Hola All!
Another week since I've written and oh how much I have to tell!
As far as crazy exciting events happening to me in Granada, there's not a whole lot to tell. The time of midterms has come, and I have realized that the two years of university I have spent mastering the art of studying have served for nothing as my studying skills have disappeared within three months. I have found my mind unable to comprehend the task of "studying". What a foreign concept it is to me now...having to look over notes...what is THAT?!?! Well as you can probably figure, midterm studying will be difficult to do while I'm in Spain, but it is something that must be done and something I am crossing my fingers WILL be done correctly...eh, hooooopefully.
As for other things, I roadtripped across Spain and Portugal! I KNOW...it was pretty much the most amazing experience ever. I went with three other girls...Bethany and Vanessa (my two housemates) and Ana.
Before I tell you about our crazy adventure, I have decided that Portugal is by far my favorite country that I have visited as of yet. It's a country that has been left as a side note for all Americans (except those studying in Spain), but is one of the most beautiful places with the kindest, warmest people in the entire world. I LOVED it to say the least. So for those making a list of "Countries I Must See Before I Die" please put Portugal on your list...and if it isn't the most amazing place you've seen...I'll buy you ice cream to compensate for the hundreds of dollars you'll spend going :-P (and yes that is a written contract). But not to worry, it really is all that and much much more!
So in our roadtripping adventure, we went to Faro (a coastal city of Portugal) and Lisbon (the largest city in Portugal). While completely opposite of each other (Faro-small beach town and Lisbon-huge huge city), they both had their charm.
We did spend a lot of time in our little rented red car going from here to there, down streets, under tunnels, and charging out of closing gates in parking lots where we weren't supposed to be (oops...), but as I said...it's all part of the experience!
We were only in Faro for two days and one night. We got there late Thursday night, ate at McDonalds (we were craving American food so don't judge us!), and then went to bed. The next day we woke up, walked along the coast, saw a cathedral...and get this...we saw another cathedral made from the bones and skulls of dead monks! I KNOW. Who's fantastic idea was it to dig up some dead religous people (all respect intended) and put their undecayed remains on a wall? Whoever thought of it was far from genious, but it was quite the "interesting" experience.
From Faro we left for Lisbon! To describe Lisbon I can think of one word...San Francisco. There were trams, hilly streets, and an ocean...San Francisco defined. In Lisbon we spent a good 1-2 hours lost on the streets attempting to find our hostel, but once that task was accomplished, we were good to go. We got there at night so we ate and went to sleep, but the next day we had many an adventure awaiting us...
The very first thing we did after we left our hostel was make our way to the metro station to start our tourist exploration of the city. As we were boarding the metro we heard a gasp from Vanessa as we situated ourselves on the train. There was a man standing next to her pointing out the train and Vanessa next to him, panic striken. At that moment we had no idea what had happened, but as soon as the door shut we realized that Vanessa had been pick pocketed! YES!!! A man had the ODACITY to pick pocket one of us! So we immediately got off on the next stop, caught the train back to the original stop, and attempted to chase this man down. Of course, he had run away :( :( :(. It was at that point that I noticed the cameras on the wall and suggested that we should go and talk to the metro station staff about what had happened. They sent us to the next station to report it to the police. As we arrived at the station and flagged down a security guard, something odd happened. He seemed to recognize Vanessa. He walked us over to the information booth where *ta da!* Vanessa's wallet was waiting for her!!! Of course the meanie thief had stolen her 150+ euros, but he had been in too much of a panic to look through anything else and had left her wallet full of credit cards and identification thrown on a bench in the metro. It was definitely not the best way to start our exploration of Lisbon, but it could have been much much worse.
We continued our exploration of the city, seeing all its various neighborhoods, and taking pictures at the famous monument of Discovery (primer landmark of Lisbon). We also went to a pastry shop that has been selling egg custard pastries in Lisbon since 1837. The pastries were DELICIOUS (I knew they would be because I had seen a whole special on them on the Travel Channel :D).
At the pastry shop I had another adventure. I met my Prince Charming *sigh*. Me being the nosy annoying tourist that I am, was attempting to get behind the counter to take pictures of the pastries coming out of the oven. There was a waiter standing in front of me and he turned around and gave me a weird look. I sheepishly started to back away when he said, "I think someone's trying to take a picture here! Everyone get out of the way!" I took my picture and scurried quickly over to the other girls. We were standing around because all the tables were full when the same waiter came over again and asked us what we were doing. When we told him we were waiting for a table he said, "Well, if you're looking for something, you usually have to search for it!" He then told us to follow him, where we were shown to a table...full of people. I told thim that I didn't think the table was available and he started to laugh and say, "I'm the waiter. I know when someone asks for the bill and is about to leave. Give it five minutes max and it'll be available." Sure enough he was right and we were seated within the next two minutes. He was a fun guy, very cute, very funny, and had very good English (I'm doubting he was from Portugal, but he insisted that he was). After bringing our pastries he asked us if we would mind paying as his shift was over and he had to leave. As we were fumbling with our money he started stumbling through some words. He said, "I don't want to offend anyone here...I mean sometimes you just have to say something and it comes out as offensive, but it's not that you're meaning to be offensive, it's just that you say something that is taken the wrong way." We continued to stare at him, completely lacking in comprehension of anything that was being said. Finally he said looking at me, "I think you are one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen, but I want to say that, not to offend your friends that they aren't beautiful, but to compliment you on the fact that you are just absolutely gorgeous." Now this was a compliment completely unexpected by me and I felt my face becoming hot very very quickly. For a brown person, blushing is not an easy task to accomplish, but I promise that I most definitely did accomplish it. After finishing his speech and after my confused, shocked, and very sheepish, "Thank you". He smiled and left.
And there you have it. That's it! I don't know his name or anything, but it was quite the experience, and it will be forever my Cinderella tale to tell...but I don't even have a glass slipper or anything. But heck, I didn't have time to trace him down with nothing but a shoe so I guess it worked out for the better :-P.
So those are my two Lisbon adventures. One of my Prince Charming whom I will never meet again and one of poor Vanessa getting robbed by a crooked thief.
Rock on Lisbon!
We stayed in Lisbon for the next night and then we left the next day for Sintra, a small town right out of Lisbon. I kid you not when I say it was one of the most charming beautiful places I've ever visited. It was just so darn CUTE! (It it had been a child I would have pinched its cheeks and made goo goo noises...that is just how cute it was) In Sintra we visited the estate of an old rich arquitect, now open to the public. In his acres of land he had built towers, caves, revolving hidden doors, and wells with staircases. I felt like a mixture of Indiana Jones and a princess, wandering through the estate, and coming across random adventures.
After Sintra we were done and it was time to come back to Spain. It was quite the weekend to say the least! Now I'm sitting here with a midterm in less than 5 hours, trying to figure out how to stop procrastinating and get down to it! Wish me luck mis amigos.
For those of you that got to go to Diwali Banquet back home, I'm soooooo freaking jealous (just to let you know).
I love you all!
With much love,
A procrastinating me
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
I'm FREEZING and I Can't Even Dance :(
Hola All!
Okay so I've been a bad girl again...I think it's been over a week now that I haven't posted (oddles of sorryness to you all). So what has happened in my life since then...
Dance Classes:
You allllll must be aware of how freaking excited I was about taking my classical Indian dance class. The last time I posted I was about to attend the real classical dance class (not the weird Eastern theater dance crap). It took me 45 minutes in freezing cold, rainy weather to walk to the dance studio. When I got there, there was absolutely nobody there. I waited about 15 minutes (knowing that the Spanish are always late), and finally the teacher of the class arrived and uttered these horrible words, "Nobody else in Granada is interested in this class. We're going to have to cancel it."
You all, I kid you not when I say that a tear came into my eye. MY DREAM...DESTROYED!?!?!?! Okay...so maybe that's a tad bit dramatic, but I really was very upset about it. It's a week later and I've decided that I'm over it. I didn't want to learn how to classical Indian dance...I'll just save that for my time in India (psh...yeah, I'm just going to keep telling myself that :( :( :(
Weather:
And yes I am really going to talk about the weather (I've lived with a 73 year old woman for the past 3 months...what do you expect?!?!?!). It is so freaking cold here. My senora is NEVER cold even when it is freaking 40 degrees, wet, and cold outside. She walks around like it's 100 degrees...so that means that the heater in our house is NEVER on (which is not much better than when it will be on because I was informed there are only 2 hours of the day allotted to heating and then the rest you must suffer from frostbite).
Bethany, Vanessa, and I literally put our hats, gloves, scarves, and winter coats on when we come INTO the house. The thing is that we have to walk so much here (and my entire walk to school is completamente uphill) that one gets hot walking... When we come into our freezer aka home, we rush to our rooms to bundle up for the frigid weather inside (yeah, I know, how ridiculous does this sound).
You all, I SLEEP with long underwear, my pjs, my fleece jacket, my scarf, and my hat on...oh gosh, I feel like I'm an eskimo in training and will be ready to live in Anarctica by the time I leave here (next study abroad experience...here I come!) OH and if I haven't mentioned, windows in Spain are never insulated and I have a huge freaking window in my room that allows tons of cold air through *sigh* *sigh*.
Okay I think I've complained enough :-P
Volunteering:
I started my volunteering last Wednesday. I feel as though I have never learned so much from one night in my life, as I did Wednesday night. I met up with a group composed completely of Spaniards (this is probably the best intercambio Spanish speaking experience I've had in addition to living with my Gabby Gail senora). The only Americans were me and Kelly(both from the ISA study abroad program). We instantly set off on the routine walk through Granada, carrying a bag of food, blankets, and thermoses of coffee, soup, and hot chocolate to offer to those shivering from the frigid night air.
I met so many people that night...men destroyed by alcohol and drugs...immigrants struggling to create a new life in another country...old men driven crazy by doings of life. I met one young gypsy family that had immigrated from Romania. They already had 6 children and the wife was pregnant. Three of their children they had left behind with their grandparents in Romania. When I asked what the reason was for their having such a large family, they answered that they only had one daughter and were trying to have another. What I was made to understand later was that the desire for a daughter did not stem from the mere pleasure of having another girl in the family, but it stemmed from the fact that wives are bought in Romania (by the gypsies) and because they would have to purchase their 5 sons wives, they would need an equal ratio of girls to sell to marriage in order to have their sons be married.
