(First: The videos I've made of my trips so far:

                        http://www.mediafire.com/?jdymzjadwnw

                        http://www.mediafire.com/?qmtdjmgwdmg

                        http://www.mediafire.com/?ilojyvny3nt

                        http://www.mediafire.com/?ajyzzcwj4tj

            These are all from the first couple of weeks of my time here. The first two are just random goings-on, tours of the city, etc. The second pair is from the tour we took of the Alhambra! I've tried to translate the Spanish as best I can... There will be more of these, I promise! Also, if anyone knows how to change the format of these things to something a little friendlier, let me know. They're kind of big and Windows-y.)

UGR classes have begun! Now I'm a real live University student. This stuff starts to hit like a tidal wave... It's such a cliché, but the time is just flying. I can't believe February is almost over! It's exciting to think I've made it through a month and a half, but a little scary to think I've only got so much time to learn everything I can here.

Monday was the second 'trough' in my experience... after the get-together on Valentine's day, I spent Sunday almost entirely in bed, trying to get rid of my stupid flu. Then Monday I didn’t have any classes with the girls from Michigan in the morning... so by the time I was getting ready to go to my first UGR class, I was seriously starved of social interaction. That combined with the stress of starting my first class alone... and I was pretty much a mess just before class started. I was sitting by the window of the second floor, watching the sun set, all homesick and wondering how on Earth I was going to make it through a class in my second language... bah. One thing I've learned about myself is that if I'm stressed or sad, the first thing I need to do is go hang out with someone. The longer I'm by myself, the worse homesickness or language scariness gets. Even home with my host family, I'm much better than I would be alone.

Of course, once I got into class, things weren't bad at all. The teacher has a Basque accent, which I honestly find pretty easy to understand, maybe easier than Andalucian... just because it's so much heavier on the consonants. It's like the difference between someone from Georgia and someone from New York- The difference in vowels is similar to my ear! Northerners speak with a much brighter, clearer accent; everything's more forward and nasal... even louder. Whereas the southerners here drop consonants and mix their vowels much more. Weird how these things work. Anyway, the anthro class won't actually have a final exam (Which is awesome, since it would have been scheduled for July 3^rd)! Instead, we have four papers to do- one each month. We have to read one of a group of articles he's picked out on specific topics in anthropology and ethnicity, and write a response... doesn't seem too bad, especially since the articles are in various languages. I'm definitely reading at least one English one! Though the response has to be in Spanish regardless. These responses are the only thing you have to do to pass... Of course, I'm going to need all the help I can get. Coming to class is 'optional', but if you want to get above a C, you've got to do it and complete some in-class work. There's also another way to get more credit- a ten page paper that you do with a partner. The catch is that one person has to be a native Spanish speaker, and the other has to speak another language! So I'd love to do this, partly to help my grade, and partly to have the chance to make friends in class... but I'll have to find someone willing to finish this paper way ahead of time, since I'm hoping to go home in early June (the paper's not due until the final exam date, July 3). Maybe I can coordinate email with a partner, and we can work that way once I go home?... We'll see.

The next morning I was up bright and early for my second UGR class- History of Flamenco. This one's at 8:30 in the morning, which is rough for my Señora! She insists on getting up and making breakfast for me, even though I've told her I can feed myself on the days when I'm up early... so the first day of class, Danielle, Maryn and I had set to meet up at the bus stop at 7:30. So I'm up at 6:30, I get cleaned up and dressed, get my things together... no sign of Señora at all. She keeps the kitchen locked at night, so I'm a little stuck. 7:00 passes... I'm thinking that I'll just go get a pastry somewhere; I've got to get to the bus stop! Finally, she rushes out at 7:15, curlers still in her hair, apologizing for having slept in! I felt bad for making her get up so early, lol! But she made me a quick breakfast and a sandwich for lunch, and I headed out.

