Thanksgiving, and other weird encounters in Granada

Please, the next time you see someone you care for, give them the biggest bear-hug in the world. 

I have 22 days until I see my family next and I cannot wait for the hugs I will get!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thing about studying abroad is, all of these people in your program, and the friends you meet, are in the same boat. We all are here without our loving families and our best friends. Most of us come here without knowing anyone and I wont lie, it is tough. It's impossible for us to NOT get homesick during the holidays but I got some wise insight from my very best friend Danielle: 

"Just remember these bumps are all temporary, don't let the homesickness keep you from enjoying anything." 

She's absolutely right! Even if some of us are getting homesick, it wont be long until I'll be back at home, and then I'll be missing Spain. How ironic...

So this weekend we had our Thanksgiving dinner celebration and a very nice restaurant where we gorged ourselves with: TOO MUCH BREAD, a turkey loaf with blueberry sauce, perfectly mashed sweet potatoes, and then some traditional pumpkin pie. And what is a Spanish meal without some red wine?!

Food will never fill the void of missing your family, but fortunately, it comes REALLY close. 

So naturally, the next night I went out with a few friends for a mexican dinner. I've been craving guacamole and chimichangas like no other. After dinner we met up with our friend Dorothy and hung out with her friends that live here in Granada! Our first Spanish house party guys....let me tell you about the culture difference. 

The Spanish are NOT out of control (well, for the most part). The stereotype is that the Spanish party all the time, and I would agree, but the partying is not reckless like "some stories I've heard about college parties". I do agree that the drinking age should be lowered in the U.S. because it seems that when we finally reach that legal age of 21, it's almost like playing catch-up. I mean, my parents were allowed to drink at 18 and they turned out half way sane (It's a true statement: Have you met my dad? Have you seen my mother's dancing in the kitchen?!)

I want to show you all how our friend dances. I cannot name names, but I'm not sure he's never danced before in his life. Hint: He's in the military. With this knowledge, I am only guessing that he thinks dancing is a lot like wresting or fighting someone. At this house party we decided to document his dance moves. This top photo displays me holding Dorothy by her arms behind her back preventing her from...well basically moving. This is one of his signature dance moves..

And this bottom one is our all-time favorite. He loves to put you in a 'gentle' choke hold and dance the night away. Dorothy is demonstrating this dance move on me. 

So we 'gently' let him know that you cannot put women into choke holds and think it's dancing with them. I cannot stop laughing, he's quite a gem :)

Later, we talked with a guy originally from the Canary Islands who speaks German, English and Spanish! SHEEEEESH!!! How accomplished!!  We asked him to be totally honest and give us his thoughts and impressions of the United States.....

Here it is folks: "We pretend we have a culture, when in fact, we have no REAL culture at all. We act like we're so laid back and cool with everything, yet half our laws conflict with each other (gay marriage rights or none, death penalty or none etc. It's a different law in each state) and we have this "high-fashion" that no one would ever really dream of wearing" 

Don't get mad. It's the truth. When I talk with the kids at the school I volunteer at, I ask what their favorite American food is and they answer with "hamburger and hot dogs". WHAT?! But it's sadly true. The U.S. isn't a uncultured place though, we're just lucky enough to have a mixture of EVERYTHING and anything. No country is perfect, and I'm pretty happy with where I was raised. 

For a lighter subject, something peculiar has been happening to me while running in the park lately. A a week or so ago, I was running along sweating profusely and sounding like I was working with only one lung or something. I've got my music in, no make up on and hair up in a bun. This is NOT a pretty sight. As I am running along, this man comes out of the corner of my eye and starts walking toward me. There are not a lot of people in the park and he clearly saw me running toward him (again, imagine a stressed out ostrich running and panting at you. Thats about what I look like running). This silly man almost walked straight into me as he was talking out loud, TO NO ONE! He was looking at me and I'm convinced he was trying to start a conversation. What, did he think I was going to stop and have a cup of coffee? The whole situation was weird and it made me run a tad faster...

