Tammy in Spain: 2009

Pictures

The best:
· Seeing Mom and Dad in Italy
· View from the Mirador
· The Alhambra
· Generalife with flowers
· Plazas
· Ease/inexpensiveness of traveling to other countries
· Having an amazing relationship with Rob – no problems
· Pan y Chocolate
· Tapas
· Sun
· Thompson
· Beaches
· My walk to school
· Deportes
· Nerja (the second time)
· Skyping with Mandy and Laura
· Markets
· Cena de despedida
· Rebajas
· Stracciatella in a chocolate cone/Traggaliani Dulce de Leche
· Flowers
· Fruit stands
· Semana Santa
· Cathedrals
· Morocco
· Barcelona with Central friends
· Nice, Paris, Toledo, Segovia, Sevilla, Cordoba, Portugal, Gibraltar, etc.
· Feria/bullfight
· Taylor
· Arab bath
· Our booth at Patty’s, Hannigan’s
· History
· Getting mail
· Reading for fun
· Talking about people in English
· Pictures
· Paella, peppers, cheese bocadillos
· Using French
· Orange blossom smell
· Knowing that I’ll come back again someday

Biggest Disappointments

Biggest disappointments:
· Not going to Amesterdam with Sara and Whitney
· Not getting an intercambio
· Not going to Switzerland to visit Nicole
· Not spending more time in Parque García Lorca
· Not spending more time with Graciela and Lucía
· Not doing service learning
· Not getting to go to Rome, again
· Not seeing the Canary or Balearic Islands; Great Britain – Ireland, Wales, London; Greece.
· Not speaking more Spanish in general, but also with American friends
· Not buying boots during Rebajas
· Not having camera batteries in Morocco
· Buying those stupid red shoes that sliced my feet
· Not sitting at the Mirador more often
· Not working out/eating too much bad food

Biggest Surprises

Biggest surprises:
· Everything about Morocco
· Cottonwood fluff
· Huge roses
· Lots of oranges
· Dog poop on wall
· Cold weather/rain
· Beautiful beaches
· Lack of personal space
· Horrible English translations
· Easy classes
· Street cleaners all the time
· Spanish style
· Caves
· Rudeness of Granadinos
· “Backpacking”
· Hostels
· Oranges
· Plug-in sparks
· 5 month pregnant women smoking
· They way they prune the trees
· Hot sun
· Exhaustion of traveling
· Julia’s fridge sounds the same as ours at home
· Gross bathrooms
· Italian girls
· Not getting my passport stamped, let alone checked
· Amount of hippies/dogs
· Gypsies
· Dumb European faces when taking pictures
· Shopping
· Julia.

The worst

The worst:
· 8:30 class
· Dog poop on sidewalk
· Long walk
· Car horns
· Shower
· Rain
· Tuna
· Being poor
· Literature
· Not having a place to hang out with friends for free
· Spanish men
· Motos
· Laundry
· Techno music
· Lack of personal space
· No cell phone –minutes, free texting, expensive
· No internet
· Missing birthdays/holidays
· Homesickness
· Bus to Madrid
· Saying goodbye

5-23-09 - ?

Saturday, May 23, 2009 - ?

First, and most importantly: I would like to say thank you to everyone involved with the amazing semester that I had J Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I’m still having some issues adjusting to life back in the US, but in general I’m very happy to be home. Speaking of issues, I actually forgot my phone number when giving it to a friend - how weird is that? Also, I thought a quarter was worth 50¢ and made a fool of myself trying to pay at QuikTrip. Whoops.
Besides those minor adjustments, there are still some things that took a while to get used to. For example, the fact that I can’t just go to another country for the weekend - that ones’s tough. I’m so spoiled. Also, I know that I’ll never have an opportunity like that again in my life so it’s taking some time to adjust to the fact that it’s really over. I guess I can appreciate it even more now that I’m home but it’s still frustrating.
Overall, the comfort of being back is wonderful. Even little things like carpet and pizza are so nice. My family and friends have been wonderful about helping me ease back into everything and everyone seems genuinely interested in listening to my stories and looking at my pictures (all 3 million of them!)
I guess I’ll leave with this quote from, oh, every single person I said goodbye to: “No goodbyes, only hasta luegos” – to Spain and my newfound “family” abroad.

5-22-09

Friday, May 22, 2009

My alarm went off at 4:53 and hopefully that’s the last time for quite a while that I’ll see a 4 or 5 as the first digit. (I know, I said that yesterday) I got ready in a nice big bathroom and Whitney even had a straightener for me to borrow. Not too shabby. I got my stuff together and lugged my bags all the way bag to T3 which was actually really close (I’m not sure why we used the tram system – it was right on the other side of the hotel, maybe 150 yards walking)
The lady was right, they were swamped. I’m glad I got there in plenty of time because the lines were pretty long. I was waiting to check in and my bags kept tipping over on this group behind me and they said, “Excuse me” and I replied, “sorry!” What a wonderful change! In Europe they probably would’ve kicked my bags, given me a dirty look, or ran off with one of them. Ok, that’s an exaggeration but I was still impressed by the politeness.
So I ended up checking in with the same lady that I worked with the night before (I waited until her counter opened up) and I assumed she would remember me since I was there only a few hours before. Not to mention I was wearing the exact same outfit.. Yeah, it’s a little gross but it’s what I wanted to wear – don’t judge me. Anyway, she definitely did not remember me and was really grouchy! I put both bags on the scale and expected her to just tag them and send them through but she made me take one off and weigh them both. What?! So my big bag was 53.5 lbs, aka way over the limit and she looked at me and said, “sorry miss, that will be $50 unless you can fix it.” Well, you better believe that I argued that one. I went through four airports, three airlines, and all around Europe without any problems so why should I pay now? Not to mention my bags should’ve been checked through to DSM to begin with. She insisted that everyone else has the same rules but since I didn’t put anything else in them it shouldn’t have changed the weight. Anyway, I took my blanket out of my backpack and started stuffing scarves, shirts, and anything I could get out of my big bag. I only stuffed it about half full when she said, “ok, that’s good enough”. Excuse me?! I only put one pound into my bag. If you’re going to make me go through this huge hassle, threaten to make me pay and then unpack my life for the whole world to see, at least stick to your guns. I was furious needless to say.
So I got in line and went through security where they scrutinized my passport with an eyepiece and a blue light – practically the first time anyone’s even opened it up since I left the US and I even had to take my shoes off. It was pretty intense and I liked it! Somehow Mitch and Whitney ended up ahead of me in line even though they left the hotel after I did but we met up at the end of security and went to our gates. Their flight left 15 minutes after mine so we killed some time together.
Oops, sidenote - I forgot to mention that I had a slight digestive problem when I woke up and I’m putting my money on the burger. I hadn’t consumed red meat really at all since I left (unless you count Chorizo which is disgustingly red.. haha) and my system did not appreciate the half pound of beef that I demolished the night before.
Ok, so we also had breakfast vouchers for $10 each so we decided to give it a shot. We walked by a Cinnabon which smelled like heaven so we went to the counter and asked the lady if they accept them, assuming that it would be no problem. Well, she said they only credit the printed ones and that ours had to be used in the British Airways area (we were in American Airlines..) aka we had to go BACK to T5. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t going to spend my money on it but Whitney was debating it and while we were standing there the lady looked at us said, “here, they’re only minis but take them”, and handed us a little box. We definitely said that she didn’t have to do that but she insisted and told us to scram. I love Midwestern people J We definitely pounded them and they were as delicious as ever.
So while we were sitting there they announced about 100 times, “Flight 1854 to Des Moines, we would like to warn you that the lavatory is out of order on this aircraft so please use the facilities before boarding.” Every single time the three of us laughed out loud because of my situation. Even though it was a little annoying, it was nice that they even use the intercom. They board by rows, have a last call, and even announce people’s names. We realized that the night before they were probably saying our names over and over – how nice!
So they went to their gate and I boarded the plane and laughed when I saw that my flight was delayed by 15 minutes. Not a significant amount of time, but of course that would happen. It was a tiny plane but I was just fine with sitting in my own row. There was this ridiculous guy behind me who had all sorts of weird comments and he was obviously talking to himself since he was in the very back in his own row. For example, when they announced the flight would be 57 minutes in duration he said, “chyeah!” and when we took off he said, “let’s do it!” I heard a couple swear words during some really mild turbulence but I did my best to block him out during the flight. However, that was next to impossible and I actually laughed out loud at him a couple times. I also laughed when the recording went through the safety stuff blah blah blah then said, “this aircraft is equipped with adjustable headrests, we hope you enjoy the extra comfort.” Why did I laugh? Because it was the exact same as all the crappy flights between DSM and O’Hare – not even a headrest in sight, let alone adjustable! Give me a break.
When we were flying over Des Moines to the airport I whipped out my camera like an Asian tourist and went crazy. It felt funny taking pictures of the place I live but the capital, river, and downtown were really pretty from the sky. Everything looked so green! I definitely got pretty teary-eyed but did my best to suck it up. It was such a weird mix of emotions – disbelief that I was actually home, disbelief that I wasn’t in Spain anymore, etc. I was so excited to see my family but it was also hard to realize that I might not see most of my friends from Spain again and if we did everything would be completely different. Bittersweet, I’d say.
So I got off the plane (didn’t have to walk outside!) and walking through the airport I had some mad flashbacks. I thought of all the times I’d been right there, especially January 16. I pictured myself saying goodbye to Mom, Dad, and Rob and sitting there in tears waiting to board my new adventure. At that time I was definitely thinking, “What am I doing? Why am I leaving for 4 ½ months? Can I do this? Remember Mexico?!” and when I remembered all those thoughts I laughed at myself and probably shed another tear. I stood there for just a minute, decided to go to the bathroom (obviously I had to go again) and compose myself before I went down. Laura and Andrea both warned me about this moment so I’m glad I was ready for it.
So, I got to the top of the escalator and immediately I saw everyone waiting for me at the bottom J Mom, Dad, Mandy, Laura, Kael, and Kylee – I’d say that’s a pretty good welcoming crew! They had signs, flowers, gifts, and even a mini cowbell haha. I got lots of big hugs and immediately everything was just like normal - it was as if I had never left. We snapped a few pictures then went to get my luggage which was actually there.
I came home with Mom and Dad, Mandy went back to work, and Laura and the kids went back to her house. I did some talking, unpacking, organizing, and relaxing which was probably the best thing I could do since there was a lot more fun to come in the next couple days. It was just so nice to be home!
Rob couldn’t be there until 5 or so since he had class but I was so excited to see him! It takes a minute to sort of reorient ourselves with each other after being apart for so long, but after that everything was just like normal. I don’t think I stopped smiling the whole day J
After that Dad came home then the rest of the crew came over. We had burgers and malts for dinner then I gave everyone their souvenirs. We had some trouble with Kylee’s shirt (of course) but Mom assured me in Italy that it would fit her! Anyway, I think everyone was pretty happy and I was just happy to be at home with everyone.

