First Day of School, Friends, and Food

Last weekend was fun, but it seems ages away. After my last post, I ended up meeting up with Leah and some of the girls from the program and then meeting up with a group of Spanish guys that Leah and Mauna had met. They'd told us they were going to take us somewhere cool and we just kind of assumed it was a  bar, but they actually brought cars and took us up to this big hill with a beautiful view of the whole city. It turns out that we were actually drinking in front of their juvenile hall! Definitely a strange juxtaposition; the beauty of Granada, and a youth correctional facility. The guys were really nice, though, really funny and sweet. Plus, hanging out with Spaniards feels productive no matter what you're doing.

After a while we went to Camborio which was PACKED. Like, insanely. It was fun for a while, but after a bit I realized I'd kinda become a third (fifth? seventh?) wheel, and I was also pretty cramped in there. Felipe texted me, so I decided to leave and go hang out with him, but I was pretty tipsy and overwhelmed by the crowds so I didn't end up saying anything to the girls, which became disastrous. I found Felipe fine; he met me in a plaza that was pretty close, and we went to his apartment and he showed me a video he'd made, which was really awesome. I ended up crashing there (my apartment was WAY across town and it would have been pretty sketch to walk alone). I actually specifically checked to make sure the volume was up on my phone in case Leah called, but then next day when Felipe and I were walking back to my place, I got a really frantic text from her and when I called her she said she'd called me a billion times that night and my phone was off, but my phone was definitely on, and I had no missed calls. I was a mystery, until I hung up and told Felipe and he informed me that his apartment doesn't have good celly service. Oops. When I got home even my housemates were worried; apparently the guys drove Leah over to my place to see if I was there and woke them up and scared them. I felt pretty bad...

After taking a hot shower, I went over to Leah's and a bunch of the girls and guys were still hanging out. We ended up chatting (and getting made fun of, in my case, of course) for several hours, until everyone was so hungry (at like four) that the girls all went to get food and the guys went home to have food made for them (guess most of 'em live with their parents.) SO. That was my adventure.

Sunday was just one big long semi-nap for me, and I went to bed really early because I had class on Monday and wasn't entirely sure how to get there. Lucas had class in the same place at like 8:30 so I got up and walked (and kinda ran; he was running late) with him. I was really nervous for my classes to start, but I had a lot of time to kill, so I found all my classrooms. I ran into a girl from our program, Audra, and this Erasmus girl, I forget where from. We went to the cafeteria and I got a sandwich with tortilla de patatas for two euro which is a REALLY good price. And it was LARGE. Excited! I also discovered that they have a vegetarian menu of the day (which is like two dishes and a desert for a good price.) After more time killing with Lucas, I finally went to my first class (Literary Languages and Audiovisual Languages). I was early, so when another girl came in I asked her if I was in the right place, and I was. Shortly afterwards, another Erasmus girl (from France) came in and asked the same, and we all sat pretty close and ended up chatting. They were really super nice. Eventually the professor came in late, explained that she'd been in the wrong class, and then told us her name, met all of us, told us we'd have class Wednesday, and left! Pretty ridiculous, because my next class didn't begin until 5:30. The French girl (Claudia) and I went to the cafeteria because she was hungry and because I didn't have anything better to do. She was really awesome and I had a nice time chatting with her. When the meal was over, she went home but I ran into a bunch of people from the program so we hung out until they had class at 3:30, at which point I went to the library and fell asleep with my face in an art book full of paintings of the ocean.

I left the library a little early to find the next two classrooms I had, and ran into MORE people from the program. Amber and I had the same class at 7:30, so we went and found the classroom together, but there was a confusing sign on the door about how there wouldn't be class. It was really vague as to whether it's permanently cancelled or just for the day, but there was an email address. (That reminds me...I need to email him...) My next class was Methodology of Teaching English, which was taught in English. The professor was an English woman and seemed really nice. I'm definitely not worried about it being too easy because we had a little group "quiz" to see what we knew and I really didn't know shit. It was mostly learning theory type stuff, but I felt kinda awkward because the two Spanish girls I was grouped with kinda seemed to expect me to know the answers and I really, really didn't. We did some little activity worksheets and played a game and had a lecture and we even have a worksheet to fill out before next Monday. After the class I went to ask the professor if taking this class even though I speak English was a good idea and on the way a British girl came up and asked me if I spoke English, too. We both were in the same kinda awkward boat, and she was really adorable and nice, so I felt better. The professor said that the class was definitely still fine to take as a native speaker, and that the concepts could also be translated to teaching other languages (Spanish, for example), but she did say that like 75 people were enrolled and since we're foreign we're not technically enrolled yet, so... We'll see.

Since my last class was cancelled, that was it for the day. I walked home a little uncertainly and made it fine, although not super efficiently, I don't think.  I came home for snacks and relaxingness and then met up with Leah to go meet up with a few Spanish guys and Courtney at a bar (which turned out to be La Marisma!) They were all super funny and cool and one of them, this guy Fran, works at a skate shop and was wearing a Santa Cruz "shred til you're dead" shirt which was exciting. I asked him about skate parks around town and they know of a pretty big one, which is more ammo to entice Casey over. I liked them because they were all super chill and more into having beers and going to bars than like dressing up and going out. Also, Fran had a smiley piercing, which is what I was going to get originally before deciding on my medusa. Anyway, we had some beer and hung out and they threw sunflower seeds at each other and we told them dumb stories about screwing up in Spanish and whatnot, and then we went and got tapas at this AWESOME little place called Tango, which had sweet black lights and super chill reggae type music and all their tapas were named after dirty words. So we got to learn a few things (which I've forgotten of course) like "tittyfuck" or "cumshot." All in all, an academic kind of evening. Oh, aaaand, Fran has a kitten, aaaand he told us he has a friend who lives in a cave house in the Albayzín and has like live music and parties every Thursday and he sometimes DJ's. So down to check that out!

