A concert, the beach and new friends=great weekend

Not exactly sure where my last blog post left off but I'm gonna begin this one from last Friday. What a crazy fun weekend this has been. Friday, finished school, having four hours of class a day has been realllly tough. I haven't had four straight hours of class since high school and its definitely not something I would choose to do ever again. Anyway, class ended and it was time to get ready for the weekend. So many plans to choose from but I ended up picking heading to the free music festival friday night and then off to Nerja on the Mediterranean coast on Saturday. David, Forrest and I headed out to meet up w/ some classmates for tapas at about 9:30. Little did we know the people we were meeting had absolutely no sense of direction and we ended up doing a 3km circle through the city before finally finding them, in completely the opposite end of town from where they "thought" they were. After a couple cervezas and tapas we grabbed a bottle of rum and a couple liters of coke for the botellon at the Festival. A botellon is this amazing spanish invention. Basically its a place somewhere in the city where people can legally drink outside in the streets, like a specific plaza or area. For this festival a make-shift one had sprung up near the entrance. I wish I had pictures of it, there were just thousands of young people drinking and hanging out, it was quite a sight. Once at the festival, which was a 45 minute walk from down town (next time we're taking a taxi) we met up w/ Sera and a couple of her friends and headed in to listen to a group called Los Diliquentes. It was a bout 1:30AM before they came on but it was well worth the wait. We got all the way to the 3rd row and although we couldn't understand a word it was amazing to be there w/ all the youth of Granada just having a great time. Didn't end up getting home until close till 5.
7AM Time to wake up and shower off last night before heading out to Nerja. I was soo very tired and hung over, but the promise of swimming in the Mediterranean propelled me to get my ass out of bed and down to the bus. Our first stop was a Castle in Alcazar, about 20 minutes down the coast from Nerja. It was beautiful, but my exhaustion and the extreme heat at 10 AM meant that I was really just happy to get back on the bus, I'll make sure to research the cultural parts of these excursions more next time.
After this we headed for the Famous Nerja Caves, these were equally amazing. The main chamber was 100m by 50m by 30m! My pictures didn't come out very well from this and I doubt there is really anyway a picture could do such a magnificent place justice. I was rather disappointed to see how the cave has basically been destroyed in the name of a profit, but it was incredible to see.
And then, FINALLY, we got to the beach. I am not a "lay on the beach" kinda guy. So me and an Icelandic buddy of mine and my friend Sarah headed off to explore for ways to jump off the various cliffs around. Needless to say, we found cliff after cliff, higher and higher. Unfortunately the water was not very deep so we had to stop at around 35 feet, but it was still tons of fun. After a couple hours of this, we climbed back up the steps into town, got some gelato to wash the salty mediterranean out of our mouths, got on the bus and slept the whole way home. Spent the rest of the weekend catching up on work, correspondences and recovering. Would go into more detail, but this post is already long, plus its siesta time...

The Irish Pub

Short post today. Last night, as I'm sure at least a few of you know, was a huge day for soccer fans. There were at least 5 world cup qualifying matches. Me and a couple of my buddies headed out in the evening to watch a couple of them. We ended up at a famous Irish bar in town called Hannigans. Went inside, got a guinness and watched England thrash Croatia 5-1, The Netherlands narrowly squeak by Scotland (The scots had their chances but the dutch played such great attacking football) 1-0, and of course in the main albeit very boring event, Spain knocked off Estonia 3-0. I had such a great time just hanging out in the bar. There were a surprisingly large number of English people in the bar. I suppose most of them are on vacation out here and just knew an Irish pub would be one of the few places guaranteed to show games other than merely the Spain v. Estonia one.
When I come back from Granada, I've got just over 4 months before I'll be allowed into bars, and most of the clubs and frankly, it can not come fast enough. Having access to these places has made the city so much more interesting. Here in Granada, everyone is in the bars, it is the best place to interact w/ the local population. Many of them are as anxious to learn english as I am to learn spanish so it's mutually beneficial for all involved. We'll speak spanish for ten minutes, then switch to English for ten, and so on. In the US basically everyone begins drinking by the time they're 18 or so. But they have to do it in the private sphere where no one is watching instead of learning to do so in public bars and places like this. It totally changes the way you drink. It makes drinking a social habit. It becomes more of a meeting place than an activity.