5-21-09

Thursday, May 21, 2009

I can’t believe it’s already May 21 – when I was buying my plane tickets to come here that sounded SO far away but here it is already! When I list off everything I’ve done and seen since January I can’t believe how much I’ve accomplished and experienced but at the same time I have lots more on my list of things to see and do. I’m just so thankful for all of the opportunities that I’ve had.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – I’m totally bipolar about today: can’t wait to get home and see everyone but extremely sad to leave Granada and all the people here. I’m so happy that my experience here was totally different from Mexico and I’m thrilled that I became so attached here instead of just looking forward to getting home. I know everyone says they’ll come back someday and rarely follow through but I really really want to bring my students here – I’ve already started planning it!
Ok so my alarm went off before 5:00am but I was up after only one snooze (REALLY impressive – just ask Taylor who had to listen to my beeping alllll morning long every single morning) I got ready then we had breakfast and I said my goodbyes to Juli Juli. I didn’t have anything particularly inspiring to say and she was pretty much still asleep so it was short and sweet. I gave her the candle I brought and the magnetic picture frame and I think she was pretty happy with them. I got in the elevator with all of my bags and prayed that I wouldn’t get stuck! (The elevator breaks all the time and people get trapped inside a lot) Thankfully I made it out ok and Taylor was there to help me with my luggage which was unbelievably heavy. When we were leaving our apartment complex we heard someone tssssssh tsssssh-ing us and we looked up to see Julia waving like crazy from the balcony and blowing me a kiss. :) I’m so glad Taylor decided to go to the airport with us because there’s no way I would’ve made the 6:25 bus without her. I couldn’t stack my duffle on top of my rolling bag because they were so heavy it almost broke my arm off so one of us rolled and the other lugged my 45 lb bag along with my backpack. Since there weren’t any cars out we went straight down the middle of the roads and took the most direct route possible but by the time we finally made it there our hands were aching, we were exhausted and in a full sweat. Not exactly what I was hoping for at 6:00am! We met up with Whitney, Kristin, and Cassandra (who was also coming to the airport to say goodbye) a couple stops later and we were the first ones in line at the check-in counter.
After the walk to the bus stop I knew my bags were definitely close to the limit but once we weighed them I found out that I was way over on my big bag. There’s no way I was going to pay €50 so I spent a solid half hour scrounging for anything heavy in the big bag to switch with anything light in the little one and I crammed socks and underwear into every crevice in that bag – it was bursting at the seams! There wasn’t much to switch so my last resort was to take my green blanket out of my carry-on, carry it all the way to DSM and fill my backpack with all the clothes I could. When I finally checked in the guy looked at my final destination and said, “Iowa?” Umm, yep. “My brother lived there for a while.” Turns out his brother, Juan, taught Spanish at Central a few years ago! How crazy! Thank goodness we had a connection because he was way nicer to me than the other guy was to Whitney and Kristin. He got me my boarding passes all the way through Chicago and my bags checked all the way to Des Moines! I don’t think he even weighed my bags because I set them both on the scale at the same time, he tagged them, and put them through. They were 44.4 kilos total and you’re allowed 23 per bag. That being said, I’m fairly positive the big one was overweight but I’m not complaining!
After we were all checked in we saw around laughing at everyone else who had to wait in a super long line and stress about their bags. We saw Mitch and José come in and it was so cute, he kept looking back at Mitch as he left. He came over and said goodbye to us and said we were always welcome in his home and that we’ll go for another hike when we return :) We finally said goodbye to Taylor and Cassandra and everyone had a pretty tough time with that. We went through security then sat at our gate until it was time to board.
The first flight went well – I even saw them load my small bag into the plane which was a good sign. There were quite a few Central people on that flight and it was nice to all be together. It was a short flight, only about an hour until we were in Madrid. I had plenty of time since my connecting flight was later than the rest of the group so I just wandered around and killed some time after they went to their gate. I blew the rest of my Euros on snacks and ended up paying 3.70 for a stupid bag of Doritos! Once we finally boarded we spent 45 minutes on the runway which was ridiculous. I took a nap and woke up before we were even in the air – how depressing! I sat next to a nice Colombian couple who were traveling Europe for a month to celebrate their 35th anniversary. When I told them I was studying in “Graná” they had no idea what I was talking about and I realized how my accent had drastically changed in a few short months. I understood most of what they said but it was funny how different the dialects are sometimes.
We finally got to London and I was a little tricked by the one hour time difference and even though we landed a lot later than planned I was ok because I had a pretty long layover. I walked down to the waiting area and planned to sit in a chair right by the screen that shows the gates (I still can’t believe they don’t assign gates until 30 minutes before boarding). Anyway, right by where I was planning to sit was Danielle Larimer, a girl from Central who was in my French class last semester. She was on her way home from Wales and happened to be on our same flight to Chicago – what a small world. We looked a couple rows over and found the rest of the Central group from Granada and once we were all rounded up we went to our gate. I must have been in a totally different part of Heathrow because it looked completely different than it did in January. Guess that’s not too hard to do considering that it’s HUGE.
So we finally boarded the plane and I sat next to a cute couple on their way to “holiday” in Chicago for a week. The lady was from Australia and the guy was from London and we had a pleasant trip together. However, we sat on the runway for 40 minutes waiting to take off… not good. I tried not to think too hard about it or get myself worried about my next connection because I had plenty of time later to do so and I needed some rest. The exact flight on the way there was 6 hours but apparently the reverse trip is 8 ½ because of headwinds and air currents and whatnot. I had prepared myself to think that it was only going to be six, saying that it wouldn’t be too bad, I’d be there in no time, etc. but two and a half extra hours was not helpful. I definitely got restless and my legs cramped up pretty bad. However, we had tons of good food which was nice. I had some pasta thing, chocolate cake, a roll, and salad for dinner and enjoyed every last bit. I slept through the next meal which was a couple hours later but snatched it to go since I would probably need it for my long night ahead. Speaking of, I forgot to mention that Whitney and Mitch paid me a visit over in 22A about halfway through and they had obviously been thinking and talking about the impending “situation” of potentially missing our next flight. I got out my information and found out that our flights were scheduled to take off at the same time. They seemed convinced that we wouldn’t make it but I wasn’t so sure. I really wanted to get home so I thought I could give it a shot – you see people running like crazy through airports all the time, I might as well do it once in my life, right? We tried to ask the flight attendants some stuff but they weren’t particularly helpful.
Flying over Chicago at night was so pretty all lit up J I got really excited when I saw Navy Pier, downtown, but especially the baseball fields. It was obvious that I was back in the US of A. We finally landed but it took forever to actually get off the plane since it was so big. I flipped on my phone – what a wonderful feeling! I had a voicemail from Mandy welcoming me back then I called Dad and Mom to warn them that I might not be there that night – aka don’t come to the airport unless I say otherwise. I also texted Rob and had some serious issues… the setup for texting was different on my Spanish phone and I honestly felt like my thumbs were clubs – it was so awkward! Ok so I finally got off the plane, shouted goodbye and got some good lucks from my friends and started to jog through the airport. I got to the luggage claim thing and debated for a few minutes whether to wait for mine or just ditch it. First, there was a chance my bags wouldn’t even be there; second, in Granada they told me that I wouldn’t have to collect my bags until Des Moines; and third, I figured they would be sent to Des Moines the next day since I made sure to put my information all over them. I decided to just wait for them because I had ALL of my stuff in there and I wanted to give everyone their souvenirs right away and that’s something I couldn’t replace if I never got my luggage. Either way I was probably going to miss my flight so I would rather have everything with me … also needed a change of clothes and underwear since I’d been wearing the same thing for almost 24 hours.
I finally spotted both of my bags and probably squealed like a little girl (Kylee is a perfect example, actually!). There were a couple workers moving the bags to the side of the turnstile when they got jammed up and when he went to move mine he reached for my luggage tag and tried to yank it. Obviously the tag snapped right off and I didn’t have nice words for him and yes, I said them out loud because I wanted to know how ridiculous he was being – this is his job, he has plenty of experience with moving luggage around and I think he should know not to pull luggage tags of 50 lb bags..common sense. Ok so then I went through customs which was pretty quick and I saw a sign for an American Airlines desk but when I went around the corner there was nobody there. I decided to hop on the tram and check in at my terminal.
So when I finally got to the desk I was exhausted and a little sweaty from lugging my bags all around the world. I still couldn’t stack the little one on the big one because it was too heavy and it kept tipping over so I had to carry it on my shoulder. I went up to the lady, handed her my passport, and as soon as she found out which flight I was on she told me there was no way I would make it. She could tell I was in a hurry so she tried and tried but the computer system had blocked off more passengers ONE MINUTE before I got there. Even if I could’ve gotten checked in my bags wouldn’t have made it, I still had to go through security, run to the right gate, and get onto the plane. She said if I would’ve been there 15 minutes earlier I might have had a chance but I should definitely give up at this point. I was really upset and probably a little teary-eyed and I’m glad she was really nice about everything. She got me set up for a flight early the next morning and told me to be there at 5:45 because they would be swamped. Yay, another early start.
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention – she seemed really surprised that I even thought I had a shot. “Didn’t they tell you that you wouldn’t make it?” Umm, WHO? T5 was more or less empty and everyone I talked to said absolutely nothing. Also, there seemed to be some tension between BA and AA – she called to ask what in the world made us 45 minutes late landing and they pretty much had no answer.
Ok so I asked about a hotel room/meal ticket for the night and she said that I would have to go to the British Airways desk to get those since it was their fault that I missed my connection. Aka back in terminal 5 right where I came from.. The problem? They close right after the last flight gets in and there’s no way I would make it back in time before they shut down for the night. Wonderful. I wasn’t about to pay $60 or $90 for the places they suggested for me and I definitely wasn’t going to by myself a meal. I wasn’t even hungry and I had plenty of stuff stashed away.
I was mentally preparing myself for a possible night at the airport when I called Whitney and Mitch. They were still at T5 and thankfully they got meal tickets and a hotel room for free! I didn’t care that I would probably be sleeping on the floor or a rollaway; at least I had somewhere to go besides T3. Whitney’s dad offered to come get us but since we all had early morning flights and ended up getting hotel rooms it definitely wasn’t worth it since we would probably get back at the same time anyway and it was a waste of gas. So, I said thanks to the lady at the counter and the couple next to me (with whom I made friends during this madness) and found out they were being put up in the same hotel. They were supposed to be on the flight back to London but had been bumped off for no reason so they were spending the night in Chicago too. The guy offered to help me with my bags but at that point I wasn’t too worried about it after everything that had just gone down. He insisted and his wife told me, “don’t be foolish” so I let him carry my little bag all the way through the tram and to the hotel (which was connected to the airport). How sweet!
When I got to the lobby of the Hilton Whitney and Mitch were just getting their room keys and putting their luggage on a cart. The lady at the desk told me to do the same and the bellhop would bring our bags up to our rooms soon. A) Wow, luggage service? Hostel life sucks in comparison. B) I was assuming that I would have to sneak in since I wasn’t about to pay for the room and didn’t have a voucher but the lady at the desk didn’t say anything and when Whitney asked she said she didn’t even need to see my passport. Nice.
So we headed up to our rooms (they got separate ones, thank goodness – aka I had a bed!) and I definitely squealed for the second time in an hour. Huge comfy beds, fluffy pillows, a big screen tv, a nice shower, CLEAN, etc. It was just your basic Hilton but to us it was the most luxurious thing we’d seen in quite some time.
Immediately we headed down to the restaurant in the lobby to have some dinner while we waited for our bags to get there and SURPRISE they got three meal vouchers somehow! Each of us was allowed $30 and even though it was a pretty upscale place, it was still a sports bar type restaurant and I would’ve had to stretch quite a bit to spend all of that. We all ordered cheeseburgers and fries and I absolutely destroyed mine. It was so thick and juicy and cheesy and heavenly. We gave our tickets to the waiter and he asked if we wanted dessert or anything but we were stuffed so we said no. He offered to give us some dessert to go since we still had lots of money left and we gave in. Chocolate cake, cheesecake, or tiramisu? We’ll take one of each please.
I made some phone calls - Mom and Dad, Mandy, Laura, and Roberta and I was so happy to talk to everyone and use my American phone with free nights and weekends. Even though I was really sad that I wasn’t home it sounded like everyone (besides Rob) would be at the airport in the morning – yay!
We all came back up and showered, rearranged some stuff, and dug through our suitcases for some pajamas and toiletries. We watched a little TV (in English with no British accent!) and had a dessert party. They were beautifully prepared and garnished with flower petals, whipped cream, fruit, etc. and they were as delicious as they looked. We were still stuffed and they were huge and between the three of us we couldn’t finish any of them. Thanks British Airways! After that Whitney and I crawled in our amazing beds and talked for a little while until we fell asleep around 12:30
All in all, missing the flight wasn’t bad. I know it would’ve been nice to get home after such a long trip (today and since January) and I really missed my family and Rob but I think spending the night in that hotel was good for all three of us. It gave us a chance to slow down the reverse culture shock a little bit and go through the first phase together instead of at home. We got a good meal, had a good night’s sleep (even though it was only a few hours), and had a chance to shower and freshen up before going home. The best part? It was all free.