THEN, a few days ago, I was running through that same park, working on my fourth mile. At this point in my run, I'm just a running zombie trying to make it home without collapsing. The man in a tight fitted gray shirt and gray sweat pants starts sprinting at me, across the park like he was trying to start a game of freeze tag or something. Maybe he thought I didn't see him sprinting, but when he got about 30 feet from me, we made eye contact and he slowed into a walk. AGAIN, this man is trying to walk right into the path I am running towards. There was a drinking fountain about 15 feet away and he makes it there staring at me as I am about to pass this fountain. He bends over to take a drink, while still staring, but doesn't actually drink any of the water. He just stands, bending over the water acting like he is drinking but not ACTUALLY drinking the water. Are you getting this yet? At this point I'm running and staring at this situation and he is bending over the water fountain staring at me with the water running. Yet another moment for me bust ass and run faster home. Spanish men are actually so weird.... or maybe it's this park I run in. Who knows.

I leave for Scotland and Ireland in two days! We have a long weekend off of our classes so Molly, Maeve, Abby and I are taking advantage. We booked a 6 day trip! After we get back, there is one week of regular classes, our finals week (AND MY BIRTHDAY) and then we're done! Unreal.... 

Look at how adorable my nieces are. I cant wait to snuggle them!!!!!!!

Saa-bee-ya y Cordoba

With our program, SOL Education Abroad, my "SOL-mates" and I went to Sevilla and Cordoba last weekend. We hopped on an early bus on Saturday first to Sevilla then the following day we headed over to Cordoba.

Sevilla/Seville

Burning question: It is Sevilla or Seville?!!?!!!

Sevilla is a large city in Spain known for it's MANY cathedrals, rich history and a home to at least three Starbucks. If you an English speaker, you gringos can pronounce it: "Sa-vill". If you want to sound like a real Espanola, pronounce it: "Saaa-bee-ya". Question answered. 

Sevilla is an absolutely gorgeous city a little bigger than Granada and has a wonderful river flowing through it. I LOVE SEVILLA!!! Holy crap it is beautiful. First we unloaded our things into our fancy-pants hotel then set out to Plaza de Espana.

As you can tell by the excessive amount of pictures, this was the prettiest place we visited!!

In the plaza, there are mosaics of each of the other major cities in Spain. Here is Granada!!

Next stop was the Cathedral of Sevilla. This is the third largest church in THE WHOLE WORLD! This was really amazing, it took HUNDREDS of years to build. It is hard for me to comprehend that NO ONE person saw the entire completion of the cathedral. The day it was finished, not a single person had been there the day it was started. Im very thankful for the patience each artist who had a part in the creation. Whether you like art and history or not, there is no way you'll go into this cathedral without your mouth dropping at SOME point. It's simply amazing. 

A lot of carriage rides are given in Sevilla, these little guys wait around all day for customers!

Check out the stained glass windows, the natural lighting...

the details in the marble, wood and iron gates,

THE CEILING!!!! How long could this all possibly have taken!?!!!!

35 little ramps up to the top of a bell tower. This view is overlooking the courtyard of the cathedral. 

These people looking like ants!

All of this is still part of the Cathedral of Sevilla!!

We ate dinner at a very popular tapas restaurant and spend the night out in Sevilla! If I could live in Sevilla for a summer, I wouldn't think twice. It's absolutely breathtaking. (Not this summer though, I miss my fam too much!)

The bridge and river of Sevilla at night. SOOOOO PRETTY!!!

Cordoba

Getting home from the bars at 5am and waking back up two hours later for a full day of touring is not recommended. But I managed. I'm just trying to be an Espanola lady ;)

Cordoba is famous for it's mezquita. A LONG ASS TIME AGO, most of southern Spain was ruled by the Arabic/Muslims. After a while, the Christians took over a lot of cities and destroyed the Muslim's culture/art/historical monuments etc... How rude, I know.