This flamenco class seems like it'll be really interesting! It's set up just like a musicology class back home. We're studying the culture and history behind flamenco, and then we'll get into specific genres within the style. It's pretty cool... flamenco's a 'pop' genre, but it's got a lot of specific rules and boundaries that also make it fairly 'classical'. Very interesting! This teacher is about as Andalucian as you get, which I suppose is appropriate since he's teaching about a genre that came from Andalucía. This class will have only one exam- the final, which right now is set for June 23^rd. (We asked if we could move it, and he said he'd ask the head of the department and let us know next week. All of us definitely need to change it- Danielle's taking a half a summer at Michigan for sure, and Maryn's got to get home to plan her wedding!) It'll be an exam exactly like I'm used to- some fill in the blank facts, a couple of essays, and listening- hearing different samples of flamenco music and identifying what specific subgenre they fit into. It's a lot of pressure for one exam, though. Ughh. I've never taken a class like this- where it'll all come down to my grade on one test. But I think I'm going to absolutely love the material. It's like learning about bluegrass in Kentucky! Just no better place to do it.

Tuesday is going to be a seriously long day, every week... class starts at 8:30, then a walk to CEGRÍ for class at 11:15, then chilling for lunch until my next class at 4:30... which doesn't end until 6. I'm out for about 11 hours in total! It's like when I had class and rehearsal back in high school. But Señora makes me a bocadillo, so at least I don't have to make the half hour walk home for lunch just to stay for an hour or so.

Wednesday was uneventful, other than my second anthro class. He spent the first two classes mostly talking about the syllabus and how the class would work. Then this past Monday was about how we could access his website and our articles! We've only actually discussed anthropology or ethnicity in rather vague terms. Which I guess is how it goes?... But Wednesday I felt much better about life, lol. I did meet a group of Americans in the anthro class, studying at the Modern Language School here, which is basically like another CEGRÍ. I think I'm in a good place, language-wise? I understand what's going on for the most part.

Thursday was more of the same in flamenco- he spent two classes on the syllabus, too! But what was great was that, since most of the students at CEGRÍ were leaving on trips for the week, there was almost no one in my grammar class afterwards! So instead of starting on the next chapter of material (subjunctive- scary < <.) we went to a coffee shop in the plaza nearby. It was really fun- and we sat and talked the whole time, so we were still getting some practice in. I did have a lot of trouble hearing, though... a lot. It's only in loud places like that where I have problems... but I really couldn't hear. Julia was asking why I wasn't talking much, so I ended up explaining it as best I could in Spanish, which was difficult... It's situations like that that make me want to look into getting a hearing aid, despite all the trouble it'd be. I think I'm going to start carrying my little amp around again, lol. Definitely for class.

Thursday night- or actually, Friday morning, midnight- we left for Madrid :). I'm so glad I got the chance to use the bus system. It's really easy and works great. We caught a 1:30am bus, slept pretty well on the drive there, and ended up in Madrid at 6:30 in the morning. Then it was a quick tram ride to Gran Vía to find our hostel. It was really easy! I think when mom and dad come, I'll just meet them in Madrid this way, and we can spend a day or two in the city before we head south.

We managed to use the metro to get from the bus station to our hostel... which was right next to a Starbucks, so we took the opportunity to get some very American coffee, lol. Really, Madrid felt much more 'American' than Granada... it's a huge city, like NYC or Baltimore, with lots of American shops and American food. A lot of people speak English here, too, which made things quite comfortable, but which meant we weren't really in a Spanish groove while we were there. I have the weird feeling that I'm not speaking as much Spanish as I was last week? Madrid was almost all English, and with the gang we've kind of gotten into the habit of using more English than I'd like, I suppose. Even at the hostel, when the guy opens the door the first morning, he says 'Hello', not 'Hola'. Fluent English the whole time!

