"The only source of knowledge is experience." - Albert Einstein

If I've learned anything during my few weeks here, it's that I have so much to learn. That's the beauty of life, though.

After taking years of Spanish class, coming here has made me realize that participating in day-to-day conversations and writing ten-page research papers are two completely different concepts. Also, formal speaking and colloquial communication are almost different languages. Not only am I learning Spanish, I'm also learning to appreciate something I have taken for granted for my entire life: English. Languages can be difficult. The other day my thirteen-year-old brother, who is learning English, and my host dad, who speaks a good bit of English, were trying to figure out the best word for the opposite of "nice." My host brother thought it was "horrible." So they asked me, and I said "mean", trying to explain that horrible is a very strong word to use for something that's not nice. Then my host dad said, "Oh...like when you say 'what do you mean' do someone?" I had never thought about it like that. English doesn't make much sense sometimes.

My sixteen-year-old host brother is also learning English. The other day he asked me to read over a paragraph he had written for English class. Not only did I get a taste of how frustrated my Spanish professors must feel when they read what I write, I realized that I don't know everything about English either. It was a very humbling experience.

Speaking of humbling, one day at the soup kitchen a volunteer showed me a large serving spoon scooper thing and asked me what the English word for it was. I basically said something like "large serving spoon scooper thing", and he thought it was somewhat ridiculous that I couldn't come up with one good, descriptive word. Ay caramba.

Although my Spanish listening and speaking skills are improving, communication can sometimes be a bit challenging. During lunch one day my host mom asked me if my brothers had a "pleigh". I just sat there thinking to myself What in the world is a "pleigh"? And DO my brothers have one? Maybe it has something to do with sports...Apparently unable to bear the awkward silence, my sixteen-year-old host brother chimed in with a well-enunciated American imitation: "PLAY-STAY-SHUN". It all made sense. I quickly replied that no, my brothers don't have a Playstation, but they do have a Wii.

Inside the Cathedral

In front of the Cathedral

Church update: Since my last post I've been to La Catedral and La Iglesia de San Matias for mass. The Cathedral is a huge tourist attraction; there were security guards inside the church who had to shoo out all of the people taking pictures so mass could begin. It was the first church I've been to that had music during mass - something I really love. The architecture is awesome, but it's a bit drafty inside. San Matias is in the process of undergoing some renovations, but was beautiful nonetheless (and they had space heaters running throughout mass). As a side note, here's the reasoning behind the magnificent churches: back in the day, kings and queens lived lavishly and were decorated with elaborate riches, dwelling in fancy castles and such. God was seen as "above" the monarchy, so the fitting thing to do was create tributes to God that surpassed the wealth of the kings and queens (see pictures).

One of many stunning views from the Sierras

 Yesterday we went to the Sierra Nevada mountains, which was absolutely positively gorgeous. I didn't ski, but in addition to taking pictures there was a lot going on to keep busy. We rode the Trineo Ruso, which is sort of like a mini roller coaster, but you control your speed on the descent - pretty fun, but I'm relatively certain the concept wouldn't fly in the states due to safety concerns. Anyway, it's amazing and somewhat unreal that Granada is less than an hour away from the mountains, but also the same distance to the beach. And it's all so beautiful.

Today was our last day of the Intensive Grammar class! This week we're going to Salamanca, Segovia, Madrid, and Toledo, and then next week our classes begin.
So much to do, so much to learn!


"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
                                        - Albert Einstein

A Slice of Life

I’ve only been here for two weeks, so you'll see everything is still fascinating to me.  I'm pretty much in awe of all of my new experiences. Here's a sample of my life here thus far - enjoy!

Faith has been and continues be an important part of my daily life. One of my personal goals this semester is to go to a different church every weekend for mass – the hard part isn’t going to be finding the churches, but deciding which ones to attend! So far, I’ve found that religion here is very cultural and traditional, a sensation augmented by the myriad Catholic churches scattered throughout the city.

Maybe it’s just that I’m not accustomed to praying in the midst of such elaborate tributes to Catholicism, but I could barely focus this past weekend when I went to the Basilica de San Juan de Dios for mass. The only words that can even come close to describing the interior of the church are gold, gold, and more gold. And golden. Absolutely magnificent. 

Eating here has also been quite an experience. My host family eats relatively normal by American standards, but we’ve had some “different” dishes. Once we had meat that appeared to be ham, and our host dad asked my housemate if she liked it. She said, “Well, I prefer chicken.” To which he replied, “This is chicken.” It was good, but I don’t blame her for being confused. We’ve had some excellent fish – very fresh. Don’t worry, I’m positive it wasn’t chicken.

The other day for lunch we had a Mexican chicken dish called Mole (pronounced Mo-lay, NOT like the rodent). It’s an extremely efficient dish, because you don’t have to eat dessert afterwards. That’s because there’s chocolate in the sauce that's on the chicken. Expanding my palate has definitely not been a challenge!

One thing that I'm missing is my music, but I’m so lucky that my host family has a piano right here in the apartment. It pained me to leave most of my music collection at home, but I brought along some of my favorite sheet music and songbooks. The amazing thing about music is that it is a universal language – no need for translation.

One of my professors from school who is from Granada helped me network here a little, so this week I started volunteering at the Centro San Rafael, a local soup kitchen. (I like their name for it here: “social dining room”). Besides not being able to understand a lot of the colloquialisms, I felt right at home. I had limited conversations with most of the helpers, but I already feel like I know them. It's amazing how much can be communicated through dishing out soup and washing trays - actions that require few words. I was the youngest volunteer there, but the others were so welcoming and kind-hearted and the time flew by. Ironically, as I was walking there yesterday I heard two street musicians playing a lively rendition of “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof. Again, music = universal language.

