shaking hands is awkward

I am so sorry for how long it has taken me to update...I had some tech issues, and as the very technologically inept person as I am, it took me quite a while to be able to post an update again.

Today was the first day of classes at IES for the second semester. The new group arrived on the 27th of January, so I still had more than a week since my last post of studying and such before I met everyone. Study I did, as well as go to choir and other things like ice skating and hanging out with my friends Julia (from Russia) and Pablo, David, Marta, Ana, Samuel, Quique, and others. It has been really nice to find a really good group of people who are so welcoming. Ice skating was a lot of fun, though Spaniards on ice is kind of an oxymoron...it was pretty dangerous. I did more work at IES with Estrella, Maite, and Silvia - three really sweet Spanish girls.

Things are kind of a blur, but I did meet everyone their first full day in Granada bright and early in the morning. After five months in Spain, shaking hands and saying 'pleased to meet you' felt so foreign...very distant and awkward. I suppose my sense of personal space and such is becoming more Spanish than I had imagined. Anyway, the new group seems really cool. There are about 15 fewer kids this time around...so about 65 of us in total, only 10 being guys. Like last semester, they come from all over the place, including some who did not grow up in the States - one in France, one in Thailand, and one for a couple years in Singapore. It has been interesting watching people adjust, see things for the first time, etc....and it's funny hearing all the Spaniards slowing down and trying to speak more clearly so as not to completely overwhelm the newcomers. While they were starting their orientation classes, the Spanish girls and I took care of making passport copies and such - which was actually a lot of fun with them. I remembered while we were working that Carmen asked me to let her know if any of the boys were 'guapos' and if the girls were guapa. When I mentioned that to the chicas, Jose came running in and was like 'Who do you think is guapo, Aubrey?' All I can say is I love Spain.

Unfortunately, as everyone was really meeting everyone, I was studying while not working. I do not think I have ever been so stressed going into an exam as I was for my exam this past Tuesday. I think the fact that it composes 80% of my grade accounts for much of that stress, but it was also tough studying as much as I did and feeling like the Spanish vocabulary just was not sticking. My professor said she would meet me for office hours the day before the exam to go over any doubts. Needless to say I was not very happy when I went and waited for two hours for her not to show up. The week prior, I did have David as a study buddy of sorts and I did study hard. I went blank for most of one of the five questions, but I wrote for the whole two and a half hours, so hopefully that counts for something. I guess the only thing to do is wait and find out what happened.

The Saturday before the exam, we had an IES trip to la Alpujarra. La Alpujarra is a region of small villages in the Sierra Nevada that is very isolated from the city and absolutely beautiful. It is about halfway between the city of Granada and the province's beaches. Going there felt like stepping back in time with all the traditional crafts of rugs, candies, honey, baskets, and other foods (everyone asked me if I had tried the ham...apparently it is good there). Not too long before the trip, I watched the movie Al Sur de Granada which takes place in the Alpujarra, and I am pretty sure that one plaza that appears in the movie was one we walked through, which made me very happy. We did an 11-km walk through the mountains walking through a few of the villages. It was an amazingly perfect day with lots of sun and the ideal temperature. I would go back in a heartbeat - it strikes me as such a simple and beautiful place...definitely a recommended destination if you ever go to Granada.

After the excursion, I went to Mass since it was later than usual. I arrived alone for the first time and the priest called me over so he could finally formally meet me. He asked me if I was Spanish. No. German? No. English? No...American. After telling me he has met a few Americans before we chatted for a little bit...and the next question I remember was, So your husband, is he Spanish or American? I was a bit taken aback by the presumption, and assured him that at 20 years old I was focusing on my studies and not married. I have been told I strike people as more mature than 20...people have guessed 24-25 as my age for some reason. I went out afterwards as kind of my last hurrah before a hardcore 2 and a half days of studying cramming for the exam. It was funny because a lot of people asked me where Pablo was at Mass because I had come with him the 2 times before and he did not go...all of a sudden I am supposed to know where he is all the time. David thought it was funny, too, that when Mass started almost as soon as he came in, I said that we were just waiting for him to arrive. He is a good guy. I really feel like I am making wonderful new friends, and I also think an added benefit has been that my Spanish has been improving even more rapidly. It has been a lot of fun, and I have met some of the most genuinely caring people I could ever imagine.

After my exam was done, I decided a good way to celebrate might be to go to Ben&Jerry's...except they didn't have ice cream. For me, that kind of defeats the purpose of Ben&Jerry's, but when in Spain... I think Carmen was a bit worried about me before the exam because I was just buried in the books. I was so burned out after it all, I just went home and kind of crashed. It has since been much easier for me to relax and meet the new group. I have jumped right into other new things, too, though. At 9am the next morning, I had my internship interview at the Biblioteca de Andalucía (the Andalusian Library) which was basically an orientation of what types of work I might be doing and then a tour of the place. I am really, really excited about working there. After that, I went to IES to do some work that had been dependent on materials we had been waiting for that were finally ready. While I was preparing everyone's library cards, my Spanish professor from last semester, Fabiola, came in and invited me to get coffee with her. She is so knowledgeable about so much and I love just chatting with her, which is exactly what we did over 'real coffee' - about politics...aka Obama mostly...and traveling and such. She also invited me to join her orientation class for a visit to the Biblioteca Universitaria since I had not been there yet. Once I finished the cards, I made my way to the library. It was a politically incorrect mental hospital back in the day and now it is a gorgeous 15th-century Andalucían building complete with patios and gardens that houses books dating as far back as the 13th century. It is amazing...I would definitely like to make that a regular study space - it seems the ideal place with lots of light, patios for fresh air when needed, large halls, and even a cafetería when coffee becomes necessary. After the visit, which was guided by one of Fabiola's friends who works there as an old book expert, I walked with Fabiola and we talked about religion, culture, and history in Spain, the U.S., and Morocco.

After lunch and siesta, there was a reception for the new group. Intercambios were also invited, and I got to finally meet some more kids from IES and I met some more Spaniards. It was pretty obvious the majority of the people were Americans by the food trays...much of the ham was left uneaten. Afterwards, a bunch of us went out and I showed people some of the good bars around IES for tapas. By the time people were getting ready to go to the discoteca, some of us decided we were not peppy enough for that, so we went to a tetería and got warm drinks and crepes...definitely an excellent decision. It was also nice just getting the opportunity to sit down and talk in normal voices instead of attempting to get to know one another better over the music and such in a discoteca.

Oh - before the exam when I was working once, I went to a theater to pick up tickets for various shows and I ran into one of my professors from last semester. Isa was working on moving out of her apartment to move to the States for 6 months - she is going to be teaching a class on immigration at Princeton, or so I am told.

Thursday was kind of my recovery day from work, the exam, etc. I went to a cafetería while the house was being cleaned and wrote to people and just enjoyed not having an agenda. Then, I did get called in by IES to work for an hour, but I was able to return at a normal hour for lunch and then had the rest of the day to myself. On Friday morning, nice and early, we left for another IES trip - this time to Sevilla y Ronda. I did the trip last semester, too (the one during which I did not have a functioning camera...a mistake I was sure not to repeat), but this time we did it with Sevilla first and Ronda second. It was a bit too hot out last time, so this time at about 65F was perfect. Both cities were gorgeous as ever. In Sevilla during our free afternoon, I went with three girls for some caffeine and then for a lovely walk along the Guadalquivir (one of Spain's major rivers) and then through a park to the Plaza de España which is a huge plaza that currently serves no useful function - it struck me as a fairy tale castle, but completely empty. The girls I hung out with were super sweet and we had a lot of fun exploring. I was excited during the weekend at how much I remembered of the history and of my way around. The flamenco show was amazing, the Cathedral beautiful, the Alcazares spectacular...and Ronda incredible as I imagined. Yet again, I did not get to go inside the Cathedral in Ronda, so I really want to go back. We did not have lunch covered in Ronda, so Estrella, Maite, Anna (the girl who grew up in Thailand), and I went to basically the ideal restaurant in terms of views of the city and enjoyed a very good lunch on a terrace over the river at the top of the cliff/mountain that is the old city of Ronda.

When we got back, I planned to meet up with Pablo, David, and others from the Mass crew to just have a nice night. One of the guys in IES this semester, Perry, accepted my invitation to come along to meet some Spaniards. He is half Chinese and went to China the same summer as I did, so we had a decent bit we could talk about on the bus...among other topics, of course, such as school and whatnot. After a while, he met up with some of the other IES kids, but I decided to stay with Pablo, David, Marta, Raul, and Cote. We did not stay out very late, which was good since traveling wiped me out, but we had a good night.

Sunday was kind of a big deal in Granada. It was the celebration of San Cecilio, the patron saint of Granada. Pretty much everyone goes up to Sacramonte (the hippy cave neighborhood) for traditional food, flamenco, and whatnot. They actually gave out bags of free food - fresh peas, salty bread, salted cod, and water. There were stands where paella and other traditional campesino foods could be purchased. I went with Julia and some other kids from Russia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Mexico, etc. and we got there early enough that we could climb all the way to the top of Sacramonte where there is a monastery and caves where San Cecilio is buried, as well as spectacular views of all of Granada - the old walls, the Alhambra, and the city. It was a really pleasant morning. I had a crazy idea that such a thing as a 2pm Mass existed in Granada so I decided to find it...leaving at about the same time that most of the city was arriving. After an unsuccesful search on foot I did a search online only to find there is not a single Mass beginning between 1:30-6pm. Apparently siesta applies to religion, too. I was tired anyway, so I did take a siesta and then I decided to go to a different church - one close to the Plaza de Toros - before going to Julia's house to make a cake.