This weekend I'm going off to Nerja. Its a coastal town famous for its cave dwellings, castle and beautiful beaches. In other words, I don't know anything about it yet, but I'm sure I will after the trip. Really, I'm just looking forward to going for a swim.

Headed out to buy a futsal ball and some indoor shoes this evening. Outdoor soccer isn't too popular because there aren't many fields but everyone plays futsal. Should be good to get some touches in ready for IM's in the Winter...

The First Week's Over

One week down, many more to go. This first week in Granada has been an amazing experience. Getting adjusted to the slow, south of Spain lifestyle has been difficult. Even compared to a summer in San Diego spent doing little more than surfing and chilling on the beach, the speed of life here in Granada is, leisurely. The end of the week saw classes begin at the CLM. The class size is small and the teachers are amazingly friendly. I'm really hoping that by the end of September I will be able to take all my classes for the quarter in Spanish. If that is possible, I think my grasp of the spanish language will increase by leaps and bounds over taking my classes in English. That being said, should my spanish not improve enough, it is reassuring to know I have the option to still take them in English.
Enough with the academia and on to the other reason I came out here to Granada. To experience all facets of a foreign culture, especially to interact with the local population (Granadinos) in their favorite locations, the many tapas bars and clubs that line the cobblestone streets. Every night from Monday to Saturday included at least one tapas bars and I think only once did I return home before 2AM. I have met so many people over the last week and they have all reaffirmed my love for travel. Many of the aquaintances I have made are foreign students as well because the main Spanish contingent does not show up until classes start in October. No matter where I go there have been friendly people all around. Perhaps it is the fact that they are all basically alone in a foreign country but I prefer to think that it is mostly that we are all connected by a desire to travel and experience the culture around us, and this alone, makes us all amicable with one another.
On Saturday, Benedict and I hiked up into the Sacromonte district. According to our guide books this area of town would offer us four things 1) Fantastic views of the Alhambra from above 2) A look at some of the most interesting and old neighborhoods in Granada (these are the types of houses you think about when you think about old spain; bright white buildings and tiny, narrow, winding streets streched upon a hillside) 3) our first look at the Sacromonte caves that people still inhabit as well as one of the best clubs in Granada 4) an amazing Church and museum at the top. After hiking for an hour we reached the summit and were granted the fantastic views of the Alhambra and parts of downtown, the amazingly old and beautiful Sacromonte neighborhoods and a view of the caves on the mountainside, but damn me if we weren't an hour too late to tour the Church, very very frustrating considering we decided to skip the bus in favor of walking up the hill. Anyway, after taking copious pictures and enjoying the first cool breeze we'd felt in ages we headed back down, grabbed some dinner, had a beer and forgot about the disappointment with the museum.
Other than these stories, most of my time has been spent sleeping, eating Elba's wonderful Spanish food or out in the bars hanging out with the copious friends that I have been lucky enough to make over the last few days. Its a tough life but someone's gotta do it.
Pics coming soon...

Finally Settled in

Yesterday I really felt like I got my feet on the ground here in Granada. I wasn't able to sleep very well the night before on account of the heat/jetlag but I was excited to start my first full day in Granada! Like all great days it began with a two placement hour test.... Ok, that part kinda sucked but it went by relatively fast and I got into the Spanish Class level that I wanted. The school that I will be studying at is called the Centro de Lenguas Modernas (CLM). Its an old palace (a really small palace) that has been converted into a school for all the international students that are attending the University of Granada. At the moment there are only foreign students but when Spanish Universities start in October there will be Spanish students as well. I will get some photos of the CLM up soon but I'm a little concerned that I left my Camera's USB connector in the states.
While at the CLM I met up with a friend of mine from UCSD, Sera Akkas! It was nice to see a familiar face and I'm sure we will hang out once we've all got settled in.

