Hi Everyone,
Sorry that it has taken me so long to post anything but the past few weeks have flown by. It feels like just yesterday that I got to the residencia and now I am in my own apartment in a different part of town. Here is brief recap on what I've been doing. The classes that I was taking during the ILP program were, for the most part, boring. The history/culture class that we had was all review of what we had learned in Cádiz. The literature class was a joke. The professor went on rants for the entire class period about the "power" of literature: who controls it, how people get it, and what they do with it. We only read about four pages of Don Quijote and three poems. On the flip side, I did really enjoy my reading comprehension and grammar classes. The professors were my favorite and I definitely learned the most in them. The grammar professor explained certain verb forms and tenses (like the subjunctive) that are generally challenging to understand but he made it extremely easy. Our reading class was actually way better than the lit class. We actually got to have discussions about what we read and our professor expected us explain what the texts had made us think about. All in all it was definitely worth doing but I am glad that it is over.
During the weekends I have tired to do some exploring within Granada but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I got the chance to go to Madrid. Madrid was... interesting. I was expecting to be much more impressed and to have been more in awe than I was. Actually, I was somewhat underwhelmed. It just seemed like any other city and I just wasn't too impressed. But I did really enjoy the museums. We got to see a bunch of Dali, Picasso, and Velázquez, probably the three most famous Spanish painters of all time. In the Reina Sofia Museum we got to see Picasso's Guernica, one of his largest paintings ever. It seriously took up almost the entire wall and was definitely a main attraction. Along the other wall was a piece about the process he had gone through while painting the masterpiece. It showed pictures of the different stages that he had gone through. It was really interesting and surprising to see what he had started with and then to turn around and see the final product. In our history classes we learned about how Guernica was the sight of the first bombing in Spain by the German and Italian forces, commissioned by General Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Pretty much, Franco was so determined to gain complete control and power within Spain that he ask/allowed Germany and Italy to test out their new bombs on Spain before the Second World War began. Franco was crazy.
While we were in Madrid we got to do some of the other normal touristy kind of things like Plaza Mayor, the cathedrals, and Plaza del Sol. Everyone says that Madrid is great for shopping, which it seemed like it would be, but it is soooo expensive. I did have a good time though with my friends walking around we just didn't have enough time to see why so many people love Madrid.
In comparison to Madrid I feel like there isn't much to do in Granada on the weekends except walk around and explore the wonderful and crazy little corners within the city. We got to go to the Alhambra with our group and it was gorgeous. I posted all of those pictures to Shutterfly so whenever you want to be lazy you can look through my 300+ photos from that day. Even though we had a guided tour I spent the majority of the time walking around in my own world, soaking in the amazing colors and the incredible detail that covers every wall from floor to ceiling. I was so consumed in my own picture taking as well that I didn't listen to too much of what our guide said but I got what I needed. I am still amazed by the fact that people actually lived there; that it was there home and that the gardens were just their little backyard where they would go to get away from the palace life.
One of the many great things about Granada that I have started to explore more and more is the food. Because Granada has such an extensive mixture of cultures there are tons of different opportunities to try different cuisines. The first week here we went up to the Albaicin and found this great little tapas buffet where you buy a drink for 2€ and get a plate of four different tapas of your choice. We, and by we I mean Chelsea, Tia and I, have also tried Chinese buffets, Vegan and Vegetarian restaurants and then these two amazing Arab/Syrian restaurants. It is really common for restaurants to have a menu of the day which gives you a list of different starters, second dishes, main dishes, and then desserts to choose from. As it turns out these are usually the best deals and give you the greatest amount of food for your money, so obviously they are my favorite. I mean you get a plate of pita and hummus, a plate of curry mustard chicken, a delicious traditional Spanish pudding and a drink for about 8€, who could complain. It has been a lot of fun too because with every new restaurant that I try I feel like I am experiencing a different part of Spain or a different culture/country altogether. I also really enjoy just walking around in the different sections of town. It is interesting that while there are some areas are much more Arab dominated there are others, like those around the Cathedral, that are a complete mixture of Spanish and Arab knickknacks. For example, they sell the scarves, hookahs, tea sets and baggy pants common to the Arab stores but then they also sell the Minnie Mouse looking Flamenco dresses. In general, those stores are supper touristy and random and I don't really like going in them. I saw one the other day that has swords in the front window, like ten or twelve HUGE sword just sitting in the window.