I also met another man that had been addicted to heroine. He told me that the Spanish government's solution to heroine addicts is supplying them with a free drug that is a crude form of heroine, meaning that it has the same exact effect on the person but is easier to produce. The reasoning for this? It is cheaper for the government to supply drug addicts with this drug than to deal with the crimes committed by addicts in need of money to purchase drugs. I was absolutely shocked! Instead of trying to rehabilitate this people, the government was feeding their self destructive habits. In the group of Spaniards volunteering with me was a very nice guy that is actually a medical student. He told me that it costs a lot of money to rehabilitate drug addicts and therefore this was the solution the Spanish government had come up with.
I'll leave you to think of this what you will...
Teterias:
I have decided that my favorite places in the entire world are teterias. These are Moroccan tea shops located throughout Granada, set in an Arabic ambiance with low lighting, cushions, and HEATING. Unlike in the EEUU (Estados Unidos aka America), once you're done dining, you are not rushed out by any means.
It's so relaxing to get a cute baby teapot of tea (out of the collection of literally over a 100 teas offered) and sit and talk with friends. ALSO, on Monday and Tuesdays you are given a free nutella crepe with your purchase (nutella = Europe's gift to the world of hazelnut chocolate spread)...and we all know that free is NEVER a bad thing.
I'm going to miss teterias :(.
Speaking of missing things, I will be done with my study abroad experience in 5 weeks! Like I've always said, I'm loving it here, but I am so excited to come home and see everyone. I even registered for my classes yesterday (yay for getting all the classes I wanted!!!), and the stress of a normal semester of too much to handle reading, projects, and essays is already starting to enter my mind. Oh and then I have a dragon that needs slaying...a big bad green ugly ugly dragon with smelly fiery breathe...aka the MCAT :(.
OH and guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend? I'm roadtripping with my housemates across Spain and Portugal! I know, I am quite the adventurer, aren't I? We're renting a car and driving to Faroh and Lisbon in Portugal. Wish us luck!
I'm also going to be going to Ireland two weekends from now...amidst all of this I will be having midterms in the next two weeks (this means I have to remember how to study again).
I think that's enough for today!
YAY for Obama being our new president :).
Much love,
Eskimo Amen
Okay so I've been a bad girl again...I think it's been over a week now that I haven't posted (oddles of sorryness to you all). So what has happened in my life since then...
Dance Classes:
You allllll must be aware of how freaking excited I was about taking my classical Indian dance class. The last time I posted I was about to attend the real classical dance class (not the weird Eastern theater dance crap). It took me 45 minutes in freezing cold, rainy weather to walk to the dance studio. When I got there, there was absolutely nobody there. I waited about 15 minutes (knowing that the Spanish are always late), and finally the teacher of the class arrived and uttered these horrible words, "Nobody else in Granada is interested in this class. We're going to have to cancel it."
You all, I kid you not when I say that a tear came into my eye. MY DREAM...DESTROYED!?!?!?! Okay...so maybe that's a tad bit dramatic, but I really was very upset about it. It's a week later and I've decided that I'm over it. I didn't want to learn how to classical Indian dance...I'll just save that for my time in India (psh...yeah, I'm just going to keep telling myself that :( :( :(
Weather:
And yes I am really going to talk about the weather (I've lived with a 73 year old woman for the past 3 months...what do you expect?!?!?!). It is so freaking cold here. My senora is NEVER cold even when it is freaking 40 degrees, wet, and cold outside. She walks around like it's 100 degrees...so that means that the heater in our house is NEVER on (which is not much better than when it will be on because I was informed there are only 2 hours of the day allotted to heating and then the rest you must suffer from frostbite).
Bethany, Vanessa, and I literally put our hats, gloves, scarves, and winter coats on when we come INTO the house. The thing is that we have to walk so much here (and my entire walk to school is completamente uphill) that one gets hot walking... When we come into our freezer aka home, we rush to our rooms to bundle up for the frigid weather inside (yeah, I know, how ridiculous does this sound).
You all, I SLEEP with long underwear, my pjs, my fleece jacket, my scarf, and my hat on...oh gosh, I feel like I'm an eskimo in training and will be ready to live in Anarctica by the time I leave here (next study abroad experience...here I come!) OH and if I haven't mentioned, windows in Spain are never insulated and I have a huge freaking window in my room that allows tons of cold air through *sigh* *sigh*.
Okay I think I've complained enough :-P
Volunteering:
I started my volunteering last Wednesday. I feel as though I have never learned so much from one night in my life, as I did Wednesday night. I met up with a group composed completely of Spaniards (this is probably the best intercambio Spanish speaking experience I've had in addition to living with my Gabby Gail senora). The only Americans were me and Kelly(both from the ISA study abroad program). We instantly set off on the routine walk through Granada, carrying a bag of food, blankets, and thermoses of coffee, soup, and hot chocolate to offer to those shivering from the frigid night air.
I met so many people that night...men destroyed by alcohol and drugs...immigrants struggling to create a new life in another country...old men driven crazy by doings of life. I met one young gypsy family that had immigrated from Romania. They already had 6 children and the wife was pregnant. Three of their children they had left behind with their grandparents in Romania. When I asked what the reason was for their having such a large family, they answered that they only had one daughter and were trying to have another. What I was made to understand later was that the desire for a daughter did not stem from the mere pleasure of having another girl in the family, but it stemmed from the fact that wives are bought in Romania (by the gypsies) and because they would have to purchase their 5 sons wives, they would need an equal ratio of girls to sell to marriage in order to have their sons be married.
I also met another man that had been addicted to heroine. He told me that the Spanish government's solution to heroine addicts is supplying them with a free drug that is a crude form of heroine, meaning that it has the same exact effect on the person but is easier to produce. The reasoning for this? It is cheaper for the government to supply drug addicts with this drug than to deal with the crimes committed by addicts in need of money to purchase drugs. I was absolutely shocked! Instead of trying to rehabilitate this people, the government was feeding their self destructive habits. In the group of Spaniards volunteering with me was a very nice guy that is actually a medical student. He told me that it costs a lot of money to rehabilitate drug addicts and therefore this was the solution the Spanish government had come up with.
I'll leave you to think of this what you will...
Teterias:
I have decided that my favorite places in the entire world are teterias. These are Moroccan tea shops located throughout Granada, set in an Arabic ambiance with low lighting, cushions, and HEATING. Unlike in the EEUU (Estados Unidos aka America), once you're done dining, you are not rushed out by any means.
It's so relaxing to get a cute baby teapot of tea (out of the collection of literally over a 100 teas offered) and sit and talk with friends. ALSO, on Monday and Tuesdays you are given a free nutella crepe with your purchase (nutella = Europe's gift to the world of hazelnut chocolate spread)...and we all know that free is NEVER a bad thing.
I'm going to miss teterias :(.
Speaking of missing things, I will be done with my study abroad experience in 5 weeks! Like I've always said, I'm loving it here, but I am so excited to come home and see everyone. I even registered for my classes yesterday (yay for getting all the classes I wanted!!!), and the stress of a normal semester of too much to handle reading, projects, and essays is already starting to enter my mind. Oh and then I have a dragon that needs slaying...a big bad green ugly ugly dragon with smelly fiery breathe...aka the MCAT :(.
OH and guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend? I'm roadtripping with my housemates across Spain and Portugal! I know, I am quite the adventurer, aren't I? We're renting a car and driving to Faroh and Lisbon in Portugal. Wish us luck!
I'm also going to be going to Ireland two weekends from now...amidst all of this I will be having midterms in the next two weeks (this means I have to remember how to study again).
I think that's enough for today!
YAY for Obama being our new president :).
Much love,
Eskimo Amen
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Baila, Baila, Baila!
Hola All!
Look at me, updating my blog on a daily basis! I'm such a good kid :).
Well not much has happened since yesterday, but one major amazing thing has happened that I HAVE to tell you about. I've started taking my dance classes! There are two different courses: one that is a fusion of Indian dance and theater and another traditional Indian dance course. I've just finished with one and am waiting for the other one to start in about an hour. EEK! I'm so excited!!! It was so amazing to finally be doing what I've wanted to do for so much of my life. The guy teaching the class, I must admit, was slightly weird. He was one of those "I'm not Eastern but I want to be Eastern so so so so sooooooooooo bad" types and we alllllllll know that those type of people are hard to understand (but usually have an amazing grasp of the concept of spirituality). Anywho, I'm super to duper excited to get back to the classical Indian dance class. I'm going to choose one of them to participate in after I've tried both.
Other than that, nothing new is going on. Today I felt that I was crowned officially as a Spaniard. "Why?" you ask...well today I officially stepped into dog poop. YUCK! It was absolutely disgusting and it took a while to clean, but according to the Spaniards, stepping in dog poop is lucky. Oh the things we must tell ourselves to make horrible things seem better :-P.
There is something interesting that came into my mind today. I was sitting in my Spanish History class, learning about the Spanish civil war and a thought crossed my mind. Is it necessary for a country to undergo some type of revolution or civil war to reach stability? It seems as though all of the countries now considered to be first world countries have histories inclusive of civil war. The reason why this interests me is because I look at Pakistan and I feel as though the country cannot be fixed until a civil war happens. The daily increasing tension in the region and the quickly growing fractions of religious extremists and moderates has pushed the country to a stage very like the stages of the United States and Spain before brothers were forced to fight brothers on their own land. At times I feel as though there is no hope for my country, but then I remember that this year is its 61st year. It is still very young and it still must endure many hardships. It frightens me that such blood shed might occur in my country, but the more I learn of the history of other nations, the more I realize that history truly does repeat itself. Signs of tension are more than obvious in the region, but it might take years for such atrocity to take place. I pray to God that nothing happens, that my nation can resolve its problems without destruction and blood shed. How heard or possible this prayer will be ...only future will tell.
On a lighter note...
My Trip to Barcelona:
The second day after we got back from Morocco, I left with a group of girls for Barcelona. Thinking about packing I kept asking myself why in the world I had thought that I would not be tired after a trip to the freaking continent of Africa. Regardless of the butt soreness from sitting on a bus for over 40 hours in the previous 5 days, I packed my stuff and was out the door for the train station.