I had introduced Julia, Pablo, and David to the amazing fruit that is the cranberry a couple weeks ago and Julia said she could imagine cranberries as being very good in a cake...that was pretty much her first thought after tasting a craisin. So, I said I knew how to make a cranberry chocolate cake and she offered the use of her kitchen if I could find everything. By some miracle, I did find all the needed ingredients. Despite needing to convert everything and not having a single measuring cup or the like, it turned out well-enough. We invited some of the guys over to help eat it, but only Pablo and his brother Carlos were able to make it...which was kind of funny because their sister Mercedes had baby number 8 yesterday. I just got a text message saying he was coming and that he was an uncle again and that the name would either be Diego or Jacobo. I voted for Diego. We enjoyed the cake with wonderful Russian and granadino teas and just chatted. While the cake was cooking, Julia and I listened to music and sang. She studied voice at her university in Russia and has a spectacular voice, but she wants me to sing with her at her going-away/Russian traditional festival party. Pablo and Carlos escorted me home before returning to the hospital to be with Mercedes and the new baby and everyone. It was a really great night, and Pablo and I decided we are going to make a little walk up to the Carmen de los Martires next weekend for a relaxing picnic and walk before life gets too crazy with the new semester.

Classes yesterday and today went really well. I really enjoyed all of the ones I had yesterday - my language class, Spanish contemporary theater, and Islamic civilization in Spain and North Africa. All the professors are fantastic (Javier, the director of the program, teaches the theater one, and Indalecio, who teaches the Islamic civ class was awarded professor of the year among all the IES programs around the world for 2008-2009). I am really looking forward to the classes. Today, in addition to my language class, I had my first Islamic art and architecture class. In a little while, I will go to the library for my first internship day, and afterwards we are going to our first play of the semester for the theater class...jumping right into things. Things are already getting busy, but not too busy and it's all exciting, good stuff. I feel organized and prepared, and I do not have to deal with trying to figure out the city and adjust to a new lifestyle this time around...it saves a lot of time.

I have been enjoying the red carpet that has been in the middle of one of my favorite streets for the past week almost - it's for a celebration of classic film (more specifically, a celebration of Humphry Bogart)...but it makes me happy to walk down a red carpet on my way to class. Yesterday was Eliana's (my God-daughter) birthday - she is 4 years old already! I was able to call her - it was wonderful to hear her voice! I must say throughout this whole experience I have been so fortunate to have all these luxuries technology provides allowing me to talk to some family and friends.

Anyway, life in Granada is wonderful as ever. I am excited to see what happens. I am hoping this group likes stuff like open-mic nights better than the last. Actually, I suggested a place to Jose because Pablo brought me to this place with David, Marta, Ana, and some guy from Barcelona and it was decently big and had a piano. The first Friday the new group was here, I went to the presentations the J-term kids gave about their time in Morocco and what they learned in class and then took IES kids who wanted to play soccer to the field so Jose would not be too late to dinner with the J-term kids. Pablo also had a game in the same area of fields and met up with me afterwards to bring me to what we thought was a concert. When all of us (as in the Spaniards I mentioned before) arrived, we realized it was more like an open piano night...and the piano was open when we arrived. I got talked into playing and making a fool of myself with my very un-bar-like repetoire and my incredible rusty-ness after nearly 3 years since taking regular lessons. I think it was just because I was making funny faces back at David who was doing likewise to me instead of looking at the keys for a wicked easy song that he thought I was amazing, but I can assure you it was not one of my finer performing experiences. Anyway, I thought it would make an ideal spot for an open-mic night with lots of space and it didn't get very crowded at all while we were there. I guess we shall see. That day, too, I went with Pablo, Ana, and Ana's boyfriend to an amazing vegetarian restaurant for lunch. Between that and the place where I found hummus after helping Pablo write a cover letter in English in another cool place that's a piano bar, I have been introduced to some really good places that are all right up my alley - be it for piano or vegetarian cuisine.

Okay...I think I will spare you all more rambling so you can see the pictures (if you actually read before looking at those). I hope all is well with you wherever you might be! I miss you all and love you!

Besos,
Aubrey

David, me, Julia, and Samuel at the rink. It was only David's second time...a lot of people got hugs from him as his way of trying to maintain balance.

La Alpujarra...photos do not do justice.

Julia y yo en la Alpujarra.

La Alpujarra

La Alpujarra

The Alcazares in Sevilla - the palaces and gardens that have been home to Muslim and Christian monarchs throughout history.

Inside one of the palaces of the Alcazares.

The first painting of Mary protecting explorers of the New World - in a part of the Alcazares that was the center of all traffic to and from the New World.

More of the Alcazares. The orange trees are set low so the kings did not have to reach up to get fruit...so basically to allow maximum laziness possible.

Inside the Alcazares

Alcazares - and believe it or not, these particular palaces were all home to Christian monarchs and never by Muslim monarchs.

The city of Sevilla from the bell tower of the Cathedral.

Some of the bells...let me assure you they can be heard quite well when you are up there.

Sevilla

The Cathedral from the tower...which, by the way, was a minaret of a Mosque before the Reyes Católicos arrived.

Similarly, this patio was where Muslims would wash before entering the Mosque for prayer...now it is just an orange grove outside the Cathedral.

Behind the main altar of the Cathedral - this is one of the largest in the world, if not the largest - it is depcitions of dozens of stories from the Bible so the illiterate could know what was going on.

Not exactly a standard Gothic ceiling, right? Only this part is Baroque (in the background you can see it's simpler...how it was originally) because the original collapsed at this point and so when it was fixed up art had moved on to a new phase.

Christopher Columbus might be in that casket. No one really knows. The guy on the right, representing Leon, has his spear stuck in a pomegranate since Granada was still under Muslim rule at the time.

El Guadalquivir

Me, Katie, and Allison near the Guadalquivir in Sevilla.

Plaza de España en Sevilla

On one of the fancy staircases at the Plaza de España.

Shout out to Granada at Plaza de España.

Flamenco show in Sevilla.

Maite, Anna, and Estrella at the restaurant we went to in Ronda.

Where the important people sit at the Plaza de Toros in Ronda.

In the arena of the Plaza de Toros

Outside the Plaza de Toros

The building in the middle-ish that is not white - that's where I ate lunch in Ronda...right on that terrace. The view was pretty spectacular.

Ronda

Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) in Ronda. The window in the middle...the only entrance and exit to what used to be a jail...they didn't really have a problem with escapees.

The old city gate of Ronda

Minaret converted into the bell tower of San Sebastian church, a building which no longer stands.

Ronda. There is a river way way way down there.

The ancient Islamic baths of Ronda outside the city walls.

Ronda

Ronda

This used to be a Mosque...now Ronda's cathedral

Ronda

River from Puente Nuevo

View of the Alhambra, Granada, and the old city wall from Sacramonte

Sacramonte

The Alhambra

Cranberry chocolate cake

it is beginning to feel like home

When my family came for Christmas, I honestly feared a little how I would do knowing I still was not halfway done with my time away from the States no matter how much I love Granada. As of now, June seems to be approaching too quickly, though. So, I guess you could say I am settled back in. It is so nice to know my way around and to feel like I have fallen right back into step...except it has gotten better if one can believe it!

I went to IES Wednesday and thought I was running terribly late so I took the bus, but it ended up everyone was a bit behind. I met Javier in Plaza Nueva on his way to getting coffee, so he invited me to come along and we just chatted over coffee. It has been so great now interacting with IES staff mostly in Spanish. Then I met the six American students here for the January Term before heading back home. Class went well...one thing I forgot is I need to allow goodbye-time in scheduling my departure for the facultad because saying goodbye to Carmen meant I was a couple minutes late for class. I did not feel so bad, though, because the professor was a little late, too, so I actually did not miss anything. It absolutely poured and I, of course, left my umbrella at home, so my new shoes got wet, but they are troopers. I had choir and so I got to see my new friend Pablo again. He had to leave early for a church meeting (so he could not escort me home...) and when I expressed interest he said he would invite me to Mass some time or something like that. Walking home alone in the rain felt a lot lonelier than I think it would have if I had never had a friend walk with me, but I did just fine.

Thursday it was still pouring. The river actually rose to record levels...it was all over the news and was pretty wild to see. I had to be out of the house for a little bit while it was being cleaned, so I bought the newspaper, El País, and went to a café and just read and sipped on coffee. Thursdays El País has a New York Times section...it was actually really interesting to read journalism from two different perspectives within the same paper. Of course, it was full of news about the earthquake in Haiti, and the photos and stories were so very sad. When I returned to the house, Carmen and I had lunch together. We have been having wonderful conversations over meals recently and sometimes we just sit there for a half hour or more after finishing the meal itself just talking and laughing. As always, Carmen has had some gems of stories or sayings that keep me laughing every time I think back on them. I had class again and got lucky with no práctica last week since the group that was to present still has not finished an important part of the project. I practiced the piano and then headed back home.