I slept like a rock last night and woke up nice and early in order to arm myself for the day with this beauty:

Yeah, that's right, toast with melted cheese, avocado and scrambled eggs with onion. Best breakfast I've had since I've been here, I have to say. I need to buy some potatoes though. I also have to say I'm impressed with the timing of writing this, now I have a perfect 15 min to brush my teeth and go meet up with Leah and Courtney and get to class! Life is good, life is good.

Moving In and Missing Home

I'm officially moved into my new piso! Turns out lugging the non-rolling items was a LOT harder than the rolling suitcase. Definitely a chore, aaaand my stupid apartment building door is "complicated" to open. Apparently you have to put the key in like part way but not all the way or something...Some old guy tried to show me but I still haven't been able to figure it out. Makes me pretty nervous.

When I brought my second load of crap over, Ben, my English housemate was home. He was really nice, too. I was hoping to drop my shit off and then take a nap, but Leah came over shortly after moving in because she was also having key issues and couldn't get into her apartment. It was kind of a fiasco, especially since her phone died at the same time that she was having issues. Eventually her landlord told her to knock on some guy's door and he managed to coax it open and show her how to open it, which was also "complicated." At this point it was already pretty late, so I came home and tried to take a power nap, but I was unable to and then we had to go to the cocktail party. We hadn't eaten all day, since we were told the party would be a dinner, but when we arrived we discovered it was just drinks and hors d'oeuvre. And the only veggie options were cheese and almonds. Needless to say, my two glasses of wine were a lot more potent than they should have been on a full stomach. Oh, we also got to have little mini-deserts.

Afterwards, we had kind of planned on going out, but I was exhausted. Leah and I went in search of food and found some pretty decent Chinese. She had still planned on going out, but everyone was going to Mae West, which is ten euros, far away, and strict on clothing. Not the kind of place you wanna go to when you're sleepy and not 100% you're going to get in. We ended up coming back to my piso, where Lucas, my other housemate (he's not old!) watched this goofy movie about an alien called Paul with us. It was really funny, cause it was dubbed in Spanish. It's always weird to see actors with British accents and then hear Spanish... Leah ended up staying over, since it was late and walking alone is creepy. Even earlier, when we were walking home after eating, a few people bugged us.

This morning I unpacked, which felt nice. I also discovered how extremely tiny my shower is. It's miniscule, seriously. I don't know how I'm going to manage to shave  my legs in there... Being here is kind of weird and for some reason I'm more homesick than I have been so far. Maybe because the last month has been so fun and relaxed and I've been surrounded by reminders of California. Being here means that real life is starting, I guess. It's more permanent, more isolated. My housemates are nice, but I definitely feel a little weird and lonely. This is what my room likes like for now:

At least, what my room looks like when I sit in it and pose like a goofball. That picture frame came with the room. I put a Polaroid of Casey and Mishka in it, but the photo's a little small so it looks kinda ghetto. I really wanna put up my other photos and maybe other things that aren't purple, but I'm not sure if I can use tacks or anything. I suppose I should just buy some tape, soon. It's hard to be motivated to get out of the house because I'm not too familiar with the surrounding area yet and I don't have people to accompany me. I did go grocery shopping, and it was actually a pretty awkward experience, because I tried to pay with my card, had it denied, realized I didn't have enough cash and had to un-buy a few things in order to pay. At least I have some eggs, some bread, some pasta, etc. I even found Tabasco! I'm more of a Sriracha person, but since I've seen zero hot sauce here, I decided to go for it. Hopefully I'll go get some tape, maybe a few candles and notebooks for school after siesta...

Oh! I almost forgot! Yesterday was Friday, so Casey got some chocolate coins. I'm actually pretty jealous, 'cause I was gonna buy some chocolate at the store today, but ended up not because of the grocery store fiasco.

In other news, my Internet is pretty fucking slow here, and Skype is throwing all kinds of tantrums. I think I need to take a nap. Ugh.

Fuck Yeah, Finals!

Hellz yeah, we're done with ILP! After a rather stressful scrambling kind of week, today we had our final exams for the Intensive Language Program and all in all I'm feeling pretty swell.

Our first exam with the exact same thing as the "placement" test we took at the beginning, which was kind of weird and unsettling. The prof just read this weird text about the magic and responsibility of youth and we had to write a summary of it. What makes me a little nervous is that we had to list any experiences we've had in Spanish speaking countries, so I'm a little worried that he's going to be harder on those of us that have already studied abroad... But I understood it all and think I did a fine job summarizing, so....whatever.

After that was a grammar worksheet, which was really short. He didn't even really make us use any weird-crazy verb tenses (or I did it wrong) so I felt alright about it, but I also get nervous when something seems easy because I worry that I'm missing something. I always find some way to worry, huh?

After that we had a huge break because the Reading prof just had us email him a response paper thing about the texts we've read in class. So I used to time to write some notes for my Lit exam (which was open note) and to review my History notes. For History we just had to write an essay about whatever interested us most; I wrote about the Reyes Catolicos and the "reconquista" of Granada, which interestingly ended in a pact that kept the Alhambra from being destroyed and let the Muslim people stay and live under the Catholic rule. I also wrote about Franco and the shift to democracy after his death, which was miraculously achieved without a war.