It was at this point that something very interesting happened. I got a call from one of my travel buddies saying that everyone was going to meet outside the station at 11. The funny thing was that I was waiting for the bus to the train station at 9. "But Erin," I asked, "why in the world are you meeting at 11 when the train leaves at 9:45?" She laughed and said, "Oh silly silly Amen, the train doesn't leave until 11:45" (of course those that know Erin know that those would never be her exact words)...then there was silence...a scream on the other side...and a clicking of the phone. I called one of the other girls and the reaction was the same. They had 45 minutes to pack and get themselves over to the train station (which conveniently is located on the opposite side of town).
Good News! We all arrived, red in the face and huffing, but still we got there! In Barcelona we had a blast. We saw Gaudi's architecture, took an open bus tour, saw Picasso's museum, shopped, and just had a good time enjoying each other's company and strolling down the wet, rainy streets of Barcelona.
The city was entirely way too large for my liking, but it was still nice to visit. The life lessons of the trip: 1)I'm happy to be studying in Granada and 2) Look at your train ticket twice before you make assumptions :).
That's all for now folks! I hope you all are doing splendidly. Happy Diwali to everyone!
Much love,
An excited for my dance lesson me
Look at me, updating my blog on a daily basis! I'm such a good kid :).
Well not much has happened since yesterday, but one major amazing thing has happened that I HAVE to tell you about. I've started taking my dance classes! There are two different courses: one that is a fusion of Indian dance and theater and another traditional Indian dance course. I've just finished with one and am waiting for the other one to start in about an hour. EEK! I'm so excited!!! It was so amazing to finally be doing what I've wanted to do for so much of my life. The guy teaching the class, I must admit, was slightly weird. He was one of those "I'm not Eastern but I want to be Eastern so so so so sooooooooooo bad" types and we alllllllll know that those type of people are hard to understand (but usually have an amazing grasp of the concept of spirituality). Anywho, I'm super to duper excited to get back to the classical Indian dance class. I'm going to choose one of them to participate in after I've tried both.
Other than that, nothing new is going on. Today I felt that I was crowned officially as a Spaniard. "Why?" you ask...well today I officially stepped into dog poop. YUCK! It was absolutely disgusting and it took a while to clean, but according to the Spaniards, stepping in dog poop is lucky. Oh the things we must tell ourselves to make horrible things seem better :-P.
There is something interesting that came into my mind today. I was sitting in my Spanish History class, learning about the Spanish civil war and a thought crossed my mind. Is it necessary for a country to undergo some type of revolution or civil war to reach stability? It seems as though all of the countries now considered to be first world countries have histories inclusive of civil war. The reason why this interests me is because I look at Pakistan and I feel as though the country cannot be fixed until a civil war happens. The daily increasing tension in the region and the quickly growing fractions of religious extremists and moderates has pushed the country to a stage very like the stages of the United States and Spain before brothers were forced to fight brothers on their own land. At times I feel as though there is no hope for my country, but then I remember that this year is its 61st year. It is still very young and it still must endure many hardships. It frightens me that such blood shed might occur in my country, but the more I learn of the history of other nations, the more I realize that history truly does repeat itself. Signs of tension are more than obvious in the region, but it might take years for such atrocity to take place. I pray to God that nothing happens, that my nation can resolve its problems without destruction and blood shed. How heard or possible this prayer will be ...only future will tell.
On a lighter note...
My Trip to Barcelona:
The second day after we got back from Morocco, I left with a group of girls for Barcelona. Thinking about packing I kept asking myself why in the world I had thought that I would not be tired after a trip to the freaking continent of Africa. Regardless of the butt soreness from sitting on a bus for over 40 hours in the previous 5 days, I packed my stuff and was out the door for the train station.
It was at this point that something very interesting happened. I got a call from one of my travel buddies saying that everyone was going to meet outside the station at 11. The funny thing was that I was waiting for the bus to the train station at 9. "But Erin," I asked, "why in the world are you meeting at 11 when the train leaves at 9:45?" She laughed and said, "Oh silly silly Amen, the train doesn't leave until 11:45" (of course those that know Erin know that those would never be her exact words)...then there was silence...a scream on the other side...and a clicking of the phone. I called one of the other girls and the reaction was the same. They had 45 minutes to pack and get themselves over to the train station (which conveniently is located on the opposite side of town).
Good News! We all arrived, red in the face and huffing, but still we got there! In Barcelona we had a blast. We saw Gaudi's architecture, took an open bus tour, saw Picasso's museum, shopped, and just had a good time enjoying each other's company and strolling down the wet, rainy streets of Barcelona.
The city was entirely way too large for my liking, but it was still nice to visit. The life lessons of the trip: 1)I'm happy to be studying in Granada and 2) Look at your train ticket twice before you make assumptions :).
That's all for now folks! I hope you all are doing splendidly. Happy Diwali to everyone!
Much love,
An excited for my dance lesson me
Monday, October 27, 2008
A Time of Firsts
Hola All!
Look how good I am updating my blog so early (imagine me beaming with self contentment)!
Anywho, a lot has happened since I last updated...and you´ll NEVER believe what I did!!!! I went to a *drumroll please*...I went to a discoteca AND a bar, a SHOTS bar...and I absolutely did not like it at all :( ,BUT it was an experience and I´m glad that I did it :D :D :D.
And now the story of what happened...
My roommate´s friend was having his 21st birthday on Thursday night (and we alllllllll know what ¨21st birthday party¨implies), and she wanted me to go with her so she wouldn´t have to walk back home alone...and me having no ability to mouth the phrase, ¨No,¨ said, ¨SURE BETHANY! I´d loooooooooooove to go!¨ while in my head I was thinking, ¨Holy moly! What the HELL do I think I´m doing saying yes to a night out on the town!¨
So around rolls Thursday and I´m out the door with Bethany, dressed to impress. We get to the shots bar and I realized very quickly that me being in a room where the sole purpose of the people around me was to drink as much as they could, made for me becoming a wallflower very very quickly. The place was packed with people from our program and because it was so small, everyone was gathered in the middle of the room around the bar. Now, me standing amisdt everyone to chatter the night away was a good idea for the first half of the night, but I slowly started being shoved out of the cluster by those making their way to the bar (usually not fully possessing the ability to walk as normal unintoxicated people do). At that point I decided it was my cue to make myself over to wall and have a nice conversation with 2 or 3 of the other girls that were not drinking.
After the shots bar we were going to go to Mae West, the most popular discoteca in Granada. Now, everyone that knows me knows how much I LOVE to dance, so I thought, ¨HEY! I´ve never been to a club before but I love to dance so I´m going to have a BLAST!¨ Oh dear me, sometimes I am quite the optimistic soul :(. Now don´t get me wrong, I did dance, and I did like it...what I didn´t like was the club environment...loud music, crazy lights, people rubbing against one another (when they don´t even know each other), the smell of alcohol, the inability to hear or say anything to anyone else, cigarette smoke... all equaled to a night that I probably will not be repeating. That night when I finally got back home, I REEKED of cigarette smoke...the hideous smell was in my hair, in my clothes...YUCK!
Having said all of this, I am SUPER glad that I tried it. I´m going to stick to dancing in my room in front of my mirror/in the grass outside of Old Maine.
This is just another experience that is helping me realize what type of person I am...what are the things that I really love to do and what are the things that I can pass on. Por ejemplo, first Friday out in Granada: a night of tapas, shwarma, and tea = chill and totally up there on my list of things I LOVE to do. Last Thursday: drunk people, loco lights, loud music, and cigarette smoke = ¨Um...I´ll have to pass on that¨.
On Saturday, I left with ISA to Cordoba. I absolutely LOVED it. The candy cane mosque that I was so excited to see was everything times a million that I had hoped that it would be. In all of the trips that I´ve taken and all of the absolutely beautiful things that I have seen since arriving in Europe, no doubt the mezquita de Cordoba was the most magnificent thing I have yet to see.
Standing in the 3rd largest mosque in the world and looking around me, I felt so proud of the Muslim heritage I come from. As the guide talked about the amazing additions to science that the Muslim civilization made, the example of tolerance that was set by the Islamic reign in Spain, and the beauty of Islamic architecture, a feeling of happiness swelled up inside me. That is why I came here to study...it was here in Andalucia that I have been able to see what people of my faith were capable of doing...to see what Islam REALLY teaches it followers.
At the same time, tears literally came into my eyes as I walked around a glorious mezquita that has now been converted into a cathedral. I was standing inside the definition of what Islam has become today. Today it has no respect in the eyes of the Western world. Where once it used to be full of tolerance and beauty, it is now full of religious warfare and division. To see the glory it once held in the world and in contrast to the constant battle to redeem itself that it must now endure can only be defined by one word: a tragedy. Our people were once so kind, they were true Muslims. Now, we are the ones raging out against those of different religions and against those of our OWN religion.
After experiencing the mosque, we were free to do whatever we wished for the evening. I spent the evening doing what I have realized I love to do the most: just chilling with my homies (hehehe, Spain has converted me into a gangsta :P). We went out for dinner, got some coffee in a Jazz cafe where we took in the amazing vibe around us, and went to a free belly dancing show. The evening was ended with sitting along the river and talking to our directors and friends. In short, it was wonderful :).
The BEST thing was that we got an extra hour of sleep due to daylight savings time. We had plenty to time to sleep, eat breakfast, and be out the door again for a visit to Alcazar, the castle where Columbus proposed his plan of sailing to ¨India¨ to Ferdenand and Isabelle.
The weather was exquisite and it was great fun to sit in the gardens and talk about being princesses (watch out Prince William, you will be falling in love with me and marrying me very shortly :-P). We finally made our way back to Granada.
It was a wonderful weekend to say the least.
I still miss everyone back home tons, but day by day Granada is becoming my home. It will be a place that I will be sad to leave, but I am going to be PUMPED to set foot in XNA airport and give a major running hug to my parents. I can see this being a chapter of my life that I´ll be glad to have lived, but I already cannot wait for the day when I get back home to the amazing dinner that will await me :).
I totally forgot to post about my trip to Barcelona with the last post! Don´t worry kiddos, I will be doing that soon, but I think for today this is plenty.
With much love,
A content me
Look how good I am updating my blog so early (imagine me beaming with self contentment)!
Anywho, a lot has happened since I last updated...and you´ll NEVER believe what I did!!!! I went to a *drumroll please*...I went to a discoteca AND a bar, a SHOTS bar...and I absolutely did not like it at all :( ,BUT it was an experience and I´m glad that I did it :D :D :D.
And now the story of what happened...