5-20-09

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

I rolled over this morning and my first thought was, “this is my last real day in Granada.” So obviously even though I didn’t have to madrugar this morning I was wide awake at 9:00. We had breakfast then I hung around typing up journal entries until lunch. I finally finished though so I’m caught up all the way until today – finally! I can’t believe that it took me this long .. I just got a text from Jeff that said, “getting on the plane :( what are you guys doing today?” and I couldn’t respond – heartbreaking. Ughhh I’m so depressed!
Before lunch I finally got dressed for the day and gave Mom a call. She was so happy to talk to me :) Too bad Dad wasn’t home, but it was good to hear from her. We used up the rest of her phone card but I’m keeping a few minutes on mine just in case. I keep saying this but I go up and down with excitement and misery and this was definitely excitement about coming home! I can’t wait to see everyone and I know they’ll all be really good about helping me adjust since they’ve all been abroad and Laura knows exactly what I’ll be going through. Ahhh I can’t wait!
We had our last special lunch with Juli Juli today – lomito with garlic, star soup with chicken, and strawberries… yum!! It was SOOO good. After lunch I got my stuff together and went to the CLM to post my blogs and check my email one last time. It’s a scorcher out today – I am absolutely sweating in a polo and capris, disgusting!

This will be my last entry until I’m home so until then, hasta luego! :) 16 ½ hour, 5000 mile trip here I come!

********
So I’d like to start by laughing at the fact that I really thought my journey would only be 16 ½ hours.. come on, we all knew it would be much much more. (that’s even including the time change which took 7 hours off my total so it was technically almost 24 to begin with)

After I finished my last post I did a little more shopping. I went to the shops by the Alhambra and the Alcaicería and got a few souvenirs for friends/family and just a couple for myself :) I went by one of my favorite heladerías and ran into a bunch of girls from my program just out and enjoying their last afternoons in Granada. I got to say goodbye to a couple of them but the rest I’ll see again.
After that I went to the theatre to meet Taylor for our movie date. Turns out that on Wednesdays movies are only €3 so we opted for the matinee. We’d never heard of the movie we went to, Nunca es tarde para enamorarse, but it was pretty good. It’s an American movie and I think it’s called Last Chance Harvey in English. Either way there weren’t any subtitles but It was pretty slow and there wasn’t anything super exciting but that was good because we could understand it better.
We came back and I finished up some packing (I had to stuff what I just bought into my bags .. a little trickier than I predicted it to be) I had my one big rolling suitcase and the small duffle that fits on top of it and they were both bulging. I fit all of my papers, glass, and heavy stuff into the small bag and it was unbelievably full – it wouldn’t even sit on top of my other bag, it kept tipping it over.
We had dinner – sanguis (grilled cheese with ham), cold tortilla, salad, and bread then got ready/showered and met up with Mitchelly. On our way to the Centro (for the last time…!) we discussed where we should go or what we should do because we weren’t super hungry, we didn’t have much money left, and our phones were pretty useless. Finally Mitch said he had an idea but wouldn’t tell us because it was a surprise so we followed him to Navas 14, the first tapas place we went to – how cute! As we sat enjoying our last tapa we talked about all of the good times we’ve had and what we were about to face in the next two days. Bittersweet, I’d say. I wanted a picture (like usual) so I made Taylor ask the guy at the table behind us because I heard them talking English. Anyway, she finally asked and this loud, boisterous guy turns around and after snapping one for us he started asking us where we were from. Turns out he’s from Ottumwa (so is Mitch) and just got a job there as a Spanish teacher but he’s here to improve his skills and is staying in the same house as Ashley was in all semester – how crazy! I was really surprised at his ridiculous southern accent…
After Navas 14 we went to the “blue place” aka our favorite tapas bar that’s owned by some Brits. We finally got the best little room with the silk pillows and comfy couches! We’ve been waiting all semester for that.. (well, since we discovered the place actually). The walk home was so sad, I can’t even describe it. We were all pretty quiet and were probably thinking the same things. When we got home I finished some more packing then set my bags in the entryway so I didn’t wake up the neighbors before dawn. Taylor and I sat in her bed watching her video – WOW. I think I was laughing and crying at the same time, it’s tough to explain the smilefrown but I know a few people who understand it pretty well. I finally crawled under my own covers and we were just giggling and talking when Juli came in to shhh us and turn off the lights like we were little campers. Ohhh Julia, how I will miss you :(

5-19-09

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I had breakfast at 8:00, 15 minutes later than usual and Julia had a good laugh about that when I told her I would be leaving later. She was expecting to sleep in at least another half hour but unfortunately she still had to madrugar. Anyway, I bought tickets for the Alhambra the day before so I had a nice morning hike up there. It’s actually cooler and cloudy today but I was sweating by the time I got to the top! I only had tickets to the gardens which was only €7. I’ve heard the flowers are just gorgeous and the Generalife looks like a totally different place – and it was true! I can really tell why artists love Granada and where they get their material. It was just so peaceful with the water rushing around, the HUGE roses, the birds chirping, and the quiet of the morning (well, as quiet as Granada gets I suppose). Some man asked me to take a picture of him and I pretended like I only spoke Spanish .. and I think he believed me :) After the Generalife I went through the Puerta de Siete Cielos, the Arab bath, Palacio de Carlos V, and the Alhambra museum. I spent the entire morning there just soaking it all up and having my own personal send-off.
I came down, did a little shopping (I still have lots of Euros left!) then came to the CLM to turn in my art paper. I also had to say goodbye to Verónica, Aida, and Jeff – not particularly fun. We came back for a huge lunch (what’s new..) then I put off packing for a while longer. I finally gave in and started with all of my papers since that’s what would take me the longest. Taylor took a huge nap while I worked on that and then I started in with my clothes. It actually didn’t take me too long at all to get everything folded up and put in my suitcases but I just really didn’t want to do it. I started putting all of my heavy stuff in my little bag and I am honestly a little worried that it’s going to be 50 lbs! It’s unbelievable how many papers, books, and glasses I have to take home.. And thank goodness I got two sets of luggage tags for Christmas because there’s no way my other ones would even make it through the Granada airport. I put on my new ones and took off what was left of the other ones – aka a few threads. Taylor started packing her stuff and separating what she will need when her parents so our room and closet look totally empty and sad :(
After some tortillita española Mitch, Taylor and I walked to Ronda for some ice cream and to say goodbye to Graciela. It’s pretty difficult to meet up when one of you doesn’t have internet and neither have money left on their phone (somehow I ended up with -,03€ left, how is that possible?). We rang the buzzer about 100 times and since it’s broken poor Ami had to come all the way down to tell us Grace and Lucía weren’t even there. We went and got our ice cream then came back and she was still gone. I was sad because I doubt I’ll get back down to Ronda today and I have no idea when I would ever see Graciela again since she’ll be going back to Argentina soon.
Sidenote - I feel bad for people with allergies here – the pollen is out of control. Especially since the olive trees are in bloom and they’re, well, everywhere. I’ve seen tons of people walking around with swine flu masks (jk) Pobrecitos!

