1/6/2011
When I first arrived in Spain and walked off that plane, it still didn’t feel like I was in another country. Immigration was easy to go through and thankfully they didn’t lose my luggage. There was a group of us taking the bus from Madrid to Granada, but since a lot of us were on different flights and none of us had phone yet, it was hard for us to find each other at first. We for sure looked like tourists. Also, it took us about twenty minutes to find the bus and we kept walking around the same spots over and over again in the airport because we had no idea where we were going. Three bus trips, 17 euros, and 7 hours later, we finally arrived in Granada. The taxi man (in his tiny European taxi that almost wasn’t able to fit mine and my roommate’s luggage) dropped us off at the entrance to our apartment and we were so excited to finally be “home”. We took the elevator, about the size of a bathroom stall, up to the 8th floor. It had a wooden door you had to open before getting inside and it smelled like burnt rubber. Marieta (our host mom) greeted us with besos (kisses), one on each cheek. I never knew they did that in Spain and thought it was only in France, but I was corrected and told that in Spain they do two kisses every time you greet or leave someone and in France they do three. When Marieta took me and roommates outside on the terrace, we were speechless. It was so beautiful words couldn't even explain how amazing the view was.
Our apartment is in the center of the city of Granada so we could see everything! her father also built the apartment building we were in and we were living in the biggest apartment. We were told that our family had a pet hamster that I was really excited about, but when we asked where it was, Marieta told us it died. :( We have a bidet in our bathroom and I have yet to use it but I really want to, except I feel awkward asking how to use it because of what purpose it serves.
That night we explored the city and of course because it was our first night, we got lost. Typical tourists. We asked this man to take a picture of us in front of this fountain and it was a bad idea for two reasons: 1. He didn’t know how to work it. 2. and as we were walking I didn’t notice this little lift in the road and tripped. When we were walking around and everything looked like it was taken straight out of a movie because it looked too perfect. We didn’t really know what anything was, but if something looked pretty or cute we took a picture of it, regardless of its’ significance. The City is built on a hill and there are different levels (which means there’s a lot of walking up hill) of streets, and locations of places and houses. When you drive up to the levels you go in a circle until you reach the top and then back down again. The streets are made of cobblestone and are tiny. The sidewalk is separated by these little poles on each side of the street that I kept running in to the first night and didn’t understand why these random things were there until someone explained it to me. You can fit about one person, maybe two but that’s pushing it, when you walk on the sidewalk. The streets confuse me very much and have yet to figure out how people understand which way to go to get to their destination.
Our first meal that night was tortilla Espanol. It’s a tortilla combined with eggs and potatoes. I really liked it and there wasn’t a crumb left on my plate. We went to bed fairly early because we hadn’t had much sleep except for a little on the five hour bus ride that day. It still hadn’t hit me yet that I was in another country and would be living here for the next five months.
Our apartment is in the center of the city of Granada so we could see everything! her father also built the apartment building we were in and we were living in the biggest apartment. We were told that our family had a pet hamster that I was really excited about, but when we asked where it was, Marieta told us it died. :( We have a bidet in our bathroom and I have yet to use it but I really want to, except I feel awkward asking how to use it because of what purpose it serves.
1/7/2011
After a long day of orientation and a tour of the city with our CEA leaders, we went shopping. The two most important things I needed to buy were a straightener and a phone. The place where we bought our phones was called Movistar and they had a two for one deal. However, it took forever and when I would ask the young man questions, he respond while laughing. I’m pretty sure he knew I was American due to my incorrect spanish. The stores where people shopped were right outside on the streets. People were everywhere and every store was crowded. This day was the first day of the cities sales, or in Spanish, rebajas, so everything was fairly cheap, except for my straightener. When the lady told me it was 40 euro I decided not to go with it because I thought that was too expensive. When she told me she’d give it to me for 35 euro, I bargained for 30. When I told my senora this later at dinner she said that was very uncommon in the stores. This made sense to me later because when I went to plug the straightener in that night to use it. I came to find that the plug didn’t fit in the electrical thing because it was made for China. But anyways I took my first shower there that day. If you’ve seen the episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond” where they’re in Italy and Raymond takes a shower, that is the exact shower that we have. You have to hold the shower head in your hand to spray on yourself, there’s a tub that you stand in, and no curtain. I’m used to my long hot steamy showers where I don’t have to keep turning the shower on and off every time I need to rinse, so this was an experience. We get to shower once a day either in the morning or during the day, but not at night. We also, had our first siesta this day. A siesta is when the city shuts down and almost every store is closed. Everyone has a big lunch with their family and then takes a nap. This is between the hours of 2 and 5. Everything opens back up after. We all met up at the Correo and went to our first tapas bar. (When you say it, it sounds like topless but I promise it’s not). A tapas bar is where you order a drink and then get a free tapa which is like a mini appetizer. The drink only costs 2 euro which is about almost three dollars in American money. Best deal in the entire world! Our first beer we tried here was Cruzacampo. It didn’t really taste like anything special, beer is beer to me. We then ordered a fruity drink called tinto de verano.
