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Week 1 of my Masters

and so it begins

The first week has been full of work! The classes I have had have been Current Politics/Sociological issues, Spanish History, and the creation of my Memoria. The closest explanation of that is it is a research paper on the Master’s level that I will have to work on during the school year be experimenting in my classroom and researching my topic. I am a little bit overwhelmed about it, but it will be alright.

On Tuesday night I went out to tapear (go to various tapas places and eat tapas). It was good to have a moment to relax with some of the ladies I met last year. Thursday night I got a group of people together to see the sunset from the Mirador San Nicolás. For those of you who may not have read my blog last year: Mirador San Nicolás is a plaza in the Albaicin that you can see the Alhambra. The Albaicin is the older neighborhood that used to be where the wealthy moors lived. The sultan actually lived in this area originally before moving to the Alhambra. It still has a feel of being in a country other than Spain. From this look out the Alhambra is impressive. When you go to see the sunset it is incredible. The sunset changes the colors of the Alhambra and the mountains behind it. The Alhambra starts as its reddish-brick color with typical mountains in the background. As the sun sets, the mountains go from pink to dark and you can no longer see them while the Alhambra lightens up. Many people go to see this, and it is well worth it. It is smart to get there around 845 to get a seat for the “show”. It doesn’t get dark here until 10pm.

Friday night a group from school went out dancing. It was fun to have a group of people to go out dancing with, especially considering everyone would dance as a group. We danced salsa, bachata and merengue. I stink at salsa. Oh well, I did pretty well with the others. I actually was asked to dance by some random person…he sleezed me out a bit, but I had plenty of classmates there.

Saturday we went on a excursion to the Alhambra. It is still as awesome as it was last year. For a great description of what the Alhambra really is check last year’s description. Our guide this year did not give nearly as much information, although he did sing! There is a lot more restoration construction going on this year taking away from some of the beauty, but the place itself is still amazing. What the Moors were able to create in this city just amazes me.

My sleeping arrangements are better this year as we are in a hotel with AC which is very nice. The food is boring as it is the same stuff every day. It isn’t that it is bad, just repetitive. I have television in my room, which I have not really had time to watch. When I am in my room I am either reading or sleeping! One thing I will say however is that my room is right next to the street, so every motorcycle and bus that passes I know about it! I am slowly getting accustomed enough to sleep through it (or maybe that it is I am soooo tired!)

Well, Week 2 is on its way.

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