Halloween Sprit, Ireland, and Other Ramblings

I'm really liking getting used to Granada and the people around here more and more. It's starting to feel like some kind of home. I was looking at my empty living room this morning before I left my apartment, and I just thought "damn... when I have to leave this place, it's going to mess me up!"

My favorite things about October are Halloween traditions like decorating, carving pumpkins, and watching Halloween movies. I'd made peace with the fact that things were going to be different this October because Spain's not as big on Halloween as is the US, but in the end my housemates, some other exchange students, some Californians and I decided not to let October pass without some Halloween spirit. We threw a potluck party with Halloween-themed treats and decorations. It ended up being so much fun thanks to everyone showing up and bringing baked goodies, snacks, and of course candy!

Festive and delicious!

Happy [week before] Halloween!

The following week, some friends (Megan, Alicia, and Jenny) and I took a trip to Ireland since we had some days off that connected to the weekend! Megan and I went to Cork, Dublin and Galway.

Cork was a really cool city. We stayed the first night in Cork with Alicia, who was visiting her friend, Tessa. Tessa's studying abroad at University College Cork (UCC), so we got to see her campus and meet a few of her friends. Cork, just like the rest of the places in Ireland that we got to see, was beautiful. Our first glance of Irish daylight was the view through Tessa's window, which was this intensely green lawn against a stone church and gray skies. That day, Tessa took us to the English Market in Cork, which was like an indoor farmer's market. It was full of bakeries, fruit stands, and little eateries. The food all looked so good! They had a lot of food that you'd more likely see in the US than Spain, so the food selection was really comforting for a change. We all decided on sausage and potatoes with sweet chili sauce for lunch, which was a good decision! My mouth still waters just thinking about that first Irish meal. Later that day, we went on to try Irish soda bread and Irish coffee, we walked around downtown Cork, and then Megan and I hopped on our bus to Dublin.

The English Market in Cork

Sausage, potatoes, onions and chili sauce - more delicious than this photo would suggest

I was tired from traveling and not getting much sleep the night before, but the scenery on the bus ride to Dublin was too good to miss! The countryside was just so strikingly green and beautiful. In every direction was green like I'd never seen. To our right were green fields, some sprinkled with cows or cute little sheep grazing. To the left were some hills and trees, all in shades of vibrant green.

Hard to get a good picture from the bus, but still cute!

I can't paint an accurate general picture of this trip without rambling on a about how much greenery we saw. Wherever there was a crack in the ground or even a wet roof, there'd be grass, moss, or a little plant. Even the trees had plants growing up their trunks. I guess everything is so green because it rains so much on the Emerald Isle! I didn't know that it rained so often in Ireland, but it all makes sense now.

Trinity College - some of the greenest grass I've ever seen

Dublin was marvelous. It was such a fun, happy place. Megan and I went on a walking tour of the city and saw Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Christchurch Cathedral, St. Stephen's Green, Temple Bar, and sites along the River Liffey. Going on a tour was great, because it gave us the chance to hear about the history of the sites we were looking instead of walking around aimlessly. Also in Dublin, we explored the busy pedestrianized street called Grafton Street, which was really fun and busy. We went in some cool pubs including Ireland's oldest, the Brazen Head, where we got to listen to some live Irish folk music. We checked out St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was impressive. We went to the Guinness Storehouse/factory and saw how Guinness beer is made. The views from the lounge at the top of the factory, where they give you your pint of Guinness, were great.

We love Dublin!

Grafton Street

Very Dublin-ey

Near Four Courts at sundown

The highlight of the trip for me was the night before Halloween. Megan and I went out to this Halloween party put on by our Hostel. It was alright; this pub where they held the party was festively decorated, people were in costume, and there was a salsa band of sorts. After a little bit, Megan and I left in search of something a little more exciting. We went to this place called the Dragon, one of Dublin's biggest gay clubs. It was SO much fun. It was dark, colorful, and loud. They didn't play a single song we recognized, which was odd, but it was nonetheless a blast. Megan and I danced for awhile, talked to a few nice Dubliners, people watched, and then headed out after an hour or two. 