Another Thursday highlight - I found the most fantastic book ever! It teaches etiquette to young girls in a princess setting...lessons on becoming an authentic princess. It is incredible - everything from how to communicate with a fan to how to prepare for a Ball to what to carry in your purse. One of my favorite parts is about Prince Charming - how to tell between a 'BoBo' and a 'Prince Charming' can involve different activities. For example, if you think he's a BoBo, you can send him to slay a dragon. If he is not a prince, he will not succeed, and there, problem solved. The book definitely would have been a very dangerous thing for me to own as a child...and I actually think it still might be.

On Friday, I had a meeting at IES about helping out with orientation. There are three Spanish girls who are helping out, too, so I met all of them. We learned more about what is expected of us and what we will be doing when and where. My role is a bit different as is certainly to be expected from the fact that I am an IES American student. I decided to go to a little bit of rehearsal before the orchestra concert I had a ticket for that night. In good Spanish fashion, choir began so late...and when it did start at all it was a movie clip...that there really was no point in me trekking so far from home and the theater. I made it to the theater in good time, though, and met the J-Term kids, José, and some other Spaniards. The concert was lovely - lots of Strauss (ending with the Blue Danube Waltz, of course). The conductor was a lot of fun to watch, too. They did some short encore pieces, one of which included the whole audience clapping. It was the first orchestra concert I have been to that included a gun as a part of a piece (its title had something to do with hunting). All in all, it was a really great evening.

Carmen got a phone call that some people decided at the last minute, for whatever reason, not to come to Granada for the semester and so I will not have a roommate. So, Saturday morning was spent moving my stuff from the room I shared with Miriam last semester to the smaller one next to it. I actually have more space and I am so far enjoying the set-up. Carmen is noticing we are not as close, anymore, but I think this will work out really well despite the few extra steps necessary to say hola or adios. Before lunch, I got a phone call...from Pablo! He was inviting me to a Mass and then just hanging out for that afternoon. He said for us to meet 45 minutes before the Mass which seemed excessive to me, but then I found out that he had some set-up stuff to do. Carmen has been very excited that I now have someone who will help me with my Spanish and people to hang out with especially while the next IES group has yet to arrive.

Pablo and I met between our houses and walked to another spot to meet one of his friends. His friend has been studying English, so he talked to me in English and I spoke with him in Spanish so we could correct each other. This friend brought his 7-year-old twin brothers Pablo and Pedro with their matching outfits and everything. They were so cute! The five of us went to get flowers for the Altar and then we went to the chapel. It was a relatively small chapel which ended up being perfect for the celebration. I was very pleasantly surprised by how full it was with people more or less my age. Pablo presented me to everyone before Mass began and introduced me individually to some of his closer friends among the assembly.

The Mass itself was incredible. The priest was this super energetic guy from Equatorial Guinea who kept reminding us that Mass is a time of celebration...and celebration it was! It was very much a celebration of the people present - with an Andalucían touch to the music that I loved. I am glad Pablo gave me a heads up about some things they do a little different. The biggest was that during Communion everyone waits and sits around the Altar and eats at the same time. It was cool partaking in the celebration in a way that evoked images of the Last Supper. The Gospel, about the Wedding at Cana, was followed by people sharing what they took from the reading and then the priest's homily reflections. At the very end, Pablo took my hand to join a group of lots of the people there, including the priest, in a circle around the Altar. We did a simple dance in a circle to the last song. I had never experienced such a celebration of a liturgy before and it was really cool and beautiful.

After helping clean up some, we went out for a walk and then met a bunch of people at a bar for tapas. The people I met were so welcoming and seem like incredible people. I am so blessed to have met them. Pablo had me try squid tentacles...which were quite good. We just talked and enjoyed the evening and some of us continued on to another spot for a little bit of pizza. Pablo walked me back home at the end. It was cold by that time, so he gave me his coat to wear for the walk. He invited me to go with him and one of his sisters for a short hike in the Sierra the next morning. My plan-less weekend filled up quickly!

I met Pablo and our friend from chorus, a Russian girl named Julia, and we all went together to meet Pablo's sister Ana. Ana drove us up to a National Park where we did a 3-hour hike through the beautiful mountains. It was actually warmer and sunnier where we were than in the city - by about 6 degrees C! Carmen had told me ¡Abrígate mucho! (Bundle up!) but we were all shedding layers (like onions as they say in Spain) and I actually got a little sunburned! Ana was a sweetheart and made us all sandwiches and brought sweets. Julia and I also brought snacks to share and at the end of the hike we had a little picnic in the park. The walk was lovely with cows, goats, caves, streams, snowy views, and awesome views of both the Sierra and of the entire city of Granada. Like Carmen said, I am so lucky to have Spanish friends with a car because that is a place I would not have been able to go otherwise.

We got back to the city for siesta, of course. Carmen has been surprised, because I actually have not taken a nap during siesta yet. After a little bit, I met Pablo again at our meeting spot near the church I usually go to for Mass which happens to be about exactly halfway between where we live. He had invited me to go to his house to hang out with some of the people I had met at Mass. When I made the mistake of putting my purse on the floor, Pablo's mom made note and told me not to put it there because my money will run away. She and his dad both seem like really sweet people and were very welcoming - it is not as normal in Spain culturally for people to invite friends into their homes. Pablo, my new friends from Mass, and I played cards, talked, and had a wonderful time. Pablo and two of the other guys had to go somewhere to talk about the next Mass planning or something and they walked me home first. One was the guy who studied English. He is going to Illinois in the fall to work, so he wants me to help him especially with his pronunciation (and he has a really tough time with the word pronunciation which I find amusing just in an ironic sense).

Yesterday, I began my work-study with IES. I made all new labels for the mail boxes and took out the old ones and replaced them with the new. It was kind of sad but I am sure there are going to be awesome people this semester, too. Natalia, the woman who works with internships and homestays, told me I might be able to have an internship that sounds awesome - working at a library planning expos and cultural events! I really hope it works out! Otherwise, yesterday was pretty mundane and I also was not feeling 100%. Today, I did a bit more work. I walked to the Facultad de Ciencias (science campus of UGR) to pick up course materials from a professor and then I made photocopies of stuff for the incoming group and cut out photos for ID cards. I also checked computers to make sure basic things like printing and internet were working and I made an unsuccessful run to get bus route maps (they are temporarily all out of them). It is nice, because the work is very flexible. It is not much, but it is something, which is great.

The grandkids have been here a lot, as always. Dani finally calls me by my name...often to be a 2-year-old and say 'Aubrey, do not come in!' Pedro's teeth are slowly coming in which means Eva is not sleeping much.

I guess we will see what else happens this week. Pablo talked about going ice skating and going to the piano bar he showed me before. He went ice skating with Julia over break and she really likes skating, so we are going to try to go some time when all three of us can. Pablo also showed me where supposedly the best vegetarian restaurant in Granada is - and it is just a 5-10-minute walk from my apartment, if that.

I am feeling much better today, and obviously I am not alone all the time looking for things to do while waiting for the new group to arrive. I am so happy here. I am still stressing a bit about my final...but that is bound to be true until it is over. I am glad choir has started - I have rehearsal again tomorrow.

I hope all is well stateside (or wherever else you might be reading from). I apologize for the lack of pictures...give me time and I am sure there are more exciting ones to come eventually.

I love you all and miss you!

Besos,

Aubrey

cows (vacas) chilling in the Sierra

View from near where we had lunch. The two people are Ana and Pablo.

¡Sierra!

More Sierra

Más de la Sierra - picnic area. Sorry - these are seriously the only 5 pictures I have taken since getting back to Granada!

Croatian radio is pretty sweet...

Well, I am back in Granada after the longest vacation of traveling I think I have ever had in my life...likewise for my mom.

Packing up everything was an interesting project and miraculously it happened...I am scared when I have to bring it ALL home. I suppose we shall cross that bridge when we come to it. My buses up to San Sebastian were fine. From Granada to Madrid I sat next to a bassist in a Spanish metal/rock band. We talked and listened to each other's music the whole time and he bought me coffee at the rest stop, so that was cool. I did not know the bus stopped at more than one Madrid station so I got off to find it was the wrong one which meant I missed my next bus so I got the last ticket available to the next bus and took the metro. Somewhere in the process of lugging my ridiculous amount of stuff down the stairs a woman who was really awkwardly following me robbed me of a wallet full of cash...so that was a bit of a hiccup in my travels. When I did get to the right bus station a guy there stayed with me until my bus arrived because he could tell I was a bit shaken up and he also bought me coffee. The bus ride to San Sebastian went well and I got there and found my hostel fine and everything and just crashed.

The next day happened to be a big festival day in San Sebastian. Everyone was dressed in traditional clothes and there were craft tents and traditional food tents and live music and lots of drinking. It was really crazy. I did some exploring and walked up to the top of one of the mountain/hill things at each end of the bay just to enjoy the amazing views. The town is really cute and it was just a nice place to explore - small enough that I did not need a map. I went to Bilbao, about an hour and a half by bus from San Sebastian, for an afternoon to walk around the place and see the Guggenheim museum there. The Guggenheim was really cool - the art and all the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibits were really great. Then I took the bus that left San Sebastian at midnight down to Madrid to get there at about 6am. I did not sleep as well as I had hoped and someone stole my hat, but I made it in one piece and I was just so excited to see my family that it did not really phase me.

