
7. Pants
8. Ramekins
9. French fries
10. Game
11. Field (Soccer game on a field, or football match on a pitch?)
12. Trash
13. So many ways to say "bathroom"
14. Biking
15. Sidewalk 
16. English muffin (but "American" muffins are just called muffins as well, so it gets confusing)
17. Gas station
18. Elevator
19. Line
20. Chips

Paris je t'aime (even in the rain)

Palabra del día: Bonne année
Translation: Happy new year (In French, again!  I'm still very confused about what language I should be speaking.  I was in a cafe speaking English with Simone, and then the waiter came and I started to order in Spanish, and they both started laughing at me...)

Comida del día: Trout
Specifically this trout:

Which was served to me in a restaurant the other day.  Needless to say, I was a bit shocked when I looked at my food and found it staring right back at me.

Foto del día:

A view looking back at Versaille after a long walk in the beautiful gardens there.  I was lucky to go on my one day in Paris when it didn't rain!

Last week, I cheated on my beloved city of Granada through a rapid and passionate love affair with Paris.  I just couldn't resist its charm, its romantic cafes, its precious small streets, its gorgeous art and regal architecture, and its appreciation for everything cultural.  Unfortunately our romance had to end and I am now back in the ever-cloudy English speaking world that is London, but I left Paris knowing that I would return (hopefully in warm weather, and hopefully soon!)

I was surprised that almost everything I had heard about the city were completely true.  Everywhere I went, there were small cafes with spiral staircases, cute boutiques, beautiful and fashionable women, and great art and music.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that bars with live jazz are alive and well.   and even the musicians in the subway stations were top notch - I even found myself giving them money a few times!

I had been warned that Parisians tend to be unfriendly to tourists, and I was pleasantly surprised to find exactly the opposite: within our first 10 minutes in the city, a nice man saw us with our suitcases studying a map and kindly pointed us in the right direction.  Another night, a man in a restaurant heard us struggling to read the French-only menu and proceeded to translate everything on it for us.  This was the same restaurant in which I was served the fish with eyes (see above), so I'm wondering if he left out some important details for his own entertainment: he laughed pretty hard at my reaction when my food came!

My favorite evening in Paris was, not surprisingly, a night filled with music.  I was on my way to explore the Sainte Chappelle cathedral, which is known for its stained glass, only to learn that it was closed for a string quintet concert of Vivaldi's Four Seasons.  Half an hour later I had succesfully obtained a last-minute student priced ticket and was sitting in the cathedral enjoying its excellent acoustics.  I then concert-hopped to the Sunset Jazz Club where Simone and I enjoyed the Paco Sery group's eclectic mix of jazz with electronic, funk, African influences and even one song from Vietnam.  We ended up sitting in the front row literally two feet from the keyboard player. The group enjoyed performing so much that they played three sets, the concert lasted for three and half hours, and by the end everyone in the audience was on their feet dancing.

While we thoroughly enjoyed the music and food, we also spent a lot of time admiring Paris' vast collection of fine art.  My favorite museum was the L'Orangerie museum, whose main attraction is two rooms in which Monet's water lily paintings surround you on all sides.  Although we had to wait for an hour and a half in the rain to get in, it was worth it, and in general we were extremely lucky that despite throngs of tourists, this was pretty much the only horrible line we had to wait in the whole trip.

A few more photos:

View of Paris from the top of the Eiffel tower

The delicious dinner that Simone and I put together on New Year's Eve.  It was a pleasant way to avoid crowds and rainy weather!

I'll leave you with some words of wisdom from Regina Spektor, specifically at 2:38 when she says, "I love Paris in the rain."

My first Christmas

Palabra del día: délicieux

Translation: Delicious, but tricked you, it's in French! Ahh too many languages, it's so confusing!  But I've been pleasantly surprised that with my knowledge of Spanish and English I've been able to recognize a good number of French words, so occasionally I have a vague idea of what’s going on in a conversation here.

Comida del día: The past 36 hours have basically consisted of constant eating of the best foods I have ever tasted in my life, and it was all so good that it wouldn't be fair to choose just one.  Don't worry, I will soon proceed to describe all of the food in detail.

Foto del día: 

Escargot, AKA caracoles, AKA SNAILS.  Call them what you will, but they are delicious.  They smelled so good that I didn't even think twice about eating slimy bug-like animals and proceeded to eat five.  Then someone asked me if snails fit into my pescatarian diet and I decided that they do, only to learn a day later that the snails that I was eating aren't actually sea snails and could easily be found buried in mud in someone's backyard.  A gross thought, but they tasted so good that I have absolutely no regrets. 