Gaydar (noun): that which fails me time and time again in Europe

On our way back to our hostel, we passed this place called the George that was playing Rihanna's S&M. I instantly thought "WOW,  and where have we been we this whole time?" We thought our night was over, but we wanted to take a peek inside so we asked some people in line if there was a cover charge. A group of people told us that it was ten euros to get in. They asked us why we were hesitant, and said that we needed to come in. On the topic of clubs and music, they said "yeah, the Dragon is shit... here, you'll hear Britney, you'll hear Gaga, you'll hear Katy...." and obviously that's all I needed to hear. The George had me at S&M, but after talking to these friendly Dubliners, Megan was in too. We waited with these people and talked, but the 'queue' was too long so they gave up on the line. Our new friends said they were going back to one of their houses to just have a little party and that we could probably come if we wanted. "Julian, the Americans are coming!" was all it took, and we were in! We all cabbed it back to Julian's house and talked, learned about Dublin and heard these people's stories while we had some drinks. These guys were so friendly to take us in for no reason! It was a really interesting group of guys and girls. Julian, the guy whose house it was, was a tarot card reader. His walls were adorned with a few vampire paintings if I saw them correctly. At one point, the lights in his house flickered as we were all sitting around the table. He then shared with us that he had a ghost named Fred. I didn't hear, but Megan said that she asked him "so, is he a friendly ghost, or...?" and he responded "mmm... he pretty much just fucks with the lights" HA! Megan and I were really lucky to run into such friendly and welcoming people and have a priceless experience like that in Dublin. Thinking back on that night'll always make me smile!

A night we'll never forget! I'm yelling "get in the picture, ahhhh!" because I set the timer.

Our last stop before we headed home was Galway. Galway itself was a pretty small city, but it was definitely worth the stop. From there we were able to take a bus tour out to the Cliffs of Moher. Some fun cliff facts: the Cliffs of Moher are the third tallest cliffs in Ireland, with their highest point reaching 702 ft above the Atlantic Ocean. They've put a lot of money into making these cliffs a tourist attraction, so for that reason they're Ireland's most popular cliffs to visit. The countryside, the cows, the llamas, the sheep, the houses, and the water that we passed in the bus along the way, as well as the sublime views from the cliffs, made the trip out there totally worth it. It reminded Megan and me a lot of the cliffs at campus point in Santa Barbara, but just a gigantic green version. Going out to the cliffs was an awesome excursion, and after that I felt ready to head back home to catch up on school and stop spending so much money. The dollar-to-euro exchange rate is already no fun, and on top of that everything in all three cities we visited in Ireland costed more than things do here in Granada.  Staying in hostels and not doing anything too expensive made it overall not too bad. The trip was beyond worth it! I'd love to go back to Dublin and maybe some new cities up north someday.

¿Cómo te llamas?

Megan and me on top of this little tower called "O'brien's Tower" at the cliffs

There's the little tower!

The Cliffs of Moher

In non-Irish news, things in Granada are good. I noticed about a week before my trip, in the same week that the freezing weather began to grace us with its presence, that my Spanish is getting better! I say things more easily and speak without having to pause as much to ask how to say certain words, which feels awesome. Just the other day, I talked to this Irish lady at the airport in Málaga. She'd been working for a few years as an English teacher in Madrid, and she was going back to Ireland. We were speaking Spanish before we knew where each other was from, but after she said she was from Ireland I said something to her in English. She said "oh, you've got an American accent. You must've had an American teacher." WHA! She thought I was Spanish?! I got really excited that she thought I was Spanish and said "oh my gosh!" and made a tiny little scene in all of my excitement, making it clear to bystanders that I was American. I couldn't pass for a Spanish person in front of a real Spanish person, but that still felt really cool! Of course, I still have a long way to go and I say plenty of stupid little things all the time. Por ejemplo, I was trying to ask my housemates a couple weeks ago if they'd ever carved pumpkins. One of them responded before I was done struggling through my question with "mate, I don't know what the fuck you're trying to say! It sounds like you're asking me if I've ever put my face in a pumpkin." Haha, that's one I'll probably always remember.

That's about it for now. Happy November!

Esto es vivir

Since I last updated, I've moved out of El Colegio Mayor Isabel la Católica (residence hall) and into my apartment. It was a little bittersweet moving out of the colegio mayor where the group of us UC students spent the first month during Intensive Language Program. I'm thankful that we all had that first month together as part of the ILP. Without that month of getting used to Granada and meeting friends in the same boat, I think it would've been a little difficult to adjust to this new setting. But instead, all of us got to slowly adjust to everything and laugh together about our mistakes and difficulties in adjusting to life here. Filling out the post-course evaluation after finishing my final exam, I couldn't say enough about the ILP! As bitter as it is having to move away from my new friends, I was excited to move into my apartment, be forced to speak more Spanish, start university classes, and get to know my new housemates.

