Granada

Granada, while far from home both physically and in a lot of ways including food, culture, schedule, mindset, language, dress, and almost everything else you can imagine, has become a place I am at least comfortable and having a blast. I have come to understand a lot of my classes and have grasped the language, at least as far as listening goes. My speaking still leaves a lot to be desired, as does my ever more apparently small vocabulary. I was able to go to one party at an appartment with a bunch of spanish speakers, mostly spaniards and one mexican, but also many americans from a different program. That was, unfortunately, my only run in with them, but it was a good experience. A few things make a city feel more like home, and one obvious one is routine. We have found a club, finally, that is not super touristy, but touristy enough that we are allowed in, unlike Mae West, Principe, and a couple others. It is one of the coolest places i've been to, let alone clubs, so we go there all the time. It is sort of a bummer that it has become a little cliche because it is so incredible, but shit happens. It is called camborio, it looks out over the Alhambra from up in the hills of the Albayzin. During the night with the lights shining, the city on the ground beneath it, and a couple drinks in you, It is worth checking out. Our program, IES, has organized a few events to sort of help get us together and intigrate a little into the community. One was open mic night where people just got up and sang or read a piece. While this was supposed to be multicultural it was almost all people from our program, and everyone but one performer spoke/sang in english. It was still fun though.

Our classes also consistantly focus on specifically Granada, their culture, history, and how the city itself ties into the class. One of my classes is specifically about art and architecture in Andalusia, and we take a field trip every week. This picture is sort of a lame one, but the place was very cool. It was a room used to store water, and from there the water was distributed to the city. In all of my classes it is repeatedly stressed how important water was for Muslims in their culture, and Granada was a Muslim city until 1492, the last Muslim kingdom before the Expulsion.

I have learned a lot about the city, its history, and its buildings. I could probably be a tour guide.