This year was my first time ever celebrating Christmas, and it was the best Christmas I could have ever asked for.  Let me start by describing the meal I ate on Christmas Eve:

Course 1: Foia gras (didn’t actually eat it but it looked good)

Crouse 2: Raw oysters

Course 3: Fresh crabs and shrimp

Course 4: Palette cleanser of pear sorbet with pear liqueur 

Course 5: Turkey, pumpkin from the garden, and other vegetables

Course 6: Five different types of cheese with fresh french bread

Course 7: Two Christmas log cakes, one almond and one chestnut, topped with chocolate frosting and a custard sauce

Each course was served with a different type of French wine (the champagne with appetizers and dessert was my favorite).  

Five types of cheese

Christmas log cakes

Now to put all of this delicious food in context (and don’t worry, there is plenty more food for me to describe).  On Christmas Eve, I traveled from London to Boulogne, France with my cousin Jeff, his husband Marc, Marc’s colleague from Japan, and my friend Simone because Marc’s parents were kind enough to include all of us in their Christmas celebration at their 150 year-old house in the French countryside, about two hours from London and right on the coast.  To get there, we drove to the ocean and then took a CAR TRAIN under it (literally a train that you drive your car onto).  As soon as we arrived, we were served champagne and snacks and then whisked off to mass at the local church.  I had never been to Christmas mass before (although for one reason or another I’ve been to mass 4 times in the last six months) but I still recognized some of the hymns although the words were in French instead of English.  I thought that the service was beautiful and I enjoyed experiencing a different religion in a new language.  Afterwards we celebrated with all of the food I mentioned above, interspersed with gift giving (no one could wait until Christmas!) and spontaneous dancing, and we didn’t finish dinner until 2 am!

On Christmas day, I awoke to fresh croissants from a bakery down the street and a long walk through the sand dunes on the coast.  The croissants were definitely French and definitely delicious, and the walk on the beach was absolutely gorgeous (Not to mention necessary to walk off last night’s dinner and prepare for our next meal, which was equally large, long, and delicious).

View from our Christmas day walk

The menu for Christmas day lunch included the escargot I already mentioned, plus smoked salmon, another palette cleanser, wild pork from a neighbor who had killed it himself (I skipped this one), baked pears, homemade pasta, red cabbage, and more Christmas logs.  After this I felt like I wouldn’t be able to eat again for days, but Marc’s parents refused to let us skip dinner that night and served more delicious food, including a pumpkin soup with veggies from the garden. 

The food and the beautiful location were definitely highlights of my first Christmas celebration, but I also appreciated how welcoming Marc’s relatives were to us.  Despite language barriers, I really felt like part of the family: they included us in everything, made lots of jokes, and of course made sure we ate as much as possible.  It was nice be in this sort of family environment and share their traditions, especially after being away from home for so long, and I’ve decided that this beautiful house on the coast of France must be the best place to celebrate Christmas out of anywhere in the world.  

4 month anniversary

Palabra del día: Hasta luego

Translation: See you later

The other day, when I said goodbye to all of the amazing people I’ve met through IES this semester, we made sure to say “hasta luego” instead of “adios”,  because I know that we will see each other again. And also because I’m saying “hasta luego” to Granada for the next two weeks to have new adventures in London and Paris!

Comida del día: Mantecados

These are crumbly Spanish Christmas cookies usually flavored with almonds.  They are very different than my favorite homemade holiday cookie cutter cookies with every color of frosting, but quite delicious all the same!

Foto del día:

This is my friend Annie and my official engagement photo.  I will now explain this long-running inside joke. When I wrote my "6 week anniversary" post, the photo of the day was a photo of the two of us eating Los Italianos ice cream, and since then we've had a joke that we're engaged.  So at our end of the semester lunch party with IES, we did an official engagement photo shoot for our four month anniversary, and here is the result!

Yesterday I went to London.  People speak English here.  It's kind of strange... I feel like I can understand British English to about the same extent that I can understand Spanish in Granada: there's a weird accent and there's certain words and colloquial phrases that go right over my head.

I'm in London because my first semester in Granada is officially over and I'm now on winter break!  In the last week, I had five final exams, a 10 page paper, a band concert, packed, and said goodbye to friends, but I guess it's no more chaotic than a typical end to the semester at WashU. Throughout this busy time I didn't get to spend much quality time with the city of Granada, so the craziness of these last few weeks makes me feel good about my decision to stay: I definitely don't feel ready to say goodbye to Granada for good - I'm even a bit sad to leave to travel for six weeks!  On the other hand, I get to travel around Europe for six weeks - I can't even begin to believe how lucky I am.