5-18-09

Monday, May 18, 2009

Got up at a decent time to do some last minute cramming (since I put off studying yet again) but I didn’t get much done. I guess I didn’t really feel like I needed to study since it’s grammar. I mean, if I don’t know it by now studying probably won’t help much! The test was pretty short and easy so I’m glad I didn’t waste my time worrying about it.
I hung around the CLM after the test and tried to write my Art History paper but I just couldn’t focus. I came back after lunch (cocido, noodle soup, and strawberries with nata) and finally got it done just before dinner. It was only two and a half pages and it took me all morning and afternoon to finish! On my way back I saw 5 middle school boys in their undies jumping in the river – hilarious.
I took a shower, we had dinner, then Mitch, Jeff, Taylor and I went to a tetería one last time for Jeff’s last night in Granada. It was really fun but I keep getting sadder to leave :(

5-17-09

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Woke up around 9:45, grabbed breakfast, then met Jenn in front of the Cathedral. We peeked our heads in the big one and then the little one where they were having first communion! Everyone was super fancy and even though I felt incredibly touristy it was cool to see. We headed up to the Mirador but first stopped in Santa María church at the other side of Plaza Nueva. I love the sign that says, “With silence you can hear God better.” That’s a loose translation of course, but it cracks me up every time – most places just say “SILENCE, this is a holy place”. So we trekked up to the Mirador and I think it gets better every time. I really can’t pick a favorite trip up there because they were all so good. I will say that I loved the first time with Aurelio and the whole group, the night with Mitch when the moon was out of control, before the cena de despedida at sunset with everyone all dressed up, or last night with Mitch, Taylor, and Jeff. So in other words, pretty much every time. Anyway, I was really happy that Jenn loved it so much too. After hanging out there for a while I looked for the path up to the gypsy caves that Whitney showed me but I couldn’t find them so we just wandered through the Albaicín for a while. We went through the main plaza and then to the one with the Roman ruins then ended up at the Mosque that’s right by the Mirador. I’ve been wanting to go in there forever and I was so excited to see that it was open! There were some gorgeous flowers, fountains, and a great view of the Alhambra. We even got to see the fountain for the ablutions and the Mirhab! Of course we couldn’t go in since it’s reserved for prayer, but we got pretty close. I explained to her that sometimes you can hear the man who climbs the minaret to do the call to prayer but we didn’t hear it when we were there. I love that it’s a Muslim mosque in a Jewish quarter overlooking the Alhambra with the Christian Palacio above the Catholic cathedrals peeking out of the city below. Mind-blowing.
So then we came down to the Paseo de los Tristes, popped in another cathedral, and then I showed her the Corral del Carbón. Tour-guide Tammy kicked in (I didn’t even need Rick Steve’s, Aurelio, or Let’s Go! to help me – I can do it all on my own now :) and I felt like I kept giving all sorts of historical facts and anecdotes about Granada but I think she was glad to hear them because she kept asking questions. I guess whenever I travel somewhere I like to know more about what I’m seeing.
She grabbed a kebab for lunch (I showed her my favorite place) and we chilled in Plaza Nueva just chatting for a while. I showed her how to get up to the Alhambra from there, then I took her to the Alcaicería so she could do some souvenir shopping. I headed back for lunch since Juli Juli is starting her 4 day string of special goodbye meals. She’s really something else, ya know? We had veggie soup, stuffed peppers, and strawberries with whipped cream – YUM. I requested it (well, not the soup) as my last meal and Taylor’s request is hopefully coming up tomorrow. We still have to have cocido, paella, and tortilla española again. Whew! I’m also going to miss the food here..
I was absolutely stuffed so I sat around updating my journal and resting until Jenn called to meet up after she was done at the Alhambra. Since they don’t have free tapas in Madrid she wanted to experience them here so we met up with Taylor and went to a place by the cathedral then Europa. [Sidenote – on the way there some high school kid slapped my butt in the Alcaicería – joder!] We came back for dinner then went for ice cream ]at fiordigelato, I had to share my newfound favorite chocolate cone with stracciatella with Taylor. On our way we heard a band playing in the little streets across from Corté Inglés so we decided to check it out. Turns out there was a full-on procession! The only thing missing was the KKK outfits, apparently those are only used during Semana Santa. Anyway, we watched them maneuver the Virgen around some knee-breakers and a Dentista sign for a while which was pretty intense. We asked Julia why it was going on and she had no idea, apparently it was some Saint day and so they took the imagen of Angustias to the church by Corté Inglés.

5-16-09

Saturday, May 16, 2009

We woke up for breakfast around 10:00 then checked out of the hostel and headed straight for the beach. I stopped to buy a postcard on the way and we ran into Steph, Janelle, Ashley, Brooke, and Laura! We all went to the same place we were the day before and had another amazing afternoon a la playa. The weather could not have been more perfect and I got some great color! This time the cabana guy remembered me from the day before and to be proactive he drug away the chair that was next to Taylor haha. We left on the 4:30 bus which was perfect. The sun had just zapped us and on the way home we all slept pretty hard.
We showered, ate dinner then met up again around 10:00 and went up to the Mirador de San Nicolas. It was so bittersweet to be sitting on the ledge, looking over the city and the Alhambra, talking with Mitch, Jeff, and Taylor. I started to get really sad when we were talking about our favorite things and what we’re going to miss about this semester but I stopped myself from crying – I think I’ll get enough of that Thursday! I absolutely can’t believe I’m going home in 5 days. (I’m now writing this on Sunday afternoon and just shed my first pre-departure tears. Not cool.)
When we were walking down through Plaza Nueva I got a call from Jenn, a girl from Indiana who I met on the plane from Chicago to London on my way here. She’s studying in Madrid and after talking throughout the whole 7 hour flight or whatever it was we got to know each other pretty well. Anyway, she was making a day trip of Granada on her way from Sevilla and she had just got into town. The boys went home since they were still exhausted but Taylor and I met up with her to show her around a bit. We met in front of the cathedral and took her on a paseo to Bib-Rambla, Isabel la Catolica, Plaza de Carmen, Calle Navas, then to Café Fútbol in Mariana Pineda. We had some chocolate y churros (since they’re way better than they are in Madrid she had to try them) and hung out talking for quite a while. We loved talking about our own experiences and asking each other questions about their semester – it’s amazing how some things are so similar but some are completely different. After that we walked her by Chikito, down the Paseo in front of Corté Inglés, and to the river where Taylor left for home. I walked her back to her hostel then headed back home myself. I was exhausted since it was probably 2:45 before I went to bed!
When we were talking with Jenn she asked if Granada was a pretty safe place. I think this came up because there were all sorts of crazies honking, yelling, and shooting off whatever they were all night long because Barcelona won and was officially the champion of La Liga. Anyway, Taylor and I both feel totally safe walking around even at night in most places (there are definitely some sketchy areas that we avoid but we’ve known what they were since January so it’s no big deal). When I was walking home by myself I started to overthink things and get a little jumpy, especially when I remembered that Stephanie got robbed at knifepoint (Mom, I hope you don’t read this until I’m home safe and sound!!). I realized that I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve walked around by myself at night since I’m almost always coming home with Mitch, Taylor, or both of them. So when I got back Taylor told me that when she was crossing in front of Garabatos some guy on a moto drove up on the sidewalk beside her, slowed down, grabbed her butt, and drove off! Joder, que coñazo..

5-15-09

Friday, May 15, 2009

We took the 10 to the bus station then left on the 10:00 bus to Nerja. It’s such a pretty ride – I’m going to miss the mountains, olive trees, bridges, and the coast. We got to our hostel and when we checked in they gave us this sweet room for the four of us and as soon as we set our stuff down they came in and told us we were in the wrong one. Turns out Christine, Sara, and their friend were in that one and we got stuck in two small separate rooms with a bathroom to share. Anyway, we changed and headed straight for the beach but ran into the feria of Nerja – the Festival de San Isidro. It was basically a parade of covered wagons being pulled by bulls (oxen I was later told), flamenco dancers, horses, and plenty of music, food, and drinks. We finally made it through the shoulder to shoulder crowd and walked down to a beach just below the Balcón de Europa. It had really nice sand and BEAUTIFUL water. There were quite a few people there but it wasn’t too crowded thankfully. We spent the whole day just lounging in the sun and playing in the big waves, what a great day! At one point Taylor realized she had gotten plenty of sun so she sprung for a “havana” (not a “cabana”) but when the guy came to collect he caught me laying on one and almost made me pay for it..oops.
We came back and showered and relaxed watching some tv for a little bit (CNN in English) then decided to grab some dinner. We knew of a good pizza place to go to but when we got there it was closed for the feria.. like everything else in the town. We finally found a café/bar across from our hostel and got some pizza there. We were starving since we just had bocadillos for lunch so afterwards we went the gas station to stock up. After that we walked down to the beach and hung out watching the sun fade and listening to the waves. We started talking and getting a little too sentimental but then we ended up walking all along the shore, running around like fools, and just being crazy. When we came back we bothered Whitney and Cassandra and hung out in their room for a while before we had a mini water fight in the hall and went to bed. It was definitely one of the most fun nights I’ve had this semester!

