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!