Unas fotitos de los últimos meses

Hey family and friends! I thought it'd be cool to share some pictures and some stories of mine from the last couple months. I hope you enjoy them!

This is the view from the psychology library of my campus and of Granada down below. Before it started to get dark later, the views were always really pretty like this when I'd walk down the hill after my later classes.

Thanks Kirsten for making it a special Valentine's Day! My best friend sent me some of my favorite sweets and one of my favorite movies to make my Valentine's Day awesome. The only thing that could have made the day better would be if we were on a 1.5 (not quite double) date together like we usually are on Valentine's day. Maybe next year.

There's nothing like getting mail! Joey got me these awesome Nikes last year, but after I used them a few times in Spain the air-filled soles popped. When I mentioned it to Joey while he was here, he was nice enough to take them home from Spain and exchange them. My Mom then so thoughtfully sent them back to me along with what's been one of my favorite foods since I was little - Hamburger Helper!

Gotta stay on your toes in Granada to keep up with the fast-paced life here.

Here's a picture of a lunch at home of hamburgers and french fries with Cécile, Emily and Nelson. Nelson is the unofficial fifth member of the familia here.

 Here's Alberto, Cécile, Emily and me before went out dancing one night. We didn't get home until about 7 the next morning, and I don't think we stopped dancing the for more than a minute the whole time. Needless to say we were pretty much useless the next day, but it was absolutely worth it! The one thing we were able to do that following day was make it to the table for a family dinner. Hey, if you guys are reading this: remember when you flattened that chicken? That was weird...

We liked the pictures from that night so much that Emily printed them out at work so we could put them up in the living room. We turned this pillar into the muro del amor. It really adds some color to our overwhelmingly white living room.

Lately when we take pictures in the living room, we gravitate toward this wall.

Here was another really fun night out!

We went out for tapas close to home and then to a drag show with dinner at a place called La Gayedra. It was such a fun and unique night out. The drag queen was vulgar, she was funny, and she lip synced ADELE's Rollin' in the Deep beautifully. She picked on and joked with everyone in the audience, but our table didn't get it too bad. When she made her way over to us, she referred to me as "mi futuro marido," (my future husband), jaja!

Here's Jenny, Alina and Rafa at one of our first potluck brunches! Jenny and I met Rafa and Alina in our Geolinguistics class when they offered to help us with a project for absolutely no reason other than to be nice. After our Geolinguistics class ended in the winter, we all started to hang out outside of class and do things like these weekly brunches. It all started when Alina invited us over for migas, which we "guiris" had never tried. Migas to me were like a warm, less dry couscous with which you can mix peppers, sausage, or really whatever you want. Jenny and I were both blown away by the food and Alina's generosity, so the next week Jenny and I made Rafa and Alina pancakes as an attempt to offer them something delicious from our country. To inadvertently show us that she will always be more thougtful and a better hostess than either of us could ever be, Alina showed up with a bag of oranges and a juicer to make fresh squeezed orange juice. It was an awesome get-together, and from then on the brunches continued!

Here's a picture of the week we all made a beautiful spread of French toast with Jenny's imported American syrup, fruit salad, and mimosas with some more fresh squeezed orange juice (thanks to Alina). It was an awesome bruch which blended into an afternoon of walking around town and getting ice cream at the best ice cream joint in town--Los Italianos--which had just re-opened after the cold winter!

Here are Alina, Cécile, and Jenny at Alina's piso for our Mexican lunch of chicken fajitas with guacamole and all the works. Delicious!

This lunch at Rafa's piso may have been my favorite of our lunches so far. Alina made meatballs with vegetables in sauce, Rafa taught us how to make tortilla española (spanish omelette), and I brought a chocolate cake I made from a recipe of Cécile's. As they usually do, our special lunch lasted all afternoon and left me so full that I couldn't even eat dinner. We laughed so hard... at ourselves... on this day. Rafa and Alina wouldn't stop making fun of Jenny's and my incorrect use of certain colloquial Spanish terms. We were all just dying of laughter over the fact that I couldn't correctly use the verb fliparse, which means to flip out (but don't ask me, still can't seamlessly implement it). One of my favorite things that came up was Jenny's "Bueno, ya que nos hemos comido..." (Well, now that we've eaten each other) jajaja. Damn those pesky reflexive verbs!

Cádiz

Back in February, a bunch of us student-aged folk went from Granada down to Cádiz for Carnaval, which is a big festival of costumes and celebration in the streets and on the beach. Cádiz is supposed to be one of the best places in Europe to be for Carnaval, and lucky for us it was only a scenic 5-hour bus ride down south.

Here's Kelsey, Alicia, Maggie and me all dressed up for the festivities

Locura! This is the plaza outside of the cathedral in Cádiz during Carnaval. It was a spectacle to see so many people drinking out in the streets and on the beach pretty much unchecked. I can't think of anywhere else where people can openly do that. While Carnaval itself was something unfamiliar, all the drunk people in costumes running around in the cold made it very reminiscent of a Santa Barbara Halloween.

Barcelona

 In February, I went with some friends, Jamie, Alicia, and Maggie, to Barcelona to meet up with another friend, Jasmine. This is Gaudi's Parc Güell that overlooks the city and the beach below!

From left to right, here's me, Maggie, Jasmine, Alicia, and Jamie in front of Gaudi's Casa Battló. Before we went to Barcelona, I had no idea how different it would be from the south of Spain. Barcelona's completely different from where we live in Andalucía--the official language is Catalán, most people seemed to speak English, and there was a huge variety of cuisine. It felt like a different country. Barcelona was awesome and it turned out to be one of my favorite trips I've been on this year.