5-14-09

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I woke up around 6:15 to do some last minute studying for my literature final. I felt somewhat prepared when I got there but I totally messed up one section – I wrote about an author (Juán Ramón Jiménez) from the Generation of ’14 in the Civil War part aka 20+ years off.. Other than that I think it was ok.
I had just under a couple hours to review for my art final at 11:30 but I definitely did not use that time to my advantage. I’m just not good at studying .. I’ve accepted that. I had a pretty good grip on all of the works though and I knew there was no way I’d remember all the details. The test went pretty well, there were 6 images and we just had to write as much as we could about them.
We came back for lunch and it was another interesting experience with the girls. I found out that Julia rarely eats real food but in the summer she eats up to 12 ice creams a day and considers that her nourishment (they have eggs, cream, chocolate) and considers it healthy. She barely ate anything then scarfed her piece of ice cream cake and started eating of Valeria’s plate until Julia offered her half of what she had left. I know Julia just bought that ice cream cake for them since that’s all she eats but I know it’s expensive and something special – not something she deserves. Oh, and she gets 2, 3, or 4 hours per sleep a night and just claims, “es la vida italiana”. Mentira. I was there and A, the ice cream is the same as it is here in Spain (she thinks it’s healthier) and B, the streets were not full until all hours of the night – that’s called Granada.
After dinner Mitch, Jeff, Taylor, and I met up and went to Patty’s then Chupiteria 69 which we had never been to so that was fun. However, we had some trouble getting there after being hassled by a girl trying to give us a deal/invitation. I’m so sick of people trying to screw us over.. So then we headed to Ronda and went to Los Grifos, a place we heard was good and it was. We ran into Steph and Janelle and had some good tapas then came home.

5-13-09

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Went to my last grammar class then hung around and studied for my finals. I met up with Mitch and Taylor after their class then we went to Parque García Lorca and hung out among the roses until about 2:00 when we went to Graciela and Lucía’s piso for lunch. It was so sweet for them to invite us over and the food was delicious! They made salad, mashed potatoes, pork chops with veggies, bread, and a huge bucket of sangria. It wasn’t strong though and there was lots and lots of fruit in it, yum! Everything was so flavorful and original (except the boxed potatoes but I was so happy to have them after 4 months of going without) Taylor and Mitch had class/tests and Ami and the other girl had stuff to do so I hung out for a little while talking with Graciela, Lucía, and Christelle.
When it was finally time to go I came home to grab my computer and some notes then went back to the CLM. First I stopped for the best ice cream cone EVER – a chocolate cone with stracciatella so creamy it was almost soft-serve. I should’ve spent the afternoon studying like a madman but ended up Skyping .. oops. First I talked with Mom and then Dad came home so I got to talk to him too! Then I talked to Mandy and Roberta until it was time to go back for dinner. I miss them all so much, I can’t believe I’ll be seeing them in just over a week… Crazy!
We had dinner with the Italian girls (who I’m liking less and less each day) then did some serious studying. I have three finals tomorrow and I’m totally unprepared for all of them! While we were studying we heard Juli and little Julia talking about how they wanted to stay out until 2 or 2:30 and asked if she would still be up to let them in. Obviously we wouldn’t be using them until tomorrow so Juli gave them my keys since she’s a little fed up with this. Also, before they left she showed little Julia the new Hípercor ad since she knew the girls really like shopping. It had a bunch of cheap stuff for pretty cheap and she was just showing it to them so when she asked about a certain pair of pants in the ad Julia just bluntly said, “no me gustan” and ya está. How rude..

5-12-09

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

It was definitely tough to get out of bed this morning! Shouldn’t have stayed out so late, but I’d say it was definitely worth it. I went to my LAST LIT CLASS and it was as awful as every other one so far this semester. Man, I can’t wait to be done with it. After class I tried to go back to the Japanese park but it was all locked up so I just parked it on a ledge in the plaza by the CLM and napped for about an hour in the sun. Ahhh, Spain. Went to my last Art History class (yay!) and saw Taylor for the first time in what felt like forever even though it’s only been a few days.. I missed her! We had so much to catch up on but nowhere near enough time. I was really grouchy in class because we still had so much material to cover that he ended up skipping major sections and not giving us any sort of review for the final. I don’t understand why professors do that, it’s so ridiculous! The same thing happened in lit – we didn’t study one single author (until today) that is still alive. This is 20 and 21 century literature, folks. Which means that we should’ve covered SOMETHING past 1950.
Anyway, then during art Salvador asked us if we remembered about our essay. Umm, what essay?! Yeah, we have a 5 page paper due in two days. I was obviously frustrated about it and voiced my opinion and we ended up getting the deadline extended until next Tuesday. Definitely better but I’m still mad about it. Apparently it was on the syllabus so we were supposed to know. A. What student reads the syllabus to begin with and B. What student remembers end of the year assignments assigned in January?
Honestly.
We came home and had a big lunch and spent the whole time until class just chatting and catching up. Who needs to study, right? Well, quite frankly, I should. I went to POE then had 45 minutes before my French final that I hadn’t even looked at my notes for yet. I spent half of the time preparing for the written portion and the other half just blindly flipping through my packets and pretending like I was going to remember any of it. Turns out that the written portion wasn’t even on it – it was a totally different question than what he told me it would be! I was really hot and tired and grouchy so I feel like I wasn’t concentrating very well. I guess there’s nothing I can do about it now – just wait to find out my grade!
I came back and did a little writing and picture sorting before dinner. All four of us girls sat around having some tortilla española – so cute. Taylor got the same impression as I did from the Italian girls, nice but sort of brash is maybe a good way to say it? One of them always says “ok” in this funny voice, we kept giggling at her but trying to hide it…
I took a shower after dinner and we successfully cleaned up the tornado of a room we had. I didn’t do any studying but did get caught up (except the 12 days I’m still missing from a month ago..) on my blogs. Mostly we just did more chatting and caught each other up on our recent news which was waaay better than schoolwork!

5-11-09

Monday, May 11, 2009

Had grammar then I stuck around the CLM to do some journaling/studying. We had a meeting at 2:30 so I didn’t have time to go home but I didn’t get much done. At the end of the meeting Verónica gave a short speech about how we were one of her favorite semesters, we haven’t had any major problems, and that she will really miss us L It was so sad – I’m not ready for goodbyes yet!
After the meeting I continued to be unproductive which is a slight problem since finals are this week..yikes! Then I went to our last tutorials where José took us to this cute little enclosed park behind the church by his office. It’s sort of Japanese-esque. We just sat in the shade of the purple blossom trees and talked about the semester and our future plans. I went back to the CLM yet again and got nothing done..again. I think senioritis is worse when you’re abroad!
Then I came home, changed, and fixed my make-up before going to Whitney’s. When I told Taylor she could take the straightener to Portugal I forgot that I would need it for tonight.. thankfully my friends are willing to share theirs! On my way I had three “issues”. 1. While in the crosswalk in front of Flamboyant, my clutch broke and I dropped it right in the middle of the street forcing me to bend over in my short dress (shorter than I remember it being!) while a city bus waited for the light to change. Great. 2. While passing by a garage door I pulled a Marilyn Monroe – for real. 3. Since I had some extra time I stop by Blanco to check out their new swimming suits. On my way down the stairs I biffed it … bad. Since my strap was broken on my clutch (that contained my camera and phone) I couldn’t catch myself with my arm so I tumbled down a few stairs and sprawled out on the floor in front of a large crowd. Nobody laughed along with me, just stared and asked if I was ok so I jetted as fast as I could!
Whitney was waiting for me at the gas station and said we had to change plans – her host family was being dumb (not surprising) so we were going to Cassandra’s instead. I was surprised to find out that my piso is much bigger than theirs! Hers was cute though and she has a little yippy dog – thank goodness I don’t have to deal with that. So I quick did my hair and we zipped off to the gas station to meet Cassandra, then we walked up to the Mirador together to meet the rest of the program for our farewell dinner.
It was so pretty when we got there – just before sunset so the Alhambra was lit by the beautiful last glimmer of sun from the day. It really reminded me of the first time we were up there as a group on Aurelio’s tour; that seems like just yesterday and forever ago at the same time! Everyone looked really nice and we took loads of pictures before walking to the restaurant. It was set up with two long tables and fancy place settings, bread and salad already on the table. I had so much fun – good food and good friends J How corny… but true! Throughout the meal everyone had their fair share of tinto de verano and Alhambra, that’s for sure.. even Veronica, Jose, and Aida. The first dish besides the salad and bread was a plate of meats and cheese then the second was red peppers stuffed with some seafood and a cold orange shrimp ball (Jeff took care of that for me). Next was some crab meat and French fries then….dessert! Small squares of caramel and chocolate cakes drizzled with topping, ice cream, and whipped cream. After that they gave us an after dinner “drink” aka a little shot of juice – cute and delicious!
It was so hard to leave, I felt like I should tell everyone goodbye since I might not see them all again .. ever. I decided not to get all sentimental and just make a point to despedir a mis mejores amigos la semana que viene. I took another picture with José and Verónica and gave them a hug which got me a little emotional but I also decided that I’ll just have to go say goodbye to them next week too.
After the dinner a group of us went to Hannigan’s even though it was already 12:00 on a Monday night. When in Spain.. Mitch and I shared our newfound Ron Miel with them and we just had a really good time hanging out and enjoying one of our last times together. It was a sad walk home with Mitch :( we got talking about the things we’ll miss and the amazing time we’ve had here. It sucks that so few people truly understand and can talk to me about my semester – even worse that I’m not going to be around most of those people after next week! Ugh.