With all the crazy winter weather that seems to have affected a good portion of the world, my family's flight was delayed, but they made it to Madrid safe and sound. My parents, my younger brothers, and I immediately headed for the bus to Granada while my older brother waited for his friend Sean's flight from Thailand to arrive. Everyone made it to Granada well...not until after my Dad embarrassed me by taking pictures of us at the rest stop. We stayed in a tiny apartment (the pictures online were deceiving - we thought it could sleep 6 a bit more comfortably, but we did just fine) in the Albaycín, the old Arab neighborhood of Granada. Not much is open during the holidays in Europe, but we walked around the city going in various churches and walking around the Albaycín. We went to Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass) at the Basilica and enjoyed a quiet Christmas morning together at the apartment. We walked around the city - all the way to the far end where we got cake at Isla, supposedly the best bakery in Granada. The day after Christmas Day, we spent the morning at the Capilla Real (Ferdinand and Isabella's burial place) and we toured the Cathedral. I did not know until then that Granada's Cathedral is the second-largest in Spain (Sevilla's is larger). It is quite massive and very beautiful.

In the afternoon, we made the hike up to the Carmen de los Martires and the Alhambra. Oh, I forgot to mention - it rained the entire time my family was here, with the exception of when we were stuck on a bus. Still, the Alhambra was beautiful and the peacocks at the Carmen were just in more sheltered parts of the gardens. I cannot express how much I love having those two places so accessible...I should take advantage of that more. After the Alhambra, we met up with Carmen, my señora. She graciously invited us all into the apartment because she knows that if her children were staying with a family in a different country, she would want to meet the family and see where they were staying. She came with us for tapas and enjoyed that at least some of my family could understand her some. It was really nice all going out. Afterwards, we went to the Zaidin Christmas Flamenco show, but the singing volume was a bit much for everyone so we did not stay long.

The next day we took the bus to Madrid. We settled into our hostel run by the most gracious family. Javier, the only one who could really speak English, gave us the lay of the land and recommendations for places to go and others to avoid. We went to Mass close to the hostel where my family got a clear taste of the pretty standard practice of old ladies coming in, standing there for a couple minutes, blessing themselves, and then leaving again...all throughout the Mass. We went to a ribs place for dinner...the most American food I had had since arriving in Europe...so that was interesting. The next day we headed out by train for Toledo. We walked around the old town and saw the Cathedral there. It is huge and ridiculously ornamented - artisans throughout its building left no part untouched by carving or painting or what have you. The sacristy is full of El Grecos and all kinds of amazing art. While we were walking through the sacristy, Sean heard Thai and there was actually a tour group from Bangkok, so he got to speak a little Thai in Spain of all places!

Back in Madrid, we went to the Palacio Real (the King's house) and toured through there. It was such a beautiful place - apparently number 3 in Europe after Versailles and the Schönbrunn in Vienna. Needless to say, it looks like a pretty sweet living set-up. It had 5 Stradivarius instruments - 4 of which are from the only surviving quartet set he made. They are lovely instruments and probably one of my favorite parts of the palace. Chronology of the visit is all a blur, but in Madrid we also tried churros y chocolate which are, like Carmen said, better in Madrid than in Granada. We also went to the Prado where we saw las Meninas by Velásquez among many, many other paintings by El Greco, Fra Angelo, Goya, etc. etc. We made it to the Reina Sofía which has my favorite Dalí as well as Picasso's Guernica. We walked through Plaza Mayor a couple times. Peter and my Dad went to the Real Madrid stadium while my Mom, Matt and I went to an Egyptian temple given to Spain as a gift for giving money to save such things from being ruined. (Andrew and Sean went to the airport as Sean had to return to Thailand.)

The rest of the guys left the next day (New Year's Eve) and my Mom and I went to El Escorial to find the palace closed, but to find the most awesome Belén scene because it was larger than life and took up blocks and plazas. Belén scenes (Nativity scenes) are really popular in Spain - they are in churches, government buildings, and, apparently, city streets and plazas. They are elaborate models of not only the manger scene, but also of the surrounding village (which in Toledo's case, looks suspiciously like Toledo...complete with many Catholic churches...so apparently historical accuracy is not a goal), the Wise Men, the shephards, etc. We returned to Madrid to find Javier had put fortune cookies (Spanish fortunes are kind of lame...) and champagne in our room. We had picked up some cheese and crackers and such at a very crowded downtown Corte Inglés supermarket and joined an Australian couple, Javier, and a woman from New York in the lobby for drinks, snacks, and chatting. My Mom and I decided we did not want to get caught in the craziness that was sure to be the main plaza, but we were close so we could hear it all and we could see the fireworks clear as day as we stuffed our mouths with the traditional Spanish 12 grapes at midnight.

The next morning, we headed out to Venezia (Venice). With all the drunk teenagers blocking feasible entry to the metro for us with our luggage, we opted for a taxi. We made it to Venice fine and eventually made it to our hotel and then head into the city. It was my first time there and it had been years for my Mom, so we did some wandering around and got a good wholesome dinner of pizza and gelato. It was so beautiful and I loved looking at all the Murano glass and the Carnivale masks. The next day we made a very slow and windy b-line for San Marco in the rain and flooded streets. I now know very well why the locals have rain boots. We went to a museum on Plaza San Marco, the Doge's Palace, and San Marco. All were spectacular. Venice sounds like it was quite the place at its peak...especially seeing how fantastic it is now.

We got up bright and early to head to Hrvatska (Croatia) the next day. Due to maybe an inch of snow on the ground at Frankfurt, we got re-routed to Stuttgart (which also had about an inch and seemed to be running fine...) and got to chill there for a few hours. The guy next to my Mom could understand neither German nor English, so my Spanish ended up being the next best thing though still not his language and I had to translate every announcement. We got to Frankfurt and off the plane about 20 minutes after our flight to Split left, so away we went to stand in line for a long time in the hopes of getting to the right country at least eventually. We were put on a flight for that afternoon to Zagreb and then an evening flight from there to Split... we got very lucky. When we got to Split, everything was pretty quiet, but three Turkish guys asked us if we needed a place to stay and we followed them to a hostel within the walls of Diocletian's Palace. The next morning, we took a bus to Dubrovnik. It was the most beautiful drive I think I have ever experienced all along the coast. We even made a pit stop in Bosna i Hercegobina (Bosnia and Herzegovina). When we got to Dubrovnik, we decided to stay at the home of a woman who met the bus since her place was really close to the bus station and convenient to leave all our stuff. Other than wasting a lot of time trying to find a place to do laundry, we enjoyed walking through the old city. Croatia has a lot to learn about year-round tourism as many restaurants did not even have food and the Cathedral's treasury which has relics of Jesus' manger was closed, just as two examples.

We finally got a break from the rain to walk the old city walls - something I highly recommend if you ever go to Dubrovnik (just do not plan a January trip). We also checked out the Jesuit church there and the palace. We were pointed to a restaurant with food and were enjoying a very pleasant meal there when power went out. When we finished our meal, we found the whole city power-less without hope of it returning until the following afternoon. I must say we were grateful we were not staying at that woman's house another night. Our bus back to Split was late, but it arrived, and it brought us safely back. The next morning we wandered through Diocletian's Palace and went to Mass in the Cathedral (the smallest Cathedral I have ever been in, but not to say it was not gorgeous). Then we had to head back to the airport to go back to Venice. The Split airport was the best - within 4 minutes of entering we had checked our luggage and had boarding passes, there was free internet, there was only one other person in line for passport control, and everything was just so stress-free...such a nice change from Frankfurt, though that was our next destination. Frankfurt treated us better this time around. On the way to Croatia my image of the Germans as models of efficiency was being shattered. We had about 5 hours waiting so we walked around a lot and I did like the free coffee machines at the gates. We got back to Venice fine.

Back in Venice, we checked out some more churches with spectacular art and we went to the Accademia. I would love to go to Venice again. It was nice to see it without rain, too! The next day we had to headed back to Madrid, where we stayed at Javier's place again. We went to a restaurant closeby for our third time during the vacation and the waiters definitely recognized us and gave us a hard time which was fun. We walked towards the Palacio Real again so I could check out a music store not knowing that at the Teatro Real (about a block away from the store I wanted to see) was hosting a huge EU event - an inauguration ceremony for Spain's Presidency of the EU Council. We saw as some EU diplomats arrived in cars with various flags greeted by a mass of media cameras and microphones. We saw some of the show which included flamenco and ballet on the TV in our room, which was pretty cool.

The next morning, my Mom and I had to go our separate ways. I really enjoyed traveling with her and was sad to see her go, but I was also ready to return to Granada and I was looking forward to not feeling so itinerant lugging a suitcase all over Europe. We both made it to our respective destinations without a hitch, and actually one of my French UGR classmates was on the same bus as me and offered to let me stay at her apartment so I would not have to stay at a hostel before returning to Carmen's place. We went grocery shopping and had tea and made dinner and just took it easy, which was very nice. Another French classmate came over for the dinner and then the three of us went to a tetería (Arab tea house) to meet up with a couple other French classmates and one girl's mom, who generously paid for all of us). They spoke mostly in French, so I did not understand very much, but it was still nice to have company and Moroccan tea.