As I explore more and more I find things like health food stores and spice shops that not only have great deals, but have huge selections. I bought three different types of tea yesterday for 9€. A basic green tea, a Granada mix (pomegranate, green tea, fruits and flowers of the forest and some spices), and hibiscus flower. I am really excited to start having them in the mornings because while I have become a coffee junkie, I would prefer to switch back to tea, it doesn't make me all shaky or keep me up at the end of the day. I have also finally found shoes that fit me. During the last week of August the sales prices were even lower than those that we had found in Cádiz. I bought two pairs of heels for 18€ and another for 6€. I went a little wild but I, unlike all of the other girls in my programs, did not bring any of my heels or nice shoes, so it has been nice to finally have shoes that fit and that I can wear out when I go out.
This brings me to another point. People in Spain have a very different lifestyle like I have mentioned before. They don't start drinking or going out until about 12:30 or 1, so I don't usually go out with everyone. I go out for dinner or tapas and maybe a glass of tinto or a soda, but I don't go to botellón (the traditional Spanish style hangout that happens every night in the Walmart-style convenient store parking lot). I have gone a couple of times but it just isn't really worth it. You have to take a taxi down there and then it is freezing cold, and people are smoking everywhere and it is just not really the type of place that I want to try to meet people. Also, I am pretty much not capable of staying out past 4 in the morning and that is when the majority of people, or at least the good-looking people, really start arriving at the clubs. It is pure craziness and I don't really like to do it. In my exploring I have found a couple of really cool bars though that are going to be good for going and studying in and for listen to live music. One of the girls that has been showing us around Granada, Andrea, told me about this great place to go listen to Jazz music as well, which I am excited about. I guess I am just ready to start doing some of the things that I would want to do in Santa Cruz and see how they are in Spain. One such thing is the experience of going to the gym. Not very many people here go and work out, let alone regularly, so I am starting to recognize and be recognized by the people at my gym. One of these days I may actually talk to someone ;). But it has been great working out again on a regular basis my body really needed it. I am also now able to cook my own food, which is really refreshing. I am no longer constantly eating bread and fried foods, I get to have salads and couscous and eggs for breakfast. It is great.
Something cool happened the other day. We all got an email the from our program director asking if any of us would be interested in teaching English to children. I responded right away and went to have an interview/to find out more information. As it turns out, it is a legitimate class that I would be teaching, as in, I would be the teacher of a group of young children who only speak Spanish. I told them that I might still bring in a resume but I don't think that I am ready or really willing to put that much time into something other than my own studies here. Also, I just don't know if I am capable of that yet. But during the first part of the interview I met with a woman that asked if I would want to tutor her sister and niece for about 10€ an hour once a week for two hours. I told her that I am definitely interested and will check back in with her as soon as I know my class schedule.
On Saturday Chelsea and I decided to go up to campus to try to find our classes and to just look around. When we finally got up there after about a 25min walk we realized that they lock everything up during the weekends so we couldn't even try to see where we would need to go. It was really weird though walking around a different campus. I started to feel really nostalgic and realized that this is my last year of college and I am not really going to be spending it at UCSC. For all of the times that I wanted to transfer and go somewhere else I now know that I made the right choice in going to UCSC. I got to take some great classes, I made amazing friends, and I got to stay close to home and be with all of you. I miss you all like crazy and am grateful that you have all been so supportive of all of my choices, especially this one about Spain. I am lucky that I have had so much going on because otherwise I know that I would be thinking about home all the time and I would be miserable knowing that I am not going to get to see you all for another 4 almost 5 months. But I do have lots of things to do and I am enjoying them.
For example, Chelsea and I have decided to go to Portugal and France in October, which we are both extremely excited about. We are going to fly into Oporto the week before Halloween and then take a bus down to Lisbon. From Lisbon we will go back to Oporto to see the city before heading to Madrid for Halloween. Halloween in Madrid is supposed to be crazy and I figured that it would be cool to experience it in a city that appreciates the opportunity to dress up and have some fun, and it gives us another chance to see Madrid and visit our friends from Cádiz. About a week and a half later we will be going to Paris. We fly into Beauvais. I think we are planning on taking a bus into the city right after we land but we might also stay out there and explore for a day to see what different parts of the country are like. We also want to take a day trip out to Versailles because we both have this fantasy that while we are in Paris we are going to meet two amazing men that want to take us around France and Paris and take us to a really nice fancy dinner. But as of right now, we are going to be staying with Chelsea's neighbor from home because she has a nice home and is willing to let us stay with her. Chels also has a bunch of friends that are either from France or who have studied abroad there so they are all composing lists of things for us to do. I would love to hear some suggestions about what you all think we should do, where we should go, what we should eat, etc. if you have any ideas. In Granada secondhand stores are really common and I am starting to learn to appreciate buying good quality things that have already been used/worn. Normally I feel like I need to take a shower immediately after I go into a secondhand store but here I have already made a few good purchases. Because of this newfound ability to shop for used goods I thought it would be a good idea to look up some places in Paris that we could go to try to find some cool stuff. The first webpage that I found gave me a list of places to go which all seemed really cool. Then I kept reading and found out that they are all known for finding and selling vintage Louis Vuitton and Hermes Paris bags and luggage that normally sell for about $3-5,000 a piece. So we will definitely just be window-shopping at a extremely high-class flee market. It will still be fun though and I'll get to take some cool pics.