We left our bags in the "International World Hostel", but we couldn't check in until 2:00pm... we'd had the idea of renting a six person room and fitting eight people inside, but they were pretty tight on security in this place... they recorded all our names and passport numbers. So Rebecca and Cara volunteered to find a hotel room of their own, rather than take two beds in another room at the hostel; they weren't too hot on the place anyway. The beds in the hostel were so-so, all bunks, and we shared two bathrooms with the other dozen or so people staying there. It was nice that we could fill up the whole room ourselves, though, since that gave us at least a little privacy.

The morning we spent seeing the sights, various beautiful churches. Following Danielle's guidebook, for the most part, we got a nice slice of the city life. We visited the main cathedral... I'm used to churches being much less decorated, so these ancient, baroque structures with golden altars and 'angels in the architecture', so to speak, really strike me. You get a powerful sense of awe in a place like that. I lit some candles at the altar for a few friends... then we left, and headed to the grocery store to pick up stuff for bocadillos and such (the cheapest form of food around here).

After such a long day, I was starving, so the sandwich immediately made everything a little brighter, lol. We met up with Tanya and Cooper (her boyfriend, visiting for a couple of weeks) at the royal palace. This place was incredible! Danielle and I shared a audio tour, which was a great idea, since each room has some sort of story behind it. This was where the royal family lived up until the Franco period. There are hundreds of rooms; about fifty are displayed to the public. It's incredible the level of luxury and detail packed just into the decoration... and then of course the architecture itself- for instance, the staircases all have short, wide stairs to allow the royals to walk gracefully with a train! Unfortunately, no pictures or video allowed :(. Took a siesta after the palace tour... I was completely dead, lol. Then Danielle, Maryn and I went out with Tanya and Coop for a nice dinner at a place Danielle's book recommended. It was ridiculously fancy for the price! I had chicken with roasted vegetables, carefully placed ring of sauce and all, for only 6.50€. Pretty sweet. I did break down and split a 'chocolatisimo'- a teeny tiny fudge cake surrounded by melted milk and white chocolate. Amazing <3

Most of the gang was planning on going out to a discoteca that night... so when we got back from dinner, they were already 'pre-gaming' with vodka and Fanta. Which is fine, except that there were numerous signs all over the hostel telling us that drinking inside would get us kicked out > >. Oh well... So they headed out about 12:30; I was too tired and not so much into going out when they were already drunk, lol.

A couple of us managed to get up early the next morning and take a walk before we hit our museums. I'm lucky I'm a morning person! If I'd been fifteen minutes later showering, I'd have had to stand in line for who knows how long with all the Australians from the room next to us! The 'breakfast' that was included in our hostel stay consisted of some bread and marmalade that we could prepare how we liked. Not very exciting. Anyway... Danielle, Maryn and I explored the city, basically taking our time heading towards the Prado, with the idea that we'd meet the rest of the gang once they got up. Madrid is a remarkably green city, for how big it is. Lots of trees, lots of little parks. They also have painted bulls, like how Louisville has horses and Cincinnati has pigs! So we saw a few of those... oh, another odd Madrid fact: one of the most ornate, huge buildings I saw was actually just the main post office! Crazy.

We walked through the city, into a little playground and a couple cool plazas, then finally made our way to El Prado. The Prado is basically the Spanish Louvre- a phenomenal museum with some really incredible, very historic art. Where the Louvre has the Mona Lisa, the Prado has Las Meninas. And just about every Goya and Velasquez painting that exists... Literally a hundred Goyas, from the Majas to Saturn and all the dark, faceless creatures he painted at the end of his life. Really incredible. Goya's one of those artists who... well, you could walk down a hall of a hundred of his paintings and not get bored. He's like three different painters over the course of his career.

The rest of the gang met us at the Prado. We ended up spending nearly three hours in this place, it was so huge! So by the time we were done, we were hungry and our feet were sore, lol. We stopped at a bizarre little bar for 'tostas', which are... a piece of bread with some stuff on it. And they cost as much as a real bocadillo. :P.