Bye room!

The night before I moved into my apartment, my monitor, Ignacio, invited a group of us to his summer house at the beach in Almuñecar, about an hour and a half bus ride from Granada. I was a little hesitant because I had to get ready to move out the next day and blah, blah, blah--NOT the right attitude to have! Anyways, a group of four of us decided to grab a bus to Almuñecar after our final exams were over. That decision culminated in one of my favorite nights in Spain so far! I couldn't believe this house when we pulled up. It had four levels and a patio with a pool overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Madre mía. One of our monitor's friends said to us, "you're all really lucky to know Nacho. He's really generous, as you can see." I very much agree! We all hung out on the patio, swam, listened to music, sang, dance and talked late into the night. I loved speaking Spanish with all of them. The times we get to spend with Spanish people, when it's sink-or-swim in terms of speaking Spanish because we can't use English as a crutch, are so helpful! As I was swimming in this pool overlooking the sunset on the Mediterranean, I thought about the fact that I'm here to really learn how to speak Spanish, and it hit me how cool it is that having experiences like that is how you do do it! Studying abroad is the best invention ever.

Great, super-friendly group of people at our monitor's party!

The next morning, a few of us woke up before the sun to catch a bus back to Granada. The bus took a detour over a mountain which gave us awesome views. I don't know if I've ever seen a better sunrise. I took out my camera, and sure enough I hadn't brought a memory card. I feel like this whole 18-hour experience was like one of those times you see dinosaurs or aliens on a field trip and forget to bring your camera, know what I mean? There is, however, one picture online of that weekend (above)! I really don't like it of me because my eyes are closed, but it's great for the memories.

Later that day, I said goodbye to the residence hall and moved into my apartment. I felt a little homesick/colegio mayor-sick and out of place for about an hour, but my housemates were really friendly from the very beginning. It didn't take long before this place started feeling like home. I feel really lucky to have ended up with these three people. I live with a Spanish guy, a Swiss girl, and an English girl. They're all so intelligent and speak a handful of languages, and they're all great cooks! I like it that way--I think that living with people who are better than me in so many ways will teach me a lot. We're actually all really different from each other, but the dynamic is so much fun when we hang out. Come to think of it, that's how my house was last year too. It's funny to think of how different the six of us were, and I loved it.

After moving in to our respective apartments, everyone from the UC program got together for this farewell cocktail party. It was such a blast! They had all the h'ordeuvres we could eat, and all the beer and wine we wanted. We all stood around and chatted with each other and with our professors from the program. I had a nice conversation with our grammar professor. I told him that I put a phrase to use that he taught us in class: "esto es vivir," which means "this is living." After that, he said to me "no sabemos si hay otra vida. Entonces, hay que vivir esta vida muy fuerte," or "we don't know if there's another life, so we have to live this one really well." I feel like that philosophy fills the air here in Granada. I really liked the sound of that, and I think that's a great piece of advice.

Food from the Farewell Cocktail Party

Megan, Me, Kelsey, and Sara at the farewell party

Something about being here makes me want to do things I never thought I would. If someone tells me here that I need to try something, it's just so convincing and I need to oblige! Lately, I think of every new thing I do as a new acquired experience that I'll always get to keep! I can't turn many of those down. If you know me, you probably know that I've always had a groundless aversion to seafood. It's all in my mind, but something about the smell, the look, and the idea of seafood has always been unappetizing to me. At the party with my monitor, I tried arroz negro, which is a black-colored rice dish with shrimp and other seafood in it. It gets its black color from squid ink. Believe it or not, it tasted good! The following day, I tried caviar at our farewell cocktail party. It tasted like a familiar smell, which I think is the smell of fishing bait. Then the other day, I went out for tapas with my housemates and I bit off half of a little silver fried fish. I'm out of control. I like this brave new seafood-eating me! It probably sounds stupid, but I think the people who've known me for a long time would be proud, haha.

Tomorrow's the first day of week three of classes. I'm taking two Spanish literature classes, a linguistics class, and a class called Psychology of Learning. I can understand the majority of what my professors say, but some of it gets by me before I can write it down or process it. In a nutshell, it's going well and I'm keeping my head above water. I imagine that as my spanish skills improve, my classes will only become more manageable. So far, so good!

