Kevo y Yo

Here's a cute picture of Kevin and I from a little bar in Granada called Dolce Vida... As for the rest of my pictures, they take about 10 hours to upload on a legitimate photo sharing website, so ya'll are just gonna wait till I get home. :)

¿Por qué no te callas?

Yesterday I took a much needed, three-and-a-half hour long nap.

Kevo left for the airport bus at 5 in the morning after a weekend that can only be described as “excelente”. I hope his hours of trans-oceanic travels were worth the four and a half days he spent here with me in the south of Spain!

We got to do a lot in Granada even though we were only here a day a half. We went out for really good tapas and sangria (or, in Kevin’s case, Fanta). We did some euro shopping – I bought a green sweater, my favorite color. We went to Beers of the World, one of my favorite bars in Granada, and a new one called Dolce Vita where they make over one hundred different shots. We sang karaoke at Little Hannigans. We had chorros con chocolate, tostadas, and café con leche at the best café in town, Café Alhambra, and had fresh squeezed zumo de naranja at one of my new finds, a café called Kroxan. Best of all, Kevin got to meet all my friends here, including our Spanish friend Alberto.

Thursday was, of course, Thanksgiving. We all prettied ourselves up and then followed Jorge through the streets of Granada (Americans on Parade!) to this fancy restaurant where they were to serve us a turkey lunch. The entire study abroad group went, as did Kevo and Mike’s girlfriend Bridget who was also visiting from out of town, all of our teachers and the director of the Centro, Angel. We sat at one long table, spattered with jugs of water, beer, and wine. Pretty typical for Spain. My friends and I ended up down on the teachers’ end of the table, though it was probably for the best as it placed Kiersten and I directly across from our PoliSci professor… (Kevo did a surprisingly good job using his high-school Spanish skills, and insisted on ordering for himself the entire trip. Sometimes I caught him starting up conversations with Jorge’s daughter Olga. So I was impressed.) Lunch started with rolls and slices of Spanish ham and cheese. Then came the mixed salads. Then soup. Then turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing in a blueberry/raspberry sauce. Then an apple tart. Then champagne. Then one of my classmates made a speech. All told, it was a good way to celebrate such a family-oriented holiday while so far away from family.

Speaking of family, after lunch Kevo got to meet the infamous family Ruiz. María Pepa got all dolled up for his arrival and Alfonzo told him all kinds of stories he couldn’t understand. Meanwhile, a documentary special on elephant seals was playing on the flat screen TV. Every once and awhile they would get distracted by a baby seal caught in the surf or a duck sticking his bill into a big, undefined pile of blubber. It was pretty comical. I was really glad Kevo got to meet them, now he can tell you that I’m not making up how short they really are!

I have to say Sevilla and Cordoba was my favorite group-wide weekend excursion, and I’m sad it was our last. Cordoba is a tiny little town that I probably wouldn’t go back to again except that it has a seriously phenomenal Mezquita and is pretty rich in Arab culture. The arab influence in Cordoba is second only to Granada. Also, they do some nice work with silver. However, it all felt pretty touristy to me…although we only speant half a day there so who really knows?

We drove into Sevilla at dusk, and I could tell right away it was amazing. It looks a lot like Granada except cleaner, bigger, and more cosmopolitan. It was very quaint and felt much more European than heavily-Arab Granada. Our hotel was four stars (only the best, says Jorge) and it was in a very cute part of town. We took trips to the Cathedral and the Alcazar, which were both really amazing. Also, we stopped briefly at the Plaza de Espana, where they shot part of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. We spent a lot of time wandering the streets and just admiring how quaint the city is, and it was nice to get back to an honest-to-goodness Starbucks. What's more, we speant a great night in one of the hotel rooms playing perhaps the best game of Picture Down the Lane in history.

Well, I am distracted by all kinds of things so this might be a rambling post... I'll come back to it soon and edit it with more info and such - but for now I thought I'd leave you with this summary of the weekend. Three weeks left and I'm living it up!!!

HelloGoodMorningHappyThanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving family and friends!!!

Kevo made it here safely and we are having fun. Today we had a great turkey lunch with the whole group, Jorge, and all our teachers. I miss home today though! I hope some waffles and ice cream were made and some turkey and green-bean casserole was eaten. Love you!

