The Big Move

On Friday we all packed up our measly belongings and headed to our respective pisos (apartments). It was really bittersweet—on the one hand I was excited to really start living in Granada, cooking my own meals, going to real university classes and hanging out with Spaniards. But on the other hand, living in the residencia was so comfortable. We knew everyone there, we got our rooms cleaned twice a week, we had our own bathroom, and we were fed huge amounts of (sometimes) delicious food!

Luckily my piso is only a 5 minute walk from the residencia, so I could walk there easily with all my stuff. I met all my roommates, who seem very nice. I’m living with a Swiss, an Italian and a German girl. I’m excited, although I do wish I were living with a Spaniard. All the girls know English, but we all want to improve our Spanish so we only speak Spanish to each other. Friday evening was the first time I’ve been remotely lonely/homesick here. I’m so used to being surrounded by Americans, so it was a little hard to be practically by myself in a quiet piso. Fittingly, Friday night was the first time it’s rained here.

The next morning I woke up to construction on the apartment above my room. The walls here are like paper, and not even hefty earplugs can block out 15 minutes of hammering. So I decided to start my morning by grocery shopping, since I will now have to be cooking for myself, and I can only afford so many afternoons of tapas. I went to this big indoor market with all kinds of meat, seafood, cheeses, prepared foods, and fruits and vegetables. I was just wandering around the place in awe, amazed by all the hanging pig carcasses, sting rays, and cut up fish sprawled out on ice. Then I found myself face to face with a dead goat’s head, eyes still intact, and decided I would try my hand at being a vegetarian for a while. Although I didn’t want to be the ultimate tourist by taking pictures at the butcher’s shop, here is a Google image that represents the situation quite well: 

Needless to say, I left and bought only produce. I went to a frutería (fruit and vegetable stand) right outside my apartment, and stood there awkwardly for about 5 minutes while all the Spaniards cut me in line. Eventually one of the men who worked there took pity on me and asked me what I wanted. I struggled so badly in Spanish because I was flustered and don’t know many words for fruits and vegetables. He was so friendly and started helping me in English, translating the produce names between the two languages. In the end, he gave me 2 onions, 4 sweet potatoes, 2 avocados, 5 plums, and 5 huge tomatoes for TWO euros!! The avocados alone would cost that much in the U.S. Most food is much cheaper here, although I also think the guy was being especially nice with the prices, since he didn’t weigh anything and seemed to pity my lack of cultural/linguistic knowledge.

It’s exciting to start living the Spanish life. I went to tapas with a Spanish girl and her cousin yesterday night, and then today I went to lunch with the Spanish girl Amalia who works in the Education Abroad office. Afterwards she showed me her apartment and we had coffee together—so cute! I’m getting less lonely as I realize that it’s only the first month, and before I know it I will have plenty of great friends here. It would be difficult not to, seeing how friendly Spaniards are!

15 Hours of Paradise

These past 15 hours have been the most fun yet in Spain. Ignacio, one of the monitors, invited a couple of us to his beach house on the Mediterranean. We took the hour and a half bus ride there once our language program finals were done yesterday, and unfortunately had to return by 10 this morning to receive the keys to our new apartments and move out of the residence hall. But we lived it up the short time we were there!

Iggy’s house is amazing. It is the first actual house I have been to here, although I feel like I’ve seen every apartment in the city, thanks to our massive piso hunt. His house was four stories with a view overlooking the entire beach town and sea. It also had a great deck and pool area. Spaniards are definitely not as amazed by the Mediterranean as we are, and we suggested going to the beach, Iggy said, “Why would we go to the beach when we have a pool?”

About 15 of his friends were there, so the night was great for practicing Spanish. All of them were so nice and funny, and we could not have asked for a better way to celebrate the end of finals. We talked and drank and sang and swam and ate all night.

The view of the Mediterranean from the porch

At 6:15 Luc, Katie and I got up to catch the bus back. Everyone else had just gone to bed, and we didn’t really know how to get out of the house (there were so many doors). Eventually we found one out onto a patio. Unfortunately there was a gate that was locked, but before we figured this out, the front door already closed and locked itself behind us. So at 6:30 a.m. we were trapped in a little courtyard, and no one would respond to the doorbell or their phones because they had just fallen asleep. Finally we ended up climbing up a neighbor’s wall and over a tall fence—we basically broke out of our own house. Anyway it was hilarious once we achieved it, and a great ending to a fantastic party. 