For Lit, it was pretty much that same deal; chose one of the readings we've had for class and write an essay about it. But for this one we were allowed to use notes and even computers. I think a lot of people wrote theirs ahead of time and just transcribed but I stuck to notes. I wrote about the section of Quixote we'd read, and how the dialogue between Quixote and these merchant dudes represented conflicting ideologies, and how Cervantes mitigated his own social commentaries by delivering them through a character that is generally perceived as insane. It may be a strange thing to say, but it actually felt really nice to write a paper. I secretly love academia, I guess. I feels really strange to have such a limited vocabulary, though. I'm used to being fairly articulate, and I think I have a nicely sized store of words that is continually growing, so it's weird to have to express my arguments using a pretty stunted baby-sized vocab. I'm sure it'll improve with time, though.

This is a photograph of the chalkboard during our Lit prof's lecture. I know it's really small but I highly recommend you click on it so that you can see that it is absolute illegible insanity. He's REALLY passionate and nice, and pretty interesting, but also super scattered and nutty. I'm taking TWO classes with this guy, too. I must be insane, too.

After exams I packed a bit; I'm thinking of taking my big suitcase of clothing over to my piso today (after the heat of siesta, of course) and then tomorrow bringing over the remaining clothing, my toiletries, my computer, a few books and maybe the last roll of toilet paper in my bathroom. It hadn't occurred to me until today that I'm going to have to start buying things like toilet paper for myself now and (GASP) there's no Costco to help me out. Sometimes its the most mundane things that really strike you. Anyway, that's the idea, but I'm not 100% convinced that I'm okay with being that idiot rolling a huge suitcase through town. I couuuuld just take eeeeverything over in a taxi tomorrow but that also seems like a pain. I hate taxis; I find them awkward. It must be me that's awkward. I'm pretty excited and terrified of meeting my compañeros de piso, but even if they suck I'm determined to have an awesome weekend, because it's the only time we have between closes. Basically it's a three day summer vacation. Much fun is required.

There's a "farewell cocktail" event tomorrow at a restaurant, which should be fun. It's a little sad moving away from all these lovely Californians. I know a lot of us will probably grow apart, but I have made some really wonderful friends that I'll definitely keep in touch with.

Classes!

I just spoke with Inma and signed up for classes! Ah, scary and exciting. There are six on my schedule but after the first week I can drop one of two to lighten my load, depending on how interesting/tough the classes seem. Here's my schedule:

Mondays and Wednesdays

12:30-2:30
Lenguaje Lit. y Lenguajes Audiovisuales
Literary language and audiovisual languages.

5:30-7:30
Metodología de la Enseñanza del Ingles
Methodology of teaching English.

7:30-9:30
Intro a la Pragmática del Español
Introduction to pragmatic Spanish.

Tuesdays and Thursdays

12:30-2:30
Lit. Española Desde 1939: Dictadura Exilio
Spanish lit since 1939: exile, dictatorship.

3:30-5:30
Lit. Norteamericana I
North American lit I.

5:30-7:30
Sociología de la Literature Española
Sociology of Spanish lit.

Apparently it shouldn't be a problem that some classes end as others begin since they're in the same building, but it still makes me nervous. I feel a little bit like a cheater for taking North American lit, since it's in English, but Inma agreed that it was a good idea to lighten my Spanish reading load a little.

Swimming and Stress

Have I ever not begun a blog with a commentary on how exhausted I am? I'm exhausted.

This weekend excursion was definitely a success. We bused to Málaga Saturday morning, arrived early to our hostel and set our things down and then went to the Picasso museum, which was really interesting. It's insane how diverse Picasso's work is. Some of it is so lovely and interesting but some of it completely fails to capture my attention. Some of the cubism does really fascinate me, especially the ones that seem to be executed with care, but some of the more "sloppy" type ones really baffle me. I don't know if this means that I don't know how to appreciate art, but sometimes it seems like Picasso is just fucking with everyone and seeing what he can get away with. For some reason I really loved his goat paintings/sketches/sculptures, though. Each room also had quotes on the walls that were really interesting and kind of gave me a lens through which to look at the art. There was also a really awesome exhibit of David Douglas Duncan's photos of Picasso.

I'm so jealous of Picasso's cluttered, art-strewn house, it looks so alive and creative. I also loved this photo of Picasso dancing with Jacqueline. I'm also pretty sure he went shirtless like 90% of the time.

After the museum I was starving to death, so we stopped and accidentally had horrible tapas, and then went to the hostel where we actually checked it. The hostel we went to is called Oasis, and it was really nice. Pretty, clean, friendly, AND, when we checked in we were told that there was going to be a concert on the rooftop terrace which would be free for us, although locals were paying to see the band... More on that in a moment!

The next stop was the beach, of course. The beach we went to was not that lovely or beautiful and the sand burned my feet to death, but all in all it was infinitely worth it to float in the blue-green Mediterranean. The water was cool but easy to get into, it was a hot day, and the waves were soft. It was divine.

Once we were thoroughly pruned we had a seaside dinner of these almost-pizzas that were on thin tortilla crust, these salad and meat filled tortilla wrap things and toasted sandwiches. Delicious. Unfortunately I was too hungry to do take photos; the food went directly into my face.

It grew dark as we caught the bus. We rode in the scrunchy part of the bus that gives it flexibility around turns and things and it was kind of like a ride. On the walk back to the hostel we took photos of some of the magnificent old buildings all lit up.