It's been fun meeting people in class! People are very approachable here. I like to strike up conversation with people, and it's usually only after one question from me that someone asks "¿de dónde eres? (where are you from?)" because of my accent, and there's usually a lot to talk about from there. I've made a few really nice friends in class. I met a girl named María in the hall because we were both a little lost, and she told me within a minute of meeting her that she loves to talk. Me too! She's been teaching me useful Spanish phrases during breaks between classes, ranging from the everyday to the vulgar.

Mierda. My lamp just fell off my desk and the bulb shattered everywhere.

In insignificant news, I've started watching Friends en Español. It's great because I usually know exactly what they're saying in English, so I can see how they've translated certain phrases into Spanish. Some of them don't quite translate, and they end up needing to say something with a different meaning. Just when I thought that watching hours and hours of friends earlier in life was a waste of time, all that Friends knowledge is helping me learn Spanish. It's all coming full circle!

Alright, I'm off to go do Sunday stuff: study and relax!

Cada vez más, me encanta Granada

Tomorrow marks four weeks since I left for Granada. At the same time as the four weeks have gone really fast, it feels like I’ve been here for so much longer. Like I said in an earlier post, it amazes me how many places and people I’ve come to know in such a short amount of time. It’s strange to think that as recent as four weeks ago, I didn’t know a single one of these people to whom I’ve come to feel really close.

A group of us hanging out in my room before heading out to El Camborio, a discoteca up in the hills of the Sacromonte with a view of the Alhambra!

The end of the coming week will mark the end of the “Intensive Language Program,” which means that the other UC kids and I will have our final exams in the classes we’ve been taking, we’ll be moving out into our respective pisos, and we’ll be starting real university classes next week. I have mixed emotions about all of this! Each week of this month was better than the previous, and I’ve come to feel so comfortable here. Going to class, eating every meal, and spending the weekends with these other students has made me feel more and more attached to everyone. It’s been so much fun having these friends just a door or two away! As much as I’ll miss that, it’s pretty cool that we’ll all have friends throughout the city when we move out. This month flew by, but I guess now’s the time to take the next step and further immerse ourselves into la vida española.

While there’ll be a lot to miss about this month, I’m ecstatic about the apartment that I get to move into! Until about a week ago, everyone in our program had been running around town looking at piso after piso. There are flyers with phone numbers posted virtually everywhere you look throughout the city that say “busco compañer@ de piso…” looking for students to share apartments with. Shared apartments here generally come furnished, rooms aren’t shared, and rent is considerably cheaper than it is in most of the UC towns that we all hail from. Anyways, I think the piso hunting is over for most, if not all, people in the program.

There’s a street in this city that I liked from the beginning, and there’s one part of it in particular that I really like. One day, when our group was on a guided tour of one part of the city, I was struck by this really pleasant area and asked my monitor if it was a good area in terms of practicality, safety, proximity to things, etc. He said that it was a good area to live, but that pisos in the area tended to be expensive. A few days later, after I had looked at some places that would have been okay (though a little dark and smelly) my monitor sent me a message on Facebook saying that he found a place really close to where I’d mentioned I liked, and that he set up an appointment to see the place. I went and saw it, and it blew everything else I’d seen out of the water! If I wanted the place, I had to decide fast so the real estate agent wouldn’t show it to someone else. Excited and flustered, I paced around what would be my room unsure of what to do… my monitor said to me in English “Luc, just fucking get it!” and continued to tell me in the elevator on the way down how dumb I’d be if I didn’t jump on it. Anyways, I paid the real estate agent the next day, and now I get to live in one of the coolest pisos I’ve ever seen! I put down a deposit and paid the first month’s rent, so I’m stuck there until July… will that even be enough time?! I’ve met and been able to talk a little with each of my piso-mates, and they all seem like they’re going to be really fun people to live with. I’m very much looking forward to getting to know them.

In more recent news, I swam in the Mediterranean Sea last week! Last Thursday was a holiday in Granada, so a small group of us decided to go down south to Nerja, which is a beach town that’s just about a two-hour bus ride away. The bus ride was actually a highlight of the trip. The beginning involved all of us talking about the vastness of the universe, the fact that the sun will one day engulf earth when it becomes a red giant, the limits of human perception and understanding of the universe, and so much more! I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that since the night before when Alicia, one of my friends here, started talking to me about how cool her Astronomy class was. I could go on and on about this (which I did the night before our trip in an impromptu journal entry because my mind couldn’t slow down until I let it all out), but I’ll get back to the point of this paragraph! Anyways, I took in the scenery for the rest of the trip to Nerja. Keeping in mind “this is not Southern California” made the scenery so interesting. The mountains and lakes on the way, as well as the little towns we passed, were really pretty. Even trivial things like shopping centers and billboards are interesting here, because everything here is brand new to me! Anyways, Nerja was beautiful. The water was super-turquoise where it was shallow and the weather was perfect! I’m so glad we got to go while it’s still warm here. One interesting thing about beaches in Spain—women can go topless! Seeing women walk around topless is striking for about ten seconds, and then it’s just normal. I was feeling adventurous, so I decided to go topless as well. Who knows when I’ll be back in Spain again, right? I think everyone had a lot of fun in Nerja. Our lunch was good and cheap, the beach was beautiful, and swimming was fun. It was a wonderful way to spend a day off!