My favorite memory of Barcelona is of sitting on the boardwalk sharing this bucket of popcorn while we birdwatched and people-watched. While we were sitting there just hanging out, we saw this sharp-looking guy in a nice suit spinning around and taking pictures of himself at every angle. Like, rapid-fire. First with his point-and-shoot camera, then with his iPad, then with his big dSLR camera. It was so peculiar. We laughed a little bit and he started laughing and kept asking us "why?" He eventually introduced himself as MJ and said that he was traveling from Korea through Europe for a martial arts competition. He showed us some Taekwondo and Kung Fu moves right there on the boardwalk in his suit and then offered us some strawberries and other food from his luggage. It was a strange enocounter with a really friendly guy.

There's MJ! You can see the camera strap around the back of his neck.

France

United Kingdom - Switzerland - Spain - United States of America - We took this picture of our boarding passes at the airport in Sevilla where we spent the night waiting for our early morning flight to France where we'd spend our Semana Santa (spring break) at Emily's house. Emily, Nelson, Cécile and I passed the time in the airport pretty quickly by playing cards and working through this Einstein riddle about five people in five different houses with five different pets, drinks, and types of cigarettes. It kept us occupied for at least an hour. It'll drive you nuts until you figure the riddle out, but I'd totally recommend looking it up and trying it if you ever find yourself with time to kill.

From top-to-bottom, here's Cécile, Carmela, Emily, Me, Nelson and Billy at the lake just a short bike ride away from Emily's house. This day and the whole week we spent in France was really enjoyable. We barbecued, played ping pong, listened to music and relaxed every day. It was such a fun week away and it was all thanks to Emily and her parents for being so generous and  having us there. Emily made fun of me for writing something so cheesy in their guestbook, but I'll say it again - it was an unforgettable week and it was the perfect way to spend spring break.


This is Césc and me hanging out in Emily's yard, seeing to how many "hipopotomi" we could count while balancing in these chairs.

Here was a sort of bangers 'n' mash barbecue that we had one night. There's Cécile, Billy, me, Carmela, Chris, Emily, Melissa, and Nelson. Billy and Chris are friends of Emily's from back in England, and Carmela and Melissa are American and Scottish friends of hers that she met in Madrid. It was a really fun group of people which made for an awesome week.

Alcalá la Real

Rafa, Alina Jenny and I went to Rafa's pueblo, Alcalá la Real, which is just north of Granada in the province of Jaén. Rafa showed us around town and we saw a church, walked around the Fortaleza de La Moza (the castle on top of the hill that overlooks the town below), and of course tried some of Jaén's olive oil, which is said to be some of the best in the world!

I took this picture from the fort up on the hill, surrounded by which were olive trees that went on as far as the eye could see!

A few weeks after we visted Alcalá la Real, Rafa brought Jenny and me each a bottle of olive oil from his family's land in Jaén where he works so we'd have a taste and a memory of Alcalá la Real! The oil's really rich and strong, which along with its story makes it something special. There's no chance this delicious oil will last longer than the time I have left here, but I'll have this bottle forever to remind me of Rafa and of Alcalá la Real. Muchííííísimas gracias Rafa :)

 Awhile back, I decided that we should start taking pictures of the new things we cook at home. This picture was taken after I made that decision and probably right before I told Cécile about it. Here we have baked pasta.

Cécile, mira lo que te he hecho! Alberto, mira lo que te he hecho!

An easy dessert that Cécile taught me how to make is apple crumble (or really anything-you-want crumble)

This cake is a very special cake. Cécile made a chocolate cake like this for my birthday back in November, and that was when we all fell in love with it. I was not a skilled enough chef at that point to handle the recipe for this cake, but in time and under Cécile's tutelage I earned the recipe and it's now the go-to cake to make for any occasion that comes up at home or anywhere else. I've made it a few times for our weekly lunches with Alina and Rafa. Speaking of Alina, I think that she best describes how delicious this cake is:

"Creo que el chico más guapo que he conocido en mi vida.... es esta tarta." (I think the handsomest guy I've met in my life... is this cake)

After more than six months of living here, the four of us in this house still hadn't together with the neighbors who live right next door. That being the case, we finally organized a dinner together and it went really well! Alberto made tortilla española, we made guacamole for chips, and the neighbors brought over these tapas of bread with ground beef and different kinds of soft cheeses on top. For dessert--of course, we made a cake like the one above. We all sat around the table for hours and had a really nice chat. I think everyone had a good time and was happy to finally get to know each other a bit. Since this dinner, an Italian student who lived with the three Spanish girls next door has gone back home, so we got a new neighbor... Jenny!

Here's Jenny, Alicia, and Jamie around an eggplant parmesean dinner that we made. Cécile showed me how to make it once, but she was gone the weekend I wanted to make it so I was on my own to figure it out. This was the real test of how far I've come culinarily, and I'm happy to say that the kid who came out here six months ago and relied on microwaved vegetables for nourishment has made a bombtastic eggplant parmesean!

¡Feliz cumple, Alberto! This was our latest dinner, which we had this past weekend for Alberto's 23rd birthday. Sara (Cécile's friend from Switzerland), Cécile and I made lasagna and tiramisu for him and it went really well. I think that lasagna was the most delicious thing that's ever come out of our oven. I had problems even bringing myself to eat it because I didn't want it to go away. Above in the picture from left to right are Sara, Emily, Alberto's friend Mari Carmen, the birthday boy himself, his friend Brahim, and Cécile.

Other than all of that, the weather in Granada's been beautiful and it feels more and more like summer all the time. I alluded to it a bit at the beginning of this entry, but it's starting to get dark after nine o'clock here now. That's all great and it means that summer is coming, but that also means that the end of this year's within sight. I don't know what to make of that yet, but fortunately I get three more months before I have to think too much about it. That's just about it for now. Thanks for taking a look!