I returned to Carmen's the next day and she greeted me very excitedly. It is nice to feel settled now. I went to Mass and then Carmen had a great lunch ready for me, as always. I had missed Spanish oranges, so I stocked up on those. It snowed on Sunday and actually accumulated a little, which was lovely. Yesterday I just walked around the center of town some during an unsuccessful shoe-shopping escapade, but it was just nice to be back 'home.' It is nice knowing the streets, the town, etc. Today I did hard-core homework since I am already really stressed about my February 2nd final exam, but I did take a good break to be with Dani y Pedro who are cute as ever. Tomorrow I have class and choir...back to real life. There is a January term, too, apparently at IES, so Javier (as in Javier the IES Granada director, not to be confused with the Madrid hostel-keeper) asked if I could come and meet them and be the group's 'Granada expert' which also includes getting to go to the symphony! I am really excited about what I am looking forward to, even though I am going to have to work really hard. Christmas break was wonderful refreshment and it was so excellent, more than words can say, to be with my whole family again (and Sean, of course!)

So...that is what I have been up to since last writing. Oh - and as for the title - the radio stations that the buses played in Croatia especially were just full of cheesy American music...and Eastern European pop is pretty funny, too.

I hope you all have enjoyed a happy and healthy beginning to 2010! I miss you all and love you!

Besos,

Aubrey

People in traditional clothing preparing traditional food for the San Tomás festival in San Sebastian.

That is where I climbed up - to the fort at the top. The big statue on top of the fort is Jesus...I really do not know what the story is there...the fort was closed the day I made the excursion.

San Sebastian with some mountains in the background in case having the ocean was not amazing enough.

View from the castle...which also happened to be closed. I need to do more research before travels, but that's another story.

San Sebastian...beautiful.

Church in San Sebastian

View of San Sebastian from a the fort with the giant Jesus statue.

In a church in San Sebastian - I thought this was a really cool statue...not an often-seen part of the story represented in church art.

coolest carousel ever. It had elephants, dolphins, an airplane, and many other exciting things to choose from...I kind of wish I rode it.

San Sebastian at night

pretty building in Bilbao

poster to the left = best idea ever.

the Guggenheim of Bilbao

inside the Gugg

Theater curtain designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Pretty much my favorite ad.

Singing Bohemian Rhapsody in the middle of the Carlos V Palace...yes we did it.

Translation: Only Allah is victorious. This phrase appears 9000 times in the Alhambra.

And the goober photo shoot continues...Andrew, Matt, and Sean in the Palacios Nazaríes in the Alhambra.

King Peter in the throne room. This is the room where Isabella held down the fort and let Columbus go find 'India.'

One of my favorite parts of the Alhambra...it is like a little cottage stuck in the midst of all this overwhelmingly amazing architecture and richness.

Andrew and Sean in the Generalife...the pose is pretty standard.

Peter, Mom, Sean, Matt, Dad, and Andrew at the Generalife...just some guy's summer house back in the day.

Belén scene in El Escorial

More of the Belén of El Escorial.

El Escorial the palace from the outside...

El Palacio Real. The king has it pretty good when he wants to be there (photos weren't allowed inside like most of the coolest sights in Europe) - amazing as it is on the outside it is overwhelming inside

Inside the Cathedral in Madrid. The paintings and the roof were really cool...well the Cathedral overall was really pretty, but I really liked the colors.

San Marco and the Doge's Palace in Venice

The Doge's Palace in Venice

On the Golden Staircase in the Doge's Palace in Venice.

Outside San Marco

Murano glass Nativity scene in San Marco in Venice

Go through the door with the orange tile on top and you are at the house my Mom and I stayed at in Dubrovnik.

Christmas tree in Knežev Dvor (Palace in Dubrovnik)

At the Gradske Zidine (city walls) overlooking the Stari Luka (old port) in Dubrovnik.

The Stradun or Placa (main street) of Dubrovnik in the Stari Grad (old town)

Mom in the homeland...on the Gradske Zidine of Dubrovnik

My buddy in Split. He was an archbishop.

Katedrala Sv. Duje (Cathedral of St. Dominus) in Split in the Dioklecijanova Palača (Diocletian's Palace)

time to say goodbye

I am at a point of big changes - final exams ended today and we all have to be out by late Sunday morning. It is amazing to see how things have changed since all 80 of us were meeting each other in September until this point. After just a semester it is going to be tough to say goodbye to many people.

I think this was one of my busiest exam weeks I have had. It was weird having class since for my UGR class I am following the Spanish university schedule. The Christmas concert for the Coro de Manuel de Falla (the UGR choir I joined) was last night. It was a lot of fun despite having to literally run there from my UGR class. The church we performed in, San Juan de Dios, had standing room only during the concert which was kind of cool. One of the guys in the choir since finding out we live only blocks away from each other has insisted on accompanying me for the walk home. It has been nice to have company and it makes Carmen feel better to know I am not walking by myself at night.

Exams went well, I think. I am glad they are over. Packing has not been an easy process...even though I am returning I have to pack up everything.

I am extremely excited about Christmas break. I am not ready at all to leave Spain, but I have missed my family a lot. They are all coming to celebrate Christmas here! I cannot wait to see all of them. Until they get here, I will take a personal mini-vacation in San Sebastian in País Vasco, close to the French border. I have no plans, but it will be nice to relax close to the beach and see a new part of the country.

On Friday we had a cocktail party to celebrate being done and to say goodbye to one another. Everyone got all dressed up...and thankfully the dress that my mom sent for the event made it there that afternoon. It was so much fun and I got to see my orientation professor who I had not seen since orientation as well as some Spaniards I met back in September. Miriam made a really nice presentation with pictures of everyone and it was just a really pleasant evening. Carmen helped me put a little flower thing in my hair - she loves when we get all dressed up and asked if she could help with my hair. I have been so lucky with my homestay and am very happy I chose to stay here for next semester as well.

Miriam leaves in just a couple hours...today has been full of lasts which is sad. I went to get churros y chocolate with some girls and met others along the way throughout the city. I feel ridiculous saying this but I am really sad to leave Granada even for just a few days. It is really feeling more and more like a home to me. Javier wants me to work at orientation next semester and I am very excited about that because I was afraid missing out on that initial experience of everyone meeting would make my whole semester just a bit different and would make it harder for me to connect with the new group.

Well, I will add more about my crazy Christmas travel plans, I am sure - they include going to Venice and Croatia!!! Until then, ¡Feliz Navidad! I hope everyone enjoys a fantastic Christmas and New Years and travels safely and everything! I miss you all and love you!

Besos,

Aubrey

sorry - the pictures are in chronological order from bottom to top...I forgot to upload them in opposite order this time around...

María del Puerto, my flamenco professor (she used to dance professionally!) y yo at the cocktail party.

Mi amiga Monique y yo

Mi amiga Ashley y yo

Antonio, mi profesor de la semana de orientación, y yo. He was telling me to say 'pa-ta-ta' when the picture was being taken - not exactly sure why.

Miriam y yo!

IES staff all dressed up. From left: José is the intercultural advisor; Eva is the office manager and was so helpful in making sure I could get my dress for the night!; Arminio (I'm pretty sure that's his name) is the maintenance guy with the thickest granadino accent ever - he teaches me granadino phrases, too...and we had never seen him dressed up so he was definitely man of the hour; Javier is the director of the program and I will have him as a professor next semester, too; Elvira is the one who helps us with UGR matriculation and such; and Natalia is in charge of homestays and that sort of thing.

María y yo. María is from Granada and she is studying medicine at UGR. She actually spent this past summer studying in the U.S. at Loyola in Chicago.

Puerta Real with lights. There are a bunch of random tents set up outside of the picture's view currently that have a bunch of flat-screened TVs where you can play Wii Fit...I have no idea why, but it's there.

Nativity scene at Puerta Real.

Celebrating Chanukah after the flamenco show.

¡Espectáculo de flamenco!

San Jeronimo - beautiful church! Everything is just covered with art!

Mi Puente...en Deutschland

First of all, I apologize for how long it has taken me to update...what with finals quickly approaching (Monday!), life has been a bit crazy.

Last weekend was Puente, a long weekend in the land that is Spain. I do not know how long it has been off the top of my head, but it is during Puente that the anniversary of the Constitution is celebrated. So, with all my Spanish pride I went to Germany.

After a full day of traveling, I arrived in Mainz where I met up with a distant relative. Thomas showed me around the Altstadt (the old part of the city). It was lovely, especially all decorated for Christmas - the Germans sure know how to do Christmas up right. I arrived too late to get in a lot of places...and too late as in after 5pm - I am way too used to the Spanish schedule of things being open at least until 9pm. So, I got to see the Cathedral and the Gutenberg museum from the outside (Johannes Gutenberg studied at the University of Mainz and the first Bible printed on his press is on display there). We walked through the Christmas Market - anyone who knows me can only imagine how happy it made me that every German city has a Christmas Market. I only had a few hours in Mainz, so after my tour from the Rheine to an old hospital-turned-restaurant, I walked back to the train station. Thomas could not accompany me since he had tickets to the opera, so though I was pretty sure I was going in the right direction (and, for the record, I was) but not positive, I asked someone I heard speaking English giving directions to others for clarification. It turns out I met a pretty cool guy - he is from Iran and just finished his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Mainz and come fall he will be working for the University of California, Riverside and MIT (I do not know how that all works, but I am sure he knows what he was talking about). He did kindly direct me and actually did so by walking with me.

