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!