Taking Nerja by storm! Not pictured: Megan, who took the picture

So, any time I go to get food or gelato, I like to try something new to build my repertoire of flavors and meals. I always ask people at restaurants “¿cuál es mejor?” or “cúal es mejor, tortilla española o el bocadillo de cerdo?” or “which one of these is better?” Waiters always look at me like that’s a stupid question! Most of them shrug and quickly answer with “¡depende en tu gusto!” or “it depends on your taste!” In Nerja, I asked our waiter at lunch which was the better of two meals I was on the fence about. He said in Spanish “that’s like asking you, ‘who do you like better, her or her?’” and pointed to two of my friends. I don’t know why so few people are receptive to that question! I only ask because I want to know what’s good here. I’d be limiting myself if I only ever ordered what I know is good!

The day after our trip to Nerja, we went on a tour of the Alhambra Palace and the adjoined Generalife gardens. The Alhambra is the Arab palace here in Granada, which was the last Muslim settlement in Spain before the Catholic king and queen conquered it in 1492. The palace is massive, and its walls are intricately decorated with Muslim phrases in Arabic. The whole thing is beautiful and quite a sight to see! The Alhambra’s the biggest tourist attraction in Spain, and I believe one of the biggest in Europe. We were lucky enough to have a guided tour as part of our program here for the first month. I had the same guide as I had for the tour of the Cathedral here in Granada. She was a great guide in that she was really knowledgeable about everything we saw, and she spoke clearly so we’d be able to understand her Spanish. The palace itself was incredible, but I think my favorite part was the fact that it offered such an awesome view of the city below! We learned on our tour that the palace was designed in such a way that made all of the surrounding area visible so it could be defended.

Amazing views from up top!

A courtyard of the Alhambra

A view of the Generalife gardens, the Alhambra, and the city of Granada below

             

As I mentioned before, even the most trivial things are fun and stimulating here because everything is new.  For example, I thought I’d reached a point in my young adulthood where I no longer found Spongebob to be entertaining. Now that I’ve been watching episodes of Spongebob in Spanish (Bob Esponja) for the first time, I find it  to be as cute and as entertaining as ever! I was laughing out loud to myself yesterday watching that episode where Bob Esponja and Patricio go door-to-door selling chocolate.

            Coming up on a month of being here, I can say with assurance that I’m very glad that I've ended up in this city. I’ve met some great people and seen some great places already, and I’m hopeful and pretty convinced that this has been just a taste of great things on the horizon!

He llegado a Granada!

Granada from the Albaicín

So, I had no idea what I was getting into when I signed up for this. How could I have known? I took a leap of faith when I followed an EAP advisor’s advice to study abroad for the entire year as opposed to spending just a semester here, just because that’s a long time to commit to living in a place I know very little about. Even though tomorrow only marks two weeks of having been here, I’m already seeing that electing to be here all year was the right choice.

I’ve learned un montón de cosas in just the two weeks that I’ve been here. It baffles me how much new  information—places, people, customs, flavors, sights, sounds, language skills—can fit into my (or anyone’s) head in so little time.

When I landed in Málaga, which is just an hour and a half bus ride from Granada, Megan was waiting for me at the airport since her flight landed just a few hours earlier. I didn’t have more than half an hour alone in Spain before seeing the face of a great, comforting, just-as-lost-as-I-was friend. In preparing to leave for this adventure, I spent a lot of my energy bracing myself to feel alone and out of place. I didn’t even let it dawn on me that Megan and other people would be there going through the same thing. Having such a good friend with me from the very start made things like figuring out buses and cabs to Granada from the airport, checking into our hotel, ordering food here for the first time, exploring the city for the first time, and everything just awesome. Through all of our little mistakes, we’ve been able to learn and laugh at ourselves. I’ll never forget laying down in our hotel room one of the first nights, tired and confused, talking about the dinner we had the previous night. You’d have to have seen Megan’s dinner that night, and also be a little tired and delirious to understand how funny this was. She had this huge soft taco-type thing, but not really. It was filled with falafel, lettuce, sauce, vegetables, and some other unfamiliar ingredients. Anyways, I’ll never forget sitting there in a jet-lagged, tired stupor hearing Megan say “so, I thought I ordered a… baked potato last night…”