John met me at the Heidelberg station when I arrived there. We went straight to his apartment and did not do any sight-seeing since it was late and we were both tired. The next morning after sleeping in we walked to Heidelberg's Altstadt. Germany was like living in a fairy tale for me. Heidelberg is set in a river valley with a huge castle on the hillside on the same side of the river as the Altstadt. John's program center is right in the center of the beautiful Altstadt at the Universitätsplatz. The Christmas Market in Heidelberg is huge and it extends throughout the entirety of the Altstadt with a decent portion positioned conveniently right outside the center. Right across the street, too, is a Christmas store open year round - it was completely fantastic.

In the morning we walked around the Altstadt and down to the river bank and we went in the big Jesuit church and one other church in the city. After lunch at the University, we trekked up the hill to the castle. It is surrounded by gardens and has spectacular views of the city. We went through the inside where there was a huge Christmas tree in the courtyard. Oh - and remember about the Jesus sherry barrel that was made in Heidelberg? Well, the big barrel in the Heidelberg castle makes Jesus look quite small - it is enormous! You can actually take a staircase from the bottom to a platform on top - I am bad with spatial estimations, but it was pretty darn big. I cannot imagine the need for that much to drink, but I guess the German royalty was pretty serious about always being prepared for guests. In the pharmacy museum at the castle, we learned that the inventor of the Bunsen burner studied at the University of Heidelberg. It was so lovely just walking around the castle - apparently Mark Twain thought it was pretty sweet back in the day, too and we saw a tower he wrote about that is collapsed over.

After the castle we warmed up a little and then headed across the river to the Philosopher's way, a path leading up the hill on that side of the river. By the time we got to the top of the way, we were able to see a beautiful sunset over the castle and the Altstadt. Once it started getting decently dark, we headed back into town. I got to meet some of the other kids in John's program and actually found out one is good friends with some of my good childhood friends who also go to BC. It really is such a small world.

John and I went to this wicked cute restaurant at the edge of the Altstadt for dinner. There was a guy playing the piano and whenever a German drinking song came on, all the Germans would sing along. Apparently, the tune for My Country Tis of Thee comes from a German drinking song...you learn something new every day. It was such a great place - it was a little restaurant with a bunch of long tables and then little two-person tables by the windows, and all of the tables had candles and poinsettias. John and I sat at our own table and I got my introduction to German food. After dinner, we tried glühwein which is warm mulled wine. They have it all over at the Christmas Market - you pay a deposit on the mug and walk around and return the empty mug when you're done to get the deposit back. It was good - definitely a good drink for being outside on a December night.

The next day we took the train to Speyer, a city about an hour away. It has a beautiful cathedral in the center. In the crypt there are tombs of bishops and emperors and kings and queens from the 11th-14th centuries. It was really cool to see and apparently it is one of the largest and most significant Romanesque buildings in Germany. It is also a World Heritage Site and a Papal basilica. After seeing the church, we walked down through some gardens which were being serenaded by a guy playing some Bach and Beethoven and such on a xylophone type instrument. We walked along a little bit of the Rheine. Germany's rain and clouds took some getting used to - there were puddles on the walkways...I had not seen those in a while. We got lunch at a café and then did some more walking around to other buildings and churches. There are some museums there - a tech museum and a history museum and an aquarium - but we did not go to any. We walked through their smaller Christmas Market. My favorite thing about that one was a children's ride I saw. It was one of those with all different kinds of vehicles that do not really do anything but all move in a circle like a carousel. What made it wicked cool was that one of the cars was Cinderella's pumpkin carriage. If only they had one when I was younger... Speyer had some cool plazas and it was a nice town to walk around, albeit chilly outside. We stopped in a tea shop where they gave us a lot of free tea which was weird, but we donated it to John's program, so all is good.

When we got back to Heidelberg, we went grocery shopping and then got dinner. I agreed to try a Christmas Market sausage between bread...seems to be the standard meal there. It was tolerable, but not something I would be disappointed never to have again - I am sure there are many who would disagree with me.

On Sunday we went to Mass together at a beautiful church closer to John's apartment. It was St. Nicholas Day and it was the children's Mass. All the kids went for their own activities during Mass and then at the end they were all given St. Nicholas treats. It was really cute. Outside there were tents selling food and such - one of them was run by the German scouts. We just did homework all day, so there was nothing terribly exciting about the day in general. We both needed to get a lot done, though, so it was necessary. I did take a little outing to that Christmas store again to take care of some Christmas shopping and we both went out to the Christmas Market for a quick and convenient lunch. We went back to John's apartment for dinner where I attempted to cook. I had not really cooked in more than three months and I made the terrible mistake of trusting curry in a German supermarket to actually be spicy. Let's just say the meal did not have the desired affect, but it was edible.

My last full day in Germany we had a little post office adventure and then walked around the Christmas Market some more. We did more homework and went to lunch at the university again. In the afternoon, we went ice skating for about an hour and a half. John could tell when I heard Spanish around the city - at lunch and at the ice rink - and I actually started talking to the Spaniards on the ice rink a little bit which was nice. Ice skating was a lot of fun - it was just a little outdoor rink in one of the Christmas Market plazas. I questioned the DJ's judgment of terrible American pop for the most part, but it was good to be on ice again. Hockey skates for only the second time in my life made it a bit interesting, but I did not make a complete fool of myself.

We relaxed and worked a bit more before dinner and also did some more walking through the city which is absolutely lovely after sundown with all the Christmas lights and decorations. I decided I wanted my last meal in Germany to be German and in a restaurant. We went to a nice place on the same street as John's program and I tried some schnitzel. After dinner we went back to the center where we hung out a bit more with the other kids there and I said my goodbyes. We headed back relatively early since I had to catch the bus at 2:45am by the train station. John graciously walked me there at that terrible hour and saw me off. It was hard saying goodbye since it was such a wonderful weekend and I will not see him again until senior year, but I was grateful we both were able to visit the other. It was really nice to be able to share my study abroad experience with a good friend from school.

The bus and flight went well. I got back to Málaga having slept on both the bus and the plane. I allowed myself a few hours in Málaga to make it to the cathedral there for the holy day of obligation - the Immaculate Conception. I had seen the cathedral from the outside during orientation, but I had never been inside. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I could get myself from the bus stop near the train station to the center of town without a map and I actually recognized quite a bit. I went to the Cathedral Mass - it was beautiful. The musicians and choir were all children and the Bishop celebrated. It was really incredible. I felt underdressed in my comfy traveling clothes, but I am still really glad I went. Afterwards, I got a 3€ seafood paella lunch while getting waited on by two guys...a lot of service for such a frugal customer. Then I walked around a bit down to see the Mediterranean a little and the park of tropical looking trees and flowers and then the Málaga Christmas market. The sunny warm weather of Málaga with all the summery looking plants and such had such a different feel from Germany, but it was really nice. The Nativity scene in the middle of the city is actually made with flowers.

I got to the bus station pretty early and ended up helping an elderly British woman communicate with a security guard about her stolen wallet. I felt bad because there is really nothing that can be done in such a circumstance. My bus ride went well. I sat next to a guy wearing a Boston Celtics sweatshirt and got excited a little bit, but he has never been there... When I finally got back to Granada and back home it was straight to work until about 4am. I had 3 papers for group projects due this past week - all in the 10-20 page range. Everyone in the program has been going pretty crazy with all the work, but we are surviving.

I saw and experienced some goofy things in the past week or so. I like the German walk guys, too - they have hats. In Granada, I was walking to IES to work on some stuff since my UGR class got cancelled on Wednesday when a guy came up and asked where Plaza Nueva was. We were walking towards it and IES is on the other side of it, so I pointed it out and he walked with me. We talked a little - he was from Málaga and I said I had been there the day before. Well, when he asked if we were at Plaza Nueva and I said yes and then continued on my way, he asked me where I was going and then proceeded to ask me out. I respectfully declined and went on my way to work. In Plaza Nueva, too, I saw a guy walking a little black piglet on a leash...that was new.

Other than school and less sleep than is probably healthy, I made it to choir rehearsal twice. I love when I hear all the Spaniards singing the English lyrics - the accent always makes me smile. The music is really beautiful and I am looking forward to the concert on Thursday. I also got an hour of practicing piano in and went to the Nutcracker on Thursday. I was honestly disappointed by the Nutcracker, but I guess it was nice to hear the music again and see ballet again. I also got a library card at the Andalucían library in Granada so now I have access to a lot more than I did, which I am sure will prove to be useful. Hanukkah began last night so after class I went up with some of the Jewish girls to experience my first candle lighting. It was simple, but it was really neat. Today we had rehearsal for our flamenco espectáculo tomorrow. Carmen is coming to watch Miriam and me. I am excited about it - we are no professionals, but it has been a lot of fun dancing. Miriam is running a half marathon before the show. Carmen is planning to cheer her on closer to home and I think I will go cheer her on after the hardest part of the route with some other IES kids. This coming week I have finals, the choir concert, a cocktail party with IES to celebrate being done, and then I have to pack and get myself out of here...I haven't yet decided exactly where I am going, but eventually I will make it to Madrid to meet my family. Oh - and I got paper snowflakes from my brother Andrew which really made me smile during such a stressful week as I had.