BUT, just like La Alhambra in Granada, in Cordoba there are some standing Arabic/Muslim cultural buildings! Some really smart and nice Christian ruler must have said "NO!" to the idea of destroying these buildings of other religions. I again, thank them. It's an amazing place!

The bridge into the city

Arabic columns in the mezquita

The small windows and ceiling in the mezquita. How detailed...

Not ready to leave, the river is so gorgeous

This is the trophy I'm hoping my Black Katt girls are going to win in December at Nationals. GOLD!! FOR FIRST IN THE NATION!!!!!! 

The mezquita in Cordoba was a giant place of worship for the Muslim religion. When the Christians reconquered Cordoba, they kept this mezquita and but made a few additions of their own. 

Here is the controversy:

1. Some believe that the Christians were very nice and kept most of the Arabic architecture as a gesture of peace. I am more of an optimistic, so I like this idea.

2. Others believe that the Christians were being butt-holes because they tore out the middle of this gorgeous Arabic building and made their own little chapel. 

The choice is yours. Either way, it is an eery place to be in. Two religions and cultures colliding in one building gives you a feeling you just cant reproduce. 

And then we went home. About 30 minutes from Granada our bus broke down. Cool. 

The flies here are just like the men,

you swat them away but they just keep comin' back!!

I'm not even joking. You can bat at these flies all day long and they don't care, they just keep following you! Same goes for the men, they just don't get it.

So in turn, I just learned to drop the 'Minnesota Nice' act and say it like it is.

'Minnesota Nice' : Smile, hug & bake food for basically anyone ya know eh? Strangers included.

YEAH, DON'T DO THIS IN SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The first week and half I walked around smiling at everyone: little kids, old folks and I even said 'hola' to a few people in passing.

In Spain, when you make eye contact, smile or even say hello to a stranger on the street, it means you want 'more than a friendship' with them.

Now that my roomie Molly reminded me of this cultural difference, I understand why so many old men were grinning ear to ear on my walk to school. Damn it Jerianne.

'Guapa' was taught to us Americanos to mean: good looking, pretty etc. So along with this, about once or twice a day SOMEONE would call me guapa. I took this as "Good job Jeri, you lookin' fine today"









No.

I was suspicious because most days here, I roll out of bed and throw on a pair of running shorts  and go to class for 4 hours in a tiny desk. One day I was about to go for a run, I was stretching against a wall when an older lady came up to me and asked if I knew were some stupid street was. I didn't (since I'm terrible with direction) and she said 'ohhhhh gracias guapa!' and I KNEW RIGHT THEN AND THERE IT DIDNT MEAN PRETTY! I hadn't showered in two days, my hair was in a ratty bun, I didn't have any make up on and was wearing some very unflattering running clothes. So I asked a few people if 'guapa' actually meant "ugly little unwashed weasel" because that's me most days.

'Guapa' here means sweetie or honey or young woman. Again, damn it Jerianne.


Some 'cultural differences' you might want to learn about...

