I literally have 50 things to say but something tells me the 5 people that will probably read this blog don't want to hear about all of them so I'll have to pick and choose. Mostly, Spain is awesome. It's been so wonderful living in a place that isn't characterized by cornfields, identical houses, and a Wal-Mart always 5 minutes away. It's pretty ridiculous how beautiful a country Spain is and Granada is certainly no exception. I was in a bad mood the other day because we had been walking around all day, my feet hurt, and I wanted to be siestaing or connected to the rest of the world but was being forced to wander around the city for 3 hours as part of a scavenger hunt activity. But then at one point we walked up a steep hill in the Albayzin, turned the corner, and saw this view:
And then I wasn't in such a bad mood anymore.
By the way, the Albayzin is the old arabic part of town- it's totally beautiful but quite a tolling task to walk around because it was built on a freaking mountainside and instead of normal brick streets or concrete all the side walks and streets are made with these little round stones that REALLY hurt to walk on. But it's an awesome area of town and it's filled with a weird mixture of arabic/moorish architecture and catholic churches and monuments- a true testament to Spain's crazy religious history.
As far as culture shock goes, I'm doing pretty alright. Believe it or not, a lot of the weird little culture facts they tell you in Spanish class are actually pretty true. For instance, the whole kiss on the cheek thing as a greeting? Totally true. I have never been kissed so much in my life by complete strangers. I'm pretty weird about it too I always forget they're going to do it and then all of a sudden I'm being grabbed and someone's lips are on my face. I guess what better way to meet someone than to put your faces as close together as possible.
Another Spanish culture tidbit that's turned out to be true: the siesta. From 1:30-5 there is absolutely nothing to do except go to a cafe or go home. No businesses are open, no stores, no banks, no class. Everything here is just SO laid back and my impatient self has struggled a little bit. For example, classes start Tuesday, and I find out what classes I'm in and when they are Monday afternoon... Meanwhile I just got an e-mail from Wooster saying I need to register for classes for NEXT SEMESTER in a couple weeks..
The other big difference in Spanish culture is their meal schedule. It is currently 1:20 in the afternoon and I will not eat 'lunch' until 3-3:15. And I say 'lunch' because its basically a 3 course meal complete with bread, a giant main dish then a salad/soup and fruit for dessert. The servings are HUGE. Instead of eating a decent sized breakfast some snacks, then a normal lunch, then a decent sized dinner, they eat an insane amount of food at 3 in the afternoon then have what would be a lunch for me at 9-10 at night. It's a weird adjustment especially since I prefer eating 5 small meals spread out through the day. I never finish the lunch Pilar (my host mom!) gives me but we recently joked about my 'estomago pequeno'.
Luckily, the food is all pretty delicious which makes it a little easier. I had my first paella on Tuesday although it had chicken and not seafood, but it was still delicious. Pilar made me a hamburger for dinner the second night I was here which was pretty cute because she called it a little taste of home. Pilar is wonderful and I really couldn't have asked for a better host mom. She's probably 65-70 years old and is so adorable. Her favorite hobbies include watching Spanish news over and over again even if she has already seen the same news clip 5 times that day (this bothers me a lot more than it bothers her) and knitting. She is currently knitting a table runner that she has been working on for a year now. I really don't know what she's going to do with it because I don't see a table 8 feet long anywhere in her house but she seems to enjoy it a lot. She has been really sweet and accommodating and refuses to let me help her with anything. She also manages to somehow comprehend/interpret the broken Spanish I speak to her and talks slowly to me so that I can attempt to understand her. The best part is that she has a little dog (perrita) named Violeta. Violeta is absolutely adorable/a little loco but it's just comforting having a dog that cuddles with me on the couch and runs to greet me when I come in the front door (shout out to Eldee, Violeta will never be as crazy or fun as you but she's a good replacement for now). She has a snaggle tooth that cracks me up because she will look up at you with these big puppy eyes thinkin she's all cute but she has a giant tooth stickin out of her mouth. (See pic)
Anyways, my first week here has been great! The city is still a little confusing to walk around but I think I'm getting used to it and its so nice being able to walk anywhere and everywhere. I'm pretty excited to start class because I feel like a brain dead bum and I would love a normal schedule (I'm sure everyone who's already in class would like to collectively slap me for saying that).
But more updates to come later! Hopefully this internet thing will get fixed because I'm having a pretty bad withdrawal..
As the Granadino's would say Adio and Hata Luego! (They don't say the 's' in almost everything they say which is SUPER annoying because there are a lot of 's's in words and I can't understand them when they take them out- makes me miss my Spanish teachers talking slowly with an american accent..)
*MUCHOS BESOS*
Oh ya they also really can't say my name because the double L in MoLLy is pronounced like a Y in Spanish so basically my name is like Moyee. Pilar is constantly saying "MoYEE! COMIDA!"
I walk by the cathedral everyday to get to the Arcadia center! My house is in the center of town which is awesome but also there's an accordion man who sits outside my window and plays for hours every night. Sounds really cool and European but it really sucks.