My roommate´s friend was having his 21st birthday on Thursday night (and we alllllllll know what ¨21st birthday party¨implies), and she wanted me to go with her so she wouldn´t have to walk back home alone...and me having no ability to mouth the phrase, ¨No,¨ said, ¨SURE BETHANY! I´d loooooooooooove to go!¨ while in my head I was thinking, ¨Holy moly! What the HELL do I think I´m doing saying yes to a night out on the town!¨
So around rolls Thursday and I´m out the door with Bethany, dressed to impress. We get to the shots bar and I realized very quickly that me being in a room where the sole purpose of the people around me was to drink as much as they could, made for me becoming a wallflower very very quickly. The place was packed with people from our program and because it was so small, everyone was gathered in the middle of the room around the bar. Now, me standing amisdt everyone to chatter the night away was a good idea for the first half of the night, but I slowly started being shoved out of the cluster by those making their way to the bar (usually not fully possessing the ability to walk as normal unintoxicated people do). At that point I decided it was my cue to make myself over to wall and have a nice conversation with 2 or 3 of the other girls that were not drinking.
After the shots bar we were going to go to Mae West, the most popular discoteca in Granada. Now, everyone that knows me knows how much I LOVE to dance, so I thought, ¨HEY! I´ve never been to a club before but I love to dance so I´m going to have a BLAST!¨ Oh dear me, sometimes I am quite the optimistic soul :(. Now don´t get me wrong, I did dance, and I did like it...what I didn´t like was the club environment...loud music, crazy lights, people rubbing against one another (when they don´t even know each other), the smell of alcohol, the inability to hear or say anything to anyone else, cigarette smoke... all equaled to a night that I probably will not be repeating. That night when I finally got back home, I REEKED of cigarette smoke...the hideous smell was in my hair, in my clothes...YUCK!
Having said all of this, I am SUPER glad that I tried it. I´m going to stick to dancing in my room in front of my mirror/in the grass outside of Old Maine.
This is just another experience that is helping me realize what type of person I am...what are the things that I really love to do and what are the things that I can pass on. Por ejemplo, first Friday out in Granada: a night of tapas, shwarma, and tea = chill and totally up there on my list of things I LOVE to do. Last Thursday: drunk people, loco lights, loud music, and cigarette smoke = ¨Um...I´ll have to pass on that¨.
On Saturday, I left with ISA to Cordoba. I absolutely LOVED it. The candy cane mosque that I was so excited to see was everything times a million that I had hoped that it would be. In all of the trips that I´ve taken and all of the absolutely beautiful things that I have seen since arriving in Europe, no doubt the mezquita de Cordoba was the most magnificent thing I have yet to see.
Standing in the 3rd largest mosque in the world and looking around me, I felt so proud of the Muslim heritage I come from. As the guide talked about the amazing additions to science that the Muslim civilization made, the example of tolerance that was set by the Islamic reign in Spain, and the beauty of Islamic architecture, a feeling of happiness swelled up inside me. That is why I came here to study...it was here in Andalucia that I have been able to see what people of my faith were capable of doing...to see what Islam REALLY teaches it followers.
At the same time, tears literally came into my eyes as I walked around a glorious mezquita that has now been converted into a cathedral. I was standing inside the definition of what Islam has become today. Today it has no respect in the eyes of the Western world. Where once it used to be full of tolerance and beauty, it is now full of religious warfare and division. To see the glory it once held in the world and in contrast to the constant battle to redeem itself that it must now endure can only be defined by one word: a tragedy. Our people were once so kind, they were true Muslims. Now, we are the ones raging out against those of different religions and against those of our OWN religion.
After experiencing the mosque, we were free to do whatever we wished for the evening. I spent the evening doing what I have realized I love to do the most: just chilling with my homies (hehehe, Spain has converted me into a gangsta :P). We went out for dinner, got some coffee in a Jazz cafe where we took in the amazing vibe around us, and went to a free belly dancing show. The evening was ended with sitting along the river and talking to our directors and friends. In short, it was wonderful :).
The BEST thing was that we got an extra hour of sleep due to daylight savings time. We had plenty to time to sleep, eat breakfast, and be out the door again for a visit to Alcazar, the castle where Columbus proposed his plan of sailing to ¨India¨ to Ferdenand and Isabelle.
The weather was exquisite and it was great fun to sit in the gardens and talk about being princesses (watch out Prince William, you will be falling in love with me and marrying me very shortly :-P). We finally made our way back to Granada.
It was a wonderful weekend to say the least.
I still miss everyone back home tons, but day by day Granada is becoming my home. It will be a place that I will be sad to leave, but I am going to be PUMPED to set foot in XNA airport and give a major running hug to my parents. I can see this being a chapter of my life that I´ll be glad to have lived, but I already cannot wait for the day when I get back home to the amazing dinner that will await me :).
I totally forgot to post about my trip to Barcelona with the last post! Don´t worry kiddos, I will be doing that soon, but I think for today this is plenty.
With much love,
A content me
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Three Weeks and Four Countries Later...
Hola Everyone!
So much has happened since I last posted...I've been to 4 other countries, met a group of 60 new students, and have officially started my fall semester...whew!!!! All I have to say is that this post is going to be longer than most. So where shall I start?
I've decided to divide this posting into different parts to make it easier for your to read over a series of days. There's some interesting stuff in the stories I'm about to tell, so you don't have to read it all at once, but read it (that's an order)!
_______________________________________________
Part 1: Situation in Granada
Finally the two awaited housemates have arrived! Their names: Vanessa and Bethany. Both of them are wonderful, but I have officially only spent about 5 days with them, so we have a lot more bonding to do over the course of the next 2 months. It's really good to know that they have the same lifestyle that I do...they don't really go out to bars and clubs a lot, so our weekend activities will continue to follow the innocent lifestyle I'm used to at home.
Carmina, my senora...still very moody and still known to take her stress out on the people around her, but the good thing now...she has 3 people instead of 1 to take her stress out on! Another good thing...I can retire to my room, or the room of Bethany and Vanessa, to vent about the situation. Nice thing numero 2: I can tell that because my level of Spanish is a little bit higher than Bethany and Vanessa's (due to the fact that I've been here one month longer than either one of them), I am favored in the conversations. So...senora = good most of the time...dragon the rest of the time (but a dragon whose fire is not as hot as it used to be).
Also, my classes have started here! I love every single one of them. I'm taking a POE (Oral and Written Spanish), Islamic Culture and History in Spain, Present Day Spain and Islam, Spanish History (Franco-Present), and 20th Century Literature. All of my professors are incredible and the information that I am learning is exactly what I came here to learn. From the two classes on Islam, I am getting the exact knowledge about my religion that I hoped to acquire from here, and from the rest of my classes, I am definitely developing the higher level Spanish skills that I want to leave Spain with. The hardest thing: I am trying to take my notes in Spanish...writing a million miles per minute while trying to remember vocabulary words from high school is definitely a difficult task to accomplish, but it is pushing me to improve my Spanish poco a poco.
I'm going to start volunteering with the homeless next week. I am SO excited!!! A group of people from the organization will meet in some of the most dangerous parts of Granada to walk through the streets and talk to the homeless. Because Spain has a socialist infrastructure, everyone is given housing that wants it. The homeless here CHOOSE to be homeless. The job of this organization is to provide them with the blankets, food, medicine, water, etc they might need, especially with winter approaching so quickly. I know that this opportunity is going to do wonders for my Spanish as I will be walking with a group of Spaniards to meet with the homeless + I will be talking to the homeless in Spanish. I know that this is stepping out of the box for me...walking through the shadiest parts of Granada, meeting with people that can at times be aggressive, but that's what I'm here to do...push myself and really learn. There is a quote by Mother Teresa that I will never forget...if we want to witness the presence of God, we nearly need to share tender moments with those around us. Every time I work with the homeless, this quote is verified in my mind. I feel that the lives they live, the stories of how a human life can be destructed, they are stories that have so much to tell not only about the people that tell them, but about humanity in general. ANYWAYS, I'm super pumped and ready to get back to a life that isn't solamente para mi.
Another exciting thing that happened to me today was that I found a place where I can take Indian classical dance lessons! The most ironic thing about the situation was that the night previous I was talking to my best friend Tanvi, telling her that I feel that I have two skills I hope to achieve in my life 1) Reading and writing Urdu and 2) Learning how to classical Indian dance...and *wa la*...there it was, a poster advertising a dance studio that teaches classical Indian dance! I'm going to be giving them a call today and getting myself ready for hopefully starting on acquiring one of the skills of my list. Oh sometimes God is just too wonderful to me :).
I'm also going to be going to the city of Cordoba this weekend. One of the most beautiful and known mosques from the Moorish times is in Cordoba. The pillars of this mosque are like candy canes and I remember seeing a picture of the mosque when I was 10 years old and wanting to go ever since...of course at the age of 10 it was because it reminded me of a stick of peppermint (yummy yummy)...but it has developed into an appreciation for its magnificance and beauty. So there you go! Another life time dream being achieved!!!
______________________________________________________
Part II: My 10 Day Backpacking Trip Across Europe
This is going to be a very long post... I traveled for 10 days across France, Switzerland, and Italy. To begin with, we took a bus from Granada to Madrid at 9:00 PM, a 5 hour bus ride that got us to Madrid at 2:00 AM. In Madrid, something amazing happened. It was 4 other girls and me and we had no idea how we were going to get from the Madrid bus station to the Madrid airport. Me and Kyla (one of the girls I was traveling with) went and asked the bus driver how we could get to the airport...do you know what he did!?!?! He told us that he would take us in the same bus that he had driven from Granada to the terminal we needed to be at...and he did. Of course we tipped him a little, but it was no where near anything we would have had to pay for a taxi to the airport. It's situations like those that make me remember that the world is still a very good place.
********************
Paris:
We arrived in Paris about 7:00 AM, went to our hostel, put our bags down, and were out exploring. The city was more beautiful than I can ever describe. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, St. Chapelle, Champs Elyess, and Arc de Triumph. One of the most funny/horrible experiences I had was on the very first day. Kyla, Angela, and Andrea decided that we should do a bike tour which I was completely up for...seeing as I had learned how to ride a bike once when I was 13. It did not take me a very long time on the bike to realize that one week of riding a bike in a person's life is not sufficient for that person to brave the streets of Paris with a big group of people. I ran into 6 trees, over 8 people's feet, and into 2 barbed wire fences...definitely not the best experience of my life. On top of that, there was a guy that was appointed as the "back guide" or the person that had to stay with the people in the back of the group to make sure that they didn't get lost. The poor guy...he was pushing my bike to get me started and helping me off of the ground multiple times throughout the night. At the time, I was horrified with embarassment but looking back on it, it's a story to tell :-P. We did the bike tour the night we got to Paris (a boat ride was included), so it gave us a good overview of the city.
