Granada at last!

Caught on camera by Brittany while inside the Palace of Charles V at the Alhambra

FINALLY!  At last I can tell you about my life so far in Granada, even though I have been here now for three weeks!  But as I mentioned before, it turns out that blogging and internet usage in general is a much more difficult and time consuming process than I thought it would be - granted this is probably for the best.  But blah blah blah, wah wah wah, enough about the internet...

So here I am! Granada!  How long I have been waiting to take in the view of the Sierra Nevada, to enjoy scrumptious tapas served free with any drink, to walk through the ornately decorated halls of the Alhambra, etc, etc... Needless to say, I've done my research, I've waited patiently, and I've set my expectations high.  And they have certainly been exceeded!!!!  (Can you tell I like the place?)  But let's start from the beginning...

Traveling down the highway from Toledo to Granada I began to get butterflies in my stomach as our bus whisked through the countryside.  The road to Andalucía is nothing but the flat flat FLAT land of Castilla-La Mancha where the view is mostly one of yellow or brown earth covered by rows and rows of orange and olive trees.  Little pueblos pop up now and then and are usually accompanied by a trail of modern windmills (I must admit that I became very excited when we rounded one bend and finally saw a hill full of antique Spanish windmills.  Yes, of course I thought of Don Quixote and jolly Sancho).  But the windmills, flat plains, and yellow earth disappeared quite quickly when we passed into Andalucían territory.  Immediately we were surrounded by steep cliff sides that suddenly appaered out of nowhere as our bus went winding through what I believe was the Sierra Morena.  The butterflies multiplied in my stomach as I thought about meeting my host family, and the curvy roads didn´t help much, but in no time we were in Granada and pulling up to the bus stop where a large group of Spanish women were huddled together, fanning themselves in the afternoon heat and straining their necks to see into the bus.

They had warned us about this moment: about the huddle of mothers hovering around the bus stop in anticipation (feeling just as nervous as we were) who would tackle us upon exiting the bus and smother us with kisses.  I was ready.  I was used to the kisses.  But I was still nervous.  However, when my roommates and I were called to the front of the bus, no mother appeared!  Instead, our host brother, Johnny, and his sister, Omayra, and her boyfriend, Ismael, appeared from the crowd and whisked us off, so we were spared the smothering and kissing, oh well!

As we drove through Granada I was overwhelmed with mixed emotions of excitement and fear, until we hit, THE HILL.  My wonderful host family lives in a charming townhouse with a great view of the city, but unfortunately, a great view requires some elevation, and thus in our case it requires THE HILL or "la cuesta," which is quite simply oen of the steepest streets I have ever seen, and also the only way to get to my house.  Hooray.  "But don't worry," Johnny assured us as he saw our eyes widen and our jaws drop, "there's always the taxi or the bus if you don't want to climb the hill after your 30 minute walk from downtown..." Fear of the hill was soon forgotten for the time being when we pulled up to the house, climbed the stairs and met our house-mother, Maria (sweet, boisterous, difficult-to-get-a-word-in-edgewise Maria).  More kisses.  Then, after everything was in place, Johnny took us on a walking tour of Granada to end the day during which we got see the down town and take in our first view of the Alhambra from below.  So finally I was in Granada, settled in with a wonderful family, already slightly familiar with the city (at least I knew where to find the best ice cream in town - which was the first place Michelle Obama visited when she arrived in the city only a few weeks earlier).

Now day two:
Just kidding! I won't put you through 21+ days of play-by-play, so here's a summary (to the best of my abilities, as I know I am a bit long-winded).

These past few weeks have been a wonderful mix of Spanish review and exploration.  Class for the month of September (which takes me 25 minutes to walk to and 30 minutes to walk back home, because of the THE HILL) is an intensive review, which only lasts for four hours in the morning (9am-1pm), providing a completely free afternoon and evening.  Afternoons are usually the same: eat and sleep (so the saying goes, "when in Rome, appreciate the Spanish siesta," right?)  and then evenings are when everyone heads to the streets as the day has cooled off and it is time for tapas!!  I certainly make it a point to be home in time for lunch and dinner, as Maria is a fabulous cook (I am truly fortunate to keep living in houses with such good cooks!) but in between meals I do my best to get out and see new parts of the city.  Coming from a small town, and a small campus, I was worried about the size of Granada, but all those fears are far-gone as Granada proves to be a very navigable and safe city.  Everything is within walking distance (30 minutes tops) and being a college town like Madison, the city and the people are very friendly and welcoming to us international students.  I have walked through the Albaicín where the streets are narrow and the houses, or Carmens, are all white-washed and overflowing with flora from their hidden gardens.  I have ambled through the Moroccan-like streets filled with hookah bars and artesan shops; and I have tried coffee, tea, tapas and sangria at many a café and bar.  In these past few weeks I have also been to the Alhambra twice (separate blog coming soon for this one), I have watched classic flamenco in the caves of Granada (El Sacramonte), traveled to the beach, Nerja, for a dip in the Mediterranean, watched 6 bulls meet their fate at a bullfight (Corrido de los Toros), enjoyed an outdoor concert for the local Granada sympony under the stars and soft lighting of the nearby Catedral, and attended what I thought would be the classic opera of Figaro, but ended up being a modern theatrical rendition in Spanish with no operatic singing whatsoever.

Up and coming: My final week of class for my intensive month, which I will be sad to finish, as I have truly enjoyed my class made up of students from the U.S., Germany, Israel, Mali and Jordan.  After my exams, I will be leaving for a long weekend of travels to Madrid, Segovia, Salamanca and back again.  Then it will be time to start my actual trimester classes with the subjects of: Islamic Culture in Spain, Flamenco and Traditional Music, Spanish Art, The Female Image in Spanish Literature, and a required class of Spanish Grammar and Writing.   And of course, there remains much, much more to explore!

Oh yes, and more blogging!

¡Nos vemos!

With my roommates, Madeline and Brittany, at the Alhambra

Enjoying a Granadan classic: Churros and hot chocolate with Loni, Lexi, and Brittany at Plaza Bib-Rambla

View from the front door of my homestay: Albaicín and the Sierra Nevada

View of Granada below from the terrace of my homestay

Typical street in the Albaicín, the oldest neighborhood in Granada

Corrido de los Toros - Bullfight in Granada! It was an amazing experience, but I still have mixed feelings about it, like many a Spaniard ; )

I did everything I could to not think about "Ferdinand the Bull" (this one is for you, grandma)