ja ja ja
my pseudo-euro transformation is complete!
indeeeeeeeeeed.
jajaja [hahaha]. not much is new here with me, but i guess when i say not much is new, something IS new (besides my awesome new kicks). soooo let's see, since last post:
semana santa [final weekend]: i got back from prague in time to see the famed and hiper-talked about "procesión del silencio" in the middle of the night thursday, but it got rained out!! in fact, all of the processions (set to occur at least one a day, usually more like three "pasos") were cancelled. that is, until friday when the crappy weather let up. i met up with justine and her parents who were visiting to watch a big one. it was pretty awesome, actually. there really isn't anything like it in the U.S. the floats (pasos) were all incredibly decorated and huge- and heavy. it was cool to see the feet of all of the people underneath, walking inunison and balancing this huge thing on their shoulders "todo con la fuerza de dios". our literature prof told us an interesting little factoid about andalucians that totes rang true: they like their christ dead, or on the walk there. they're all about the "angustia" of the virgin mary (in fact, the patron saint of granada is the virgen de las angustias), and so all of the really big awesome processions are early on in semana santa. the resurrection procesions are still cool, but not AS cool. it was neat to see, i'm glad i got back in time (and that the sun came with me).
last weekend we went to ronda, a little pueblo built on some amazing cliffs here in andalucia. it was soooooooo pretty. funny story of this day was that i almost didn't make it. i set my alarm (i did! i did!) but of course it didn't go off. so at 9am when everybody was on the bus waiting to go... i was still in bed. jackie called me (no she didn't leave without me, she wasn't home) and i litterally jumped out of bed, put on the same clothes i had on the day before, and ran out the door. i didn't even wash my face, aaaaand i forgot to grab my camera. oy vey. you guys know me. you know i DON'T run, i can't and i don't like it. but i DID. all the way to the palacio de congressos where the bus was waiting. i pretty much felt like i was going to die, but at least i made it under 10 minutes thankyouverymuch. so yeah. lucky me i took a shower the night before so i wasn't totally gross. plus choni gave me a banana, croissant and juicebox as she pushed me out the door so it ended up just fine. so yeah, ronda was cool but the cliffs were pretty much the only thing to see. we did go to a little "everything" museum that had a freaky witchcraft exhibit, but rather than being about witchcraft it was about torture devices used during the inquisition...and more recently too. gah! i'm not even going to go there. this was our last group trip (at least, the last "official" group trip...) and it was a good one.
yesterday we went to a bull fight. a real one. it was actually pretty cool, at least, the experiencing-the-culture part was. it was not as gross and not as sad as i anticipated it being. i was pretty sure i would have to leave (blood, killing, etc) but we all ended up staying till the end. i don't know if i could explain why it wasn't horrible... the bulls didn't really ellicit any sympathy but that doesn't really make it better... :/ the matadors had such style, and being in the crowd was really really neat.
today we went out to lunch with paula, choni and her friend chari (sidenote: choni also has a friend named conchi, and they all go out together- so imagine this: choni chari conchi chonchichachicari or a variation of such. omg so confusing). it was fun and my new fave spanish food is morcilla, which falls into the "embutido" category. deelish. we went back to chari's house and had a café and played rummy for a while (playing games i already know but in spanish makes for a good vocab builder, i've also played sorry!). now i'm sitting here uploading pictures onto flickr from friday (we took a hike and ended up at the cemetery) and the toros from saturday, and i'm trying to upload videos (!!!) onto myspace! actually i'm not trying- i'm DOING, pretty successfully, i might add.
other stuff: next weekend we're going to PORTUGAL! porti mão, to be precise, and we may or may not make it up to lisbon for a day... we'll see how attached to the beach we get :) we're renting cars and it's gonna be an awesome 5 day weekend. also, the thursday after we get back is dia de la cruz (yes another religious holiday, i'm in spain, go figure) but it's a big day in granada and i HEAR that it includes dancing in the streets and botellón-ing it up. thus, i am excited.
OOOOO i also have purchased my tickets to ITALY! [after my program ends] first heading to sicily to sleep in christine's extra bed and wander around siracusa, then we're going to rome. yay.
i am superexcited about all of these plans but also super in denial about how soon we have to leave. i'm ready to see my friends and family again but i don't want to go! they told me this would happen and i believed them and now i feel it. can we fix this please? will you all just come live with me in europe?
