Hello everyone!
So today I just got back from Granada and I had such a great time. I have to admit that I am a little bit on the side of exhausted right now due to the fact that our group came back from going to a discoteca in the city center at around 3:30 in the morning, but I am happy all the same. I have been trying to post pictures of the trip, but since my internet connection here is next to nothing, I am going to have to wait till my señora gets it installed, so I apologize for the delay in pictures!
Our first day we went to El Generalife and to the Alhambra which were amazing and just as awe-inspiring as my first time there in June 2005. We had an excellent tour-guide who was very knowledgeable about both buildings, but man, there is only so much information I can retain. I also have to admit that during our lecture around the buildings, half the time my friends and I were taking pictures of ourselves pretending to fall into the fountains or dancing in the sultan's mistress's room.
Before our visit to the Alhambra we ate a buffet lunch in our hotel. It was incredible! In fact, it was so good that Calida and I pulled a "scripps-move" on the buffet and decided to bring some fruit and bread back to our room in case we got shaky with hunger later. Though we were successful the first time around, Calida wanted to get one apple for the road down to the Alhambra, yet while she was about to leave the eating area, a man appeared from behind a wall and demanded that "THIS IS NOT A SUPERMARKET!!!" This definitely turned into the joke of our trip.
At night time we ate at a tapas bar that was called "La Bella y El Bestia", (Beauty and the Beast), and despite the kind of awkward name it was so good and cheap! I ordered a "tinto de verano", for 2 euro and it immediately came with sandwich tapas- FREE! So I ended up having another one with a second sandwich, (which our waiter was very surprised by, but come on, I was hungry!), and spend only 4 euro on dinner!
We went dancing afterwards at a club called Granada 10 which appeared to be a converted theatre and played great music! I have to say that my favorite song here thus far is "Show me love" by DJ Antoine, the remix. It came on last night right when Calida and I and our friend from the program were all dancing on top of the speakers in the front of the club and we went absolutely BESERK!! Talk about a great night!
Today we went to the Albacín which is the Granada equivalent for our Barrio de Santa Cruz in Sevilla, (the typical, white-washed houses on tiny winding streets with window boxes full of flowers, according to my teacher "just what the tourists expect"). At the highest point of the Albacín there was this curved monument that was a building of some sort that all these children were climbing up. Of course, I see these little kids taking a running start and climbing up with ease that I think I can do the same, yet alas, leather boots with a flat sole are not the climbing shoes of choice! This one kid taught me his tactic of how to move up it with a foot-hole, but I just couldn't do it! Then after about five people from my own program were successful in climbing up, one of my friends grabbed me from the top and another pushed me up, and man, you should see my smile as I am sitting on top of that building after the struggle that I had experienced! I'll post these pictures soon, they are gems, (yet humiliating ones!).
We went shopping and I bought a Moroccan painting of the word "peace" in Arabic and French, and the best purchase of the trip: HENNA!! Three of my friends already have they hands covered with designs and I did my own on the shaking bus which magically didn't turn out to be a complete disaster!
More to come later!
Take care everyone!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Yikes...
Dolores, my host mom picked me up today. Nice woman, but smelled like a tobacco factory and already has made fun of me for not eating red meat. I get to my room and there is a huge porcelain doll on my bed. If I stay here longer than a week I am going to have to hide it in the closet!!!
I am being optimistic, but I am going to stick around for a week and then hit the road... probably... I am not the biggest fan of that doll nor all the disney figurines and paintings around!!!
I am being optimistic, but I am going to stick around for a week and then hit the road... probably... I am not the biggest fan of that doll nor all the disney figurines and paintings around!!!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
El Corte Ingles has nice hospital facilities...
I have been staying with my friend Lola for 3 days now and I am reminded how much I love Madrid. There is so much action everywhere, but let me tell you all, I maybe experienced too much exitement in one day yesterday afternoon.
I almost should not be sharing this in public due to my slight humiliation, but it does make a good story...
After eating a lengthy lunch, I decided to knock off a few chores and headed down to the Corte Ingles to purchase a new spanish movil. What I didn´t know is that now because of new laws you have to present your passport, which I had left at home, so alas, I headed back home, then came all the way out again to the Corte on Castellana.
El Corte Ingles is a huge shopping center that has everything from groceries, clothes, and as I found out yesterday, even a health clinic! Who woulda known!
So since I was still feeling a little off from jet-lag, I found myself standing by the cash register as a man was trying to type in my passport number into his computer, with which to my dismay he couldnt find EEUU under countries, and as I am getting a little impatient, I find myself losing my vision, and BAM before I know it I am on the ground at the Movistar counter in the middle of the mall. I had about 15 workers helping me, gave me sugar and water, and then 10 minutes flew by and I had about 3 of those same workers lead me to the health clinic on the 4th floor. And man, was it complete! The doctor checked me for everything, and I was fine, except for a scrap across my right eye lid. It could not be placed better, and looks faintly Indiana Jones-ish! I basically ran out of the store hoping that nobody would recognize me from my fainting act. I came home by bus, which was probably not the best idea, and with luck found Lola driving down the street and caught her just in time to hop in the car with her. While she was worried, we both agreed that it made a pretty good story!