We also witnessed some snazzy dancing in the street, as well as some nice live music. I love street performers, truly I do. It's so nice to be constantly surrounded by beautiful sounds. At one point, just before we reached the hostel, we caught the tail end of a marching band which was following a procession which I couldn't really see. I caught a glimpse of a big golden cross, so I presume it was a religion-related procession.

Once we got back to the hostel we didn't really have time for trivialities like hygiene, so instead of showering we got our free drinks (one free drink with a room in the hostel!) and then headed up to the terrace to see the band that was playing. The band we saw was AWESOME. We had no idea what to expect and it turned out to be this fantastic bluesy kind of alternative rock band with eerie and beautiful vocals, super fun slide guitar, drums, and even a washtub bass.

They're called Guadalupe Plata; I even looked them up when I got back and downloaded both their albums. They're awesome. Check it out. After the show we met a few people; British, Irish, Hungarian, and even American. We went out for drinks with a few of them but having barely slept the night before we were pretty sleepy. Plus we had to wake up early to catch the bus to Nerja.

Our first stop in Nerja was the caves, and although a bit pricey, it was an awesome sight. I felt like I was traveling through some huge alien body part. It was enormous. Really enormous; there were rooms and rooms with stairs and walkways connecting them. There were giant stalagmites that looked like big crooked spines and big stalactites that looked like prehistoric chandeliers, and in some places they were touching. The whole thing was damp and felt like it was breathing and growing as we looked at it. It was just barely lit up in strategic parts that illuminated it enough for it to be wonderful and creepy and impossible to photograph.

They took these cheesy photos as the entrance and then tried to sell them to us but it was ridiculously expensive. Of course. After our cave excursion we had to wait for the bus, so we sat in the gardens at a picnic table and read until I was delirious with hunger. When we finally got into town, we found an amazing restaurant where I spent way to much money buying a Caprese salad (oh the joy of things that are fresh! I've never loved tomatoes so much!) and a Margherita pizza. We found a lovely, lovely, amazing, wonderful beach close by. The sea was the most beautiful blue. The waves were a little scarier than on the beach in Málaga, but it made swimming kind of exhilarating.

As with most (or all? I don't know...) beaches here, this was a topless beach. No one in our group seem particularly keen on partaking in the toplessness, and, not wanting to impose my nudity on anyone, I kept my suit intact for the majority of the trip. However, after lot's of fully-clothed swimming, when I decided to head back to shore, a giant fucking wave broke right on top of me and knocked me on my ass. Okay maybe it wasn't that big, but it was gnarly, and it was immediately followed by another, and then another, that ended up rolling me around a lot and eventually spat me out at the feet of some strange man with a huge sunburned belly. The awkwardness of the situation was not lessened by the fact that both pieces of my swimsuit had become absurdly stuffed with sand and rocks, so, although I attempted some discretion in dumping out the contents of my bottoms ("I'm not shitting bricks guys, just a few pebbles...") I eventually embraced the toplessness of the beach in order to avoid the horrible discomfort of pebbley boobs. Also, toplessness is great.

All in all, successful trip. As far as the beach goes, Nerja definitely beats Málaga. The bus ride home for some reason took a billion years; we were supposed to have dinner with Chelo last night but missed it by a long shot. The post-beach shower was divine, and I slept like a rock. Monday, however was a whole new story.

Today we were supposed to begin our interviews with Inma, the program coordinator, so that she could sign us up for classes. We were assigned ten minute intervals to do so, despite the fact that many of us are really, really confused. Tomorrow, I was supposed to sign the contract for my piso, pay the deposit and pick up my keys. However, the dueño emailed me and asked me to come by today, after 8pm, which, incidentally, was my appointment time with Inma.

This didn't really seem to a be a problem; I emailed him back saying I'd be there around 8:45 or 9, giving myself plenty of time to walk over after the appointment that would presumably be over around 8:15... Not the case. After the stress of trying to finalize class decisions (which ultimately didn't happen... I wrote down a list of options in the hopes that Inma would help me decide between classes with conflicting schedules) I went down to Inma's office where I discovered the girl with the 7:20 appointment was still waiting. This did not bode well. When Chelo arrived at 8:30 to accompany me to the piso, there were still two people ahead of me in line to speak with Inma. We decided to make a run for it, told Megan, who was after me, to take my spot if I wasn't back in time, figuring that I could take her slot.

The contract signing and deposit paying all went smoothly (I found out I'm living with a French guy who apparently has been living in Spain for several years, which makes me wonder how old he is, and a British guy that better not speak to me in English) but by the time we made it back, Inma's office was closed and I just barely made it to dinner. I'm hoping she's not super angry, but also feel vaguely justified, considering I waited half an hour. Luckily, I have a break between classes tomorrow so I'll be able to talk to her then. Hopefully.

Today was definitely a glimpse into something like real life. It was scary, and stressful. I don't think I stopped jiggling my leg all day, and I had to succumb to some cookie therapy, but, hey, at least I officially have a place to live, right? One thing off the list. I'm still scared shitless; I can't believe we have finals this week and then start our REAL classes next week. Holy hell, I feel like I'm going to die a little, but like mom says, the unknown is what makes this an adventure... It's hard to keep track of my adventurous spirit when I'm all jittery and spazzy with stress, but I think that's half the reason I make myself do insane things like this. If I didn't push myself, who would? I want to become someone better than I am, I want to see what I'm capable of. I want to learn; about the world and about myself. I guess that's why I'm here.

