Granada!

Wednesday, November 28

Hey friends and fammmm :)

Greetings from Grana! (That's how cool people say "granada") It's Christmas timmmme and things are getting exciting over here. The city has put up streams of big lights across all the streets, it's also getting pretty cold out- like 30's. It's a good excuse to wear beanies and layers and 2 pairs of pants :) I put up Christmas lights in my room and got together all my Christmas music. Tis the seasonnnn.

I still LOVE being here. This experience just doesn't get old- the beauty of the city, the challenge of learning a foreign language, the oddities of trying to integrate into another culture. I love it. I've noticed a few ways that I'm slowing becoming more and more like a spaniard...

1. My new go-to exclamatory phrase is "joder," pronounced "hoe-dare." It means shit/shoot/crap/frik etc in spanish. When someone tells me something crazy, when I spill the last of my food on the floor, when I miss my bus stop and end up in another city- I say joder. So that's good?

2. People ask me for directions! Who knowssssss if I tell them the right thing, but I always tell them something. I must look a little little bit spanish, enough for people to ask me for directions... so that's good :)

3. I actually really really like watching soccer games. Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, whoever. This Sunday I'm going to another granada fútbol game with Alberto because he has season passes! Score.

4. I've put it upon myself to have a personal staring contest with every person that passes me as I walk through the city. At first it really bugged me that spanish people stare for wayyyy longer than social norms should permit, but now I just stare right back. Haha it's fun and eventually they look away, to which i feel a small sense of victory :)

In addition to becoming more Spanish, I've also noticed ways that I'm still wayyyyy American..

1. I eat dinner around 7pm. Cuz that's when I'm hungry! Spaniards eat at 10pm. F... that.

2. I'm blonde. Enough said. Ill never reeeeally pass as a spaniard because of this. What can ya do!?

3. I don't wear heals on a daily basis. Heals hurt. I don't enjoy subjecting myself to pain. Spanish women are apparently alotttt cooler than me in this area.

4. I do wear a backpack though. Seems logical to me: if you have alotta crap to hold, put it in a backpack! Spanish women and me do not see eye to eye on this.

5. I eat food while walking around granada. Seems like spanish people don't understand this concept. And I like that. Meals are an integral part of their day.. they would never make a sandwich and then eat it on the way to class, or order a coffee and drink it on the way to work. You sit and eat and enjoy your food/coffee and thennnn move on with your day. I haven't mastered this technique yet.

Welp, Thanksgiving was really fun. We got together with 20 or so people--spaniards, americans, and europeans alike--and made a maaaassive amount of food. Lots of dessert and wine, too. That night was also Alberto's birthday, so we made his favorite meal: eggs, fries and bacon. Qué noche, qué noche..

Here's some random pictures from the past month. Love you all and hope you're doin well :) ¡¡ Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving dinner! and my friend laura!

these are all the people in my program, at the thanksgiving dinner. great peeps. im down in front laughing with my other friend laura :)

these are the kids i babysit! their mom had a baby this week. they are sooo so cute and nice. matthius and evelyn. matthius has a lisp :)

homework/guitar sesh!

my favorite type of tostadaaaaa

i can cook for myself now guys! growin up.

the girls! laura on the left, syd in the back, kaitlyn in the middle and callia on the right!

my favorite dj in granada! bruno :) he works at camborio, our favorite club

camborio nights!

me and berto!

alberto and tim having a dance off

my roommate has a hamster..

the cathedral! is huge and in the center of granada

the inside of the cathedral

my street!

all these pics are the path i take to school...

my faculdad! (the psyc building)

view from the psyc classrooms. soooo beautiful.

the walk home from school (40min)

we have a lot of dinner parties still.. where we make deeelish food. this is jose and lauren

laurens bday! and eliza and callia

scrubs! fresh prince also plays alot (in spanish) They conveniently come on around lunch time.. ps this is my apartment!

the christmas lights in my room :)

bakery.. where i get a baguette every day or so :) theyre only like 50 cents!

this is my life now. the libraryyyyy.

haha tim.

callia! aka new bestie!

Tuesday, November 13

Dublin!

Guys! Hi! I just got back from Ireland! But before I get to that, here's the update as a whole:

1. It's getting cold here! Like 40/50 degrees F, and rainy some days. It's a challenge to stay warm and dry for sure! Last week I bought 2 more huge blankets and a fatty umbrella. And boots! This is how we do laundry now that is cold out...

2. Two weeks back I found out that if I get a B average this year, ill get a scholarship to help with financing UC irvine next year! So school has become a way more intense priority. I'm trying to study an hour a day- in coffee shops, libraries, between classes, during boring classes, etc. My psychology classes are really hard! The other day I had to present a paper I'd written to the class and I was so nervous that I honestly don't know if I did terrible or did awesome. It was a blur and I was just excited for it to be done!

3. I'm realizing my roommate Isa is kinda crazy, but for some reason she really likes me so it doesn't really affect me. She put blue hair dye in her shampoo so she can find out who is stealing her shampoo... She almost got in a fist fight with my other roommate Jess... She makes me mohitos at random awkward times throughout the week and leaves them on the floor in front of my room. Like I said, I have no problem with her :) But she's definitely cray.

4. Laura, my other roommate makes us clean the house every TWO or THREE DAYS! It's driving me nuts. I'm planning a confrontation but too scared to execute the plan. Maybe next week :) she sings call me maybe alot and likes twilight..

5. Jessica! She is my last roommate, and at this point we call eachother sisters. She is so fun, funny, frugal, fashionable, a great cook, genuine, and we vibe really well together. She has a hamster named Bandit. Last weekend we hung out the whole time: went shopping, got coffee, went out, met my American friends, and cooked all our meals together. She puts sugar in marinera sauce... That's weird, right?