We went to our first club that night, Mae West. The cover charge was only 10 euro, but you get two free drinks with it (which are normally 7 euro each) so I don’t really know how these clubs make money off of that because were saving money. We met a lot of Granaians, and surprisingly a lot of them knew English pretty well. They were able to help us a lot with our Spanish and I really enjoyed talking with them. The night life is so different than it is in Chicago, these clubs are open until 7 in the morning and they are packed. They played a lot of American music like Kesha and Lady Gaga. People were definitely able to pick us Americans out of the crowd when we were the only ones singing every word correctly to these songs.
1/8/2011
We weren’t sure if in Spain they liked to do nothing and sleep in the next day after going out like we do in America. We learned they did, which was great because we were completely fine with that. However, we did make time to go shopping again that day. We found a store that had cute boots for only 10 euro. I think I was the most excited for this because I was wearing my flats that day and they were cutting up the back of my feet and I could barely walk. Completely forgetting how much more we walk here than in American, I was very uncomfortable the whole time until I bought my new brown ankle boots. I pulled an American move by sitting on the side of the street and changing my shoes. My friends surrounded and tried to block me so we didn’t draw too much attention to ourselves because I’m pretty sure that’s considered inappropriate to do in public, along with yawning, and stretching, and taking your shoes off in restaurants and cafes. Except I don’t think we take our shoes off in public places back in America, at least I don’t and people that I know don’t, but the people here think we do. We needed to buy towels to shower with and my towel cost the same as my new shoes. I was really glad about that, except not really because that’s almost thirteen dollars in America. Way too expensive for a towel, but it’s been put to good use. It’s really big, bright, and yellow. Me gusta. We went to another tapas bar that night, but this time we also brought our own wine. It’s not allowed, but we did it anyway and filled up our glasses. However, we had to make sure we all drank our drinks at the same time so our server didn’t notice the difference in the color of the drinks. The wine isn’t in a bottle, but in a box. It looks like a big grown up juice box. And the best part, a box of that is only1,75 euro. Muy borrato. We went to a different club that night, Granada Diez. Again they played a lot of American music. Maybe even more at this place. I liked this club better because 1. it was closer and 2. it was more fun and we didn’t leave until 7 in the morning. We again met a lot of people and we also learned that it’s not as intimidating to talk in Spanish when you have a few drinks in your system. Me and my roommates saw our little sister there and we were able to meet her friends and hang out with her for a little. When we finally went to bed, the sun was coming up. Best weekend of my life so far.
We weren’t sure if in Spain they liked to do nothing and sleep in the next day after going out like we do in America. We learned they did, which was great because we were completely fine with that. However, we did make time to go shopping again that day. We found a store that had cute boots for only 10 euro. I think I was the most excited for this because I was wearing my flats that day and they were cutting up the back of my feet and I could barely walk. Completely forgetting how much more we walk here than in American, I was very uncomfortable the whole time until I bought my new brown ankle boots. I pulled an American move by sitting on the side of the street and changing my shoes. My friends surrounded and tried to block me so we didn’t draw too much attention to ourselves because I’m pretty sure that’s considered inappropriate to do in public, along with yawning, and stretching, and taking your shoes off in restaurants and cafes. Except I don’t think we take our shoes off in public places back in America, at least I don’t and people that I know don’t, but the people here think we do. We needed to buy towels to shower with and my towel cost the same as my new shoes. I was really glad about that, except not really because that’s almost thirteen dollars in America. Way too expensive for a towel, but it’s been put to good use. It’s really big, bright, and yellow. Me gusta. We went to another tapas bar that night, but this time we also brought our own wine. It’s not allowed, but we did it anyway and filled up our glasses. However, we had to make sure we all drank our drinks at the same time so our server didn’t notice the difference in the color of the drinks. The wine isn’t in a bottle, but in a box. It looks like a big grown up juice box. And the best part, a box of that is only1,75 euro. Muy borrato. We went to a different club that night, Granada Diez. Again they played a lot of American music. Maybe even more at this place. I liked this club better because 1. it was closer and 2. it was more fun and we didn’t leave until 7 in the morning. We again met a lot of people and we also learned that it’s not as intimidating to talk in Spanish when you have a few drinks in your system. Me and my roommates saw our little sister there and we were able to meet her friends and hang out with her for a little. When we finally went to bed, the sun was coming up. Best weekend of my life so far.
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