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Trip Start
Jan 27, 2008
1
10
40
Trip End
Jul 23, 2008
Granada, Spain
Friday, February 8, 2008
Monday (2/4)-
With CEA, we took a bus up to the Albaicin and wandered around and then ended up at a teteria (not sure if that's how it's spelled, but it's a tea house). Some of the people from the early start group were there, so it was good to meet some new people and see a familiar face (Amanda!) The teteria was Moroccan and had a lot of neat details. Gorgeous pillows covered the benches and there were fabulous lamps and decorations all over. They gave us little desserts, mint tea, and tea with milk. I tried it even though I don't actually like tea. The tea with milk was so good, although I added a lot of sugar. The mint tea was pretty good, but I think I would like it better with milk. A group of us has been talking about going to Morocco at the end of February for a weekend. One girl's roommates went this past weekend with a tour guide and said that it is best to go with a tour because it can be pretty dangerous (someone asked the guide if he would give him the girl for 25 camels!).
Tuesday (2/5)-
For lunch, Lola and one of her friends ate with me. We had some sort of pasta with seafood. I wasn't a huge fan, but I tried to eat as much as I could. There were little clams with their hard shells in it and shrimp and some sort of fish, I think. We also had a really good salad before the pasta, which had lettuce, tomatoes, corn, red peppers, olives, cucumbers (I think), apples, clementines, etc. The other lady seemed to understand that it was a large serving and kept making jokes about how much Lola was giving me. We went to the Arab Baths with CEA today. Relaxation, water, and massages all in one amazing package. We changed into our bathing suits and were given numbers for massages. There were seven different pools, all of different temperatures. I went in a medium temperature first, but you're supposed to go into the cold one first. After going into the medium one, I definitely didn't want to go in the cold. I was very pruney by the end! I was one of the last people in our group to get a massage, but it was well worth the wait. It kind of hurt a lot at some points because of the pressure they were putting, but I feel very relaxed now and the heat from the baths got rid of my congestion.
We went out to Bar Latinno for free salsa lessons tonight. The instructor was moy intense and I think owned the bar because there were pictures of him dancing all over the place. We were the only ones there and he basically just showed us the steps and then danced a little bit with each of us. He kept saying that I needed to loosen up (in Spanish, but the other girls told me that was what he said). He teaches at the University and said that we could take the class, which would be neat because we could meet some Spanish students.
Wednesday (2/6)-
After a little bit of shopping, a group of us went to a museum that had a free display of Egyptian art, which was pretty neat. For lunch, I had some sort of soup with potatoes, meat, and veggies. I think that the meat was ham, but I kept getting grossed out because they use all of the parts of the pig and I couldn't tell what part it was. I shouldn't have thought about it! I also had a very good salad with lettuce, carrots, corn, little pea things, and cucumbers that I don't think are cucumbers. I found out that all of my classes are in the same building, in the same classroom. Since my classes are all in English, they are at a different building than the main centro, hopefully I remember how to get there. My room-mates that don't live in my room got back from London today in time for dinner, so it was good to get to know them a little more.
Thursday (2/7)-
So I did get a little lost on my way to school this morning, but I left in plenty of time (of course) so I was still there early. I only have one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10-11:30, Spanish Literature. The professor was really nice, although she started off talking in Spanish and I was pretty terrified that she was not going to speak any English. We did some getting to know you activities with a partner (mine was Joslyn) and got our syllabus. It seems that we're going to go through the different time periods of literature and I guess read excerpts of Spanish literature. We don't have any books, the professor is just going to make photocopies. Joslyn and I did a little shopping and then I went back for lunch. I had my first taste of paella (yum!- rice, meat, veggies).
After a long siesta, Julia, Claudia, and I went searching for the salsa lessons that the guy had told us about. We thought we were on the right street, but couldn't find the place, so we asked someone and eventually found where we needed to go. It was in the sports facilities at the university, which was neat and looked like a good place to go running! We were pretty shocked to see everyone dressed up in costumes when we got there. Apparently, it was their last class and they wanted to surprise the instructor. We jumped right into dancing and doing the steps, which I think was a warm up. Then he had them break up into pairs, but there weren't even guys, so he would rotate in the girls. We just watched because we didn't know the dance yet, but it looked like they were having a lot of fun. They said that they had started off not knowing anything and now it was really easy, so I think that I might join the class. It starts in a couple of weeks and ends around Easter.
Friday (2/8) today:
I just got out of a volunteering meeting that was all in Spanish. I was a little bit nervous that you had to know Spanish to do the volunteering, but it turns out there are some things you can do not knowing any. I think I'm going to try working at a day care center for 1-5 year olds. Hopefully that wouldn't be too bad without knowing Spanish! I'm heading back for lunch soon and then I'm going to an outdoor café and getting to work on postcard writing. Tomorrow I'm hiking with a group from the CLM into the Sierra Nevadas. We leave at 8:30 and it lasts for about 7-9 hours, so I'm going to sleep early tonight. Adios.
Comments
Message from Bemidji
Hi Annie. It sounds like you're having a wonderful time. You need to learn Salsa dancing so you can teach us when you return. It's been fun to be able to read your blog and keep up with your experiences.
Judy
salsa
Nayla keeps trying to get me to salsa, i've learned the basic..