That little story’s just to say that it’s been so much fun to adjust to differences around here with friends! That brings me to the topic of our living situation now. For the first four weeks of our program, a group of 50 UC kids from all over California are living here at El Colegio Mayor Isabela la Católica, which is a university residence hall. This building is so beautiful! I should look up how old it is. It’s got the beauty and charm of an old European building, but it’s very nice and new inside. It’s got marble and dark wood everywhere. My “monitor,” a Spanish student from the University of Granada, mentioned that this place was remodeled a year ago. Anyways, we all have our own rooms and private bathrooms, there’s a dining room downstairs where we get three meals a day (except on weekends), and there’s a big courtyard in the middle of the building with a fountain, tables, and chairs. It's my favorite common area of this place.

Every person in this program is nice. As a group, everyone is so nice and so welcoming of everyone else’s friendship. Why wouldn’t they be? We’re all in más o menos the same boat! I can’t say enough about this last week or so with these people, it’s just been a blast. Going out for tapas, speaking Spanglish, bar-hopping (to all intents and purposes, I’m twenty-one now!), talking and playing games in the courtyard at our residencia, and just walking around the city together are some of the things that have made this such an enjoyable, comfortable, and exciting experience so far. Honestly, I guess I didn’t expect to laugh so hard or feel so awesome so soon!

The guy girl ratio in the whole UC Granada program’s about 5:1 I’d guess. It’s interesting to me that Granada, Spain, studying abroad in general, or maybe even studying languages draws so many more girls than guys. We all live on the same floor, eat meals together, and take classes right next door as part of the “Intensive Language Program.”

Of course there are lots of differences between the Spanish way of life and the American way of life that I have yet to discover, but there are so many that were immediately apparent! From what I can tell, pretty much every store honors siesta from about 2-5 or later. I swear, it’s something in the air here. When 2-3:00 rolls around, it feels like naptime! It’s sort of funny to walk through a commercial area in the middle of the day as I would back home, and see that everything is deserted. Since stores are closed for a lot of the afternoon, everything’s open much later here. A group of us walked by a purse store past midnight the other night, and someone said something along the lines of “why is it that nothing’s open when I want to get lunch in the middle of the day, but I can go purse shopping at midnight?” The meal schedule’s really different here, too! People seem to eat lightly or pretty much ignore breakfast. Nothing’s open on the weekends when I try and go get breakfast, so I’ve figured out that sleeping in is just a better idea. Lunch is the largest meal of the day and is eaten around 2:00 pm. Dinner, which is much later at 9 or even 10, is a lighter meal. I can only report on what I’ve experienced of course, and as such I’ve yet to discern what customs are Spanish, what things are unique to Granada, and what is unique to just my experience so far. That being said, I really like la vida española!

My favorite part of the city that I’ve explored so far is the Albaicín. It’s an elevated part of Granada that offers incredible views of the city below. A group of us students explored it the first day we were here (a day before the program started), and that was so much fun. We went back there on a guided tour given by a professor here, and then once more for Flamenco show in a cave put on by a group of gypsy dancers. It was incredibly unique and entertaining. The live music and dancing were very passionate. That’s one of the few things I’ve spent a bit of money on yet, and it was totally worth it.

My favorite view of Granada so far

In summary, I’m really liking it here and feeling more and more at home all the time. I’ve yet to find an apartment, which is the next step in getting situated here in Granada. I’ve looked at about four and haven’t found anything great yet, but I still have until the 23^rd of September to find a place. Until then, I’ll be here at Colegio Mayor Isabel la Católica. This old building may or may not be inhabited by a piano-playing ghost, but I’m very much looking forward to spending the next few weeks here before we all move out!

Summer's End

I’m writing this on the way home from Las Vegas right now to reflect on an awesome past few weeks.

Summer’s end has been the best part. After a summer of not doing a whole lot besides work, a lot of fun has been jammed into the past week and a half or so. I want to squeeze in as much as possible before I leave for Spain.