Our next destination was the "Parque Buen Retiro", which is basically Madrid's equivalent of Central Park in NYC. It's gigantic, with a nice lake, miles and miles of perfectly trimmed hills and gardens, grass you're not allowed to step on (except in certain sections), trees, tennis courts... and of course, since we're in Europe, a palace made out of glass for good measure! The Palacio Cristal was beautiful, though. I guess over the course of centuries of royalty a city gradually accumulates places like that. There was an art exhibit inside, which they allowed thirty or so people to view at a time- it was these huge glass ornaments, all globes and light bulbs, matching the palace. They didn't want anyone touching them, or even getting too close.

Then we made our way to the main lake (which had another palace next to it, of course). The whole city came out for the Carneval celebrations, which are all this week and next, around the Semana Blanca (beginning of Lent). There was a huge festival going on! Lots of people in costumes, lots of knick-knacks to buy, and a little Punch and Judy show about every few hundred feet around the lake. It was pretty sweet. Carneval isn't as big in Granada, but in other cities they celebrate a lot more, especially Cadiz... where it's basically a full week of craziness.

We managed to somehow get to a second museum in the same day: the Reina Sofia, which showcases modern art. About... half of the work here suited my tastes. I guess, as someone uneducated in this sort of thing, if I'm looking at a piece of 'modern art', it needs to either be beautiful/striking/interesting to look at, express some emotion or idea I can connect to, or at least illustrate a new concept or style of expression. If I've seen something like it a hundred times before, it's hard for it to hold my interest, because there's not enough detail (or something) to it to draw me in. A mirror on the wall is not interesting. But you can show me Duchamp's fountain, sure, and I'll appreciate it because he was getting a new idea across. We saw a video showcasing the glass art in the Palacio Cristal, which is also installed in the Metropolitan Opera in New York, which was just so awesome that I somehow managed to sit through a twenty minute video of closeups on glass < <. Anyways... the best thing about this place was the Dali and Picasso works. I actually saw "Guernica"! You can't beat that.

Most of the gang wanted to just have bocadillos for dinner, but since I'd been good on money the day before, I was kind of hoping to go out one last time in Madrid. Rebecca and Cara were up for it, too, and so was Maryn... I was all excited, until somehow Rebecca starts insisting we go to TGI Friday's right next to our hostel ><. I mean, I love that place, but it's more expensive than I wanted, and it's just straight up American food... ugh. But I got outvoted, so that's where we ended up, much to my chagrin. I guess it was alright, since I hadn't had anything American for almost a month and a half... and I was seriously craving chicken fingers... but it just felt so lame to be eating at the Friday's Madrid, like one step above a Burger King. (But it was so good, at the same time < <.)

Danielle, Rebecca, Maryn and I headed home Sunday morning, while the others went on to Toledo, since they didn't have class to worry about! It was odd, but rather nice... I was excited to get back to Granada. It felt comfortable... like going back to Ann Arbor sophomore year. Not home, but home base. And I was super excited to get back to my Señora's cooking, actually! The drive back was great; I probably listened to 'Black Holes and Revelations' two or three times straight through, then finally moved on to 'Viva la Vida' and 'Wincing the Night Away'. Muse has been burned into my brain for the last month or so ><. That CD is all I want to listen to!...

Maryn, Danielle and I explored the University park that afternoon, too! It's really lovely... though there is no grass anywhere that you're allowed to sit on. We did some homework, etc... Oh, and it gets cold incredibly fast! For real! 6pm on the dot, it was way too cold for a jacket. As soon as the sun starts even thinking about setting, the temperature just drops like a rock.

Okay! So now this week!