I cannot believe the end of semester one is approaching so quickly. It has been such a wonderful experience. I am glad I am staying here for both semesters though I do miss people and places back home. There is so much left yet to do and see. I get about 6 more months of being 'almost Spanish.'

I will try to update one last time before Christmas, but should that not be possible, a very Merry Christmas to all of you! I really appreciate being able to share my experience with you and I am flattered that you have taken the time to follow my time in Spain. I hope all are well and have a wonderful end to 2009!

I love you all and miss you! ¡Feliz Navidad!

Besos,

Aubrey

Mainz Cathedral

The Rheine in Mainz

Inside that old hospital that is now a really fancy restaurant in Mainz

The Mainz Christmas Market

The Mainz Christmas Market

Shout-out to Spain in Mainz

Heidelberg

Altstadt in Heidelberg

Heidelberg

Cool Nativity scene near the Jesuit church in Heidelberg

View of the Altstadt from the Castle

The Castle

Inside the Castle

I think that's enough wine

John and his city - view from the castle.

This fallen tower was inspiration to Mark Twain.

Guess what?! ...it's the castle again!

From the other side of the river

The Castle and the city at night from the Philosopher's way

That's what you get your glühwein in - the handle is red and heart-shaped

Some dead German royalty

Speyer Cathedral

Speyer Cathedral

Nativity scene in the middle of the main road in Málaga

Mass in the cathedral in Málaga

Thanksgiving is a bit different in Spain...

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I hope it was lovely!

I could not be more glad for the weekend this week. I made it through school fine running here there and everywhere. In a normal week I go to UGR twice - just for class - but I was there every day working on my presentation or going to seminars. My group did manage to pull everything together in time, thankfully.

Tuesday, my life was class and work. I cannot remember anything particularly exciting...my mind also was not properly functioning this week. I do not know what programs people have gone on that made it so all the stories I have heard of study abroad have been of all play and no work, but I know I am in good company at IES Granada in working a whole lot. This is not to say that I do not enjoy it very much. On the contrary, all my classes are quite interesting and I am learning so much. I would be frustrated with a fruitless year academically so I am grateful to be experiencing studying abroad differently.

One of the UGR professors I know suggested I come to a seminar given by one of his colleagues at the Universidad de Málaga. It conflicted with a class, but I figured I should really go and meet this man who co-authored the article I read that prompted me to meet that UGR professor. The seminar was interesting - about leftist groups after the fall of the Berlin Wall. I did not get an opportunity to actually meet the professor, but now I know who he is. I got to practice the piano after my UGR class - a great sanity break for me. There is a piano store across the street from the Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología (the Conservatory is right down the street) and they have some practice rooms. The younger guy who works there calls me 'la chica de Boston,' and apparently being from Massachusetts is 'guay' (cool). After I practice we always chat for a little bit. He asked me what Thanksgiving is so I tried explaining. It is in situations like that when I realize how limited my vocabulary still is, but I managed to remember the important words enough to get my point across. He thought it was funny that it is the 4th Thursday and also that we get school and work off for it in the States.

I went to choir rehearsal after buying a flamenco book and practicing the piano. The music we are singing is beautiful. It is funny hearing phrases like 'I have had it up to here!' in Spanish...when the director was scolding the choir as a whole for being too chatty it was exactly what I have heard before, but in Spanish. One of the pieces we worked on is in English and though the one other American and I tried to explain how the last verse could work even though it had one more syllable than the previous two, the director just could not understand it and I do not think we are going to sing the last one. Oh well...

Around Thanksgiving, foreigners seemed really excited to wish me a happy Thanksgiving if they knew about it at all. It was really sweet. Not many have an understanding of what it is or why it is celebrated, but it is definitely something they wanted me to know they knew about at all...and everyone told me to eat turkey - that is one thing they know.

Thanksgiving was an interesting day. The dinner we had was a relatively formal event, and since my day was not over until after 8 o'clock in the evening, I had to be dressed up and ready to go when I left the house at 8 in the morning. It was the first time in about 2 months that it rained here, so the umbrella I have been carrying in my backpack constantly for that entire time just in case finally came in handy. Right after my first class I literally ran in my stilettos to UGR to go to another seminar. It was a continuation of political issues in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall (since it has been 20 years there was a whole series of seminars at UGR). On my way back to IES for class, a construction worker thought I was super guapa and not only let me know that but then stopped a truck so I could pass. I swear this place is the best for your self-esteem. After my class I had a meeting about my courses for next semester. There are so many good choices and if I did not know how much work to anticipate I would totally be tempted to take the 19-credit limit, but I doubt that would be the best decision.

We are almost done learning our flamenco choreography. I am having a rough time with some of it, but I am still enjoying dancing very much. I am also really excited because for my paper I get to do part of it as playing the piano and then saying what I have learned. I am excited to have that concrete motivation to work on piano more. I have missed music as such a big part of my life...something that has been lacking during my college years in general. Miriam's parents and another girl's mom came and watched our class. It was exciting to have a little audience.

After class I worked on finishing touches to my presentation. It is really intimidating to have to present in front of native speakers on a platform in a lecture hall in Spanish. Between class and my presentation, I practiced piano again which I believe was a good choice to calm myself. I chatted with the guy at the store who wished me a happy Thanksgiving and then I went up to give my presentation. I do not think I have been so nervous in such a long time. I was afraid to do nothing but read from my notes or nothing but try to speak on my own, and I am pretty pleased with the balance I found which ended up being in favor of the speaking on my own. I must say that I am very grateful that my professor does not know much about the Obama health care reform situation in the U.S., so she could not tell as well as I could how much I left out...mostly by accident. She told me it was very interesting and she understood what I was saying. Those are comments I like to hear. I do not think she realized before the presentation how quickly everything is happening what with the Senate debates beginning Monday and ending in only a matter of weeks. I only have articles to go by, but I can imagine things are changing really quickly all around in the States.

When I asked for the easiest way to get to the Parque de las Ciencias after class the guys I asked thought I was crazy for wanting to go by foot. It is such a small city I rarely find it necessary to take the bus, but I suppose not many people think a girl carrying two bags and wearing heels assume she would want to walk about 45 minutes to her destination. Alas, that is what I did, but it was a very easy and pleasant walk, the rain having stopped by that point in the day. I got to the restaurant on good Spanish time...about 10 minutes or so late. There were about 100 of us between students, staff, professors, friends, and families. I got to see María, one of the UGR students who spent orientation with us, for the first time since September which was so exciting! The dinner was lovely. We had squash soup, some sort of meat (maybe turkey?) in filetes with corn, goat cheese, and pine nuts, mashed potatoes, and then a really good dessert...I just have no idea what it was. Though it was not a traditional American Thanksgiving in the slightest, I left just as stuffed as I would in the States. It was so great to see people I had not in a while, meet new people, and enjoy the holiday with all these people I have only known for not quite 3 months but have shared so much with in that time. When John came, I realized how much I now could share with these people who were strangers not so long ago, that I cannot truly share with anyone else. It put a lot into perspective for me.

I was understandably exhausted by the end of the dinner so instead of going out to an Irish pub with pretty much everyone else, I just lugged all my stuff back home and crashed. It felt good to sleep in. I went to the bank to get my debit card yesterday and I already need a new one since they did not really understand the concept of a middle name and put that as my first last name and then spelled my last name wrong...so my card says MARIE HARNETT AUBREY. A new one is on its way. Getting to have a siesta yesterday was so wonderful after a week without. Whatever am I going to do when I return to the U.S. where the siesta is not a cultural norm? I tried liver for my first time ever yesterday...I believe that will also be my last time. Carmen told me she used to sneak it into soups for her kids...I hope she has not been doing the same for us! It was also nice to be able to go out into the city and not experience Black Friday. It was just a normal Thursday and Friday as far as Spaniards were concerned. That also means there was no ceremonial whipping out of the Christmas music yesterday...but oh well. I am all set with an Advent wreath and an Advent calendar - cannot believe it begins tomorrow!

Last night I decided to go to the orchestra. They were playing at the closest theater to my home and they were playing two works by Manuel de Falla, a composer we have talked about in my Flamenco class with his contributions to theatrical flamenco, and a work by Francis Poulenc, a French composer who wrote one of my favorite piano pieces I have ever played (Novelette in C, if anyone was interested to know). All the music was lovely. The first two works used harpsichord. The man who played was incredible. I think that was my first time seeing one actually played. The sound is so different from that of the piano and I would imagine it frustrating to learn as a pianist not being able to express with differences in volume and with the use of pedals - but the man's technique looked impeccable, something I would think necessary to play the instrument effectively. One of the parts of the last work, an opera written by Falla, sounded very much like a piece I have played on the piano for fun. The opera was based on Chopin's music, who is one of my absolute favorite composers. I am very glad that I chose to go to the show.

The Nutcracker or El Cascanuece is coming to Granada on the 10th of December. I am hoping very much to make it to that. I am getting very, very excited to go to Germany. The more I have been reading about Heidelberg, the more excited I am to see it! I am also excited to go to a place where it is acting like the time of year it is.

Cultural notes:

People are not 'late' in Spain - they are 'tranquila' (calm, relaxed). Case in point - I got to the theater a bit after 8 for the 9pm show to buy a ticket. I entered at about 8:20 to wait for the house doors to open, and I saw a good number of the musicians enter after me. The house doors did not open until about 10 minutes before the hour and people were still just getting into their seats when the beginning of the show was announced.

