Last Monday

And by that I mean: this Monday is my last Monday in Spain for who knows how long…

I had my theater final this morning which went really well. Only four more tests! They’re like vitamins—one a day.

This past week was totally great. After I turned in all of my projects, I was completely academically checked out. Every semester there’s a brick wall that I run into when my state of being changes from being really stressed out to be really apathetic. Sitting in classes was nearly unbearable. But oh well, I survived, and then I had non-class-time to just love Spain. Highlights:

.Oh wait this one was during class. My grammar teacher is the BEST. So we got him a card and a cake and framed a picture of our whole class for him and surprised him on Thursday during class. He was SO surprised and happy. It was just perfect. Also we had tinto de verano during class. The day before, my Lorca teacher brought us champagne. haha, Europe!

.On Thursday night Malachi had a concert! I felt really cool to be friends with her. Also, I was friends with her before I knew she was an internationally renowned musician, just saying. :)

.I’ve been back to Café Fútbol for probably the last time, and I’ve been up to the Alhambra a few lastish times, and I’ve been to a tetería again for most likely the last time too (although it was a hot day so we got milkshakes instead of tea, haha!). Also I saw one last flamenco show, courtesy of the IES flamenco classes, I’ve bought my last spanish shoes I’d been wanting, and I’m down to the last of the souvenirs I’m supposed to be getting. Hopefully that last sunburn was the last one (I’m trying to be good about my ‘leche solar’—literally ‘sun milk’ but really sunscreen lol). I went to my last Spanish Sunday mass, and I just today returned my last book to the Modern Languages Center. Last Week Livin. it’s cool.

I think my amount of time here has been just about perfect. A few weeks ago I was really homesick and just wanted to get out of this country, but I think that was partially caused by spending an entire week with friends from home and partially caused by then having an overwhelming amount of projects to do. These last 2 weeks I have been super content with the way life is going and the way the rest of it’s coming. I’m quite satisfied with what I’ve put in and gotten out of this semester here, and I’m also very happily looking forward to being at home again in six days. Overall, the semester has been different than what I expected but not in a bad way. I have lots of new stories and friends and memories and vocabulary and experiences and independence and tastes…and clothes! Well, not that many new clothes…no clearance racks here.

Probably only one or two more updates and then I’ll be all-American again and this blog will have fulfilled all of its purposes! How funny.

Accomplishments.

I think in the grand scheme of this semester I only have 4 more pages of writing left for all classes combined, and I could potentially finish all of them today and basically be done with everything but finals!

My Lorca paper ended up being 12 pages (over 5,000 words) long, and I was pretty happy with it. I was slightly disappointed to find out in class Monday that it actually only needed to be 7-10 pages long (not minimum 10 pages, which is what the guideline sheet said) after finishing it on Sunday night, but she did say longer would probably be better, soo hopefully that’ll weigh in my favor come grading time.

I also finished everything I was supposed to for last week without ever having to stay up all night as it sounds like several of my classmates did…I’m so glad I started my projects/papers early!!

This weekend IES took us to Cabo de Gata for a hike on Friday and a day at the beach yesterday. The trip was a mess, but it was overall fun. One of the buses (thankfully not mine) broke down about a half hour before destination so those poor guys had to wait an hour in the sun for one of the other buses to drop off its load and go back for them.

The hike was totally beautiful and the weather was just gorgeous and the Mediterranean was magnificent; however, they really should have been more upfront about what we were in for… The pre-departure e-mail we received warned us that the hike would be “long but not particularly difficult”, but actually it was really long and quite difficult indeed… 9 miles, at least half of it going up and down mountains. Including short stops at beaches it took about 8 hours. It was very exhausting. People were falling, there were lots of slippery rocks and some uphill climbs in sand—not fun. I just wish they’d’ve been less sugary about what to expect so I could have mentally prepared better. Oh well, yesterday Hannah, Malachi, and I just lay on the beach reading and chatting and reapplying sunscreen after jumping in the ocean for a bit, which was super relaxing after the previous day’s over-exertion. And I didn’t get sunburned except on the top of my toes where I forgot to reapply!

Now I’m home to Granada and most likely will just be sticking around here for  the final 2 weeks, soaking in as much of the Andalucían sun as I can while it lasts. I have decided after all of my travels throughout Spain that Andalucía is my favorite. I just love it down south and I’m so glad this is where I chose to study this semester. The mountains, the accent, the tapas, everything andaluz and granadino. Love it! So I’ll get offline and go enjoy it some more I think. Be home in 2 weeks!

Progress

Things of note in my life recently.

I have exactly 3 weeks left in Spain. SO WEIRD.

I’ve started actually getting souvenirs. That certainly says “time’s almost up!”