Before it's time to write about all of my travel adventures, I want to wrap up my semester in Granada.  I realized that in my last few weeks even with all of the craziness, I managed to try a few things for the first time:

• One of these things was jamón.  Yes, I am a vegetarian, but everyone talks about how great the ham is in Spain that I decided that I should try it.  I wouldn't want to leave Spain having missed out on something great!  But as it turned out, it wasn't great at all.  I had mentioned to Sole at the beginning of the semester that I wanted to try ham before I left, and last week she pulled out some grade 9 ham (on a scale from 1-10) that she only buys for Christmas.   She put two pieces on my plate and they just stared back at me all red and fatty... but I convinced myself to take one tiny bite and it tasted like blood and metal and I hate to say it, but I don't like Spanish ham.  Maybe if I was used to eating meat I would have liked it, but even high quality ham just wasn't in the least bit appealing.  But at least now I don't have to leave Spain without trying its famous jamón.

• Last week I learned to make two new recipes from my host mom: tortilla Española (omelette with potatoes) and her version of paella, which has seafood and lots of veggies instead of any meat. I took detailed notes so that I can make them for myself next semester when she's not around to cook for me every day!

• This year I am also celebrating Christmas more than I ever have before.  Our apartment even had a Christmas tree! (a fake one, but close enough).  When I was younger I always wanted a Christmas tree, and now my wish finally came true: 

My band also celebrated Christmas with a concert in which we played some Christmas music and wore elf hats with flashing red light up stars (and threw them in the air during the photo shoot!):

And I get to continue my celebration of Christmas in the French countryside this week - I can't wait!

This is Plaza Bib-Rambla , one of the biggest plazas in Granada, with all of its beautiful Christmas lights.  I personally don't think that this fake tree lives up to Boston's beautiful  pine trees, but the lights are quite pretty.

Another interesting events of the past week my final flamenco performance.  I am now going to give up all self respect in order to give you what I know you have been dying to see this whole semester- a video of me dancing flamenco.  Please try not to laugh too hard, and try to believe me when I say that I improved a lot over the course of the semester (dancing is not something that comes easily to me).

Since this is my four month anniversary post, I want to take a minute to correct and add certain things I said in my 6 week anniversary post about cultural differences due to various conversations with Spanish friends and just having more experiences in general.

First of all, I mentioned in my other post that there aren't many options for music education.  As it turns out, there are opportunities for kids to take after-school classes at the conservatory starting from age 7-8 that prepares them, if they continue, to study music at the conservatory, with different levels in between.  A lot of people in my band study at the conservatory or have studied there, but aren't necessarily planning to be professional musicians.  The other thing I need to correct is the bit about army showers...some people take army showers and they are definitely more common than in the US, but not absolutely everyone does this.

Now to add a few more differences I've noticed in the past two months.  First of all, everyone my age in Spain uses whatsapp instead of just texting on their phones.  Most phone companies charge per text message or per minute of talking, so by using apps through the internet it's a way to avoid the cost.  This makes it a bit complicated for me because my Spanish phone doesn't have internet and my phone from home only works with wifi, so I never know which number to give people.

Here's another difference, which I haven't been able to think of a way to write about until last week when I experienced it personally.  I guess that you could say that while Americans often sugarcoat things, Spanish people tend to be more honest or more blunt.  For example, last week at lunch one day, my host mom asked me if I had gained weight because apparently my cheeks looked fuller.  In the US, this sort of comment would be considered extremely rude, but a lot of my friends from IES have had similar experiences.  But Sole wasn't trying to insult me. She was just making an honest observation, and possibly even an under-handed complement about her own cooking (of which she is, justifiably, very proud).

I've been thinking recently that instead of always focusing on differences and comparisons, there are a lot of things that are similar as well.  Especially after going to Morocco and seeing a place that is so different from anywhere else I've ever been, small differences like when people eat meals and who they live with during college are minor.  I've also changed my attitude about my own personal differences.  At the beginning of the semester I was always concerned that it was super-obvious that I was a foreigner, revealed by my blond hair, slightly different clothes, vegetarianism, and reusable water bottle that comes with me everywhere.  At some point, I decided to stop caring (I also went shopping - European clothes are great!)  But I no longer hide my water bottle under the table during my UGR class.  Reusable water bottles are a trend that really needs to happen in Spain.  But more seriously, I've decided that there's no need to try to fit in all the time - I'm not from Spain and I'm different from people in Spain, but I'm proud of my own culture and I'm happy to share it with people I meet, rather than trying to hide it.  I've mentioned this before, but I also think that being in new countries (and I will be in many new countries in the next month!) is an opportunity for me to learn about new cultures and a way to share parts of my own with all of the interesting people that I meet.