The Centro San Rafael is right next to the Basicilica de San Juan De Dios. The picture on the right here is a view of part of the church from a courtyard area connecting the two buildings.

 

We’re still in the midst of our intensive language course, but in a couple of weeks we’ll start our classes and field trips. There is absolutely no English in class right now, although we suspect that the professor is a highly proficient English-speaker. In fact, one of my classmates did some research and discovered that the professor attended the University of Delaware for an advanced degree. So, one of the other students asked the professor in class if he was a “gallina azul”, which is the literal translation of Delaware’s mascot, the blue hen. If we didn’t speak English before, we really don’t speak it now. I’m actually really enjoying the class, though. This week we had to write a short story of a legend that’s somewhat local to our hometown. I haven’t had Internet access, so I was left to my own mental library for reference. Unfortunately, all I could think of was the Mothman. Not my first choice of legends to represent where I come from, but at least it’s entertaining. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I don’t suggest you look it up.

I hope you're enjoying the trip with me so far! As for this slice of my life – there’s more where that came from. Feel free to come back for seconds!

Follow In My Footsteps

¡Hola amigos! I have a small dilemma. Actually, it's quite large - size 43, to be exact. That is my shoe size here. However, I have yet to find it anywhere. Right now there are great "rebajas" (sales) in practically every store in the city, so it's a good time to shop. I walked into one zapatería (shoe store) and decided to be optimistic, so I asked if they carried size 42. The response: "¿De chica (For girls)??? Nooooo." It's kind of funny, to be honest. I just didn't count on Europeans having such small feet!

Other news: tights and shorts are SO in. It's pretty chilly here when the sun's not out, and the apartments don't have central heating, so dressing warmly is a must. I've seen many chicas rockin' the tights and shorts look that I definitely sported in second grade, when I refused to wear the long pants that were part of my school uniform (Mom can vouch for this). Who knew I could be so ahead of a fashion trend?

The living schedule here is definitely something to get used to. Spaniards eat small breakfasts and don't eat lunch until the siesta, which is between two and four in the afternoon. Then dinner, typically a smaller meal than lunch, isn't until nine or ten at night. All of this allows the "marcha" (nightlife) to continue until 7am on weekends. Also, the lifestyle is generally more relaxed than in America. After meals it's common to have a "sobremesa" which literally translates to "over the table". It's a time for the family to just sit and talk with one another for a while. I've found that two of the most popular pastimes in Spain are, in fact, eating and talking.

On Monday our group went to a Moorish tetería (like a café, but for tea) that offers many exotic teas and herbal infusions in a dimly lit, relaxing tea room. Just above this place was an outlook with a fantastic view of the Alhambra. We'll be taking a trip there as a group later on, so I'll have more pictures to add.

The World-Renowned Alhambra

Zoomed in on the left......

.....and zoomed in on the right.

 At school, sometimes I find myself experiencing, "I can't believe I'm actually here" moments, when I take a minute to say a prayer of thanks for my many blessings. Here, I felt like that upon arrival and I still feel like that - it's like living one huge "I cannot fathom the idea that I AM IN SPAIN" moment. The opportunity to live and study here for five months is absolutely amazing. I miss my family and friends at home a ton, but I know it won't be long before I see them again.

Hopefully I won't have to wait that long to have some success at a zapatería! Moral of the story: If you'd like to follow in my footsteps, you're going to have to bring your own shoes ;)

¡estoy aquí!

Brief update of the past four days: I turned 21 while sleeping in a plane at some point over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Madrid, then took bus to beautiful, 60-degree Granada in southeastern Spain. We stayed at the Hotel Macia Monasterio de los Basilios for two nights. It's located at the base of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada mountains, right along the Genil River that runs through the city.

Well, I had my first café con leche (really good coffee), churros (basically fried dough), and tapas (sort of like Spanish appetizers). I've also watched more fútbol (soccer) that I have in my entire life. Sadly, though, I found out that being surrounded by the sport does not automatically make me good at futbolín (foozeball). 

On a happier note, I have now officially been living with a fellow traveler and my host family for eight hours. Everyone is amazing, and I can feel my Spanish improving already. My English-speaking housemate and I were trying to explain to our Señora (host mom) what a lacrosse stick is, but we didn't know the right word for stick or net. And she had no idea what lacrosse is. It's simultaneously funny and frustrating - kind of like language charades.

Another adventure - I went to mass at La Iglesia de San Francisco, which was awesome. I had some trouble following along and saying the right things, but it was amazing how similar it was to what I am used to. They even had big signs in the church that said things like "Es mejor celebrar juntos - ¡Acercate! (It's better to celebrate together - Move closer!)" which reminded me of our campus chapel initiative to get students to sit in the front pews at mass. (yeah CCM!) Family and faith really make me feel more at home in a totally foreign place.

Well, that's all for now. Until later, enjoy a few pictures. ¡Hasta la vista!

 Christmas decorations were still all over the place! This was on the Epiphany; the night before was the celebration of the "Reyes Magos" (the Three Wise Men), which is when the Spanish version of Santa Claus brings presents for the kids :)

The lovely river (although it doesn't look too good for fishing).

 If you squint really hard you can see the white mountains in the background 

behind the super cool Moorish architecture.

The courtyard at our hotel - yes, that is a lemon tree. 

And yes, there are oranges growing on that lemon tree.

Adventure #1 - Packing

You would think that after three years of college I would be a pro at packing. Alas, I struggle, for I am far from an experienced traveler. I am also currently very far away from my destination: Granada, Spain. Since this blog is  titled "Adventures in Spain" I will wait until I actually get there to write some more. Stay tuned to hear about what I hope will be some excellent adventures!

Oh, the places we'll go!