Pepita has bronchitis. :( Her daughters have been over taking care of her the last couple days. Prayers for her would be great if you have a few extra seconds!

Progress report on my final projects and papers: Econ project: done. Theater project: written component done, artistic component sketched but not final-drafted. Literature projects: paper is halfway done, creative project also halfway done ish...I have to print pictures before I can do anything else on it. Grammar project: ummm well that’s not due till Thursday so I’m not worried yet. I really can’t wait for this week to be over so I can have everything turned in and then go enjoy myself at the beach in Cabo de Gata (last IES trip next weekend). Of course then I have to start studying for finals, but compared to all the work of the last week or so, that will be a piece of cake. (I hope)

Pepita’s family was over yesterday and they told me they’ve noticed that my spanish has improved since they first met me, which is really exciting, because that was my main goal coming here in the first place!! :)

Oh yes, I had a choir concert on Friday night which was so so great. Dear TU Chorale, I am joining you next year. Love, Elizabeth

Welllll I should get back to my pile of projects now, I suppose…

p.s. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

A chance of rain helps.

The 10am bus to Madrid was full on Friday morning, so Cecilie and I sat in the Granada bus station for a few hours, watching the rain, chatting, reading, and feeling a little disappointed that the forecast was calling for a pretty soggy weekend in Madrid. Once we made it to Madrid, we discovered that our hostel had locks/keys for neither the font door nor the individual room doors, and it also lacked blankets. ? I thought that was weird. In addition, the wireless internet wasn’t working. But in spite of my pessimistic first impression, it turned out to be fne (clean; comfortable; friendly staff), minus our less-than-ideal roommates (smoking, coming in at 6am talking loudly). Anyway, enough about the accommodations. On Friday night we met up with Cecilie’s cousin Sam who has been studying in Madrid all semester for dinner and advice about the must-see spots, which was nice. Also nice: it only rained a teensy weensy bit on us!

On Saturday we went to Toledo, the city of Don Quixote and very old buildings. (Also where Christians, Muslims, and Jews have been able to live in possibly the most peace ever anywhere.) So, um… Toledo. is. beautiful. In my opinion, it actually deserves all the credit it gets as a pretty and historic place. If you ever go to Madrid, don’t miss Toledo!! I was perfectly content just walking around and looking at everything, and not actually going inside anything except one little museum, and a side chapel of the Cathedral. I was also more than perfectly happy that we only needed our umbrellas for about an hour total all day, and the sun actually came out by the afternoon. This was an extremely welcome surprise.

Back in Madrid that night, we took a speed-tour through the Prado, because Sunday and Monday it wasn’t gong to be open. Not ideal, but since we got there after 6pm it was free, so not all loss either. Needless to saw, we were exhausted from a full day of walking, so we stopped in a place on the way “home” for tortilla sandwiches, talked to the soccer fans who were there, and then flopped into bed. Luckily, our friends were more courteous (or maybe just more tired) and less disruptive tonight.

Sunday we went out to th town of San Lorenzo  to see the Escorial (a monastery and where lots of Spanish royalty is buried), but bummer: due to the holiday, it was closed! So we took pictures from the outside (it’s a very impressive building) and then wandered into the madrileño countryside, where we made a lovely morning of wildflowers, quaint benches, and cows. After a couple hours of peaceful prettiness (which, by the way, made me really homesick for the Farm… I’ve been living in city city for quite a while now) we hopped back on the bus to Madrid, where we spent the rest of the day being tourists. After going to mass at the Cathedral that’s right across from the palace, we went on a quest of hitting up all the most famous places in Madrid, finished up the night with people-watching in Puerta del Sol, and getting ice cream to accompany us on the way home. Did I mention that we had a perfectly blue and marshmallow-cloud sky day? It was just wonderful.

Monday it was sunny from the moment we woke up, which made for another day of excellent vacation weather, contrary to the dismal forecast we had been expecting. Win! That morning we fulfilled Cecilie’s life-long dream of sitting at a café in Plaza Mayor by getting churros and chocolate for breakfast, and then we went to the Reina Sofía museum to see a few more famous pieces of art and a lot of pieces we neither understood nor particularly liked, but in the name of being cultured (and because with student IDs we got in free) I'd say it was time well-spent. After a little more plaza sitting and metro-hurrying, we made it back to the bus station and finally home again. Today (tuesday) is a public holiday, so no classes! :)

I’m really glad I made it to Madrid, and I’m really glad it hardly rained while I was there! I think it was to our benefit that the forecast had told us rain, though, because we appreciated the lack thereof so much more that way. It was a beautiful relaxing weekend before I have to truly buckle down and finish all my projects that are due next week. Wish me luck on those…