The Alhambra

First and foremost, today is Friday! I Skyped with Casey and he got his newest mini-gift:

Strawberry Jam! Why? Because it's delicious. But mostly because it's cute and small and fit into the little pocket...

Today was also our tour of the Alhambra, finally! After breakfast we waited around in the courtyard for the two monitores who were supposed to accompany us, but they were late. When they did arrive they herded us up the hill to the Alhambra pretty speedily, which I have to say, after wandering around town in heels on Wednesday and taking a walk up to the Albaycín with Felipe yesterday, was kinda rough. We made it early and promptly sat around for a good long second.

Luckily it was shady, and beautiful. The first leg of the trip included a lot of things we'd already seen with Chelo, but it was beautiful nonetheless. Also, there were kitties.

Our group was guided by the same adorable professora that took us the the Cathedral of the Reyes Católicos. She showed us this creepy little staircase that leads to the prisoners' dungeon and the hole where their food was dropped into. She even showed us the latrine and popped a squat to demonstrate it's use, which was pure hilarity.

I wish I could be more expressive about the trip, it was really interesting and there was SO much to see. It's hard to believe that all these old things are real, I'm so used to our big, shiny, infantile country. Some of the views from up on these huge old watch towers were truly breathtaking. I wanted to take a billion photos but at the same time it seemed a little futile to try and photograph the huge panoramas, the huge quantity of water fountains or the intricacies of some of the walls with their Arabic inscriptions and hand-painted titles. I wanted to take pictures that captured the experience more than the building because it seemed kind of redundant after a while; anyone can open up Google and see a billion pictures of the Alhambra, and none of them do it any justice. And of course, my favorite photos are the instant photos that I took, but I have no way of scanning them. Christina and I took a particularly adorable one of us walking hand-in-hand through an archway; legend has it that you'll be married within a year if you walk through the arch holding hands.

After the guided tour portion, which took three or four hours, we were brought into a beautiful garden area, where the tour ended but we were free to roam around. We had some suspicious bagged lunches from the cafeteria and sat on some shady benches to eat. Unfortunately, we'd been given sandwiches of white bread, butter and dirty looking cheese along with a saggy-skinned apple and some juice and water and I ended up getting a pretty gnarly tummy ache (I'm guessing from the questionable cheese...) But the gardens were great; labyrinth like bushes and big sweet roses, morning glories and strange purple flowers that looked like fans. We even spied some areas that were growing food! Squash, eggplant, grapes...

All in all, it was a lovely day that left me feeling exhausted in a contented kind of way. After a siesta and some soup at dinner, my stomach made a nice recovery and I even sat down and spent a good bit of time figuring out my class schedule. I'm still pretty torn, but making progress.

Tomorrow we leave bright and early for Málaga, and I absolutely cannot wait to get into the Mediterranean Sea!

Spanish Pre-Gaming and Weekend Plans

There are so many things I should be doing right now, but I know if I don't write a bit I'll get  behind and these posts will become giant laborious novels. Really, not that much has been going on these past few days, more of the same: classes, walks, long weekend nights. I'm getting so used to being here and living in the colegio mayor that it's almost troubling. The next phase is going to be so different and potentially a lot more grueling. I feel like we're kind of in denial right now; this definitely doesn't feel like real life.

Anyway, today is a holiday in Granada, so we have the day off and last night was a definitely designated as a party day. It wasn't the most eventful of evenings, but we did get to go botellón, which is essentially when all the young people congregate in this huge kind of plaza-like area and just drink a bunch. It's basically the official pre-gaming zone, and it's actually legal to drink there. There were literally hundreds of people. It would NEVER be legal in the USA; even without the alcohol, no one would ever let that many young people congregate in the same place. The unfortunate thing is that there are no bathrooms, so there are a few pretty gnarly little piss corners and, as with many places in Spain, some truly horrible smells abound. Still, it was a great place to practice Spanish with the locals, and there were actually some ramps and things for skateboarders, which made me happy because I can use this information to convince Casey to come visit! After a few hours we decided to go to a club but they were charging more than we expected so we ended up wandering around, getting felafel and going home relatively early- around 4am or so.

Today feels like a Sunday; lazy and sleepy. Tomorrow we have a visit to the Alhambra, so I'm not planning on doing anything too wild tonight, but hopefully I'll have some sweet photos to share! Also, this Saturday a group of us are heading to Málaga, a nearby beach town, where we're going to check out the Picasso museum (it's his birthplace!) and hopefully swim and lounge a bit. Sunday we're planning on busing to Nerja, also nearby, to take a look at some caves and more beach, and then we'll head home that night. Very excited to check out some new places, especially since I'm going with some lovely people like Laurel, Amber and Christina (amongst others; I'm not entirely sure who all is coming but I think it's a fairly large group.)

I suppose that's all for now, but tomorrow is Friday, which of course means Casey gets a new little gifty! I don't know whose more excited, him or me....

Camborio and Coincidence

What a lazy Sunday! Definitely a multiple-naps, reading, music and kind-of-sort-of-but-not-really-doing-homework type of a day.

This weekend has been all sorts of exhausting fun! Friday night a group of us went to a club called Camborio, which is in the Albayzín and it was AMAZING. Seriously, go there. We got there just before 2am, so we got in for free, which was nice, but the actual structure of the place was so exciting. The first level is composed of a bunch of connecting caves. The air down there feels all thick and underground-like, and there was hardly anyone in the caves. The next level is even better; it's a big terrace with couches, chairs and tables and a truly incredible view of the Alhambra, all lit up at night!