La lluvia en España...

Yesterday my European plug adapter literally broke off in the socket. Naturally, I did all I could to salvage it, but I just ended up getting electrocuted pretty bad and ruining one of the only two outlets in our classroom... Whoops!

Well, Granada got cold on Friday. Really cold. Like 4-degrees-Celsius cold. This morning I left the apartment all bundled up as usual, and it felt like it might be 90 degrees (Fahrenheit...) outside. I don´t know what´s going on, but I really wish I had Cecily Tynan here in Spain to explain these things to me! Also, I think it´s supposed to rain all weekend. Since it rains here about once a month, I am pretty bummed it has to be on the weekend Kevo is here. Hopefully we´ll be able to dodge most of it by going to Sevilla and Córdoba.

This weekend passed with relative ease. Went to the movies. Went out for tea. Wandered around. On Saturdays, it seems to be a Spanish custom for everyone to exit their homes and slowly amble throughout the streets with no real purpose or direction. Seriously, every Saturday it feels like some fiesta just ended and all the residents of Granada are spilling out onto the streets in all directions. It´s pretty wild, and somewhat unnerving. It takes twice as long to get anywhere, and I would never suggest shopping or going to any sort of cafe on a Saturday. On the other hand, Granada becomes a ghost town on Sunday. Absolutely nothing is open and there is not a soul to be seen on any corner of the city. Here we call this type of behavior a "montaña rusa de emociones".

Yesterday, I registered for my last semester of college. You might expect that after three and a half years and over a hundred credits, I wouldn´t have to worry about getting a seat in the classes I want. I was actually looking forward to my first incident-free registration. In fact, this was too much to hope for. After frantically trying to grab the only available seat left in one of my classes, a ten minute phone call with the UD Honors department, and some last minute re-arranging, I finally got things figured out. As it stands right now, I have class from 9-3 on Tuesday/Thursday and 3:30-5:30 on Wednesday. I am signed up for "Political Sociology", "Inequality, Crime, and Justice", "Intro to Law", and this scary-sounding capstone course for my honors degree called "The Individual in Society". As of now, I´m not signed up for any Spanish classes since I´m finishing the major here. I´d like to take one, but I´m just not motivated in my last semester of college to take yet another boring literature class (especially one called "Cervantes: Don Quixote" that all my friends seem so keen on taking). I might drop Law for an intro level language class, like Chinese or French. Sadly, Meteorology conflicts with one of my other classes. :( This is, of course, tentative. I usually try to avoid Tuesday/Thursday classes, so I´m not too thrilled. On the other hand, I have no class on Monday or Friday, which means I could a) get a somewhat legitimate job, b) travel the world every weekend, or c) get really cheap matinee tickets at the movies. Dad, which option would you pick?

Kevo comes tomorrow! :)

¡Felicidades Colleen!

I just wanted to brag that I am friends with the CAA Player of the Year. Congrats Coll!

http://www.udel.edu/sportsinfo/volleyball/vb07-caaawards.html

When will they stop playing this umbrella song?

Kevo told me I´m not updating this enough, so I promise I´ll try to be better.

Last night we went to the theater, out of the pocket of that far-away institution, the University of Delaware. Two of the literature teachers brought us to see a play called Bajarse en Moro. I think it was supposed to be a comedy, and the cover of the playbill had marijuana leaves all over it. Well, if it was funny or about any sort of drugs I will never know because it was completely unintelligible. I fell asleep for some of the second half, partly due to the unending stream of Spanish slang and partly due to the seriously comfortable plush red seats.

Apparently, Little Sissy comes home from Penn State tomorrow. She would have a full week off for Thanksgiving Break... I am very jealous. Thanksgiving Break is the best weekend of the year to be in the great Cheltenham Township. Family, what are the plans for Thanksgiving this year? Perhaps we can arrange a video chat...

Also, we had a test yesterday in literature that was entirely too long and all essay questions. Boo.