1. Dogs
• A lot of the people here have dogs, but they are ALL small ones. I've seen about 4 big dogs total. Where is the love for my large pups?
• It is totally legal to let your little dog take a big, giant crap in the middle of the street and NOT clean it up. I've come close to stepping in a few steamy piles. 
• Dogs in the city do not need leashes. Beware. 
2. Homelessness
• I live out in the country back in Wisco. Winona, MN (my college town) isn't very big at all so homeless people weren't in my life each day. I am aware of homelessness, don't get me wrong, my sister Adrienne was a volunteer coordinator for homeless shelter in a WI.
• Walking to school I see at minimum 5 homeless folks a day. I'm not really sure what to make of it quite yet. There are homeless people here with cell phones, smoking cigarettes and even hand out lighters (in hopes you will pay them for it). 
• (Particular case I need suggestions for) There is a young homeless man who I see each day. He is very nice and always says good morning to me, though he has never asked me for money. I am my father's daughter (if any of you know my pops, he would probably help you move the sofa you were stealing from his house. Both my parents are almost TOO compassionate.) and I feel that if he is STILL there after my 3 month course here, I'd like to bring him lunch or something. I just don't want to do it now; what if I'm being naive and he ends up following me home or something? Is this wrong?
3. Weed
• I'm not sure if it's legal to smoke or not here. I smell it each day when I walk to school.
• Last week in our last hour of class, 4 boys were smoking weed outside our classroom window. Our professor proceeded to explain the verb "to get high" and the boys started to giggle and covertly blow it into our classroom. This city never gets boring...
• Walking home from class and I ended up turning a corner and almost physically ran into a guy toking it up outside my apartment building. He said 'hola' and I almost lunged into a full sprint to get home.
• Is it legal or is it not? Who knows...
4. Aussie vs. Kiwi
• A few friends from back home, who had studied in Granada, recommended an Irish bar called 'Hannigan's' near our school. It wasn't open for the season yet so we went across the street to Paddy's. They make some really strong drinks at the Irish bars here.
• Paddy himself was bar tending. Since he spoke English, we all flocked for familiar conversation. I found out he went on a cycling trip: 3000 miles in 3 months in the U.S.
• HE BIKED THROUGH MADISON,WI,  THROUGH MY SMALL HOMETOWN AND UP PAST MY COLLEGE IN MINNESOTA! small world..
• At this pub, we met some Aussie boys who were on a vacation trip. By this time I had asked Paddy to turn on a rugby match for his homegirl who misses the game. I was staring at the TV, being totally antisocial when the Aussie boys wanted to talk about rugby. They said they seriously didn't believe that I played rugby, so I told them Kiwis are better. That ended our conversation for the night as well as our short-lived friendship. No regrets.

These are the Aussies - before I told them to "stick it where the sun don't shine" - another famous Randy Blau phrase..

1. No conservative clothing here
• There are butt cheeks for days 
• When we go out at night, I look like I dressed up as a soccer mom compared to all the Spanish ladies (I'm okay with it)
• You cant find shorts here. They are actually just denim granny panties that these girls wear. 
2. Going out at night
• Iphones are realllllllll hot commodities here 
• My phone was pick pocketed
• I have a friend who had her Iphone stolen, she was sent a replacement one and that was stolen at the SAME BAR mine was..
• Pick pocketers are so sneaky here, but we've heard its the worst in Barcelona
• The other night, our professor Javier took the class out to some really local and authentic bars where they had a few drinks and tapas. Javier told us after the final exam tomorrow we can go out for some tapas and few cervesas with him. He's such a funny guy!
• Finding late night (actually EARLY morning, like 5am or 6am) 'drunk munchies' is REALLY hard. My roommate Molly & I discovered a little Shwarma (kebab) place that is cheap and open at 5:30am. SPANISH LIFE COMPLETE!

1. Randoms
• Fanta Limon (lemon flavored fanta, not lemon lime clear soda, LEMON flavored) is worth getting shipped to the U.S.  It's the most delicious soda!
• Our host mama has grandchildren (over 5) and about once a week we have a big family meal with some of them. THEY ARE ALL SO CUTE! Mateo is the 14 month old who is over like 2-3 times a week and he's SO HAPPY all the time!! I want to steal him and bring him home with me. Mateo goes to bed around 10pm or 1030 though. So basically this 14 month old child can stay up later than both my parents. Wow
• Mars Bar?s They are kind of an older candy, but they are really popular here in Spain. I found some Mars Bars flavored ice cream!

We went hiking in Los Cahorros last Saturday morning. My camera is refusing to charge so I stole some bomb pictures from my girl Shelby.

S/O to her blog as well!

 http://killenadventures.blogspot.com.es/

This shot reminds me of one of my fav states from back home, Utah!