The next day is when we went to Notre Dame, strolled down the Champs Elyess, andtook an elevator up the Eiffel Tower. Kyla, Andrea, and Angela didn't want to go up in the towers of Notre Dame, but I did, and it was definitely worth the 4.80 euro I paid to do so. I felt JUST like Quisimoto from the Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney version)!!!! I saw the gargoyles and everything :D.
Strolling down the Champs Elyess made me realize why people reference Paris as one of the most romantic cities in the world. Anyone out there trying to find a good honeymoon spot, put Paris in your list of cities to choose from because it is all that it is made out to be. At the end of the Champs Elyess sits the Arc de Triumph, another amazing site. We reached there right about sunset, and it was absolutely breathtaking to see the sun set behind its large arc.
Going up the Eiffel Tower was quite the experience as well. It was so surreal to stand beneath it, thinking of the multiple times I had seen it in pictures or on tv...and to know that I was about to set foot inside of it. We went at night, when Paris, the city of lights, was really shining.
Our third and final day in Paris was jam packed with seeing the Louvre (one of the largest buildings I have ever seen), St. Chapelle, and returning to the Eiffel Tower for our final good byes. I will have you all know that the Mona Lisa is definitely not all that it is made out to be. It was quite the disappointment seeing the little painting hanging on the wall. As for the rest of the Louvre, it was absolutely amazing. I did feel quite uncultured, however, as I strolled through the art galleries with no idea of the importance of any of the pieces I saw before me.
St. Chapelle was incredibly breathtaking. It was very small (one room), but it is definitely one the my favorite cathedrals. The walls were completely made from stained glass and when the sun shone through the different colored glass, the result was magnificent.
After finishing St. Chapelle we took a metro over to the Eiffel Tower, sat and stared at it for the final time, and were on our way to Geneva, Switzerland!
*************************
Switzerland:
Before I say anything else, I have one thing to say: Switzerland was my favorite country of the three we visited. It was incredibly clean (although very very expensive), incredibly beautiful, and the people were incredibly nice.
Our first day in Switzerland was spent in the international home to the United Nations, Geneva. We explored the streets, wandering in and out of parks and shops, watching life pass us by. While Paris was amazing, it was nice to go to the laid back atmosphere of Geneva where we were not rushing from one historic site to another. One of my favorite places in Geneva was a park where there were life size checker and chess boards set up (like Harry Potter!!!!). Every board was full of wonderfully interesting old men intensely moving large chess pieces.
One crazy thing did happen to us though...when we got to Geneva it was past midnight and we were able to get on the final tram from the airport to go to the hostel. "The problem?", you ask. Well, we had no idea how the tram system worked or where our hostel was. So there we were, on a deserted automatic tram, with no idea what part of town we were in, not able to see any street signs and with absolutely no clue if the tram was going to stop and turn off at any moment. Well, thank God that the stop that we decided we should get off at was a 10 minute walk away from our hostel. Oh the adventures of backpacking...
The next day we went to Interlaken, the most amazing place I have ever been to in my life. It was a little town located in a valley of the Alps between two lakes. We took a train and a cable car up to the Alps and hiked down one of the most magnificent trails I've ever been on. Here we encountered another problem...the sun was setting very quickly but we thought we could manage to walk to the town below where we could get a train back to our hostel. So we thought, "Hey, let's not get the cable car back and keep walking." What we didn't know? 1) The sun sets very very quickly once it starts setting 2) The hike left in front of us was through a dense forest, down a very steep mountain...and of course we had no flashlights. Well, it was quite the adventure hiking down this mountain in pitch blackness, and of course I had to go the bathroom because that's just how my life manages to work. On top of this all, I was wearing 20 layers of clothing (no joke), and I did not want to find a deserted place in the woods to use the bathroom where it would take me 2 hours just to get to the bottom of all those layers of clothes. I did manage to fall down the side of the mountain and get an awesome souvenier battle scar on my hand which I still have! It was a great adventure and I am glad to tell you that we got back safe and sound.
*************************
Italy:
After Switzerland we were off to Rome! How do I describe Rome? Because pictures speak louder than words I'll name an image that you can see in your head and you'll know how Rome was: garbage can. Okay right...so maybe it wasn't THAT bad, but it was definitely one of the dirtiest places I've been to in the Western world. What was amazing about Rome, however, was the vast amounts of history there. In the two days that we were there we saw the Colosseum, the ruins of the ancient city (the Roman Forum, Palantine Hill), Vatican City (Sistene Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica), Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. Also while we were there it rained every single day.
Another thing to say about Italy is that the food in Italy is definitely not what it was made out to be. For those of you in Arkansas, Noodles is still the best place I know to fulfill that Italian food craving.
Nothing too exciting happened to us in Rome. We were safe and intelligent as we had conquered the art of backpacking by this point. What we did encounter was a hostel in which the bathrooms were constantly flooded with toilet water (not fun) and where the showers were co ed (also quite the hassel). We made it with our innocence in tact and our feet dry from the horrible toilet water.
And FINALLY, we went to Venice. Now about Venice...it was definitely a lot better than Rome. There are no cars in Venice so we were free to stroll through the streets without the fear of being killed by crazy European moterists. It was a relaxing end to the trip where we went in and out of shops, took a cruise down the canals of Venice in the vaporetti (water taxi), and reflected on the ten days we had spent together.
And there you go! That is the end to a wonderful 10 days...full of adventure and fun. To see the pictures from this trip you can just click here.
________________________________________
Part IV: Morocco!
Two days after we got back from this 3 countries in 10 day extravaganza we left for our trip to Morrocco. In Morocco we went to the city of Fes, the Sahara desert, and Meknes. Every part of the trip was full of memorable experiences.
We left Granada at 4 AM in a bus loaded with tired 20-24 year olds. What we weren't aware of as the bus roared to life was what was in store for us in the Meditteranean. It took us 4 hours to reach the ferry that we would have to take to cross from Europe into Africa. It was exactly at this point that the gray clouds above us let lose their fury and a major storm hit the waters of the Mediterranean. Me being me slept through the entire ferry ride, except for a moment when a huge wave crashed into the side of the ferry, forcing it to tilt immensely to one side. My fellow ISAnians were not so lucky. Half of the group was in the bathroom throwing up while the others were holding on for dear life, praying to see the other side of the shore. Good news: I'm here and I'm alive (but barely).
*Note: We later found out that because one person died out on the sea, the remaining ferrys for the day were canceled. Whew, weren't we lucky!?!
After that the entire remaining 13 hour bus ride consisted of a bus of students, green in the face, traveling the country side of Morocco.
About Morocco, it was amazing. It was nice to be in a land where I could again hear the azan (call to prayer for Muslims) as I can in Pakistan. Actually, the country in general reminded me of Pakistan. It was fun to bargain with the shopkeepers, to have to move for donkeys coming down the street, and to meet people full of hospitality.
In the first city of Fes, we traveled to the medina (city center), the oldest medina in the country. The streets were so narrow that no cars could be seen. There were over 12,000 streets! We had to be careful to follow the group because once we were lost, it meant that we would have to marry a Moroccon man, have children, learn Arabic, and settle in the medina as no one was ever going to find us :-P.
In Fes we went to a traditional pharmacy (with herbs), a clothing store, a carpet store, and a tannery (where they make leather items). The whole experience gave us a brief but enjoyable look into the lives of Moroccans.
The next day we left for the Sahara desert...seriously kids, I camped for the first time in my life...IN THE SAHARA DESERT. What I'm about to say next will show you how out of luck we were...when we got into our camel wool tents (very smelly), all hell broke lose and it started to rain...in the desert. I kid you not! It was not a little drizzle...it was a full fledge rain storm. I ,as always slept through it, but the poor girls in the tent with me had not been as lucky as me in choosing their sleeping spot. They had managed to sleep under huge leaks in the tent, leading to a wet and cold sleepless night for them all. So, the one day of the year that it rains in the desert is when we were there. THEN, we woke up the next day bright and early to see the sunrise, but of course we didn't see much of anything due to the clouds...oh how lucky we are :).
Regardless, it was an incredible experience. Because the bus could not go into the part of the desert where our campsite was, we took 4 x 4 jeeps through the beautiful sand dunes of the Sahara. There we stayed for 2 days, gathering in the food tent to eat (and complain about the camel smell and rain), rode camels to a large sand dune where we sand sledded (same as sledding in the snow), and rode into a tiny town where we got to meet the people and shop in their shops. The first night we were there, we met a guy our age from the nomadic tribe of the desert called the Berbers (they were the ones overseeing our campsite), who brought out some drums and had me play with him. It was so fun to play the drums again! I had an amazing time and we all danced and played drums. The next night was the actual dance party. A Berber band came and all of Yousef's friends (the guy that I had played drums with the night before) taught us how to dance.
It was an incredible night.
Finally, we left the desert (somewhat to my relief as the bathrooms were disgusting and the shower was freezing cold water drizzling over your body which was only covered by a flimsly curtain out in the open desert). We made our way to Meknes. On our way to Meknes, I experienced something that definitely left its mark on my heart.
In the mountains of Morocco live many people that were previously able to find sustenance in the land on which they lived, but as the years have passed, the money that once used to cover the expenses they needed to live, now is able to barely buy the bare essentials. They have nothing. Before going to Morocco our directors told us we would be stopping in a place where we would see such people and that we should bring as much as we could to give to them...so I bought some food to give. When we actually encountered these people, I felt embarrassed of myself as I handed the sole bag of food I had purchased to a lady clad in mismatched ragged clothing holding a child with large eyes that peered at me from a face covered with dirt, shivering from the extreme cold of the mountains. She smiled as she took my offering, but I knew that it was a smile of relief that for that ONE day she would not have to worry about how to feed her child.