Well, Monday night was Dawn´s 21st birthday party at that infamous Irish Pub, Hannigans. She and Hannigans manager, Gary Hannigan, have been planning it basically since September. It was a classy affair, which means dress and shoes and all those things I love so dearly... We spent a very full day shopping in every shoe store in Granada. Then, I didn´t really get to sleep until 4:00 Tuesday morning, only to wake up at 7:15 for class. So the night was somewhat out of character for this early-to-bed, jeans lover. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a really great night (perhaps the most fun I´ve ever had at Hannigans). Just about everyone from the UD group showed up and got dressed up so that was really cool. Also, some of our friends from the Centro came, as well as Barry, the guy who calls out the questions for pub quiz (although we haven´t been to pub quiz since before the Ireland trip).

Otherwise, the week has been pretty typical... Colder than usual. Still running. Trying in vain to understand our adorable, nearly-forty PoliSci professor. I did teach my friends that "Picture Down the Lane" game that you play with paper, and it´s been a big hit. So, like nerds, we´ve spent some very silly hours playing it. Also, I´ve become a regular at this little cafe near school called Hicori that makes absolutely phenomenal tostadas. Mom and Dad (or should I say Zorra and Zorro?), I will take you there when you come.

Speaking of visitors, Kevo gets here Wednesday and I seriously cannot wait! I don´t have too many definitive plans, but I think churros con chocolate will definitely be in the arrangement... Kaitlyn, are you jealous?

Life of Pi

I just finished Life of Pi and am extremely disturbed...

Quedan cinco semanas

Life in Granada has been pretty routine as of late (in a good way, of course).

My classes are...less than stellar. My PoliSci professor has such a heavy Andalusian accent that I sometimes wonder if he is actually speaking a language other than Spanish. We were learning about Hitler for two days, then jumped to the March 11th terrorist attacks in Madrid. He may have somehow made a connection between the two, but if so I couldn´t understand it. Spanish literature is pretty dry as well. Surprisingly enough, History is my favorite class (though just because we have a great professor). The thing about history in Spain is that it dates back over a thousand years. 1776 is pretty modern as far as Europe is concerned. I never realized how young the U.S. is. The Alhambra alone dates back to the year 900, if not earlier.

Anyway, I don´t have class today so I spent the morning shopping for cold weather attire. I´ve learned is that it is absolutely NOT okay to walk out the house in a sweatshirt and sneakers anywhere in Europe. So I´m trying the sweater look. As for shoes...the jury´s still out. Finding a good pair of closed-toed shoes that won´t give me blisters is a feat worthy of several Olympic medals. Still, I won´t rest until I find some. If I wanted to be really "euro" I could buy some knee-high, heeled, brown swede boots with a fold over top and buckles/tassels all the way down to the ankles. But you know, then hell might freeze over, so I better not.

Otherwise, I spend most of my time wandering the city, reading (so close to finishing Life of Pi at Michael´s insistence), or catching up on The Office (though I´m apparently missing big things on SVU).

A lot of my friends are taking trips out of town next weekend, and so naturally I am investigating a way to do the same. I´d love to go up to the north of Spain, but I may only make it as far as Salamanca. I only have a few weekends left so I am trying to take advantage of them.

Also, I am officially signed up for Winter Session at UD, which means I´ll be back in Delaware on January 2nd. The thought of Newark in January is enough to make me never want to leave Granada...though I am pretty excited to be back at the house. What´s more, the impending end of this semester is like a ball of anxiety constantly in the pit of my stomach. Do I seriously only have until May before I am forced to become a real person? I´m not ready... This semester went way to fast.

Honestly, there´s still a lot to look forward to. Like Kevo´s visit over Thanksgiving, and then Mom and Dad in December. So I´m pretty excited for the coming weeks - I just hope they don´t end as fast as the past ten have.

I´m gonna cut right to the chase: do you like magic?

Brian Plunkett, this entry is for you (in the style of your other favorite blog...):

I keep wanting
to update
this blog for you all

but every time
i sit down to write
i cannot think
of any
words

María Pepa´s pueblo
Cacín
was so amazing
only 500 residents
all seemingly related to her
we went to an All Saints Day
party
in a big public garage
with every one else in the town
and ate toasted chestnuts
and danced

Madrid was the NYC
of Spain
dirty, overwhelming, cultural...
the art was its
redeaming quality
The Prado, Picasso´s Guernica, El Greco...
the nightlife could have been better
the hotel was four stars and amazing

Toledo is the Edinburgh of Spain
I would live there

Sooooo, that´s the best I can do for now folks. I´ll update with a real entry when my muse returns. Abrazos!