In fact, this might beat my experience during my stay in Conil de la Frontera in ´06 when I burned my leg on my host brother´s vespa, which I turned into my Scripps College application essay! Man, I have tons of topics to write about now!
But enough with the fainting. Last night I had the fortune of meeting up with some friends, including a girl who I had met 2 years ago in Madrid while taking a Spanish course. We went out to a bar near Tirso de Molina that had a Japanese theme. I had no idea that suspenders were such a trend here! And nothing could make me laugh more than how much the club clients loved singing to Black Eyed Peas.
I leave for Sevilla on Tuesday with my friend Calida who also goes to Scripps, and I shall write more when I get there!
I almost should not be sharing this in public due to my slight humiliation, but it does make a good story...
After eating a lengthy lunch, I decided to knock off a few chores and headed down to the Corte Ingles to purchase a new spanish movil. What I didn´t know is that now because of new laws you have to present your passport, which I had left at home, so alas, I headed back home, then came all the way out again to the Corte on Castellana.
El Corte Ingles is a huge shopping center that has everything from groceries, clothes, and as I found out yesterday, even a health clinic! Who woulda known!
So since I was still feeling a little off from jet-lag, I found myself standing by the cash register as a man was trying to type in my passport number into his computer, with which to my dismay he couldnt find EEUU under countries, and as I am getting a little impatient, I find myself losing my vision, and BAM before I know it I am on the ground at the Movistar counter in the middle of the mall. I had about 15 workers helping me, gave me sugar and water, and then 10 minutes flew by and I had about 3 of those same workers lead me to the health clinic on the 4th floor. And man, was it complete! The doctor checked me for everything, and I was fine, except for a scrap across my right eye lid. It could not be placed better, and looks faintly Indiana Jones-ish! I basically ran out of the store hoping that nobody would recognize me from my fainting act. I came home by bus, which was probably not the best idea, and with luck found Lola driving down the street and caught her just in time to hop in the car with her. While she was worried, we both agreed that it made a pretty good story!
In fact, this might beat my experience during my stay in Conil de la Frontera in ´06 when I burned my leg on my host brother´s vespa, which I turned into my Scripps College application essay! Man, I have tons of topics to write about now!
But enough with the fainting. Last night I had the fortune of meeting up with some friends, including a girl who I had met 2 years ago in Madrid while taking a Spanish course. We went out to a bar near Tirso de Molina that had a Japanese theme. I had no idea that suspenders were such a trend here! And nothing could make me laugh more than how much the club clients loved singing to Black Eyed Peas.
I leave for Sevilla on Tuesday with my friend Calida who also goes to Scripps, and I shall write more when I get there!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
why "ciruela"?
Hello everyone!
You might be wondering, "Andy, what in the world is "ciruela"?
Ever since the beginning of Lola, (my "spanish sister" from Madrid), and my friendship, we have been constantly dubbing each other nicknames. While "Andreilla" and "Lolailo" were basically our titles for one another during her stay with my family in 2005-2006, we quickly changed to other names when she discovered my incapability to pronounce her cousins name "Eugenio" and plum "ciruela" with the proper accent during our vacation in Egypt.
I just can't do it. I don't know if it is the strong "g" sound in "Eugenio" or the mix of "zeta" with the slew of vowels in "ciruela" but I sound plain ridiculous. Since "Eugenio" would be one interesting nickname for a girl, "ciruela", or "plum" stuck, as did "jewelry" for Lola due to the difficulty in pronouncing the "j".
Of course I want to adopt a crazy sevillano accent. Of course I want to form new relationships. Of course I want to stuff myself to the brim with pan con tomate y pulpo, but man, it would be the cherry on top of the cake to come back being able to pronounce my own nickname.
First stop........ Madrid!
You might be wondering, "Andy, what in the world is "ciruela"?
Ever since the beginning of Lola, (my "spanish sister" from Madrid), and my friendship, we have been constantly dubbing each other nicknames. While "Andreilla" and "Lolailo" were basically our titles for one another during her stay with my family in 2005-2006, we quickly changed to other names when she discovered my incapability to pronounce her cousins name "Eugenio" and plum "ciruela" with the proper accent during our vacation in Egypt.
I just can't do it. I don't know if it is the strong "g" sound in "Eugenio" or the mix of "zeta" with the slew of vowels in "ciruela" but I sound plain ridiculous. Since "Eugenio" would be one interesting nickname for a girl, "ciruela", or "plum" stuck, as did "jewelry" for Lola due to the difficulty in pronouncing the "j".
Of course I want to adopt a crazy sevillano accent. Of course I want to form new relationships. Of course I want to stuff myself to the brim with pan con tomate y pulpo, but man, it would be the cherry on top of the cake to come back being able to pronounce my own nickname.
First stop........ Madrid!
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