I looked around me and felt proud of our directors. They had brought bags upon bags of clothing and food to give to these people. As I looked out over a cliff of the mountain I saw a small figure running from over a kilometer away. As the figure came closer, I saw the shape of a small child, no more than five in age, stumbling barefooted over the jagged rocks of the mountains as he tried to reach the bus in time to get some part of the goods we had brought. I saw him fall multiple times, but he continually got up and continued to run. Finally, when he reached the base of the cliff, he began to climb frantically where he was helped by a woman. The persistence of the child...the pain of running a distance that most of us never could...it showed me how much in need he was, and how important it is to give, to give to those that have much less than what we have...how important it is to feel blessed for what we have.
After this stop we finally reached Meknes where we only stayed one night. There a guy named Chris studying with ISA in Meknes met us in the hotel and was sweet enough to show a small group of us around. Because it was at night, we walked around deserted streets, but it was still fun to compare the more modern Meknes with the more traditional Fes.
Pictures will be posted soon
_________________________________
And there you go! THE END! That is an account of my life in the past 3 weeks. Very very long, I know, but if you have gotten here, I congratulate you and give you a big hug for caring so much about my life.
Please keep commenting/e-mailing/facebook messaging. I miss you all tons and tons and I can't wait to come home and give everyone a hug.
Tons of love,
A typed out me
So much has happened since I last posted...I've been to 4 other countries, met a group of 60 new students, and have officially started my fall semester...whew!!!! All I have to say is that this post is going to be longer than most. So where shall I start?
I've decided to divide this posting into different parts to make it easier for your to read over a series of days. There's some interesting stuff in the stories I'm about to tell, so you don't have to read it all at once, but read it (that's an order)!
_______________________________________________
Part 1: Situation in Granada
Finally the two awaited housemates have arrived! Their names: Vanessa and Bethany. Both of them are wonderful, but I have officially only spent about 5 days with them, so we have a lot more bonding to do over the course of the next 2 months. It's really good to know that they have the same lifestyle that I do...they don't really go out to bars and clubs a lot, so our weekend activities will continue to follow the innocent lifestyle I'm used to at home.
Carmina, my senora...still very moody and still known to take her stress out on the people around her, but the good thing now...she has 3 people instead of 1 to take her stress out on! Another good thing...I can retire to my room, or the room of Bethany and Vanessa, to vent about the situation. Nice thing numero 2: I can tell that because my level of Spanish is a little bit higher than Bethany and Vanessa's (due to the fact that I've been here one month longer than either one of them), I am favored in the conversations. So...senora = good most of the time...dragon the rest of the time (but a dragon whose fire is not as hot as it used to be).
Also, my classes have started here! I love every single one of them. I'm taking a POE (Oral and Written Spanish), Islamic Culture and History in Spain, Present Day Spain and Islam, Spanish History (Franco-Present), and 20th Century Literature. All of my professors are incredible and the information that I am learning is exactly what I came here to learn. From the two classes on Islam, I am getting the exact knowledge about my religion that I hoped to acquire from here, and from the rest of my classes, I am definitely developing the higher level Spanish skills that I want to leave Spain with. The hardest thing: I am trying to take my notes in Spanish...writing a million miles per minute while trying to remember vocabulary words from high school is definitely a difficult task to accomplish, but it is pushing me to improve my Spanish poco a poco.
I'm going to start volunteering with the homeless next week. I am SO excited!!! A group of people from the organization will meet in some of the most dangerous parts of Granada to walk through the streets and talk to the homeless. Because Spain has a socialist infrastructure, everyone is given housing that wants it. The homeless here CHOOSE to be homeless. The job of this organization is to provide them with the blankets, food, medicine, water, etc they might need, especially with winter approaching so quickly. I know that this opportunity is going to do wonders for my Spanish as I will be walking with a group of Spaniards to meet with the homeless + I will be talking to the homeless in Spanish. I know that this is stepping out of the box for me...walking through the shadiest parts of Granada, meeting with people that can at times be aggressive, but that's what I'm here to do...push myself and really learn. There is a quote by Mother Teresa that I will never forget...if we want to witness the presence of God, we nearly need to share tender moments with those around us. Every time I work with the homeless, this quote is verified in my mind. I feel that the lives they live, the stories of how a human life can be destructed, they are stories that have so much to tell not only about the people that tell them, but about humanity in general. ANYWAYS, I'm super pumped and ready to get back to a life that isn't solamente para mi.
Another exciting thing that happened to me today was that I found a place where I can take Indian classical dance lessons! The most ironic thing about the situation was that the night previous I was talking to my best friend Tanvi, telling her that I feel that I have two skills I hope to achieve in my life 1) Reading and writing Urdu and 2) Learning how to classical Indian dance...and *wa la*...there it was, a poster advertising a dance studio that teaches classical Indian dance! I'm going to be giving them a call today and getting myself ready for hopefully starting on acquiring one of the skills of my list. Oh sometimes God is just too wonderful to me :).
I'm also going to be going to the city of Cordoba this weekend. One of the most beautiful and known mosques from the Moorish times is in Cordoba. The pillars of this mosque are like candy canes and I remember seeing a picture of the mosque when I was 10 years old and wanting to go ever since...of course at the age of 10 it was because it reminded me of a stick of peppermint (yummy yummy)...but it has developed into an appreciation for its magnificance and beauty. So there you go! Another life time dream being achieved!!!
______________________________________________________
Part II: My 10 Day Backpacking Trip Across Europe
This is going to be a very long post... I traveled for 10 days across France, Switzerland, and Italy. To begin with, we took a bus from Granada to Madrid at 9:00 PM, a 5 hour bus ride that got us to Madrid at 2:00 AM. In Madrid, something amazing happened. It was 4 other girls and me and we had no idea how we were going to get from the Madrid bus station to the Madrid airport. Me and Kyla (one of the girls I was traveling with) went and asked the bus driver how we could get to the airport...do you know what he did!?!?! He told us that he would take us in the same bus that he had driven from Granada to the terminal we needed to be at...and he did. Of course we tipped him a little, but it was no where near anything we would have had to pay for a taxi to the airport. It's situations like those that make me remember that the world is still a very good place.
********************
Paris:
We arrived in Paris about 7:00 AM, went to our hostel, put our bags down, and were out exploring. The city was more beautiful than I can ever describe. We went to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, St. Chapelle, Champs Elyess, and Arc de Triumph. One of the most funny/horrible experiences I had was on the very first day. Kyla, Angela, and Andrea decided that we should do a bike tour which I was completely up for...seeing as I had learned how to ride a bike once when I was 13. It did not take me a very long time on the bike to realize that one week of riding a bike in a person's life is not sufficient for that person to brave the streets of Paris with a big group of people. I ran into 6 trees, over 8 people's feet, and into 2 barbed wire fences...definitely not the best experience of my life. On top of that, there was a guy that was appointed as the "back guide" or the person that had to stay with the people in the back of the group to make sure that they didn't get lost. The poor guy...he was pushing my bike to get me started and helping me off of the ground multiple times throughout the night. At the time, I was horrified with embarassment but looking back on it, it's a story to tell :-P. We did the bike tour the night we got to Paris (a boat ride was included), so it gave us a good overview of the city.
The next day is when we went to Notre Dame, strolled down the Champs Elyess, andtook an elevator up the Eiffel Tower. Kyla, Andrea, and Angela didn't want to go up in the towers of Notre Dame, but I did, and it was definitely worth the 4.80 euro I paid to do so. I felt JUST like Quisimoto from the Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney version)!!!! I saw the gargoyles and everything :D.
Strolling down the Champs Elyess made me realize why people reference Paris as one of the most romantic cities in the world. Anyone out there trying to find a good honeymoon spot, put Paris in your list of cities to choose from because it is all that it is made out to be. At the end of the Champs Elyess sits the Arc de Triumph, another amazing site. We reached there right about sunset, and it was absolutely breathtaking to see the sun set behind its large arc.
Going up the Eiffel Tower was quite the experience as well. It was so surreal to stand beneath it, thinking of the multiple times I had seen it in pictures or on tv...and to know that I was about to set foot inside of it. We went at night, when Paris, the city of lights, was really shining.
Our third and final day in Paris was jam packed with seeing the Louvre (one of the largest buildings I have ever seen), St. Chapelle, and returning to the Eiffel Tower for our final good byes. I will have you all know that the Mona Lisa is definitely not all that it is made out to be. It was quite the disappointment seeing the little painting hanging on the wall. As for the rest of the Louvre, it was absolutely amazing. I did feel quite uncultured, however, as I strolled through the art galleries with no idea of the importance of any of the pieces I saw before me.
St. Chapelle was incredibly breathtaking. It was very small (one room), but it is definitely one the my favorite cathedrals. The walls were completely made from stained glass and when the sun shone through the different colored glass, the result was magnificent.
After finishing St. Chapelle we took a metro over to the Eiffel Tower, sat and stared at it for the final time, and were on our way to Geneva, Switzerland!
*************************
Switzerland:
Before I say anything else, I have one thing to say: Switzerland was my favorite country of the three we visited. It was incredibly clean (although very very expensive), incredibly beautiful, and the people were incredibly nice.
Our first day in Switzerland was spent in the international home to the United Nations, Geneva. We explored the streets, wandering in and out of parks and shops, watching life pass us by. While Paris was amazing, it was nice to go to the laid back atmosphere of Geneva where we were not rushing from one historic site to another. One of my favorite places in Geneva was a park where there were life size checker and chess boards set up (like Harry Potter!!!!). Every board was full of wonderfully interesting old men intensely moving large chess pieces.
One crazy thing did happen to us though...when we got to Geneva it was past midnight and we were able to get on the final tram from the airport to go to the hostel. "The problem?", you ask. Well, we had no idea how the tram system worked or where our hostel was. So there we were, on a deserted automatic tram, with no idea what part of town we were in, not able to see any street signs and with absolutely no clue if the tram was going to stop and turn off at any moment. Well, thank God that the stop that we decided we should get off at was a 10 minute walk away from our hostel. Oh the adventures of backpacking...
The next day we went to Interlaken, the most amazing place I have ever been to in my life. It was a little town located in a valley of the Alps between two lakes. We took a train and a cable car up to the Alps and hiked down one of the most magnificent trails I've ever been on. Here we encountered another problem...the sun was setting very quickly but we thought we could manage to walk to the town below where we could get a train back to our hostel. So we thought, "Hey, let's not get the cable car back and keep walking." What we didn't know? 1) The sun sets very very quickly once it starts setting 2) The hike left in front of us was through a dense forest, down a very steep mountain...and of course we had no flashlights. Well, it was quite the adventure hiking down this mountain in pitch blackness, and of course I had to go the bathroom because that's just how my life manages to work. On top of this all, I was wearing 20 layers of clothing (no joke), and I did not want to find a deserted place in the woods to use the bathroom where it would take me 2 hours just to get to the bottom of all those layers of clothes. I did manage to fall down the side of the mountain and get an awesome souvenier battle scar on my hand which I still have! It was a great adventure and I am glad to tell you that we got back safe and sound.