The Alhambra at night! [These are all photos I've stolen from Leah; I didn't bring a camera.]

I swear, even if I hadn't felt inclined to have drinks or dance or anything, just sitting up on that terrace would have made for a great night. The third level is a smaller enclosed area with a bar and a dance floor. The walls are glass, too, so you can see out into the terrace, and funny enough, you can peer in and see people getting their groove on from the outside. The music was actually really awesome, too. They played some of the typical popular dance songs, both from the US and from Spain but also interspersed these dancey tunes with unexpected gems like a compilation of songs from Grease, or a random Al Greene song, or even the Red Hot Chili Peppers! And everyone seemed to know and love ALL the songs, which made for a super high energy vibe.

A lot of our time was spent dancing and taking one euro chupitos, but at one point Christina and I went outside to take a breather and admire the Alhambra, and we were instantly surrounded by raucous underage Spanish boys, who turned the full force of their attentions to Christina once they learned I had a boyfriend. It was a bit obnoxious but generally hilarious, and we managed to get some good Spanish practice out of it, especially after dragging Dan along to mitigate the weird gender imbalance. They spent a lot of the time yelling at Christina about how much they looked like Justin Bieber in broken English, which was pretty funny.

Leah, Courtney and I with some of the Justin Bieber enthusiasts. You have to admire the "serious face" going on towards the left.

Leah, Courtney and I with Pedro, who stayed with Leah's family when he studied abroad in the USA. I didn't really meet anyone else in this photo...

Later in the night, a few of us went down to check out the caves a little more. There was almost no one in them at all, so we began our own private dance party with tons of space and no inhibition and I have to say, despite the fact that I don't consider myself a particularly dancey person, it was an amazingly liberating and incredibly fun moment. Laurel and I danced through some of the adjoining caves and we discovered a few couples occupied with vigorous make out sessions, but no one paid us any attention and it was all around a superb night.

As you may have ascertained from my last entry, Saturday was an extremely sleepy one. I didn't wake up until 2pm, and then it was only because Courtney and Leah came by to see if I wanted to get breakfast with them. Which was a good idea, so I went and got some tortilla de patatas. So much yum. The day was really quite uneventful: homework, naps, etc. I did speak to Felipe and last night we all met up and drank a bit. We were supposed to go to a music festival but our knowledge of how to get there and whatnot kind of petered out until it was too late to really bother going. We did go to Six Colours and La Sal for a bit and see Angie and Patricia and some CA people. We met some some people and hung out in their apartment until the discussion about economics became unbearable, stopped by La Marisma for a bit, got some felafel, etc, etc. All in all a kind of meandering uneventful but definitely fun night.

Fun fact: I just discovered that Felipe's brother is also named Ulysses. How weird is that?

Today has been semi-productive but mostly lazy. Definitely going to crash hard tonight, but not before going out for tapas with Chelo!

Sleepy Saturday

Sweet end of week nothing, how beautiful and still, how false. Spanish time feels like a sleepy mirage, slow swimming to sudden places, the days feel infinite, the weeks as short as hours. I am the most comfortable misfit, at home in the white sheets and cobbled streets, yet strange as black sand, lost as a fish in the sky.

Something in the heat is glazing over my baby pink skin, my raw flesh, I feel that softness of home without a structure to place it in. Home is a dust in the air, laying all around my skin. I feel the softness of home settle across my own shoulders, coat my body, penetrate my veins.

Rad Clothes, Readings and Religion

So many things, so little time! How do I express all the ups and downs of the past few days in this little space? It's impossible. I hope everyone gets the opportunity to have an experience like this; these words do so little justice to the days I'm spending in Granada. And it's hard to remember, but this is only the beginning!

Since my last update, Chelo took us to visit the Cartuja campus, which is where many of us will be taking classes. It's up a dauntingly steep hill, so I foresee perhaps taking the bus up and then walking back down. The hill has it's advantage though; the view is beautiful. That same day, we began our ridiculously confusing quest to choose classes. Words cannot express my frustration, but things are starting to become clearer now.

On another excursion day, we took a gander at what used to be an Arabic bathhouse. We got in for free, because Chelo told the man we were English; apparently we would have been charged for being Americans. The United States can be such a plague sometimes. The bathhouse was nice; there was a dingy green pond that wasn't particularly exciting, but the structure behind it was this cavern-like building made of stone with wonderful little star cutouts in the ceiling.

Afterwards we went to another colegio mayor where there were (surprise!) more nice views. The Alhambra seems like it's everywhere.

On the way back we ended up running into a few other sites of incomprehensible historical significance. It's so strange to be so thoroughly saturated in history that really incredible places are overlooked because they are so common.

After all the walking, thirst took hold of us, so we stopped in at a bar for some soda or tinto de verano. Felix had an appointment to look at a piso, which we were all going to tag along for, but on the way we discovered an adorable little vintage shop, and decided to stay behind to look around instead. I didn't buy anything, but I was super excited to come across it! I'll definitely be returning for a cozy sweater or two this winter.

On the way home we ran into two more thrift stores, as well! Heavenly. I bought a pair of sandals, finally succumbing to the Spanish heat. I know everyone is going to think I'm a hypocrite for this next photo, but really, how else can I show the sandals off? So shush!