This past weekend Chelsea and I moved out of the residencia and into our apartment (pictures are coming soon on Shutterfly) and so we spent most of the weekend getting things set up and buying the basic things that we needed. The apartment came fully furnish, but we wanted to buy our own sheets and things cause we both just felt weird using the ones that other people had been using. As we started putting everything away the other day we realized that we don't have an oven. I have been looking forward to baking and cooking certain things from home that definitely require and oven. We asked around though and some of our friends have ovens so I can just go over there and bake away. But other than not having an oven, the place is great. We each have our own room and mine has two twin beds. I have pushed them together so it at least looks like one but the other one is going to come in handy for when people visit. Originally I thought that this wasn't going to be happening for a while, but our friend Dan's birthday is this weekend and so all of our friends from Cádiz are coming to Granada and want to stay at our place. Chelsea and I are the only ones that aren't sharing their place with other people so we all just figured that it would be easiest to volunteer our place for the weekend. Little did we know that 8 people were planning on coming down and maybe more. The way we figure it four people, maybe five can sleep in my two beds when they are pushed together, three can sleep in Chelsea's, two on the couch, and the rest can speed out on the floor. It is going to be quite interesting though. I'm not too sure how I feel about it yet but I am glad that I m going to get to see everyone.
Today was the first day of classes and the way that it works in Spain is you sign up for about 6 classes, even though you only take 4 and you go and sit through about 9 so that you can see if there are other ones that you like better or that you can understand more. The reason that I have had so much time to finally sit down and write to you all is because during my first two classes the professors didn't show up. We had been warned that this might happen but I didn't think it would happen back to back. I woke up this morning at 6:50 to get ready and figured out that the bus I need doesn't even go by my house until 7:40 and it only takes about ten minutes to get up there so I got up there really early. I sat and waited the entire first class and my professor never showed up. Someone said that he was stuck in traffic or something but I mean, come on, it is the first day of class. In my second class, I waited around for almost half of it before people came back in and said that the professor had actually shown up. When she finally came in I was smacked in the face with the fact that I am still not prepared to be in classes that are completely taught in Spanish. History classes taught for English language learners are one thing but classes that are for Spaniards that can understand everything being said is another. I seriously could have cried. The professor speaks quickly and really quietly but seems nice and understanding. She was asking questions about what classes the students had taken in anthropology and it wasn't until the third or fourth person had started answering her that I understood what was going on. I don't put the pieces together until about five minutes too late and it is frustrating. Today was definitely a wakeup call, but at least this will force me to make Spanish friends because I am going to need their help to understand what is going on and then maybe later they can tell me where the cool places to go are and where to get good food. But after realizing how challenging the next few weeks are going to be i started to question why I am even here. I am practically done with all of the requirements I need to graduate and I could have just finished them up in one quarter at home. But instead I chose to come here. Obviously I am so happy to be here and to be able to experience this but I just realized this morning that I am not just going to be living here, I am actually going to be a student, taking challenging classes. I just felt like I was a freshman again not knowing where anything was, not really knowing what the expectations are going to be, not knowing anyone in my classes, but then on top of all of that I am still learning the language that everything is being talked about in. I was the only non-native Spanish speaker in my anthropology class today and while everyone seemed really approachable and welcoming, I don't have my main social skill at hand, being able to talk to people. It was just a little overwhelming but I know it is going to get better. I am going to go to my last few classes of the day to see if there is one that I want to switch into/out of and then by Thursday I will had my complete schedule. As of right now it is looking like I will be taking the history of Muslim art, applied anthropology, advanced grammar and composition, and either museology, the organization of power in modern times, or the ancient history of Egypt and Greece. There war tons of other classes that I could have taken but I didn't really want to have classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays so that I would be able to have longer weekends for traveling. Anyways, I gotta go but hopefully I will have internet access in my apartment by the middle of the week so I can Skype with some of you people that I still haven't gotten to see.
I love you all so much!
Rachel
