Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2006
Edit Blog Post
la alhambra
this is why people come to granada. this is a panoramic picture that lauren made, taken from the famous viewpoint ¨mirador de san nicolas.¨ hey! I´ve really been lazy at keeping this up... but these first weeks have understandably been really busy. I really have a lot to say (as usual), but I know super-long posts are a bit overwhelming, so I will make this relatively painless and just try to update more often in the future...
Well, it´s Sunday night, and we´ve officially been here for two weeks. Lauren (my roommate) and I get along really well; i´m really glad. However, we´re having a few minor problems with our homestay--our señora is always on the phone or chatting on the internet with her boyfriend, and she doesn´t really attempt to engage us in conversation (as much as we´d like). We´d really like her to be more involved in our experience here than she is. We are going to talk to the ISA housing coordinator tomorrow to see how this situation could be remedied. It´s possible that we could be switched to another house, but I hope that doesn´t have to happen. I´ll keep you posted...
I absolutely love Granada. If you´d like to read some about it, http://granadainfo.com/granadabasic.htm is a webpage with a lot of basic info about the city. What I personally like most about the city is its size. For people here, walking is a way of life, and you can walk literally anywhere in the city. Yet there is still a great amount of shopping, restaurants, plazas, bars, parks, etc. all over the place. Essentially is has the feel of both a large city and a comfortable town.
One of my favorite cultural differences here in Spain is the intense conversation as well as the lack of personal space. Spainards don´t award near the amount of personal space that we do in the U.S. - friends and family are very touchy all of the time, and on the street people sort of bump into each other without a care in the world (and only an occasional ¨perdón¨). In restaurants, everyone is engaged in extremely animated conversation. You see none of the silent meal-sharing that goes on in restaurants in the U.S. (people going out to eat and sort of just sitting there, not talking a lot). Spainards generally talk a lot, and very loudly. I love both of these things...very my style...
que mas... oh, the concept of time is a bit different here. in a couple different ways. lunch is around 2 or 3, and after that everyone takes a siesta (nap). although it seems too good to be true (for me anyway), this is no legend - it´s for real. the stores close around 2pm to have lunch and take their siestas, and they open back up at around 5, which is when the restaurants close to take their siestas (they open back up around 7 or 8). it varies a little bit but for the most part this is the way it is. also, A LOT of places aren´t open on sundays. it´s hard to get used to the fact that you can´t always just go out and do what you want - things aren´t always open here like they are in the U.S.
Then dinner isn´t until 9, 9:30pm. On weekends, people don´t go out until later, and they then stay out until crazy hours of the night. The term for this is called ¨ir de marcha¨- something similar to what we´d call ¨partying,¨but more specific - it collectively stands for going out, drinking, meeting people, and going from place to place to place. A lot of the dance clubs don´t even open until 3 or 4 in the morning.
I´ve only done the staying-out-until-morning ir de marcha-ing once so far, and it was a pretty good time, although I would typically rather go to a chill place with a few friends, have conversation, listen to some live music, whatever. The clubs are not really my style, or at least not every weekend... ¨Tapas¨ are really popular all over Spain, but especially in Granada. They are basically what we´d call appetizers, and they´re served at most bars. In Granada most of them are free... like you go into a bar with some other people and get some wine or beer, and you typically get free tapas! It´s really fun and really relaxed. Along the same sort of lines, people don´t go over to each other´s houses here to hang out. To spend time with friends and be social, people meet in restaurants or bars. All the action is in the street - entertaining in houses is not really the norm.
One more interesting thing - most of the streets here are basically what we would consider alleys in the United States. Except for the main streets, they are cobblestone with very narrow ¨sidewalks¨on each side... alot of the time people walk down the middle and just move to the side when a car or motorcycle is coming. It´s really pretty, but alog a little insane.
Ah, this is getting ridiculously long! I just have so much to say! (weird, huh.) I need to do a few more things on the internet here, and supper is in 30 minutes, so I better run. On a last note, a disclaimer: I apologize if my English isn´t that eloquent or if there are grammar errors (God FORBID) in these posts. I am typically thinking and speaking in Spanish, not English, and I really have to think more than usual to write in English. And I want to take as little time as possible using English, because I´m here to work on my Spanish! =)
Talk to you soon, and thanks for all of your emails. As usual, I hope all is well with each of you!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 4; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0384s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
KT
non-member comment
HI SWEETIE!!!
Hi Amber... so good to hear from you again!! I am happy that you are adjusting well! I am sure it is quite the culture shock! :) Speaking of culture shock...Jenny Frick just arrived in New Mexico to begin her traveling nurse position! She said she is definately in a whole new culture! :) I will miss her! I have been sick the past few days with a bad cold... runny nose... ears hurt... etc. Jim has been entertaining me the past few dasy! Don't ask... it's a long story with him and me?? Don't know what is going on! Anyway... so good to hear from you! I think about you lots! Love Katie