5-10-09

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother’s Day!! Better yet, Happy Mather’s Dog!
Woke up around 10:30 which was just wonderful. I love sleeping in and that’s all there is to it! I had some breakfast then got ready to leave. José, Mitch, and I left and went to pick up Whitney at the gas station (the only one in the city, everyone knows it – corner of Recogidas and Ronda). He drove us to Monachil, the cute little pueblo of Granada where he used to spend his summers. We hiked ALL afternoon long – so fun! We were up, down, and all around those mountains. We saw several swinging bridges, waterfalls, and had lunch in the crisp, fresh air. The weather was perfect and I got a little tan line even though I was wearing sunscreen. There was a long stretch of the hike where we were walking along the path by the river and we had to hang onto rock-climbing hooks or crawl under the gigantic rock formations on the banks. It was so much fun but a little scary! Once we had to jump down from the cement into the water to hop across the rocks since there were so many people, but we got trapped! Mitch was tall enough to push himself up onto the ledge then climb but José opted to just wade through the water to the next big rock. Neither Whitney nor I are tall/strong enough to pull ourselves up and we definitely weren’t about to get our feet soaking wet so we made quite a scene trying to climb/push/pull each other out of the water. I think all four of us had a really good time with the senderismo J I’m so thankful that José was willing to take us! And I do have to admit that I’m in a lot better shape than I was the last time we went hiking – I wasn’t breathing nearly as hard or sweating as much.
After we got back we decided to go for some ice cream so Mitch, Whitney, and I ended up at Flamboyant, the pastelería I pass every day. It’s also where Taylor’s birthday cake was from – delicious if I remember correctly.. I opted for the cheesecake – different but still good. Cake instead of a graham cracker crust and strawberry jelly almost instead of topping. We took a little paseo and ended up at another place I walk by every day and have been wanting to try. We just assumed there would be tapas (I always see people with them on Sunday afternoons..) but this place was just stingy I think. So after a pastel and a clara what do we do? Go for churros, obviously. We met up with Cassandra and went to Café Futbol which was delicious as expected. Not as good as Alhambra but definitely high quality. Afterward I decided that enough was enough and I needed to quit eating and start studying! I sat by the river for a while and prepared some Art History stuff for the final. Yuck, I hate studying and I know this week is going to be full of it L
After that I came home and Mom called me back! I got to talk to her, Dad, and Mandy for a little bit until I had dinner. After dinner I went to the internet café and Skyped with them for a while. Man, do I hate that place – creepy, smelly people and crappy, overpriced computers. But, I got to talk to Mom, Dad, and Laura! Definitely worth the tradeoff. Everyone sounded good – I can’t wait to see them next week!!
Oh, I forgot to mention that at dinner Julia and I were talking about churros and I asked the Italian girls if they had tried them. Since they said no I invited them to go but they were definitely not interested. They seemed to know what they were and by the description “fried bread with melted chocolate” I’m not sure what put them off. I couldn’t think of a better treat to tell you the truth! I also asked them about tapas and they weren’t too impressed.. Either way, I give up on trying to take them out. And, Julia told me that they don’t eat breakfast – just a mug of ColaCao. I think she’s a little offended that they don’t eat her food; she seemed a little insulted at dinner.

5-9-09

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Woke up around 10:00 and had a big breakfast on the patio. It was nice until it started SPRINKLING on us. Not cool for our beach day.. After checking out and whatnot I decided to go to the caves since I’ve heard they’re really cool. I hoped to waste some time and maybe it would be sunny by the time I was done. Everyone else had already been there so I went alone – no big deal. I got there and one of the other programs from the CLM was there too, what a coincidence! It was super expensive to get in and although it was really cool, I don’t think it was worth it. They’re pretty similar to the ones in Gibraltar except this one has the “world’s biggest stalactite/stalagmite column” according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Doubt it. Do you know how many caves are undiscovered in this world? Yes, it was pretty large but I choose to believe that this can’t possibly be the biggest. Also, when you enter the cave they took one of those surprise pictures of you like they do on roller coasters then you go to a little stand to look at it afterward. I wouldn’t hesitate to say it was one of the worst pictures of myself that has ever been taken. I look thoroughly unimpressed and quite frankly, pissed off. This must have been right after I paid €8.50 then ran into a bunch of English-speaking people who I sort of know but not well enough to talk to – an awkward situation, to say the least. Needless to say, I did not purchase the photo.
After I was done inside I decided to skip the €1 return bus ticket and walk since it wasn’t too far and it wasn’t raining. Bad choice. The only good part was that I got a couple good pictures of an aqueduct and a pretty bridge. And some exercise. I wound up at the Balcón de Europa after a pit-stop at Mercadona for some strawberries, Doritos, and candy. The lookout/plaza was pretty and it was nice but once again, I wasn’t that impressed. It was SO windy and there was a group of Native Americans playing music – two things I didn’t foresee but should’ve expected. Instead of climbing the 120498 steps straight down to the beaches below that looked private anyway, I decided to search out the main beach a few blocks away. Turns out that I walked right past the road that leads to it on my way back from the caves but it’s not marked. Great. Anyway, I got there and had a wonderful couple of hours on the sand reading my book and eating some treats. That is, until this man and his mom came strolling along and instead of sitting, oh ANYWHERE else on the wide open beach, they start putting their stuff down two and a half feet from where I was laying. Clearly, I was not pleased and shot them a look that told them so. They got the hint and realized how ridiculous they were being so they scooted another 2 ½ feet away. Thanks for the personal space, you Europeans, you. By the time I had to go it had cleared up a little bit but the minute I got on the bus it started raining and didn’t stop the whole way home. Thankfully I took the 4:30 bus instead of the later one! I don’t know why I’m being to Debbie Downer about Nerja but I hope it’s better next weekend. I think if it would’ve been sunny I would’ve been much happier!
When I got home Julia introduced me to the two Italian girls who were taking a nap. They seemed pretty cool and spoke really good Spanish. I took a shower, and then we had dinner where neither Julia nor Valeria ate a full meal. I had to eat the whole quesito by myself! And even though we were eating empanadas and french fries, they never put down their fork and knife. Anyway, I found out this is Julia’s fourth time to Spain and both of them speak Spanish, English, French, German, and Italian. And they’re only 17 and 18 years old .. great. We started talking about how they had a curfew and since they don’t have keys Julia will only stay up until 1:00 to let them in. We all thought that’s kind of silly so I said they could call me and meet up after their flamenco show then we would go out then go home together since I have a key.
So I went up to the Mirador – beautiful. It was by far the best trip up there yet (besides the first time, but that was daylight). We watched the moon rise over the mountains and light up the sky, the city, and of course, the Alhambra/Generalife. It was absolutely gorgeous! We came down and went for a round of tapas at my favorite place that I still don’t know the name of. Anyway, they serve San Miguel and the best tapas around. The only bad part is that it’s run by a bunch of Brits… not too authentic but it doesn’t stop me from going! There’s always lots of Spaniards there so I think it’s fine. Anyway, the tapa was salmon in a thick sauce – almost artichoke-y. Sounds weird and gross but it was really good. Also, Mitch has been dying to try some Ron Miel since we got here and we finally spotted it at this bar. Delicious! It was everything I hoped it would be and the fact that it’s only sold in Spain and it’s fabricated in the Canaries only adds to its greatness. It was so sad not to have Jeff and Taylor with us, it seems like we always go out in our group of 4 nowdays.. After that we headed home and the second I laid my head on my pillow I got a call from the Italian girls saying they were heading home in 45 minutes and asked me to let them in. I whispered back and forth with Julia through her door and told her I would take care of it. So, in the middle of phase 4 of the sleep cycle I get a lovely ring-a-ding-ding and walk down 3 flights of stairs to let them in. The best part? I slipped on the last stair (I was in my slippers, give me a break) and fell right on my butt. They probably saw me or heard me yelp but I didn’t really care since I was still half asleep. I didn’t bother asking about the show or why they didn’t call me earlier. I should’ve seen this coming but I thought it would be fun to meet up and show them some of our favorite spots for nightlife. Guess they weren’t interested in hanging out but only wanted to use me as a way to stay out later.. oh, high school.

5-8-09

Friday, May 8, 2009

Almunecar, beach, market, bought new skirt, bus to Nerja
Christine, Whitney, Sara, Mitch, me

5-7-09

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Went to class then on my way back I called Grandma Aalbers and got to talk to her for a little bit! They were getting ready to go to Tulip Time – how fun! It was good to chat for a bit, can’t wait to see everyone soon! I also called Grandma and Grandpa but they didn’t answer; maybe I’ll get to talk to them sometime this week.
Nothing too exciting happened during the day, I guess it was a little quieter without Taylor around. I did have my last French class which was a little weird.. I should really get going on my studying for finals! During lunch Julia told me that two Italian girls are coming to stay with us! I wonder what they’ll be like.. They’re only here for a week but I’m kind of excited to have them around the house. After dinner Mitch and I wanted to go to Flamboyant for some dessert but they were closed. Instead we went for churros and chocolate at Café Alhambra then for a tapita at Chikito – two things I wanted to do before leaving! It was such a beautiful night and we had the best seats in the house. Actually, outside the house. From Bib-Rambla we could see the cathedral and from Chikito we could see the Fuente de la Batalla. When we were sitting there Rick, the other group’s tour guide from Morocco walked past – such a small world! I just can’t imagine leaving yet, I’m not ready to go home L Came back and took a shower, packed, and jumped into my bed with new sheets – poppies! Taylor will be sad that our flannel is gone..

5-6-09

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
I woke up for Grammar then quick tried to look up some flights for this weekend. Obviously everything was full or super expensive so it looks like I’m not doing anything too crazy this weekend L Hopefully I’ll spend a couple days at the beach and go hiking with Mitch and José. After that I walked to Parque García Lorca and went through the casa-museo since it’s free on Wednesdays. I met up with Steph and we took the guided tour through Lorca’s family’s summer house that’s right in the middle of the park. It was sooo cool! After he and was shot during the Civil War his family moved to New York and left the house completely intact to the servants. Almost everything in the house was in its original form. His bedroom had a desk where he wrote Bodas de sangre, Yerma, and La casa de Bernarda Alba! There were pictures, rough drafts, letters, and some of his artwork on display (he was actually quite talented – surrealism). I’m such a nerd but it was awesome! After the visit I whipped my blanket out of my bag and sat down in the sun. I finished up my Granada Seminar paper then laid down and soaked up some rays for a while. The park was so beautiful – sun, grass, people, and the biggest most beautiful roses I’ve ever seen.
On the way home I called Mom but she didn’t answer, and then called back a little while later. I wish I could be home with everyone today but I guess I’ll be there in two weeks. TWO WEEKS! It was so good to talk to her though J I also caught Dad! We had lunch, I did some writing and homework, then I Skyped with Mom, Mandy, Laura, and Rob! Mom’s new computer looks pretty nice and she seemed pretty happy with it. Everyone else was good, I can’t believe I’ll be seeing them all so soon – I can’t wait!
Just for the record, Julia is getting crazier and crazier. This morning she told us not to rip off the shiny wrapper that covers the inside of the ColaCao because if it’s flapped over it keeps it fresher. Taylor ripped the one off the butter one morning and she put it back on. Gross! She also is convinced that I can go to Halcon Viajes and get a cheap trip for this weekend to the Canary Islands – cheaper than RyanAir?