They think Americans work too hard and study too hard here - we do not know how to relax and are too success-oriented. Like the tour guide we had in the Albaicín said, you will never hear someone rich in Granada say that they made their money here. That just does not happen.

The relationship between student and professor is very relaxed in general, here. We address our professors by their first names and use 'tú' instead of 'usted' (informal instead of formal 'you'). My economics professor wants me to help him with his English and we are planning to meet for coffee before Christmas.

Spontaneous flamenco - I love walking home at night past the many bars here where I will just hear people singing and clapping and drumming and see others dancing flamenco. It just happens in bars randomly and is such a cool part of the culture here. One bar I have been in actually had a sign saying no singing...apparently it is not as accepting of random granadino drunken flamenco as other places.

I thought this would be a short post, but yet again I misjudged. I am so glad I am here for the whole year. After three months here, I know there is so much more I want to do even just in Granada. I like this feeling of not having to rush anything or cram too much in. I can just live here. It is so nice, and it is amazing how much this has become home to me. I know the streets better and better every day. My Spanish is improving. I love this city - it is just as pretty as it was the day before with poinsettias replacing summer flowers and the leaves changing - the biggest leaves I have ever seen! I would recommend seeing Granada to anyone and everyone who ever gets the chance.

Oh, and side-note - the title of my last post was a quote (honestly I am not sure from whom) that translates as 'If you die without seeing the Alhambra, you have not lived.'

Well, until next time, I miss you all and love you! I hope all is well!

Besos,

Aubrey

Meera and I at Thanksgiving

View of the Alhambra and such from the restaurant

From my table in the rotating restaurant

Sorry - these are the only 4 pictures I have from Thanksgiving...so while blurry this is more or less what the restaurant looked like. It was pretty sweet.

'Si mueres sin ver la Alhambra, no has vivido'

I have wasted too much time trying to think of a witty beginning to this entry...I do not know why I thought I would suddenly be blessed with a gift I have never had. I have been pretty busy. Scratch that...wicked busy. Last week was mostly just normal school. I got to practice the piano for the first time in a really long time which felt nice...well, other than the fact that I am now super rusty. It was definitely a good sanity break in the day.

Fridays I do not have class, but two of mine had additional required meetings this past Friday. In flamenco we watched a video of Lorca's Bodas de Sangre in ballet/flamenco form. It was really neat. I then finally opened a bank account which was maybe a little more exciting than it sounds. We had learned about the local banking system in my economics class just a few days before, so I was excited to understand a bit better how my bank was operating within the community. After that, my Spanish experience of the Other class went up to the far end of the city to a public elementary school that has many immigrant students. We had a question/answer session with the principal and another employee and then visited three classrooms. The kids were so cute! Some of them asked us questions - everything from did we like Spain to do we personally know Hannah Montana to how many classes did we take in elementary school.

Friday was the anniversary of Franco's death, so there were some anti-fascist demonstrations and such which happened to be on Gran Vía - possibly the most major road in the city where the vast majority of the buses usually go through. After being on the bus for an hour, I gave up at a stop where I saw a tent that said 'Mercadillo Navideño.' I made a b-line there and walked through aisles of cheap Christmas stuff and then went home. Later there was a language intercambio night in the Albaicín - a bunch of us got lost on our way there but happened to be walking by Javier's (our program director) house when he opened the door to go to the same place, so we got there fine. It was a nice evening - I do enjoy being able to practice my Spanish in a more relaxed situation. I left after an hour or so to go to the bus station to meet with my friend John who came to visit me! We went to his hostel and then walked around the city a little bit.

I have basically never been a 'tourist' in Granada...meaning prior to this weekend I had never seen the most popular attractions of the city. John and I met to go to the Capilla Real where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried. They had quite the private chapel and it was neat seeing the tombs. Originally Isabella was buried in the Alhambra, but she was later moved to la Capilla Real. The crown jewels were also there and some other cool artifacts and pieces of art and such. We moved on from there to a free tour John's hostel offered. We had a crazy British guide for our group of about a dozen or so people through the Albaicín and Sacramonte. It was a very high-energy and enjoyable tour and I learned a lot. The tour guide was also a fan of assigning characters to some of the people on the tour - and that is how John and I came to be referred to as Ferdinand and Isabella for the rest of the tour. The Albaicín is so beautiful and the weather was perfect. There is so much history and so much funny about the Spaniards throughout history...and not so funny of course with the whole fact that the concept of racism and such essentially originated here.

At the end of the tour we got tapas and then had a picnic at one of the miradores or viewpoints of the Alhambra. After lunch we walked back down to the center of the city and then to the Parque de las Ciencias. We must have spent three hours there - it has several museum buildings with extensive exhibits, it has gardens, it has exhibits/activities in the gardens area, and it has a butterfly house and a birds of prey exhibit with live shows. There is also a planetarium and an observation tower, but we did not make it to those. We went through a theatrical mechanics exhibit, a taxidermy exhibit, a human body exhibit, a Darwin exhibit, an Andalucían ecosystems exhibit, and others. It seems to be a well-done place.

We went out for dinner after John got to meet Carmen and Miriam and then we walked around the park along the river about 10 minutes from my apartment. We went out around the city a bit more with a couple other IES girls and then we introduced John to Spanish churros y chocolate. It is pretty intense. We soon called it a night.

On Sunday, we went to Mass at the Cathedral. Though much of the access to the cathedral is blocked to Mass-goers, he got to at least see the inside without paying the 3.50€ that would have just allowed more walking-around opportunities. Then we walked up through the Puerta de las Granadas which leads up towards the Alhambra and went to a place called the Carmen de los Martires. It is a beautiful property that is now free and open to the public just filled with gardens and fountains and wonderful views. There are peacocks walking around and an aqueduct going through part of it. It is a beautiful place and after walking around it, we sat near a little pond on the property for a little picnic before heading to the Alhambra.

The Alhambra is AMAZING. I cannot believe it took me nearly three months to make it there. The history of the place is breath-taking...and though I see it every day I never realized truly how close it is. Every day I can see the part where Isabella told Columbus she would fund his discovery of India. Every day I see a palace that has been built by Visigoths, Arab sultans, and los Reyes Católicos. It is just a short walk up a wooded road surrounded by gardens and trees. The Palacios Nazaríes are amazing - Arabic architecture is so amazing. It was built really well, too, with plates to protect it from earthquakes, of which there have been several of significance since the building of the palaces. The military fortress part - the Alcazar - is also neat with amazing views of the city below. The old medina part of the Alhambra is now wonderful gardens that lead to the Generalife where there are more buildings and such as well as a staircase with water running down the whole way. The sounds, smells, sights, and experiences of it all are really incredible. We spent about three hours total there and actually ran into a UD alum which was pretty wild. It was such a perfect afternoon.

When we returned to the real world of the city, we walked around some and just relaxed in la Plaza del Triunfo where there are fountains, flowers, and benches overlooked by a tall statue. We went to tapas and then hung out with others at the hostel. It was neat meeting people there - I met a girl from Hangzhou who is getting her masters in Spanish in Madrid, I met a Polish American girl staying at the hostel in exchange for making beds there, I met a guy from Oregon who has fallen in love with the city after touring around working on farms and is thinking of moving here, I met a guy from Ottawa who is taking a break from working, I met a girl from Quebec who is on vacation, and I met some other Canadians, Brits, and a Finnish (I am pretty sure) who are in Spain teaching English.

It was so wonderful to show off Granada to someone, to see all these amazing places, and to see John again. Now it is back to the grind with my big UGR class presentation on Thursday evening and lots of work to do. Our program is having a Thanksgiving dinner in a rotating restaurant near the Parque de las Ciencias that will thankfully not start until after my presentation. I had cooking class yesterday - my group made meatballs and the others made salad with anchovies and then apple pastries. We have only one more class to go.

Granada is finally looking like autumn might have arrived. Some of the leaves are changing and falling, though they do not stay on the ground for long since the city cleans the streets every day. It is quickly getting chillier - it is down-right cold in the mornings and at night.

Well, that's about it and I know pictures are always a priority. I hope all is well con todos! I miss you all and love you!

Besos,

Aubrey

A house in the Albaicín

Peacocks in the Carmen de los Martires

Carmen de los Martires

Carmen de los Martires

Carmen de los Martires - I was so happy to see autumn!

where we had our picnic at the Carmen de los Martires

the Alhambra!!!

John at the Alhambra - en los Palacios Nazaríes

más de los palacios

Washington Irving stayed here in los Palacios. This year Granada is celebrating 150 years since his book 'Tales of the Alhambra'

The Alhambra - to the right is the Carlos V palace in the Renaissance style of a square building with a circular inside. More to the left of the background are los Palacios Nazaríes. The picture is taken from the Alcazar which was the military part of the castle and which housed the dungeons and such.

From the tower of the Alcazar.

View of the city from the Alhambra. That is the Cathedral in the middle of the city.

Carlos V Palace

Gardens in the Alhambra

Me in the Generalife part of the Alhambra

View from the Generalife

In the Generalife

Vista de la Sierra Nevada del Generalife

Vista de la Alhambra desde el Generalife