Various happenings

Palabra del día: Agobiado
Translation: Stressed out, overwhelmed
Frase: Me sentí agobiada esta semana porque tuve que escribir un ensayo de 10 páginas, preparar para exámenes y encontrar un piso para la próxima semestre.
Translation: I felt stressed out this week because I had to write a 10 page essay, prepare for exams and find an apartment for next semester.

Comida del día: Migas
This is a very traditional Spanish food that I ate for the first time half an hour ago. "Migas" literally means "crumbs," which is actually a very accurate description.  They sort of resemble cous cous and are basically little balls of flour mixed with garlic and usually some sort of sausage, though the vegetarian version I ate had green peppers.  They are commonly eaten with melon because the migas are dry so, according to my host mom, the melon prevents them from sticking to your mouth.

Foto del día: actually a video today! Two weeks ago, the band I've been playing with had a concert, so here's our version of "Persis."  It has some great horn parts - let me know what you think! This band wins the prize for being the loudest band I've ever played with, but it's always tons of fun, and despite some tuning issues I think the concert was a success.  And we already have another one coming up next weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuYU6aDtz54#t=36

The best part of the concert was that afterwards we all went out to eat, which of course lasted for 4-5 hours (typical for Spain), and after that some of us went to a bar that had salsa dancing.  This band really knows how to celebrate!

It's been a while since I've written - the end of the semester is a crazy time of year. The first half of the semester I couldn't believe how little work I had, but as it turns out, all of the work for my classes is actually due at the end of the semester - it probably would have been a good idea to start earlier!  I guess that's what next semester is for...

I've also had to spend a lot of time planning for next semester, including extending my visa, finding a place to live, and planning three weeks of travel in January.  For my visa extension, I had to travel an hour and a half to Málaga to get a form so that I can go to the police station next week to have fingerprints taken so that I can get my criminal record form from the US... you would think there would be a more efficient way to do this!  For apartment hunting, I spent two days last week going to look at three apartments, all of which seemed quite pleasant on the internet but were quite horrible in real life (choose between dark, cold and lonely and empty beer bottles everywhere). After these two frustrating days, though, my friend from band informed me that his roommate is leaving next semester, so it's very likely that I can live with them, which will be lots of fun.  For traveling in January, I have two weeks planned to go to London and Paris over Christmas and New Years, and then three more weeks that are completely open.  My friend Annie and I are tentatively thinking of going to Rome, Venice and Florence and then Prague, Budapest, Vienna and maybe Berlin.  So many exciting options!

Other various happenings:

Thanksgiving is not quite thanksgiving in Spain, but IES organized a fancy dinner in this awesome restaurant that rotates so that you can see the view from all angles.  The view wasn't that great because it was dark outside and there was no pumpkin pie in sight, but the food was still good and it was fun to be around friends on a holiday when I couldn't help but miss my family.

Hanukah was also last week, and although there were no latkes to be found I did find choco-euro Hanukah gelt in the grocery store!  I celebrated the first night of Hanukah by going to this tiny Sephardic Jewish museum where an IES professor gave a talk about what Hanukah is and various Hanukah traditions to a group of her IES students and some people who take a Hebrew class there.  Spain has so much Jewish history but hardly any Jewish culture - most people at this event had never heard of Hanukah, seen a menorah, or spun a dreidel.  I've been so focused on learning about the culture of Spain and Granada while I'm here, but I'm realizing that being in another country also gives me a chance to teach people a little bit about my own unique culture and background without them having to even leave home.

Speaking of holidays, the Spanish word for holiday is the same as the Spanish word for party (fiesta).  There are only two weekends left in my first semester in Granada, and since next weekend we will be knee-deep in exams my friends who are leaving decided that this was the weekend that we needed to do some serious Spanish-style partying.  We started last night with tapas, of course, and then went to a cowboy themed bar. At the cowboy bar we ran into an IES orientation leader who is a student at the university, and he was nice enough to show us  a fun discoteca that was playing 60s music and had far fewer tourists than some of the ones I've been to.  We landed at the discoteca at 3:45 to find it completely empty - the Spanish people showed up 15 minutes later after the bars had bars closed.  We finished out the night with churros and chocolate with three new friends we found at the discoteca from France and Germany (some of us had met one of them before, don't worry, we weren't hanging out with strangers).

I was worried about staying out all night because I'm someone who values my eight hours of sleep every night, but it was definitely worth it  - I had so much fun that I completely forgot about being tired until I finally went to sleep at 8:30 am (if you find any typos in this blog post, now you know why!)