5-5-09

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Went to lit then during my break I finally went and bought the Manuel Carrasco CD from Corté Inglés (only 6 euros!) and another Orange card. I’ve been trying to get one for almost a week, since I missed both Dad and Mandy’s calls and couldn’t call them back since I gave my last minutes to Taylor. Of course they’re never open when I walk by or every time they are I forget. Anyway, I had an email from Nicole saying that she would be home on Tuesday and to call her so we could figure it out. She didn’t answer but their home answering machine was so cute – bilingual J I might do that just for fun someday.
After that I tried to prepare for my lit final while sitting in the sun with Steph and Brigitte, had art, and then came home for lunch. We had the delicious chicken with garlic, veggie soup, and ice cream cake. I went to class and during French Nicole called me. It was so fun to talk to her and catch up but the bad news is that I’m not going to Switzerland this weekend L From the way she asked, “So I guess it’s too late now?” made me think that I shouldn’t push for an invitation. Bummer. After that Taylor, Mitch, Jeff, and I went for tapas after class. We were going to go home after one but ended up texting Julia to tell her we weren’t coming home for dinner. We went to a few of our favorite places and had kebabs and tragalliani ice cream. We ran into Graciela and Lucía near Plaza Nueva and they invited us over for lunch next week. I wish I would’ve spent more time hanging out with those girls – they’re so fun!

5-4-09

Monday, May 4, 2009

Woke up and went to grammar as usual. Then I headed straight upstairs to do some cramming for the phonetics test I had later. I did pretty well for a while then came home and worked on my pictures for a while. There’s just waaaay too many – what am I going to do with all of them? Julia made a new dish for lunch today, it was sort of like paella but had some different ingredients, namely bacalao (codfish, not baklava). After lunch I relaxed until my stomach settled then grabbed my stuff and went to tutorías. One thing I didn’t grab, however was my little bag that has my webcam and iPod cord in it. Why didn’t I take it? Because it is currently MIA. Not good. After class I went to the consegería and it wasn’t in the lost and found. I chatted with Mom for a bit, did some more cramming, then had my test which went pretty well. The only problem I had was that I didn’t memorize the three branches of fonética – how stupid. It was specifically written on the study guide that José told us to memorize and somehow I just glazed over it. Anyway after that I came back and borrowed Mitch’s computer to Skype Roberta. The connection wasn’t great on either end so it was frustrating and hard to have a real conversation. At least I got to see him and talk for a little while though! It’s been a long time.. Then we had dinner, I took a shower, did some writing and hit the sack.

5-3-09

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Slept in until 11:00ish which felt wonderful! We had breakfast and then I went down to the patio to do some homework. I put on a tanktop and shorts and wrote my Granada Seminar paper while the sun scorched my shoulders. Taylor came down and we bought Julia some flowers from the place around the corner since it was Mother’s Day. We took them up for her just before lunch and she was so happy J She had a special table set and a fancy meal prepared for the big day so I’m glad we didn’t show up empty-handed. We had some gross potato salad with mayonnaise again but each dish went up from there. Next was some sort of dark meat in a dark sauce that had a really good flavor. Then, our surprise – dessert! Not just any dessert, strawberries with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream cake with chocolate shavings. Heavenly. The best part is that there’s a whole cake so we get some every day this week until it’s gone!
After lunch Taylor and I went on a little paseo around Granada to check out the crosses for Día de la Cruz. There are huge altars around in plazas and streetcorners that have big crosses covered in carnations, the blue and white pottery, shawls, water, and an apple with scissors through it. An apple is also called a pero colloquially so it’s symbolic to remind people not to critique the cross. Aka, it’s to cut out the “yeah it’s pretty, but..” We saw quite a few and at the Ayuntamiento there was a stage with people dancing flamenco all around. Lots of people were wearing the fancy dresses, and the little girls were just adorable.
We came back with just a couple minutes to spare to change our clothes and grab our stuff before we met Mitch for the soccer game. We walked to the Palacio de Deportes, which isn’t too far from our house, to the big stadium. There weren’t many people there but we were early so we figured it was just a Spanish thing. We bought our tickets and killed some time before we found our seats. I asked a worker if I could buy one of the posters and she said I could just rip one off the wall and take it home. I decided to do it after the game but ended up forgetting L Here’s a smart thing – the four sections of the stands were blocked off by locked gates to prevent people who paid less (like us) from sitting in good seats in the shade. Bummer. Anyway, there were some crazy fans in our section so we found a good spot and parked it. They brought flags, drums, signs, scarves, the works, and hardly let up throughout the whole game. Even though the stands were FAR from full, I was impressed by how much noise they were making. I should’ve forseen that when they came in chanting, “¡Setenta y cuatro, hijo de puta!” Needless to say, things got a little vulgar. The final score was Granada C.F. 3 – Granada 74 1. I’m so glad we went to a soccer game in Europe! And for only €10.

5-2-09

Saturday, May 2, 2009

After a very long day and a tiny bit of sleep, I got on another 3½ hour bus right bright and shiny. Jeff and I headed off on what turned out to be a pretty expensive trip. We got off in Algeciras and barely caught the Junta de Andalucía bus to La Línea after buying our return tickets. When we got there we knew we wouldn’t have a ton of time so we snarfed down some McDonald’s before crossing through “customs”. It was so windy when we crossed the airstrip that I thought I was going to blow over! Yes, customs was a joke, almost nonexistent (USA? Muy bien) and to get to the actual rock you have to walk across a landing field. We debated about whether we should take a taxi tour to the top or jump on the bus and go to the top by cable car. We figured the cable cars probably wouldn’t be running because of the excessive wind so wandered through to the main plaza and coughed up way too much money for a taxi ride around the rock. Our driver was really nice and took us to all the best places.
Our first stop was the Pillars of Hercules where standing on British soil you can see the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and the port of Tarifa and the whole city of Algeciras (Spain). It was so beautiful and symbolic and .. not windy at all. There was a monument saying something about the history of Gibraltar (Homer’s works, Greek mythology, conquerors, etc). I wanted a picture right where these people were standing and without thinking I said to Jeff, “Ugh, I wish that girl would just move” and he responded, “Yeah, I wish they would all just get out of the way.” The guy who was taking the picture of them turns to us and in plain English says, “Sorry, we’ll be done in a second.” Wow do I feel like a jerk! I had to keep reminding myself the whole day that people speak English and they can understand everything we were saying.. Man, that’s going to be tough to get used to when I’m back in the States!
Our next stop was St. Michael’s Cave where we saw tons of monkeys outside! More on that later.. In ancient literature, this was supposedly the path to Hades because it keeps going down and down and down and nobody saw the bottom of it until relatively recently. (There’s a lake down there) The whole place was lit up with cool lights and there was a Neanderthal skull on display. Gibraltar was actually the first place it was discovered, not in the Neanderthal valley of Germany so Jeff thinks they should be called “Gibraltarthals”. We kept walking through the caves and after stumbling upon this random stage we saw what we’re pretty sure was the devil. I have a picture to prove it.
After we were done we got back in the taxivan and went up to the monkey hangout. They were brought to Gib on boats coming from North Africa (not Morocco though, there weren’t any there!) hundreds of years ago as pets and have been living wild there ever since. When I asked our driver if they ever come down from the rock he told us that sometimes they go into town for the weekend but they never cross into Spain :) We spent quite a while up there just watching them, well, be monkeys. One guy had a package of crackers that he was going to feed them one at a time but as soon as he gave out one, the monkey scampered up his leg and snatched the whole thing out of his hands! Good thing the guy didn’t put up a fight because that thing looked intense. It was adorable how he just plopped down on the cliff and started digging them out one by one with his little fingers – he looked like a little old man! I really wanted to get a picture with one on my arm but the general rule of thumb is that they can touch you but you can’t touch them. Oh, well.
Next we had the option to go to the siege tunnels that date back to the war or to go to the castle. Since we could see the windows of the tunnel from the outside we opted for the castle. There were some more beautiful views and it was pretty cool inside. After our last stop our driver took us to an ATM so we could pay him (between us we only had a few Euros left after Sevilla and whatnot) and I got Pounds out! It’s so funny how the Queen is EVERYWHERE. The exchange rate is really pretty good (for the Euro) these days and I hope he didn’t screw us over.
Anyway, we were dropped off back in the little plaza and we wandered around laughing at all the fish and chips signs and “Keep Gibraltar British” stuff. We had a little bit more time so we walked down the main street and ended up in a cute little cathedral. After that we were on our way back and just as we were about to cross the airstrip, a guard came over and closed the gate right in front of us because a plane was landing! We were so close to it that I felt like it could definitely have been the scene of a movie – something like on Liar Liar where Jim Carrey is on the steps outside the plane, you know? So because of this little setback and not taking the most direct route to the bus station, we ended up missing the Junta de Andalucía bus from La Línea back to Algeciras. Great. So we grabbed a taxi and once we got in we realized that I only took out enough cash to pay the taxi driver (since it was Pounds) and we didn’t have enough to cover the ridiculous €28 charge. So he took us to an ATM, I got out MORE money, and we thankfully made it back in time to catch our bus to Granada.
While we had our 30 minute pausa in Málaga the bus driver let us jump on the bus next to us that was headed back right away so we wouldn’t have to wait. There were only two seats left at the very back but I was happy to get home a little earlier than expected. When I passed by the café on my way home from the 10 stop, I saw that Madrid and Barcelona were playing and I was sad that I couldn’t see the whole thing .. bummer. Luckily I had an email from Nicole waiting for me – yay! I really hope it works out and I get to go stay with her in Switzerland next weekend!!

