la vida espanola

If you’re looking to perfect the art of window shopping, or be continually impressed by seeing women of all ages dressed to impress in their short skirts and high-heeled boots mount a motorcycle, and still seem glamorous, come to Spain; perhaps all of Europe is like this, but Spain is all I know so far, so that’s that. But back to the shopping: basically it’s one of the facets of the ‘culture’ (if you could call it that) that I am exposed to, day in and day out, without fail. I mean, I suppose it’d be impossible to not be exposed to it considering all the streets are just lined with stores of all kinds (I’d say the shoe industry takes the cake here, though) but man, even MEN here do it! Yes, for all you men out there, men here shop everyday…dragged by their woman, but still…
And the motorcycles! They’re everywhere! While in Chile the micros dominated the streets, here it’s the moto’s as they’re referred to. People of all ages drive them (the other day I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself when I saw a couple of approximately 70 yrs old put on their helmets and climb on a moto), and they just weave in and out of the cars on the streets, making driving here a bit more scary than usual, I’m sure…
Anyway, let’s pull a Hank Snow here and move on…let’s see…what else have I done recently? Oh yah, one of my host sister’s, Maria, 20, took Lara and I out for a day in the ‘country’ with her boyfriend and a small group of friends. Her boyfriend, Jose Miguel (JoséMi, for short) came and picked us up last Sunday morning, and we walked down, to see a nice, shiny Mercedes waiting for us. Now, I’m not judging, I was just surprised…as was Lara, I discovered by her glances in my direction…we went to his house real fast to get in his OTHER, older car to take out to the country, and to pick up the other guys. The other guys were Alfonso, Jose’s younger brother, and 2 friends, Fran (Francisco), and Antonio…together, these three guys were basically the three musketeers, and the entertainment (albeit incredibly immature and astonishing at their comments) for the afternoon. All the guys were really nice, and finally after the ice broke between the americanas and the Spaniards during lunch, we were able to be more a part of the mainstream conversation…We went outside of Granada to a place called Los Cahorros, which I think is, or is part of, a national park, where there were hanging bridges, great views, and trails to hike on…it was really fun. On our way back to the car, we passed a pseudo-bullfight…well, I mean there was one bull in a small ring, and a group of people (mainly young men) standing outside, taking turns jumping in the ring to taunt the bull and jump out again before getting killed….reminded me that I want to go see a real bull fight sometime.

Basically I keep a pretty routine schedule here so far, with my one, four-hour class everyday, only then to return home, eat lunch, take a siesta or do nothing while the Spanish world takes a 4-hr. midday break until about 5, and then I either have little outings with the group or friends, or meetings trying to figure out classes that will officially start Feb. 7, or at the University, Feb. 18. The program here is different than the one in Chile, but from what I gather from a year-long student here about the university here in Granada, it’s ok. Meaning, classes here are hard, and well, I’d be in spain like all summer were I to take numerous classes and thus making me wait till july to take exams. gag. So this is what I’m doing for classes: taking 4 classes at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas, and one class at the University. I asked the professor from the University who was guiding us in choosing our courses, and she, too recommended that I only take one course at the university…so what’s done is done. I’ll be taking the following courses at the Centro: Image of women in Literature, Socio-political issues in current-day Spain, Political System of the European Union, History of Spain from Franco to today; and at the University, I’ll be taking either Antropologia de la etnicidad, or history of women…don’t know yet which one…either at 8 at night, or 8 in the morning…wooh!

Once this ‘intensive’ Spanish class ends next Tuesday, my program is taking a 4 day trip up to Toledo, Madrid, and Segovia, and then we have 4-5 days free until classes start for real, so a friend and I are taking advantage of that time and going to Portugal! We’ll be leaving immediately from Madrid to go to Lisboa (Lisbon) for 3 days…should be fun!
AND, I have also committed myself to a trip to Morocco. It’ll be safe, and it seems extremely eye-opening and culturally-rewarding. While it’s kinda expensive, whatev. Morocco! I felt like I owed it to myself to see firsthand the culture that has influenced the city where I’m living for 5-6 months, and also to learn more about the Moroccan people and their culture, the Islamic religion, etc. I’ll be doing a 4-day trip at the end of February, so I’ll be sure to let you know how it went.

And just to end on a super positive note (hah), my stomach doesn’t seem to be agreeing with something over here…not sure if it’s the food, the water, the….??? No sé! I don’t know! But anyway, my stomach has been bothering me lately, I slept 14 hrs last night (day?), and the day before Lara was sick all day, other people have been out…so not really sure what’s up, but mannnn I hope it passes soon!