Monday- I kind of fled the house Monday morning, went to CEGRÍ to use the internet for a couple of hours before lunch. The kids were going just nuts... Yasin and Manuela can be a potent combination... and when Señora and Natalia are getting frustrated trying to deal with them, it's not a fun place to be. This has only happened a couple of times, though. I kind of wish I could help, but when I try, I seem to end up interfering more than anything. Miguel Angel and Nerea were at CEGRÍ... I hope they don't think I'm anti-social or something, sitting in the library sending emails! Lol.

Tuesday- Class in the morning with Danielle and Maryn. I think I'm really going to love this Flamenco class... Oh, and Señora slept in again! Poor thing! I really don't want to stress her out with my schedule, but she keeps insisting on making me breakfast! Danielle and I met up in the afternoon to take a walk and explore the Plaza de Toros. We invited Maryn, (she was busy chatting with her fiancée) Nickey, (she didn't check her phone until late that night) and Rebecca (not sure what her deal was < < she'd agreed to go shopping earlier, but wasn't interested in hanging out?) but in the end it was just us two. We've found some nice cafes we'll have to check out, and another path up the hill to UGR. We also tried this fancy pasteleria halfway between us and the centro- The Flor y Nata, which looks way more upscale than it really is, apparently. The pastry we got was great, though.

Oh, another funny happening! So I come back from a jog, take a quick shower, and head out to walk with Danielle. The shower head's acting a little funny... there's an open spot somewhere, and water's squirting out the side a bit. I didn't think too much of it. I come back from class... Señora's juggling dinner and a pair of crying 2-year olds. First thing after "Hola", she asks me, "So what happened when you were showering?"

"Uh... nothing happened? The water was coming out a little funny..."

"Well, it's completely broken now. It doesn't work. I was trying to give Yasin a bath, and the water's coming out all over. Did you break it?" And she demonstrates how the shower head is now shooting water in all directions, lol!

I'm like, "Oh gosh! It wasn't like that when I used it, I promise; it was just a little weird! I don't think I broke it!"

"Well, you were the last one to use it. Natalia took a shower this morning, and you took a shower in the afternoon. After that it was broken."

So I offered to replace it, since it sure seemed like I must have broken it somehow, and she said she was going to try to fix it, and we'd see. > >. Luckily Natalia managed to get it working again, so no harm done. But I think I'd better be careful around here. Again, Señora gets frustrated from taking care of the kids, more than anything...

Wednesday- Not too exciting. I took a walk in the park in the morning, which was lovely. Oh- definitely had a 'Wow things are different here' moment, too.

So my anthro class starts at eight pm. The professor usually gets there about 8:10... this is typical for Spain. He comes in Wednesday night, and announces that we're going to watch a short video, about twenty minutes, and then write a quick response, and discuss it as an in-class activity. Sounds great. So he hooks up his computer to the projector, and... proceeds to spend a full half hour trying to get the thing working. A half hour. For a twenty minute movie. And the class is just chilling, waiting for him to get it going! I don't think that would fly in the US > >. An American professor would probably give up and move on to something else by ten minutes in, just out of embarrassment! Different mentality towards that sort of thing around here. The attitude towards time... but the video was really interesting, once we could watch it. It was about education for girls in Senegal. A little cutesy, if you can believe it.

That night, I stayed up watching 'House' dubbed in Spanish and chatting with my hermana Natalia, too. I think I'm starting to piece together how my family ticks. Natalia's 24 now, with 2-year old Manuela. Manuela's father left her (though they weren't married), and now lives in Valencia, which is just too far away and too stuck up for Natalia to even visit now > >. She has a lot of distaste for the people of that city, somehow... I guess I'll see when I visit two weeks from now. Nati also lost her job at the end of last year, and is back with her mom while she's looking for work. She talked a lot about how I was smart not to be tied town at my age, how your whole life changes. I can't imagine having a kid so young... but I'm sure things looked very different for Nati two years ago. She's really nice. I really appreciate that she goes out of her way to talk to me when she's around, in a way I wish Señora Trini would.