*************************
Italy:
After Switzerland we were off to Rome! How do I describe Rome? Because pictures speak louder than words I'll name an image that you can see in your head and you'll know how Rome was: garbage can. Okay right...so maybe it wasn't THAT bad, but it was definitely one of the dirtiest places I've been to in the Western world. What was amazing about Rome, however, was the vast amounts of history there. In the two days that we were there we saw the Colosseum, the ruins of the ancient city (the Roman Forum, Palantine Hill), Vatican City (Sistene Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica), Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. Also while we were there it rained every single day.
Another thing to say about Italy is that the food in Italy is definitely not what it was made out to be. For those of you in Arkansas, Noodles is still the best place I know to fulfill that Italian food craving.
Nothing too exciting happened to us in Rome. We were safe and intelligent as we had conquered the art of backpacking by this point. What we did encounter was a hostel in which the bathrooms were constantly flooded with toilet water (not fun) and where the showers were co ed (also quite the hassel). We made it with our innocence in tact and our feet dry from the horrible toilet water.
And FINALLY, we went to Venice. Now about Venice...it was definitely a lot better than Rome. There are no cars in Venice so we were free to stroll through the streets without the fear of being killed by crazy European moterists. It was a relaxing end to the trip where we went in and out of shops, took a cruise down the canals of Venice in the vaporetti (water taxi), and reflected on the ten days we had spent together.
And there you go! That is the end to a wonderful 10 days...full of adventure and fun. To see the pictures from this trip you can just click here.
________________________________________
Part IV: Morocco!
Two days after we got back from this 3 countries in 10 day extravaganza we left for our trip to Morrocco. In Morocco we went to the city of Fes, the Sahara desert, and Meknes. Every part of the trip was full of memorable experiences.
We left Granada at 4 AM in a bus loaded with tired 20-24 year olds. What we weren't aware of as the bus roared to life was what was in store for us in the Meditteranean. It took us 4 hours to reach the ferry that we would have to take to cross from Europe into Africa. It was exactly at this point that the gray clouds above us let lose their fury and a major storm hit the waters of the Mediterranean. Me being me slept through the entire ferry ride, except for a moment when a huge wave crashed into the side of the ferry, forcing it to tilt immensely to one side. My fellow ISAnians were not so lucky. Half of the group was in the bathroom throwing up while the others were holding on for dear life, praying to see the other side of the shore. Good news: I'm here and I'm alive (but barely).
*Note: We later found out that because one person died out on the sea, the remaining ferrys for the day were canceled. Whew, weren't we lucky!?!
After that the entire remaining 13 hour bus ride consisted of a bus of students, green in the face, traveling the country side of Morocco.
About Morocco, it was amazing. It was nice to be in a land where I could again hear the azan (call to prayer for Muslims) as I can in Pakistan. Actually, the country in general reminded me of Pakistan. It was fun to bargain with the shopkeepers, to have to move for donkeys coming down the street, and to meet people full of hospitality.
In the first city of Fes, we traveled to the medina (city center), the oldest medina in the country. The streets were so narrow that no cars could be seen. There were over 12,000 streets! We had to be careful to follow the group because once we were lost, it meant that we would have to marry a Moroccon man, have children, learn Arabic, and settle in the medina as no one was ever going to find us :-P.
In Fes we went to a traditional pharmacy (with herbs), a clothing store, a carpet store, and a tannery (where they make leather items). The whole experience gave us a brief but enjoyable look into the lives of Moroccans.
The next day we left for the Sahara desert...seriously kids, I camped for the first time in my life...IN THE SAHARA DESERT. What I'm about to say next will show you how out of luck we were...when we got into our camel wool tents (very smelly), all hell broke lose and it started to rain...in the desert. I kid you not! It was not a little drizzle...it was a full fledge rain storm. I ,as always slept through it, but the poor girls in the tent with me had not been as lucky as me in choosing their sleeping spot. They had managed to sleep under huge leaks in the tent, leading to a wet and cold sleepless night for them all. So, the one day of the year that it rains in the desert is when we were there. THEN, we woke up the next day bright and early to see the sunrise, but of course we didn't see much of anything due to the clouds...oh how lucky we are :).
Regardless, it was an incredible experience. Because the bus could not go into the part of the desert where our campsite was, we took 4 x 4 jeeps through the beautiful sand dunes of the Sahara. There we stayed for 2 days, gathering in the food tent to eat (and complain about the camel smell and rain), rode camels to a large sand dune where we sand sledded (same as sledding in the snow), and rode into a tiny town where we got to meet the people and shop in their shops. The first night we were there, we met a guy our age from the nomadic tribe of the desert called the Berbers (they were the ones overseeing our campsite), who brought out some drums and had me play with him. It was so fun to play the drums again! I had an amazing time and we all danced and played drums. The next night was the actual dance party. A Berber band came and all of Yousef's friends (the guy that I had played drums with the night before) taught us how to dance.
It was an incredible night.
Finally, we left the desert (somewhat to my relief as the bathrooms were disgusting and the shower was freezing cold water drizzling over your body which was only covered by a flimsly curtain out in the open desert). We made our way to Meknes. On our way to Meknes, I experienced something that definitely left its mark on my heart.
In the mountains of Morocco live many people that were previously able to find sustenance in the land on which they lived, but as the years have passed, the money that once used to cover the expenses they needed to live, now is able to barely buy the bare essentials. They have nothing. Before going to Morocco our directors told us we would be stopping in a place where we would see such people and that we should bring as much as we could to give to them...so I bought some food to give. When we actually encountered these people, I felt embarrassed of myself as I handed the sole bag of food I had purchased to a lady clad in mismatched ragged clothing holding a child with large eyes that peered at me from a face covered with dirt, shivering from the extreme cold of the mountains. She smiled as she took my offering, but I knew that it was a smile of relief that for that ONE day she would not have to worry about how to feed her child.
I looked around me and felt proud of our directors. They had brought bags upon bags of clothing and food to give to these people. As I looked out over a cliff of the mountain I saw a small figure running from over a kilometer away. As the figure came closer, I saw the shape of a small child, no more than five in age, stumbling barefooted over the jagged rocks of the mountains as he tried to reach the bus in time to get some part of the goods we had brought. I saw him fall multiple times, but he continually got up and continued to run. Finally, when he reached the base of the cliff, he began to climb frantically where he was helped by a woman. The persistence of the child...the pain of running a distance that most of us never could...it showed me how much in need he was, and how important it is to give, to give to those that have much less than what we have...how important it is to feel blessed for what we have.
After this stop we finally reached Meknes where we only stayed one night. There a guy named Chris studying with ISA in Meknes met us in the hotel and was sweet enough to show a small group of us around. Because it was at night, we walked around deserted streets, but it was still fun to compare the more modern Meknes with the more traditional Fes.
Pictures will be posted soon
_________________________________
And there you go! THE END! That is an account of my life in the past 3 weeks. Very very long, I know, but if you have gotten here, I congratulate you and give you a big hug for caring so much about my life.
Please keep commenting/e-mailing/facebook messaging. I miss you all tons and tons and I can't wait to come home and give everyone a hug.
Tons of love,
A typed out me
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
Hola Everyone!
Before I say anything else, I just want to give every single one of you a huge hug and a big kiss on the cheek for all of the incredibly comforting e-mails and comments. I do not think you can imagine how the words you send brighten my day everytime they are received. You I realize that even though a large part of me is incredibly envious of the girls around me that are enjoying every minute of their Spanish experience without looking back at the life they left behind, I feel incredibly grateful that I left behind a life full of such incredible people that I cannot but help and miss it regardless of the fact that I'm in Spain. So I guess before I talk about anything else, all I have to say is a huge thank you. Thank you for giving me something in my life to miss.
I think the biggest problem that I'm having is that I'm trying too hard...I want to have Spanish friends, I want to be out seeing everything and anything, I want to form a friendship halfway across the world that will last forever...I just need to sit back and let life pass me by...something, unfortunately, that I've never been very good at doing. It bothers me that perhaps I will have to leave here not missing anything that I leave behind, but to worry about the fact that I will still be miserable for the next 3 months will do nothing but act as a self fulfilling prophecy. I'm not sure what it is that God is trying to show me through this experience...why it is that anytime I go to the mosque, I find it empty of people...why it is that somehow I'm the only one in the ISA group that has not managed to forge friendships with the locals...but I know that there is something incredibly enlightening to learn from all of this. The problem is that I'm having trouble learning it. What I need to do is sit back and not look for it. Let it come to me.
This weekend I went with a group of girls to Malaga. It was an incredibly beautiful city! I kind of wished that I had gone there to study abroad...the beach was incredible and the whole city had a very casual feel to it. We had tons of fun hanging out on the beach, eating at one of the most amazing restaurants I've ever eaten at, and I must admit that I even had fun walking up the freaking side of a mountain to get a beautiful view of the city of Malaga.
One thing that I am majorly annoyed by in Spain is the men. For some reason, their mothers didn't teach them any manners. I cannot count the times that I am whistled at, invited to dinner, and called "morena guapa" (translation: morena: someone that has dark skin and hair; guapa: good looking/beautiful) It might be slightly flattering the first time but after that you realize that it is not done to compliment you...it's done because the men here are disgusting and have nothing to do but stare at women and pass vulgar comments. I have gotten to a point where I can turn my ears off to their nonsense, but it still continues to annoy me...MUCHO.
A positive experience in my struggle to find my place in Spain is that upon arriving in Granda from a weekend in Malaga I felt the same feeling that I feel when I return home from a trip. It was the feeling of comfort and relief to be "back home". At that moment I realized that I really am living my life here...I'm not just a tourist for 4 months...this is "home" for me. Granada is the city where I am slowly beginning to recognize the people in the neighborhood where I live...it is the place where I walk past the same buildings and shops everyday...it is the city where I can walk through the street with every step becoming increasingly more confident at knowing its way around.