Classes

On Thursday we finished our Intensive Language Program, and will start University of Granada classes on Monday. I’m very intimidated to start, since our professors for ILP were very accommodating linguistically, and would slow down their speech and explain words since all of us are basically terrible at this language! Also the Andalusian accent is very difficult to understand (Granadians say that once you can understand them, you can understand any form of Spanish), so hopefully a lot of my professors will have been born in other parts of Spain! I will say, though, that I can definitely feel my Spanish improving. It’s so thrilling to be able to have real conversations with people! The other day my friend Allie and I were asking our monitor Javi all about his opinions on political and social issues. But no matter how good I get at Spanish, people will always know I’m a foreigner because blonde hair simply does not grow on Spanish heads.

I’ve finally picked out the classes I’m going to take, which is a good thing since they start in three days! Choosing classes was quite the process, and it made me appreciate UCSB’s system so much more. The campus is split up into different colleges, and each college has its own schedule of classes and course descriptions, all in different websites. Spanish students stay in one specific college, but we are allowed to pick classes from all over the place. Although this is great, it also makes picking classes and syncing up times very difficult. In the end, I will be taking several linguistics classes interspersed with some anthropology, history and art history classes.

Celebrating the end of classes, or really just another night in Spain....

La Alhambra y Generalife

Today we went on a guided visit to La Alhambra and Generalife, the surrounding gardens. Our history professor, Paco, led my group, and he is simply the greatest man ever, not to mention a very intelligent historian. Here he is!

Of course I have heard over and over again when I mentioned to people that I am going to Granada, “Oh, you have to see the Alhambra!!” Well, apparently every other person in the entire world has heard that too, judging by the throngs of tourists. Paco said that more than two million people visit the Alhambra each year, and with good reason. It was the palace of the last Muslim ruler in Spain, before the Christians reconquered the entire country in 1492. Most cities in Spain, at least in Andalusia (Southern Spain), include some sort of Muslim fortress, called an Alcazaba. But Granada’s Alhambra is so impressive because it contains an Alcazaba, a Muslim palace, and a Christian palace all in one. Not to mention Generalife, some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen (constructed many centuries after the actual Alhambra).

 La Torre de Vela (Defense Tour)

The Alhambra is the most visited attraction in Spain, and I am proud to say that I can look up onto the hill and see it any day that I please! From most of the lookouts on top of the Alhambra you can see the entire city of Granada and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is unreal.

An incredible view of the Albaicín from the Alhambra

My Spanish friend Amalia! She works in the UC Study Center's office.

The ancient wall surrounding the Muslim city

The gardens that accompany the Alhambra are breathtaking. Plus it didn’t hurt that these are the first flowers/signs of nature I’ve seen in my three weeks in this city. I’ll probably have to pay admission to this place every so often to be reminded that trees and flowers still exist!

 I went way too crazy with scenery photos here but this way you can see Generalife without flying out to Spain!!

Every tourist needs a typical flower close-up

Not many people can say they have such a sight in their backyard. Granadinos are so lucky. I’m working on obtaining my lifelong Visa. Does anyone have a European cousin??

Small Animals, and all their greatness

There are many small things here in Granada. To begin with, tapas are about as small of a food portion as you can get. There are small coffees (I haven’t seen a Starbucks here, and the biggest coffee I’ve received is smaller than a kid’s-sized hot cocoa), small cars, small alleyways, and very small women (not sure how, considering the fried food here…). But my favorite thing here is the vast quantity of small animals! This blog entry is dedicated to the numerous adorable puppies and kittens that I have seen in this glorious city.

 Although this is not a picture of an animal, it does depict some very small and tantalizing tapas from a bar that my friend Gayatri and I discovered on Sunday night. This bar was written up in a "10 Best Granada Tapas Bars" blog, and it did not disappoint. Now for the cute animals...

This kitten is hard to see because it's so small! It is a gypsy kitten, living in the caves of Sacromonte.

This is the first puppy I saw in this city. It reminds me of my dog, Button. It's even cuter in real life.

This dog was tied up on a pole, I think because the owner was in a church service. Good thing, since I sat on the ground for five minutes and played with it.

This puppy is the grande finale (thus far). It epitomizes cuteness. I asked the owner if I could take a picture with it, and she looked very confused and simply handed her dog over to me. I think I freaked her out but it was worth it. The puppy is only 6 weeks old. 

October 27, 2011--This puppy almost made us miss our flight at the Madrid airport. Petting this puppy was almost as good as the trip to Portugal. 

March 2, 2012--They just keep getting cuter! Although this puppy wasn't technically in Spain, it still counts for this blog. On the train ride to Naples, a woman with this puppy sat next to me for a few stops. She told me that they found this puppy in a trash pile and were looking for someone to take it in. If Ryanair didn't have such ridiculous carry-on restrictions I seriously would have adopted it!!