Last night, according to a little schedule dealio I picked up in a cafe, there was a poetry reading in a little bar called La Tertulia. It was a reading of Borges and Machado, which happened to be timed perfectly, since we were scheduled to read Machado for our Literature class this Monday! So, a rather large group of us found our way to La Tertulia's big red door, where we found an artsy cafe/bar that was surprisingly empty. As we ordered drinks, an older man in a red and white striped button down warned us that there was going to be a poetry reading in a moment, but when we told him we'd come to see it, he seemed very pleased. He asked us where we were from and how we'd heard of his little bar, and was all around extremely sweet.

The reading itself was great. Two older men discussed and read poems written by Borges, Machado and themselves. One of them was a bit harder to understand than the other, but most of it came through and it was a pleasure to listen to. There was little intermission, during which time one of the readers had a CD to give away; the owner chose a number between one and twenty-two (or something strangely specific like that) and had us count off until someone guessed correctly. By chance, Laurel, who seemed a bit confused as to what was going on, was the third person to count, and after some explanation guessed fifteen and won the CD!

The reading continued, ending with a few songs from one of the poets (whose CD Laurel had won.) Afterwards, Laurel thanked him and we told him how much we enjoyed the reading. He was so sweet! He told us how much he appreciated seeing young people seek out poetry and thanked us for coming. He even signed Laurel's CD case, although there was some confusion as to how to spell her name. Ultimately, we all loved La Tertulia, and are hoping to come back soon (perhaps to take a gander at "Versions of Bob Dylan" which is performed every Monday...) I couldn't help but smile the whole way home; it was such a sweet place and having found an adorable vintage shop and a welcoming artsy bar in one day made me feel so content and at home. I'm really beginning to discover the Granada I want to be in.

Even the bathroom was awesome! This was spray painted on one of the walls.

When we returned to the resedencia, a group of people were headed for the bars, so we tagged along. The large number of people made decision-making nearly impossible, though, so one of the other girls, Leah, and I broke off and went to La Marisma (the vaguely scummy bar with cheap beer and sunflower seeds mentioned in this blog, as you may recall) to have a few beers and maybe try our hand at chatting with locals. It was actually quite nice to sit down and talk one on one, and eventually we did end up chatting with a few Engineering majors that were kind of goofy but pretty nice. One of them complimented my Spanish, so that was nice, but once the bar closed we left them to their own devices.

This morning was a tough one, but I managed to get some breakfast before our Academic Orientation, which was extremely helpful. I felt a lot better after Inma (the program coordinator) laid things out for us in a really clear and concise way.

Despite my sleepiness, I didn't manage a siesta after lunch, because, of course, it's Friday and Casey got to take a look at the next little pocket on his countdown calendar!

Little espresso candies! Case is such a caffeine addict, I thought he'd appreciate the caffeinated deliciousness. And they really are quite delicious; I had to sample one or two before putting the calendar together.

After our chat, I was scheduled to visit one of the big Cathedrals in a guided tour. I think my appreciation of it may have been tempered by my lack of sleep, but it was beautiful to look at. Disturbing but beautiful. Our guide, this adorable, well-dressed young history professor, told us a lot about the gory history of the Cathedral, where the Reyes Católicos, Fernando and Isabel are actually entombed. Creepy! The Cathedral is apparently built on top of the site of an old Muslim Mezquita, which was destroyed to punish the remaining Muslim population after they revolted against the Catholic governance. Basically a big, golden, Catholic "fuck you." There's even this huge gnarly wall where one of the saints is depicted literally stomping an opponent to death with a horse, whilst saints and the Virgin Mary look on with approval. Not the best picture but here it is:

All the violent discomfort aside, I did love the ceiling. It's this dusty blue colored huge home with golden stars painted on. This has officially been added to my "dream home" vision.

The organ was also impressive.

Anyhoo, the Cathedral visit was followed by a lot more walking and historical information, most of which kind of sailed in and out of my mind... Now I'm officially REALLY TIRED and need to take a power nap before playing drinking games and heading to a club in the Albayzín!

A Momentary Melancholy

I feel the blue-sky honeymoon shrinking away beneath the heavy Summer clouds; a winter chill creeps prematurely into my bones, into my homesick heart. The quaint streets become foreboding as stress and uncertainty pile up on the sleepy arc of my spine. The slick cobblestones feel heavy and strange.

I wonder if this caffeine heartbeat and timid smile will be enough to prop up my toothpick bones against the sudden influx of impassive faces, eyes as green and silent as cats'. I am enveloped in uncertain skin each night and sleep to the rhythm of my own questions; they echo down the tiled hallways as shape-shifting Spanglish invades my dreams with it's awkward, imbalanced gait.

Mi Piso Precioso!

It's official! I put down a deposit of fifty euros to reserve a room in an apartment near Plaza de Toros, which is close to the campus where my classes will be held! I still don't know who I'm living with, which is a little iffy, but I have a good feeling about it...maybe it's just naive hope, I don't know. Check it out:

 Desk in my room! Lot's of light!

 My little bed! Comes with sheets and everything!

Landlord signing the deposit receipt down the hall!

The lot next door has had a ton of cats hanging out both times I've been over there. So cute, definitely going to befriend them.

My favorite furry neighbor!

Well, that's one thing off my list! Now, to choose classes, fill out forms and get my student card from the police, finish my homework and pay the real deposit on the room (the 50€ was just to reserve the room.)

Spanish Nights and Veggie Delights

The apartment hunt has been progressing but I'm becoming pretty conflicted. There's one place I saw and LOVED, a great price with all the utilities included, as well as things like towels and sheets, but all I know about the potential housemates is that there's a French guy coming and a double that still has to be rented. I also saw another place, less cute but with nice people and an adorable dog, but I'd have to replace myself when I left, which sounds like a chore. Plus, utilities aren't included... I'm torn between continuing my search and just taking one of these places in order to stop stressing. We'll see.