Today I met with the Spanish girls that I met in the intercambios. They are girls that are much quieter than I am, but they are both very sweet. I joined them and some other girls from the ISA group while they had lunch and we walked around Granada, stopping in some cute clothing stores, and finally stopping for them to get ice cream. Of course it was difficult to be fasting and see the ice cream in front of me, but not to worry! I will go back and get some at sunset :D.
I will be leaving for my trip to Paris, Geneva, Interlaken, Rome, and Venice in approximately 48 hours! I am so very excited!!! While it is true that I haven't spent a lot of time with Andrea, Angela, and Kyla (the 3 girls I'll be going with), the little time that we have spent together has confirmed the fact that they are three wonderful girls with whom I'll be having one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope that we see it all and that when it's all over I can look back at it and realize that it happened in reality and that it was not a dream.
After we get back from this 10 day trip, we will be leaving for Morrocco within 2 days. The Morrocco trip is one that I am the most excited for! The way the ISA directors were describing it, it seems to be another version of Pakistan (which I adore). Also, we will be doing amazing things like sleeping in the desert, able to see the twinkling of every star that has always been hidden behind the sheen of city lights. We will be waking up early to ride camels to see the sunrise over rolling sand dunes. Needless to say that the experience will be one to remember!
Before all of this I have to do a presentation in Spanish, write a 600 word essay (in Spanish as well), and most importantly and most stressful figure out how I will complete my SURF research grant proposal, sitting here halfway across the world. Please keep commenting.
With much love,
A stressed out me
Before I say anything else, I just want to give every single one of you a huge hug and a big kiss on the cheek for all of the incredibly comforting e-mails and comments. I do not think you can imagine how the words you send brighten my day everytime they are received. You I realize that even though a large part of me is incredibly envious of the girls around me that are enjoying every minute of their Spanish experience without looking back at the life they left behind, I feel incredibly grateful that I left behind a life full of such incredible people that I cannot but help and miss it regardless of the fact that I'm in Spain. So I guess before I talk about anything else, all I have to say is a huge thank you. Thank you for giving me something in my life to miss.
I think the biggest problem that I'm having is that I'm trying too hard...I want to have Spanish friends, I want to be out seeing everything and anything, I want to form a friendship halfway across the world that will last forever...I just need to sit back and let life pass me by...something, unfortunately, that I've never been very good at doing. It bothers me that perhaps I will have to leave here not missing anything that I leave behind, but to worry about the fact that I will still be miserable for the next 3 months will do nothing but act as a self fulfilling prophecy. I'm not sure what it is that God is trying to show me through this experience...why it is that anytime I go to the mosque, I find it empty of people...why it is that somehow I'm the only one in the ISA group that has not managed to forge friendships with the locals...but I know that there is something incredibly enlightening to learn from all of this. The problem is that I'm having trouble learning it. What I need to do is sit back and not look for it. Let it come to me.
This weekend I went with a group of girls to Malaga. It was an incredibly beautiful city! I kind of wished that I had gone there to study abroad...the beach was incredible and the whole city had a very casual feel to it. We had tons of fun hanging out on the beach, eating at one of the most amazing restaurants I've ever eaten at, and I must admit that I even had fun walking up the freaking side of a mountain to get a beautiful view of the city of Malaga.
One thing that I am majorly annoyed by in Spain is the men. For some reason, their mothers didn't teach them any manners. I cannot count the times that I am whistled at, invited to dinner, and called "morena guapa" (translation: morena: someone that has dark skin and hair; guapa: good looking/beautiful) It might be slightly flattering the first time but after that you realize that it is not done to compliment you...it's done because the men here are disgusting and have nothing to do but stare at women and pass vulgar comments. I have gotten to a point where I can turn my ears off to their nonsense, but it still continues to annoy me...MUCHO.
A positive experience in my struggle to find my place in Spain is that upon arriving in Granda from a weekend in Malaga I felt the same feeling that I feel when I return home from a trip. It was the feeling of comfort and relief to be "back home". At that moment I realized that I really am living my life here...I'm not just a tourist for 4 months...this is "home" for me. Granada is the city where I am slowly beginning to recognize the people in the neighborhood where I live...it is the place where I walk past the same buildings and shops everyday...it is the city where I can walk through the street with every step becoming increasingly more confident at knowing its way around.
Today I met with the Spanish girls that I met in the intercambios. They are girls that are much quieter than I am, but they are both very sweet. I joined them and some other girls from the ISA group while they had lunch and we walked around Granada, stopping in some cute clothing stores, and finally stopping for them to get ice cream. Of course it was difficult to be fasting and see the ice cream in front of me, but not to worry! I will go back and get some at sunset :D.
I will be leaving for my trip to Paris, Geneva, Interlaken, Rome, and Venice in approximately 48 hours! I am so very excited!!! While it is true that I haven't spent a lot of time with Andrea, Angela, and Kyla (the 3 girls I'll be going with), the little time that we have spent together has confirmed the fact that they are three wonderful girls with whom I'll be having one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope that we see it all and that when it's all over I can look back at it and realize that it happened in reality and that it was not a dream.
After we get back from this 10 day trip, we will be leaving for Morrocco within 2 days. The Morrocco trip is one that I am the most excited for! The way the ISA directors were describing it, it seems to be another version of Pakistan (which I adore). Also, we will be doing amazing things like sleeping in the desert, able to see the twinkling of every star that has always been hidden behind the sheen of city lights. We will be waking up early to ride camels to see the sunrise over rolling sand dunes. Needless to say that the experience will be one to remember!
Before all of this I have to do a presentation in Spanish, write a 600 word essay (in Spanish as well), and most importantly and most stressful figure out how I will complete my SURF research grant proposal, sitting here halfway across the world. Please keep commenting.
With much love,
A stressed out me
Friday, September 19, 2008
Abandonment
I'm not quite sure what has been happening to me for the past few days, but it seems that my homesickness increases a thousand fold everyday. Last night I was unable to fall asleep as the faces of my parents and friends swam before me as I lay in bed with my eyes shut. I constantly am aware of a part of my heart that feels completely empty. What I have kept asking myself since I've been here is why it is that when I went to Pakistan alone I was not homesick...why it is that when I went to the university and lived on campus I was not homesick... Amidst all of these thoughts I realized that while the absence of my parents and my friends is a major reason for the constant sickness I feel within me, it is more the absence of any aspect of who I am...a Pakistani. The other girls around me are American through and through and while being American does compose a large part of my identity, there is a half of me, if not more, that identifies itself as a complete Pakistani.
I have not eaten Pakistani food for one month. I have not watched a Hindi movie for one month. I have not listened to a Hindi song for one month. These are all things that I did on almost a daily basis in the states. All of these things...all of these things piling on top of each other make me realize that within this country I have lost all connection to my culture. While those around me still have others to reach to, others to relate to in discussing their identities...I have no one. There is no one with whom I can share the horror that is unfolding in Pakistani politics...there is no one with which I can discuss the latest Bollywood movies...there is absolutely no one to keep the Pakistani side of me from putting itself in a corner and crying out of abandonment.
Put all of this together with the fact that it is Ramadan, the equivalent of Christmas time. I have no one with whom I can share one of the most important times of the year. I have always enjoyed the smells of my mother frying pakora when the fast is about to open...the groans of waking up early in the morning to eat before the sun rose...all of those things I have nothing of...not even a little bit. There is no person here that is Pakistani or Indian. There is nothing here that I can do to keep that part of whom I am alive...and it is quickly boring a hole in my being.
I know that we study abroad to learn about another culture...to truly immerse yourself...but I cannot but help to feel jealous of the others when they are able to discuss things from back home that they miss...to relate to each other's lives in America. I would like to have that and I miss it desperately.
On top of all of that, I have always been a person that has needed to have one or two best friends. The way large groups work in friendship has never been attractive to me...I have always chosen the intimacy of a cup of tea or coffee with one rather than sitting in a large group. Here due to the distance of my house from everyone else's (I am pretty much the only one of the group that lives in the Carretera de Sierra Nevada area), I have not been able to find my one best friend...that one person to keep me anchored amidst this churning ocean around me.
I feel horrible...so very angry at myself for having spent almost a month of this experience in such misery. I feel angry for allowing myself to be one of those people that could not live away from the life I loved so much for even 4 months. I am trying very hard to love being here...to fear the day that I have to get on the plane and say "Adios" to Espana. As of now, I simply go to bed thinking "one more day down".
With much love,
An empty me
I have not eaten Pakistani food for one month. I have not watched a Hindi movie for one month. I have not listened to a Hindi song for one month. These are all things that I did on almost a daily basis in the states. All of these things...all of these things piling on top of each other make me realize that within this country I have lost all connection to my culture. While those around me still have others to reach to, others to relate to in discussing their identities...I have no one. There is no one with whom I can share the horror that is unfolding in Pakistani politics...there is no one with which I can discuss the latest Bollywood movies...there is absolutely no one to keep the Pakistani side of me from putting itself in a corner and crying out of abandonment.
Put all of this together with the fact that it is Ramadan, the equivalent of Christmas time. I have no one with whom I can share one of the most important times of the year. I have always enjoyed the smells of my mother frying pakora when the fast is about to open...the groans of waking up early in the morning to eat before the sun rose...all of those things I have nothing of...not even a little bit. There is no person here that is Pakistani or Indian. There is nothing here that I can do to keep that part of whom I am alive...and it is quickly boring a hole in my being.
I know that we study abroad to learn about another culture...to truly immerse yourself...but I cannot but help to feel jealous of the others when they are able to discuss things from back home that they miss...to relate to each other's lives in America. I would like to have that and I miss it desperately.
On top of all of that, I have always been a person that has needed to have one or two best friends. The way large groups work in friendship has never been attractive to me...I have always chosen the intimacy of a cup of tea or coffee with one rather than sitting in a large group. Here due to the distance of my house from everyone else's (I am pretty much the only one of the group that lives in the Carretera de Sierra Nevada area), I have not been able to find my one best friend...that one person to keep me anchored amidst this churning ocean around me.
I feel horrible...so very angry at myself for having spent almost a month of this experience in such misery. I feel angry for allowing myself to be one of those people that could not live away from the life I loved so much for even 4 months. I am trying very hard to love being here...to fear the day that I have to get on the plane and say "Adios" to Espana. As of now, I simply go to bed thinking "one more day down".
With much love,
An empty me
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)