About a week and a half ago, I started to realize how quickly my departure date is approaching. I started to panic when I realized how long it'll be before I'm able to see some of my school friends again. So one night, I drove up to Santa Barbara to say hi and goodbye for now to some of my old housemates. I got there around 10 pm and left the next afternoon, but it was perfect. It was a blast laughing about old memories, telling stories, and getting caught up on Leah and Stacey's lives. Driving through Isla Vista and seeing our old house made me so nostalgic! It was weird to think that I couldn’t just go inside, go into my room and sit on my bed. It was odd to think that I couldn’t just walk two doors down and knock on Tyler’s door and say hi. None of that exists anymore, and it kind of blew my mind. Being there, reminiscing and catching up with Leah and Stacey, and sitting on our old couch in their new apartment made me realize how much I do miss Santa Barbara. It was an awesome visit.

Later that week, my brother Joey, his girlfriend, her sister and I all got to hang out. We’d been talking about doing this for so long, and it finally happened! Even though they all live about an hour away, the one night we spent there felt like a vacation. We went to this restaurant called Stacked where you can build your own burgers and sandwiches on this iPad app at every table. Totally awesome. After that, we went clubbing in LA., just about one year after they first took me. Dancing all night is one of my absolute favorite things to do, so it was of course a blast! The next morning, we went to Universal Studios. We hadn’t been in awhile, so we did a lot of stuff there for the first time. That new King Kong 3-D experience was incredible and unique. The Simpsons ride was really neat too.

The next day, I had my last day of work at Wild Rivers. My shift ended at 2:30, and not until 2:15 did it hit me that I might never be back to this place I’ve spent these past seven summers. I’ll always look back on Wild Rivers memories as good ones, and I feel lucky to have met all these people and to have made all these memories there. I’ve been really lucky to be able to come home to a job every summer.

The day after that was the last day of the fair. I’d say that working with my parents at the fair was the highlight of my summer. Like I mentioned in the post before, it’s just been awesome to be able to spend all that time with them before I don’t see them for a few months (until they come visit!). Plus, it was a great way to make some extra money when I wasn’t at Wild Rivers.

This past weekend has been a great one. Thursday morning, I flew up to the bay area to see Lauren, one of my best friends from school. I was only there for a little over 24 hours, but it was perfect and so beyond worth the trip. It felt so good to talk about everything we hadn’t talked about since school ended. Venting and talking to her about everything that we see eye-to-eye on was amazing. There’s so much we can talk about that makes me go “THANK YOU! Finally someone gets it!” It’s like free therapy. We walked the Golden Gate Bridge, I got to see where she works, and I got to hang out with her really sweet family. So Lauren, if you’re reading this, thanks for an awesome vacay!

I flew back into Long Beach on Friday morning, and then flew out of Orange County that night with my brothers to meet my parents in Vegas! My brothers got me some drinks on the plane, and then we made some drinks when we got to the room in Las Vegas. I hadn’t drunk (yes, I believe the past participle of “drink” is “drunk”) in awhile, so it was fun to get a little buzz going! So you know how the ads on the side of your Facebook profile are shockingly relevant to your life sometimes? One of the ads on the side of my profile said something about a gay club in Vegas that was 18+ on Fridays… perfecto! It was right on the strip at Planet Hollywood, close to our hotel. My brother Dustin was nice enough to take me, and nothing could’ve been more fun! I ended up meeting this nice guy who’d lived in Granada for a couple years when he was a kid. I only found that out because he said that he spoke Spanish and I asked how he learned Spanish. WHAT are the odds? My family and I spent Saturday at the pool and then went to the buffet at Paris for dinner. It was so good! I’ve finally tried crêpes, and they’re awesome.

Now, like I said, we’re on the way home from Vegas. I’ve got tonight, tomorrow, and then I’m off to España this Tuesday! I know I’m going to miss my family like crazy, but I’m going to really savor these memories with them and keep in mind that it’ll only be a few months before I see them. Other than a lot of packing and a little bit of last minute shopping, all I want to do in the next day or so is enjoy family time.

I honestly have no idea what to picture, think, or feel about the fact that I’m leaving in a couple days. I’m just bracing myself and getting ready to enjoy all of the unknown headed my way. 

Summer's Middle

Life's been really great lately. I've been busy, which always makes me happy. The prospect of free time to fill with meaningless TV (gotta love E!) and coffee on the couch sounds really appealing when it's finals week and I'm too busy to even sleep, but when the free time comes it's not long before I get the itch to do something meaningful or productive. All that free time and nothing productive to do starts to make me feel down. I felt a bit of that toward summer's beginning, but now I'm a rolling stone collecting no negative moss!