La Costa del Sol

This weekend my friend Katie and I took a trip to Malaga and Nerja, two cities on the southern coast of Spain. Bus travel between Spanish cities is so easy and affordable, so it makes it easy to see a lot of places in a short weekend. Malaga is bigger than Granada, although not as quaint. We stayed at a really nice hostel (free welcome drinks upon arrival!!) and spent the whole day exploring the city. Malaga also has an incredible cathedral, and an Alcazaba (fortress).

Malaga is famous for its wines, so we went wine tasting at an authentic little Bodega in the city central. I have to say I like Two Buck Chuck more.

  (Terrible photos but you get the idea)

            We ate dinner on our hostel’s terrace with a bunch of people from all over Europe. Then we walked around the city some more. There is so much life in Spanish cities! People are out till midnight and later eating al-fresco style at restaurants and drinking at bars, and that is before the clubs even open!

            In the morning we caught a bus to Nerja, because the beach there is supposed to be nicer than in Malaga. It did not disappoint! Nerja is a tiny town on the Mediterranean, very touristy but also quaint at the same time. All the buildings are whitewashed, which makes it beautiful when set against the blue background of the sea. Needless to say, swimming in the Mediterranean was amazing. But then this big group of American teenagers arrived (turns out they are also studying in Granada), and one of the guys was the definition of a stereotypical American. He was drinking a beer on the beach (just because it’s legal to drink at a younger age here doesn’t mean it’s legal to drink in public), and every other word out of his mouth was “fuck” or “bitch” (sorry to the young readers out there, although there probably aren’t any). Here’s an idea of how loud this guy was: There was a bachelorette party on the beach, and I could hear this kid over the celebrating women, the pumping music, and the waves of the Mediterranean. He attracted more looks on the beach than some of the topless women did. After that I pretended I was Canadian.

            In Nerja we also ate a fantastic Italian lunch. I like Spanish food, but nothing compares to eating Italian food in Europe. I will definitely have to plan a trip there soon!

After spending a fantastic day in Nerja, we decided to take a late bus home instead of staying overnight at a hostel, since we are cheap and there is only so much to do in a town of three streets. But I will definitely be returning to the beach soon, since there is nothing that compares to floating in that crystal clear water!!

El Piso Perfecto

I’ve been so busy that I am late in writing this, but last week I finally found a great piso (apartment)! After one month in the residence halls here, we all move into apartments, homestays, or different residence halls. Almost everyone is choosing to find their own piso with other Spanish or international students.

Finding a piso here seems like it would be easy, because everywhere you go there are tons of little fliers advertising available pisos for students. However, most places here are not super nice, and almost all pisos have a limiting factor: the bedroom is dark or only has an interior window, the people smoke in the common areas, there are workers (not students) living there, the neighborhood is not nice, it’s too expensive, etc.

Piso hunting is the hot topic of conversation in our group. Nine times out of ten, if someone opens their mouth to say something to you, you can bet it will have something to do with finding an apartment. I am so tired of it!!

I was spending every day during siesta for a week going out and looking at places. I looked at 15 pisos before I found mine, and out of those 15 I only saw 2 that I liked. But then I called a number from a tiny little flier on the street, visited that piso, and decided right then that I wanted it!

The location could not be better. It is 10 steps from the front of the Catedral, the very city center. It is on a tiny little alleyway, and my bedroom has a window and little balcony that overlooks it. It is centered between two main plazas. It was being remodeled as I saw it, so it is a very new apartment in an old, charming building. There are four rooms, and two are occupied by an Italian girl and a Swiss girl. My only hope is that the owner finds a Spanish girl!!

The kitchen in my piso

Ten steps from this view!!!

Sacromonte and the Albaicín

On Thursday afternoon we visited the neighborhoods of Sacromonte and the Albaicín with our monitores. Sacromonte is the old neighborhood in the hills where the gypsies live in their caves. It was so incredibly beautiful, although my camera died half way through so I will definitely be returning very soon!! It reminded me of pictures I’ve seen of San Torini, except instead of views overlooking the ocean, you get views of the entire city and panoramas of the Alhambra. The cobblestone streets wind up and down through the hills, and there are small houses and gypsy caves scattered throughout. (P.S. Even though in the States it wouldn't seem P.C. to refer to this population as "Gypsies," here people have no problem with it!! Just as they refer to all the convenience stores as "Chinos" because they are primarily owned by the Chinese people.)