...if you do i will buy you all silver shoes, i promise!!!!
indeeeeeeeeeed.
jajaja [hahaha]. not much is new here with me, but i guess when i say not much is new, something IS new (besides my awesome new kicks). soooo let's see, since last post:
semana santa [final weekend]: i got back from prague in time to see the famed and hiper-talked about "procesión del silencio" in the middle of the night thursday, but it got rained out!! in fact, all of the processions (set to occur at least one a day, usually more like three "pasos") were cancelled. that is, until friday when the crappy weather let up. i met up with justine and her parents who were visiting to watch a big one. it was pretty awesome, actually. there really isn't anything like it in the U.S. the floats (pasos) were all incredibly decorated and huge- and heavy. it was cool to see the feet of all of the people underneath, walking inunison and balancing this huge thing on their shoulders "todo con la fuerza de dios". our literature prof told us an interesting little factoid about andalucians that totes rang true: they like their christ dead, or on the walk there. they're all about the "angustia" of the virgin mary (in fact, the patron saint of granada is the virgen de las angustias), and so all of the really big awesome processions are early on in semana santa. the resurrection procesions are still cool, but not AS cool. it was neat to see, i'm glad i got back in time (and that the sun came with me).
last weekend we went to ronda, a little pueblo built on some amazing cliffs here in andalucia. it was soooooooo pretty. funny story of this day was that i almost didn't make it. i set my alarm (i did! i did!) but of course it didn't go off. so at 9am when everybody was on the bus waiting to go... i was still in bed. jackie called me (no she didn't leave without me, she wasn't home) and i litterally jumped out of bed, put on the same clothes i had on the day before, and ran out the door. i didn't even wash my face, aaaaand i forgot to grab my camera. oy vey. you guys know me. you know i DON'T run, i can't and i don't like it. but i DID. all the way to the palacio de congressos where the bus was waiting. i pretty much felt like i was going to die, but at least i made it under 10 minutes thankyouverymuch. so yeah. lucky me i took a shower the night before so i wasn't totally gross. plus choni gave me a banana, croissant and juicebox as she pushed me out the door so it ended up just fine. so yeah, ronda was cool but the cliffs were pretty much the only thing to see. we did go to a little "everything" museum that had a freaky witchcraft exhibit, but rather than being about witchcraft it was about torture devices used during the inquisition...and more recently too. gah! i'm not even going to go there. this was our last group trip (at least, the last "official" group trip...) and it was a good one.
yesterday we went to a bull fight. a real one. it was actually pretty cool, at least, the experiencing-the-culture part was. it was not as gross and not as sad as i anticipated it being. i was pretty sure i would have to leave (blood, killing, etc) but we all ended up staying till the end. i don't know if i could explain why it wasn't horrible... the bulls didn't really ellicit any sympathy but that doesn't really make it better... :/ the matadors had such style, and being in the crowd was really really neat.
today we went out to lunch with paula, choni and her friend chari (sidenote: choni also has a friend named conchi, and they all go out together- so imagine this: choni chari conchi chonchichachicari or a variation of such. omg so confusing). it was fun and my new fave spanish food is morcilla, which falls into the "embutido" category. deelish. we went back to chari's house and had a café and played rummy for a while (playing games i already know but in spanish makes for a good vocab builder, i've also played sorry!). now i'm sitting here uploading pictures onto flickr from friday (we took a hike and ended up at the cemetery) and the toros from saturday, and i'm trying to upload videos (!!!) onto myspace! actually i'm not trying- i'm DOING, pretty successfully, i might add.
other stuff: next weekend we're going to PORTUGAL! porti mão, to be precise, and we may or may not make it up to lisbon for a day... we'll see how attached to the beach we get :) we're renting cars and it's gonna be an awesome 5 day weekend. also, the thursday after we get back is dia de la cruz (yes another religious holiday, i'm in spain, go figure) but it's a big day in granada and i HEAR that it includes dancing in the streets and botellón-ing it up. thus, i am excited.
OOOOO i also have purchased my tickets to ITALY! [after my program ends] first heading to sicily to sleep in christine's extra bed and wander around siracusa, then we're going to rome. yay.
i am superexcited about all of these plans but also super in denial about how soon we have to leave. i'm ready to see my friends and family again but i don't want to go! they told me this would happen and i believed them and now i feel it. can we fix this please? will you all just come live with me in europe?
...if you do i will buy you all silver shoes, i promise!!!!