One last fact: 

My hometown population: 472 
Granada, Spain: 239,000

I'm liking the big city, but I'm missing: animal contact, fresh country air, quiet nights, leaving doors unlocked, gravel roads, GRASS and cereal with real milk!!!

A typical day as a student in Granada, Spain

- Breakfast: toast & jam every morning at 8:15am. Our host mama is sweet as pie and makes us a little cup of french pressed espresso then goes back to bed. I'm a big breakfast gal so this toast thing, in the words of my father "ain't enough for a rat to eat". 

- Class: After a 20-25 minute walk to our University, I have class from 9am-1pm. This month is our "intensive" class and after 3 more weeks we change classes up. My main man Javier is so goofy and really funny! From the first day you could tell he just LOVES teaching, that's rare to find these days. A different teacher comes in for the last hour, her name is Pilar and she's a clever little lady.

This is my morning walk to class

- Lunch: I am starved until 2:30pm-3:30pm when we eat a MASSIVE lunch. The first day here we had traditional Spanish paella (lots of rice, veggies & meat almost like a casserole) and my host mama heaped about 6lbs of this stuff onto my plate. Paella is so delicious but I could have been buried by the amount she gave me! After the main meal we have "postre" which is spanish for dessert. Fruit, yogurt or pudding have been our usual suspects.

This is a traditional Spanish dish: Torta Espanola or Frittata. It's  simply egg & potato.

- SIESTA: Take a little napski and relax while most stores & businesses shut down until about 5:30pm then reopen for about three hours. During this time I usually roll around on my bed so uncomfortably full of food and catch up talking to everyone back home. From lunch until dinner it is basically free time for me. I don't have practice, don't have a job here and there isn't a whole lot of homework that we get. Relaxation station..

- Workout: Back home I can eat whatever the heck I want because I always had a 2 hour practice filled with sprints, running drills, tackling, stupid burpees and all this after our initial "let's begin practice with a 2-3 mile run where we all just race each other" run. So here I am learning to not HATE running so I don't gain like 60lbs. After a run each day I am basically trying to be the female Jason Statham in my tiny room here doing some squats, push ups and other "prison like" workouts.

- Dinner: LATE....like between 9pm-11pm. We usually have a pasta salad, a soup or maybe a smaller sandwich. My roommate Molly & I really really REALLY lucked out. Our host mama loves to cook and we've been here over a week without a repeated meal! Last night we had our first "ehhh" meal but we were both raised to not be picky and just eat it anyway. Bow tie noodles, pieces of fruit like pineapple, mango, apples, peach, and imitation crab meat all glazed with a sweet mayo sauce....."ehh".

- Week nights: Molly & I usually stay in and hang out, Skype people and do some social media. Pretty simple, pretty laid back.

- WEEKENDS ARE INSANE - 

- Tapas:  This is a tradition that is only alive in only a few cities in Spain! Luckily...Granada hooks us up real nice. You go out for a drink (wine, beer or juice) and most bars/cafes here bring you out free tapas. These are little sample sized portions of different food such as black & green olives, potato salad, bread kind of like appetizer foods. You get a drink & a small portion of delicious munchies for about 2-3 euro ($3-$4). Tapas are traditionally from 9pm-1am ish

Some of the delicious tapas in Granada!

   My roomie Molly is the smiley blonde! We went out with a few girls in the program for tapas and some "Tinto de Verano" - sweet red wine & clear soda!

- Bars: "Chupiterio" = shot bar, shots for 1 euro. From there, my pals and I have found a few discotecas  and we dance until the sun comes up. Seriously though. Clubs here are open til 6am!!!!!!! Molly & I then either cab it or walk home and sleep until lunch the next day. Spainards party hard so I'm doing my part as a Wisconsin girl here in Spain, it's in my heritage.


- Sundays are for sleeping off the hangovers, going to church and then sleeping some more.

          So that's a typical day in Granada. Wooof.