I went out dancing with some of my friends from Santa Barbara the other night. I've been wanting to go clubbing for so many weeks, but it kept falling through. We ended up going for my friend Carter's birthday. There isn't much that takes me higher than dancing to my favorite songs in an awesome setting among some of my favorite people. Song of the night: Scheiße by Gaga. I get so surprised and excited when they play a song I love that's a non-single. I'm still smiling inside over how much fun that night was. These guys are leaving for the Netherlands tomorrow to study abroad for a semester, so I'm really glad I got to see them one more time before they leave. Hopefully the next time I see them will be in Spain, the Netherlands, or somewhere in between.

I've been working at my usual job pretty often, I think I've gotten ~30 hours/week the last few weeks. On top of that, I've been working with my parents. I'm really, really enjoying it. I've worked a few mornings and a few late nights at our booth at the fair selling aged balsamic vinegars. I'm having fun people watching, learning something about balsamic vinegar and olive oil, saving more and more money, and getting to hang out with my parents. It's pretty fun being in the loop about what they do now and being able to talk business with them. Plus, since they work literally seven days a week, this is the perfect way for me to spend time with them while I'm home for the summer.

I worked at my usual job and at the fair today. I'm so satisfyingly tired! Wild Rivers highlights: It was busy for a morning shift, I worked with my favorite supervisors, and a guest called a cabana a "cabaña" with the [ñ]... I always get a kick out of that.  Fair highlights: I laughed a lot with my mom and my brother, I waved affectionately at a lady that works with us and some stranger behind her thought I was waving at him and waved back (embarrassing but awesome), my old roomie called me, and I had this frozen mocha drink that was probably the most satisfying thing I consumed all day.

What else is up? I've done some shopping, I've started to like the Sex and the City series, I still Love Lucy, I look forward to Good Morning America every morning and have a little crush on 37-year-old anchor David Muir, my dog growls at me (now more than ever) every time I leave the house, and I've pretended to be interested in trying a couple new gyms so I could sample them and keep my workouts interesting.

It's been a great day. On that note, I will hit the sack. T-minus thirty days until departure!

Summer's Beginning

Today's been a significant day. It was first full day back from a weekend up north with my cousins. The weekend was awesome, it was the first time that my cousins' family, my whole family, and everyone's girlfriends have all been together. It was really special. Weekends like this one are what I live for. I think the next time that whole group will be together will be at someone's wedding.

The few weeks leading up to vacation were up and down between awesome and fine. Going from finals week to boyfriend time to a breakup and then to the sudden lack of responsibility that came with the first weeks of summer was a little bit hard. I start to go a crazy when I have nothing productive to do. It makes me want to do nothing. It's really just a dangerous, unfulfilling positive feedback loop. When my work schedule picked up, it did wonders for my sanity. Work's been really enjoyable and fulfilling. I'm lucky to have a job to come home to every summer. It's been enjoyable to be busy again, reconnect with my work friends, and make money for the first time since last summer. It's also worth mentioning that I got a promotion! In a nutshell, I'll be making a bit more money, probably getting more hours, and I now get to make my schedule. That's been another highlight to being back at work.

I seem to have balanced work, exercise, and leisure time in a way that makes me happy. Finding that balance usually takes me some time. It's something I need to do every new quarter when I'm away at school, and it's certainly something I'll have to do when I'm in Spain next year.

That brings me to why today was significant. I bought my plane ticket to Spain today! For fear of jinxing anything, I never like to count my chickens before they hatch. That being said, it's never been more official that I'll be spending the coming school year in Spain. I've been accepted to the University of Granada, made the first payment for the program, gotten my Spanish student visa, gotten some scholarship money (thank you!) on the basis that I'll be staying in Granada for a year, and I now have my plane ticket. I'm thinking it's going to happen!

There's lots of big stuff coming my way, stuff I know I can handle. I need to take my current state of happiness, protect it, and hang onto it through whatever my new adventures bring me. Some of the most rewarding experiences of my life have involved some difficulty at a point, but pushing through the difficulty pays off in huge, life-changing ways. This experience calls me. Studying abroad is really something I've been preparing for since my freshman year in high school, even if I didn't always know it. Ten Spanish classes later, I'm ready to go learn the language in a way that'll stick and help me put it to use.

I'm looking forward to the adventures that await! In the meantime, I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the summer at home and enjoying family time here. I think it's going to be a wonderful rest of the summer.