After the CLM Jaime took me to a cell phone store to get a phone and then to a department store called El Corte Ingles to buy some basic toiletries and stuff. We then headed back towards my apartment and stopped to eat in this great Italian restaurant. I had my first salad since coming to Granada (not really a salad fan but this was suprisingly refreshing) and a fantastic pizza con prosciutto. After all this walking and speaking nothing but Spanish I was exhausted so it was time for a siesta. I spent the rest of the afternoon in my room sleeping and finally catching up with friends and family through Skype.

In the evening we had dinner with Elba y Miguel and afterwards, despite me whining about how tired i was my housemates managed to drag me out to a film festival in a nearby plaza. The festival was, small to say the least. The screen was basically a piece of white linen draped on the side of a truck and there were maybe 30 people watching. But nevermind, we met up w/ our German amigo Benedict and all his friends and headed out for tapas and drinks. This is where Granada thrives! The beer is cheap and cool (I do not think beer can taste any better than it does after the extreme heat of the days here) the tapas are free, the people are friendly and it is the only time of day that being outside does not immediately induce sweating. We went to four or five different tapas bars, just sampling the various foods and beers on offer and then called it a night. If this is what most nights in Granada are like, I do not think it is going to be easy to leave.

Before I leave I want to share a really funny quote I got from Benedict today. Apparently it is a common German saying and I wanted to put it in writing so that i do not forget it. "If you drink six beers it is the same as eating a meal, but then you haven't drank anything so you must drink a couple more" (hope that made sense)
Hasta Luego

My First Post (a Short re-cap...kinda)

I want to apologize for the length of this post. I tried to keep everything brief but summarizing three days in which I've moved to a new home halfway around the world proved to be relatively difficult. Anways, here it is...
Wow, so much has happened since I first left Cupertino four days ago. Obviously far more than anyone reading this would care to know so I will try to keep this first recap entry short and sweet. My journey to Granada was exactly as painful as I had assumed it would be. My journey took me from SFO to Chicago to Copenhagen and finally to Madrid. From Madrid I had meticulously planned my two short metro stops and memorized how to ask for a ticket to Granada at the Bus stop. By the time I made it to Madrid it was late on Sunday night, meaning I had been up for 24 hours at this point, i got on the first metro, got off at nuevos ministerios as planned, only to discover the metro line i needed next, linea 6, was undergoing construction and was not running. I was very close to panicking, to get this far and then be completely stuck.... but i managed to decipher the bus routes, made it to the bus station, and six hours later was in Granada.

My advisor Jaime was there at six in the morning to pick me up. He took me to his home and let me shower before making breakfast. I then took a nap and at 10 my host mother Elba came over. I just want to quickly say how lucky I am to have an advisor like Jaime, most of the other programs do not recieve the personal attention I have gotten, and after almost two straight days of travel, it was extremely nice to see a friendly face waiting for me at the other end.

So after ten my señora elba came to collect me. She speaks absolutely no english. At first I thought this would be scary but it is actually just a lot of fun. Her apartment is just around the corner from Jaime's and she has four other students living with her at the moment. That was a great relief to me, to know that I was not the only one and could sort of rely on the others to help me out when i had difficulty with the language.

This post is already pretty long and I have to leave the computer lab so I wont go into much more detail about the last few days (I'll go into more detail in future posts), except to say that, even with my extremely limited knowledge of the spanish language, coming here and especially staying in a homestay have been two of the best choices I have ever made. To anyone considering it, you will be surprised how much you actually know and the señoras are well versed in the universal language of hand gestures. All in all I've had a great time so far, just took my placement test for the languages classes which start on Thursday. Ok, gotta go, Hasta Pronto!