Week 1 in Granada

Mercedes

The bus ride was long and we were all really tired by the time we got to Granada. We pulled up, and our host families were all waiting there for us. Ours was this little old lady named Mercedes, and she seemed super excited to see us. She helped us get our bags in, and we saw that we both had our own rooms, and a balcony! Then we had dinner. There was so much food, and she basically just set out everything and let us take whatever we wanted. She asked us what we wanted for breakfast the next day and we bonded over the fact that we are both zombies when we don't have coffee in the morning. She promised me that she always made coffee anyways, so it would always be there. She loves to cook. She used to be a nurse but now she lives alone and her only job is to host American students, so she really enjoys the company. I knew right away that living with Mercedes was going to be nice.

Breakfast the next day was good as well. We get to take whatever we want from the pantry and fridge, and there's always cereal, milk, chocolate mix, tea, coffee, bread, butter, jam, yogurt, fruit, cheese, and more. Basically living with Mercedes is perfect because of the food situation. We know we won't ever go hungry!

First day

The first day of class was pretty slow. We didn't do all that much, just started talking about sustainable development in Spain. However, Kelly, our professor, was super cool. She is really sweet, she seems to want us to enjoy ourselves while we're here, she's happy to recommend tapas and more, and she lets her students call her by her first name which isn't something I'm at all used to.

Monday after school we started the project that would be due Thursday, knowing that the rest of the week would be a lot busier. This meant talking to our host mom and random Spaniards about the economic crisis, which was a bit too much of a throwback to those Mexico documentaries for my taste. However, it was smart of us to get started, because I didn't realize just how busy the rest of the week would be.

Alhambra and Flamenco Show

Tuesday morning we went to the Alhambra instead of normal class. It was a Muslim piece of architecture that was later used and slightly changed by the Spanish Catholic kings, like Charles V. It was impressive, but not as impressive as I had built it up in my head to be. The patterns on the walls and ceilings, and the tiling around the palace, are all very intricate, but at the same time when seen from a few steps back it is all very much the same in its patterns and coloring. I won't say I didn't enjoy it, but it was very, very hot, and the thought of not being able to come home to air conditioning was making me sad. We learned quickly the first night that in Granada, they don't agree with the idea of air conditioning. Our host mom walks around in night gowns made from bed sheets and they open up all the windows and doors, but air conditioning is expensive and they believe it makes you sick. As a result, most people who live in Granada leave during the months of July and August for the beach, which our host mom will be doing after we leave. Anyways, I digress. I did enjoy the Alhambra, but my favorite part was the Generalife, and my favorite part of that was just the pretty gardens leading up to it. The pictures are below.

That night we went to a Flamenco show and dinner. We had these amazing friend eggplant things and I absolutely must learn how to recreate them. The show was in a cave, which made the whole atmosphere really interesting and neat, and the dancers were really really good. That being said, my favorite part was the lead female vocalist. She had a deep, gravelly voice. It wasn't beautiful in the way I would normally imagine, but it was one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard. There was only one male dancer, and he was pretty entertaining. He was very talented, but it was funny to me to watch him making eyes at the audience during the whole performance. Most of the dancers other than him didn't try to smile or look any particular way. Their facial expressions never looked forced. Sometimes they looked like the intense movements they were doing hurt. Sometimes they smiled but it was natural. And sometimes they looked sad. It was like they could hear things in the music that the audience couldn't hope to hear.

Intercambio

Wednesday we had to listen to some professors talk about the environment for a reeeeally long time for part of the day, but we also did something kind of fun. We had an "intercambio," and exchange, with some students studying English. We had the chance to ask them questions for our project, and they got to ask us questions from a list from their teacher. It just made me so happy to hear students on about the level of English as we are with Spanish. Yeah, they weren't fluent, and neither are we, but it reminds me that we aren't all that bad. 

That evening was pretty boring, since we just had to finish our project before it was due on Thursday. For a two week class, two projects and a test was kind of a lot, but it wasn't as bad as Mexico, just busy with the traveling on top of that.

Off to Morocco!

Thursday all we had to do was present our projects in class and then listen to a bit of a lesson, but then we got to go home and get ready for Morocco! Unfortunately, we also had to turn in our papers from Mexico, and lots of people hadn't finished. There was no end to the complaining in our Mexico Groupme, and while I don't blame them for being bummed about having to do the essays during the next study abroad, it was also surprising how many people just completely procrastinated.