My potential housemate pup. I couldn't get a good photo because he kept snarfing on me and rolling around gleefully when I scratched his butt.

This is my first weekend since school and it's been really lovely. Friday night there was soccer game, so some of us went out to a bar to watch it. It was an Irish bar, which was kind of funny. When the game was over we went to a cheaper bar to have drinks and tapas and I fell madly in love with mojitos. Yum. Afterwards, we bought a few litros of cerveza (40's, basically) and went and played card games in the dorms, long after we'd run of beer.

Last night was definitely my first "Spanish" night though. We had a late, late lunch (snacks from the market) and then went and took siestas for a bit. At around ten we went out to eat dinner, but we weren't that hungry so we went to this bar D'Cuadros, which serves some really tasty tapas free with drinks. So for a two euro glass of tinto de verano I got to nom on some delicious fried eggplant with honey. I know that sounds weird but it was AMAZING. Some of the other girls also got these little grilled cheese type sandwiches, but they had meat in them.

Tinto de verano. Yum.

Eggplant tapas. 

 Gabby and Alicia getting pumped off tapas.

Pimpin, as usual.

After the bar, we went back to the dorms and made our own mixed drinks. Eventually we all ended up crammed into Dan's room, which was semi-classy in that he was playing nice music and everyone was dressed snazzy, but there were way too many of us to fit. We spent a good long time debating which club to go to (Mae West is supposed to be the best but it's really far and you have to wear heels and look impeccable; Granada 10 is close by, but we've been there before and no one wanted to pay, some other club was supposed to be amazing, but it's in the Albaycín, which is also a long walk, Vogue is close but apparently plays "weird music"...) We eventually decided to go to a gay bar called Six Colours.

Six Colours was awesome, very small but full of adorable gay boys that all of us wanted to become our new best friends. The response amongst our group was mixed, though. Eventually we all wandered outside, not really sure what to do. Our wanderings lead us to a nearby club called La Sal. Everyone filed in as I was asking someone is if cost to get in (it didn't). The person I asked was named Joaquin; he was this adorable German kid who'd been living in Granada for two years and insisted on speaking English to me in order to practice. He warned me that the bar was more of a lesbian bar, but I told him no one really cared.

Once in the bar we danced a bit and I met a Chilean guy who was apparently the wandering sort and had just wandered into Granada with the intention of staying for a year or so. He was pretty sweet, although apparently straight and tried to use some line about "testing to see if I was gay or not" but I quickly informed him that I was taken and he agreed be friendly instead of sleazy.

At this point (around maybe 3:00 or 3:30am) a lot of people from the program decided to leave, but I stayed with Courtney and Gabby, who had met an awesome lesbian couple that wanted to take us to a club called Status. A friend of theirs handed out passes for us to get in for five euro (instead of the usual ten), so when La Sal closed at 4:00am or so, we trekked over to Status with the girls and my new Chilean friend, Felipe.

Status was also a lot of fun and a lot bigger. There were some hilarious guys dressed up all old fashioned like with wigs and little pointy shoes and everything. I also ran into Joaquin again but sadly didn't get any contact info, so there goes my chance at a sassy gay bff. Another straight guy managed to hunt me down, though, and much to the embarrassment of his gay pal he kept yelling things like, "HAVE YOU EVER FUCKED WITH A GIRL?" in broken English, and told me I was "the best" and kept trying to feed me his vodka and Redbull. We ended up closing down the club, as well, at 7am. Success.

Needless to say, today was a very sleepy one. I didn't wake up until two and spent most of the day doing a whole lot of nothing even though I have some homework and boring things to do... I did go see a (horrible) piso with some compañeras, but it smelled horrible and the landlady lived there and seemed like a total grump. I also got to chat with Casey and Mishka a bit, which was nice but also really frustrating, because Skype kept throwing a tantrum and quitting unexpectedly, not to mention being super weird and blurry looking.

At around 6:30 my group met up with Chelo and she took us to an AMAZING cafe. Actually, two. The first one was this lovely dark little cafe full of books and old photos and the sounds of jazz. It was too full, so we went to another, just down the street and around the corner, which had the same name and a similar vibe, a lot of pianos and deep red walls. Apparently they have live shows there, as well. I wish I brought my camera (iPhone) but I'd left in a hurry. I had a glass of icy mango juice, but there were some really delicious sounding coffees and milkshakes. Everyone was sleepy but we also had a lot of school related questions and anxieties building up as the date approaches for us to choose and enroll in our real classes.

After coffee (or juice, in my case) we were scheduled to go get crepes, but Chelo mentioned having heard of a nearby vegetarian restaurant, which excited a lot of us (especially me). We headed out, but Amber's knee was hurting her (she'd fallen on it last night) so we changed our minds and decided to look for it another day UNTIL, low and behold, we stumbled upon it on our way home! It's called El Piano, and it's amazing, full of vegan and gluten free deliciousness that you can take on the go in little wooden boats with wooden forks for a pretty good price! They also sell soy milk and a few other awesome things like cook books. It was a dream come true. I had these tasty little corn patty type things and this awesome red curry kind of dish with potatoes and peas. I doubley wished I had my camera, it was fantastic! But it's really close, so I'll be back shortly with photographic evidence of the deliciousness. Mmm.