5-1-09

Friday, May 1, 2009

We woke up early, had breakfast, and then took the 10 to the bus station. We bought tickets for the Supra bus which was only a few Euros more and was totally VIP. We got little goodie bags with earphones, a bottle of water, nuts, and little packaged almond pastries. There was tons of room and the seats were pretty comfortable – the only disappointment for me was that there wasn’t WiFi as advertised. Tough luck for Jeff who didn’t print his return ticket and didn’t know his account number. Right away when we got there we had to stop at an internet café so he could get back to Granada! Then we went to the Cathedral (third biggest in the world, the biggest by cubic area). I was so happy to finally go inside since we didn’t have time on our first trip to Sevilla. We saw Isabel’s crown, Colombus’s tomb, the retablo mayor (GOLD), and then went up the huge bell tower. We waited around for them to ring and it was LOUD.
We grabbed some ice cream (obviously one of our first stops, c’mon) and I had some delicious cheesecake and chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. Mmm. We headed toward Plaza de España and tried to hide from Christine as we passed by.. I bought a flower clip and an abanico (fan) which were totally worth it. The man was so rude though and I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t be nice to paying customers, it just doesn’t make sense. Anyway, we walked around, took some pictures, watched the Gitanos freak out, then ate our bocadillos while we waited for Christine. We tried to get a carriage ride but they were twice the price of usual since it’s the feria – dumb. The horses were as decked out as the people were! We paid ,20€ to use the public bathroom but all of us girls ended up sneaking in so we didn’t have to pay five times. I hate paying to use the restroom.
After that we made our way down the Guadalquivir to the fairgrounds and the number of people dressed up in the traditional clothing skyrocketed the closer we got. There was a stand giving out free mini gazpachos and Cassandra accidently dropped hers which splattered all over Christine. You know how looks can kill? Well I was legitimately worried that she might be harmed in the process. It was hilarious.. Anyway, we finally got there and things were just out of control. Horses, carriages, flamenco (Sevillana), rebujito (7up and Manzanilla), music, casetas, and people everywhere. There was even an area with theme park rides. The casetas were all private – sort of like little wedding parties all lined up – but we eventually found a couple public ones where we could go in. We wandered around for a while and just took it all in until everyone was hot, grouchy, and sunburned so we peaced out and tried to find a bar or café where we could sit until the bullfight. Well, everything even outside was packed (sidenote – I saw the biggest paella EVER) so we parked it on a little bench and people-watched for a while. Eventually we got up and finished our paseo along the river past the Torre de Oro and to the bullring. Mandy, I thought of you here – I think it’s right by where you lived! Jeff and I got everyone’s tickets then we went to a little café nearby where we thankfully found some seats to relax in until it started.
We drew tickets anonymously for our seats but there was more drama with that (Christine). Mitch, Jeff, and Whitney were sitting together in a different section than Cassandra, Taylor, Christine, and I but we all ended up in the sol seats – luckily there was some natural sombra and it wasn’t too hot because I can definitely see how someone could melt at a bullfight. We sat behind this group of really nice guys who apparently have season tickets and it was so cute how they kept explaining things and answering our questions. Even though we had already learned about tauromaquía in Granada Seminar, it was really nice to have them there. They were so proud to share their knowledge and love of bullfighting and they kept asking us what we thought and if we liked it. To tell you the truth, before I went I thought I was going to hate it but once it started I really got into it and I was yelling OLÉ! with the rest of them.
Even before the first bull came out, I loved it right from the start. But first the parade entered with all of the horses, picadors, matadors, toreros, etc., we heard the band play, saw the president give the official ok, and spied some beautiful “women of the feria” in the VIP seats. So then the first bull came charging out and they played with it for a while tiring him out. The picador came out on that poor horse (I do feel bad for the horses..) and gave him a couple little jabs to get the blood flowing and weaken him before the banderillas came. Aka the best part, especially the first bull – it was awesome! The guy had no protection, not even a cape but he did a little dance move, the bull charged at him, then spin-moved around and jabbed the banderilla into his back. The bull was a little stunned but followed him all the way to the edge where the guy hopped over the fence and confused the bull even more. After 2 more they play with him for a little while until the president gives the ok, the matador puts down his hat, switches for the real sword, then stabs it through the back of his neck. He’s supposed to puncture the heart so the bull dies quickly but a couple of them took a while to croak. They sort of wave the capes around him to make him dizzy until he lays down, and sometimes they had remove the sword or jab the back of his head with a dagger until he’s really out. When they’re good and dead the horses come out, the horns are hooked up with a rope and chains and he’s dragged out of the arena leaving a nice trail of blood behind. One of the bulls had poco fuerza, was cojo, no quería pelear, and the whole crowd screamed “fuera!” and clapped three times until they brought out a heard of white and brown bulls to bring him back into the pen. The next one they brought out was WAY better.
The men in front of us said that each time it should be so beautiful that it gives you goosebumps and it was so true! It’s just a true fight between man and beast once everyone leaves the arena and he goes in for the kill. I’m so happy that we got to go to a bullfight, especially during the Feria en Sevilla!
I loved how traditional and stereotypical the whole thing was. It was just totally over exaggerated and wonderful :) The men were so cocky and arrogant, but I guess that’s part of the “arte” that is bullfighting. The traje de luz (sequin suit) with it’s ridiculous colors, fluorescent pink socks, and ballet flats was awesome, especially on the third matador – “guapo!” He was awarded an ear after the crowd waved their white pañuelos because of his valiant performance against the most bravo bull and we got to see him up close and personal on his way out of the arena! Wow.
After our special encounter we met up with the other three, grabbed some food, and waited at the bus station until it was time to go back on the midnight bus. It was a long ride but definitely worth it.

4-30-09

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Nothing too special happened during the day – just the usual. At night Mitch, Jeff, Taylor, and I went to the tetería and chilled. We came home at a decent time because we had to be up early the next day!

4-29-09

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Had grammar nice and early but at least it was a half hour later than the last few times! After class Whitney and I did some hiking and exploring. From Plaza Nueva we went up through the Albaicín to the Mirador which just never gets old, by the way. It was such a sunny, clear day so you could see the Alhambra perfectly. We wandered through the main plaza and up through a neighborhood until we took a dirt path with tall grasses and flowers. We came really close to some Gitano caves which was awesome! At the first one a lady and her daughter were playing with their dogs and she offered us a puppy. It totally caught us off-guard but they were adorable. The caves are partially natural and partially dug into the side of the mountain. The gypsies have random furniture, gates, and junk all around their caves; some even had doors with locks, nice fences, and cars. There were some power lines running above so we’re not sure if some of them have electricity and running water. At the top we climbed around the ancient city walls and to this really old building that supposedly was once a convent and is now a juvenile detention center. Last time Whitney was up there she saw some of the guys so she said she thinks it’s true. Apparently it’s also a place where people go to smoke pot. We wandered around to the other side which had an awesome view of the mountains and nature. While we were standing there TWO guys ran by. Seriously, some people are so hardcore – I was definitely sweating just getting up there! There was some graffiti and one said in English, “Homage to Granada – city full of dogs and fountains, drunks, squats, and poetry.” Interesting. Not exactly how I would describe it but not wrong either! On our way back down we took this random set of really nice stairs through what seemed to be the “farm” of the caves. There were lots of animals – horses, dogs, cats, chickens, etc. – but not a lot of crops. We got some weird looks throughout this whole adventure, especially since I was wearing a skirt and flats. It was totally worth it though, I had really wanted to see the caves and the views were second to none. We got a bird’s eye view of the city and its pueblos, the Alhambra, and even the Albaicín. Needless to say, we were pretty high up! It was so weird to walk through three totally different neighborhoods and three totally different cultures in just a half hour: Plaza Nueva, the Albaicín/Mirador, and las cuevas.
Came back for lunch, did some writing, and headed back to the CLM for some Skyping. I tried to get some more emails sent and get stuff worked out but it’s just a slow process. I did find out my student teaching placement (finally!) so that was an accomplishment! I’ll be with a lady in Knoxville for the first quarter then with Paloma teaching levels II and III. I think it’ll be a good semester but I was mostly relieved to have it all figured out. I got to Skype with Mom for a little while which was wonderful as always. I had to cut our conversation short though because Mitch got out of class and we HAD to get our plans made for the weekend. Taylor bought the last return ticket from Sevilla (or so we thought) so we had very few options on what to do. Trains were booked, there was nowhere to stay in Sevilla besides the bus station, there were no busses to Algeciras/Gibraltar, etc. so we were pretty much screwed. One of our brilliant ideas was to rent a car since we’d heard they were cheap but the minor problem we had was that Mitch wasn’t 21 and I can’t drive a stick. Like I said, minor problem. We checked some websites and none of them had cars left for this weekend so our last resort was a car rental company located in the parking garage across from Palacio de Congresos. On our way out we recruited Jeff who is coincidentally stuck in Sevilla as of now, 21, and can drive a stick. Perfect! So we marched all the way to the place just to find out they had NOTHING to rent for the weekend; they gave us a number of another place (at the airport) and when we called it was the same situation. Mitch left his passport with us, went back home, and crossed his fingers that we figured something out. For some reason it seemed like it was a bazillion degrees and Jeff was wearing a dark grey t-shirt with his backpack so when we got back he was in a full sweat.
I had plans to Skype with Mandy, Laura, and maybe Mom or Dad so I wanted to get everything figured out right away. We looked at the ALSA website again and when I played around with the number of passengers, the number of available seats changed! Luckily, the site was just messed up so all three of us got ida y vuelta J YAY!! For a little while I thought I might not be able to go to the bullfight.. We had some trouble with credit cards and and booking but it all worked out in the end.
After that whole fiasco, I got to Skype with Mandy and Laura! It was so good to talk to them J I got to see Kael and Mom, too! Everyone sounded good, looked good, and it makes me even more excited to come home. I poured out my graduation situation and they both helped me out a lot. Yet again, I had to run and cut the conversation short because I had a concert to go to. Tough life, right?
So before the concert, I met up with Sara, Christine, Whitney, and Cassandra and Hannigan’s then walked to Teatro Isabel la Católica. I hadn’t been inside yet but it was gorgeous. The opener was some dude who didn’t impress me much, but Manuel Carrasco didn’t let me down. I THINK he was the Spanish guy on European Idol but I could be wrong. Either way, all of the Spanish women in the crowd knew every word and weren’t afraid to sing right along. Actually, they weren’t afraid to dance, clap, or shout “quiero tener tus hijos!” at inappropriate times. They were so obnoxious and I was getting really frustrated with the ones in front of us. Una fila complete de friquis…

Tammy in Spain