(ps this is halloween.. she went as amy winehouse, i went as spain)

6. DUBLIN, IRELAND!!!!!!!!!! From Wednesday to Sunday I met up with my sister Shell's good friend Chase, in Dublin! It was innnncredible. Ireland is beautiful! Irish people are SO nice. My diet consisted of French fries and Guinness for 5 days straight, more or less. We went on a walking tour for like 6 hours, toured the Jameson Whiskey distillery, the Guinness factory, went to the church that inspired Dracula, saw mummies, went to the place where Bono was discovered, drank some cider at the bar he owns, watched a rugby game, met a lot of international students, and got in a fight with a taxi driver! So so so fun, to soak up the history and culture and vibe of a new place, and to hang out with Chase and friends. Here's some pics...

This is chase! super great guy, we had some really awesome talks and fun times together. he navigated us throughout dublin and meshed with my friends really well

his coast guard friend, ryan, was also super chill and funny. this is them at the Jameson Whiskey factory! gross.

my UC school friends! alex, syd, laura, tim, kaitlyn and me :)

first we took a 5hr bus to madrid.. then flew to dublin!

chase let us stay at this house he was renting and it was super nice! ps tim always dances like that haha. we made pizza and had a movie night here our last night in dublin

double decker buses! so fun.

we didnt go to this.. its just made me laugh :)

we toured the guinness factory! it was huge!!

there was a famous bar on top that looked over all of dublin. obama has been there!

this is the jameson factory again.. whiskey, barely, 3 times distilled, blah blah blah.

mummies! we went to the church that inspired dracula. one of the mummies was a crusader, 800 years old, we got to touch his middle finger for good luck. i had fish and chips afterwards :)

we went on a free walking tour with this guy! so fun, so freakin educational.

we also went on a pub crawl with the same guy! super fun time, lots of international students. 4 bars, 1 club, lots of cider.

one of the bars! each one had live irish music which i really really enjoyed

1000 year old church! oldest church in dublin

trinity college, founded by the queeeeen in the 1500's. it used to be legal to shoot catholics with crossbows on campus... but they changed that law 50 years ago.

the pub bono owns! so so so sooooo cool. cool enough that it doesnt even need a name. we went to the venue where u2 was discovered, and this bar is right by it. super cool inside.

WE FOUND BURRITOS.

this picture basically captures the whole weekend. i laugh ALOT when im with my friend tim. it was really good to hang with him cuz we dont see eachother a lot in granada.

recognize the song!? fun times with irish live music.

Monday, October 29

Weird Things About Spain

Here are some things I've noticed in Spain that are different than America, or just straight up odd.

1. No dog leashes. People just dont really use them. The dog population as a whole is that much classier than dogs in America. Figures.
2. Old people! They are everywhere. Its one of my favorite things, that older people are more public and out and about. They also smoke cigarettes... which i never really see in the states.
3. Theres this sub culture of hippies/gypsies/grungy people in granada. They all have dreads, wear skater shoes, have a dog and a guitar and smell bad.
4. The traffic lights here give you 80 SECONDS to cross the street! 80 seconds!
5. Customer service. Kinda non-existant. The whole "the customer is always right" things for sure doesnt translate. People are just slower in general, no rush.
6. Lateness. People dgaf about being late. My professors come to class at least 10 minutes late every class. its awesome!
7. Siestas. The mid-day nap is a real thing. Stores, banks, restaurants close from 2-5 and then start back up from 5-8
8. Restaurants wont bring you the check until you ask for it. Which i really like. Its like they dont want you to leave. Its a small example of their priority of people over work, i think :)
9. Granada is kind of like mission viejo squished in to 1/4th the size. Theres endless shops and tapas bars and tiny food places. Tons of them!
10. People. Walk. Everywhere.
11. Door handles are in the center of the door... not the side. They also dont really twist, you just push them. Doors are just tricky in general.
12. Girls look the same whether they are going out for a night on the town or going to class. Basically, they look classy all the damn time. They also NEVER wear backpacks.
13. To say "shh!" you say "tss tss"
14. No minivans.
15. People stare a lot longer here.
16. You can buy alcohol alcohol when youre 15 or 16, as long as you look old enough. Legally, 18. My teacher
said when he was a kid, his parents would send him to go buy alcohol for then when he was 5!
17. Weekends begin on thursdays here, it seems like.
18. Babies are always wrapped up in these sleeping bag things, and their strollers are super weird.
19. To say "dude" you say "tío", which means "aunt/uncle"
20. To say something is really cool you say "es la leche" which means "its the milk" hahaha

Yea! Spaniards are definitely different. I'm still lovin being here! Learning a lot about myself, growing a lot spiritually, becoming a better cook! Theres moments of sadness and homesickness and just moments of totally messing things up, looking so stupid and totally failing, but thats all apart of the experience! Some days I feel really stoked on my spanish skills (like today), other days are super discouraging. Regardless, I have great friends to lean on, really helpful roommates, 2 families that i can go to for a home environment, and a network of new spanish friends!

Its starting to get cold and rain! Crazy. Halloween is this week which should be awesome, and Nov. 7th I'm going to Dublin! Crazy crazy crazy. Heres some pics of granada and stuff....

This is what i see everytime i leave class. i love it! so beautiful on top of that hill.

We all went to the movies! so cheap. turns out its all in spanish..

we've been having a lot of dinner parties! theyre fun and we make a lot of delicious food. on the left is lauren, sydney, and callia on the right. friends from the states!