Thursday- I just about wiped myself out on Thursday. First off, I stayed up late chatting, and then got up at 6:30 for flamenco class. We took the bus up, but walked the mile and a half down back to the centro. Then I had the bright idea to take a jog, down to the bandera and back, twice (1.5 + 3 miles). Then I showered, and rushed out to meet Danielle and Nickey to walk to the bus station and get our Valencia tickets... (1.5 + 3 + 3) and then I went down to the park to check my email before lunch, and came back to the apartment... (1.5 + 3 + 3 + 1.5) Took a major siesta after lunch... walked to the park again with Señora, and back... (1.5 + 3 + 3 + 1.5 + 1.5) then met up for tapas and drinks after dinner at the Plaza de Toros, and back... (1.5 + 3 + 3 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1) So I walked a grand total of eleven and a half miles. Ughhh. My legs were absolutely killing me by the end of the day. I had no business pushing myself that hard. But it was a fun day... We went to this great tapas place; Danielle's host family is friends with the owner, so she knew it well. Plaza de Toros is one of the places I'll take my family for sure when they visit! It's a bullfighting ring full of restaurants, clubs and bars- what could be more Spanish?

Yasin, by the way, was a complete mess that morning. I got in from class... I come up the stairs to my floor, and I hear just screaming and wailing like you wouldn't believe! Not hard to identify... Little Yasin is yelling for 'Mami'. I open the door, and there's little bit, dressed to go out, sitting in his stroller by the door, crying his eyes out. Nati tells me that the same thing happened again- Señora was going out grocery shopping, but Yasin refused to get into his stroller to come with her, so she left him. So he'd been screaming for a half hour or so. @.@ Oi. I don't know what to think about this kid, lol. I think he's particularly good around me, actually, since I'm not one of the 'bosses'.

Friday- After Thursday, I was wiped, so I took it slow on Friday. I slept in a little, and finally re-dyed my hair- they have the best red hair dye here! It's totally my color, really bright, cherry red. :) Unfortunately my color seems to be quite popular with little old ladies here, lol!

Slow morning... I took a walk with Maryn and Lauren in the evening before dinner. We found another great cafeteria/pasteleria by the Plaza de Toros, that played nothing but 80s classic rock, lol. We went with Maryn's sister, Lauren, who's also studying here at the Modern Language School. I think it'd be so nice to have a relative to hang with every once in a while... and Maryn and Lauren are basically best friends. Really lucky! But Maryn's got it tough being away from her fiancée, so I guess she could use a little more support. We went to an ice cream shop after dinner, too, one that's supposed to be the second best in the city. It's over in a part of town I haven't seen... it's apparently called "Pijalandia", "Stuck-up land", lol, since it's where the super-preppy University students live. It did sort of look like a fashion show on that street > >. But the ice cream was incredible! We'll go to the number-one place once it opens up again in March.

I got home about 1:30- Señora was actually out with a friend! (*gasp of shock*). I don't think I've seen her leave without Yasin except the couple of times she's left him on purpose. Of course Nati was awake and around, but still. I mean, Señora doesn't even change out of her PJs unless she's leaving the apartment!

Saturday- I am determined to find somewhere that has reasonable internet on the weekends. CEGRÍ is closed, and as I discovered after a disastrous bus ride this morning, everything connected to UGR is closed as well. Omar's is open, but that's a Euro an hour... Nati says the last American who stayed with them would visit an internet café around here somewhere... where you'd buy a drink, and be able to the internet as long as you wanted. That sounds like a much better deal. I so miss all the free internet back in Ann Arbor :(.

Also, Yasin and Manuela are a bad pair, I'm convinced. Yasin wants attention. Manuela wants to get her way. So Yasin ends up upset at Manuela because she's getting attention, so Manuela tries to push him around or just gets mad... ugh ^^;;....

Not much else to report... things are still going pretty well around here :) I'm so excited to be planning out mom and dad's visit! I'm making a checklist of the things we've got to do in Granada while they're here!

<3