First week synopsis continuado

Day 4: Viernes el 28 de enero

As I previously said, this day of orientation was a bit rough. I think we stayed out til 3 the night before, and that’s fairly tame for Spanish standards. Thus, Friday night Anna and I decided to stay in after some brief Granada exploration, and you know what? It was a great decision; we ended up watching Beauty and the Best en español! Still brings a tear or 20 to my eye after all these years….We ended up going to bed by 11 that night…we had a looooong day ahead of us on Saturday…

Day 5: Sabado el 29 de enero

ROAD TRIPPPPPP! To la Alpujarra; the mountain range on the other side of the Sierra Nevada, right along the Mediterranean! Our señora warned us that it’d be pretty cold there and we should bundle the F up. Although the weather ended up not being too bad, it was superrr windy. Finally, this hike allowed me to get some physical activity in! We had an option of a 1.5 or 3 hour hike, with most of us choosing the 3 hour one. It was truly picturesque; I was snappin’ photos left and right, but pictures on the average camera never seem to do landscapes justice, ya know? (I took a video, it's sideways though so sorriessss). During the hike, we had to walk up some steep inclines and narrow paths, so extreme to that point that I wondered why we hadn’t all had to sign some sort of liability contract before beginning this hike. Before reaching the peak of the mountains we hiked up this one incline for about 20 minutes it seemed. I swear every time I looked up to see if we’d reached the peak yet, it appeared as if we hadn’t made any progress. Lots of people stopped to rest, but Molly and I roughed it out and kept goin’ the whole time WOOO but dennnng HURTY HAMMIES! {Also, my butt was sore for the next 3 days afterwards). It’s funny because everyone was cold and bundled up at the base of the mountain, but by the end we were all stripping down. 

Eating lunch at the top of that mountain was unbelievable, and worth every drop of sweat and sinew of sore muscle. During our hike back, I couldn’t help but think how worried Irma would be if she saw how narrow and dangerous the paths we were taking :). On the bus home I passed OUTTTT, but not before stopping by the gift shop to talk the saleswoman down on some earrings originally priced at 8€! (AHH did I mention that I realized I forgot all my earrings?? So so so rough without them... they must be lonesome, collecting dust in my room at home. :( Luckily there’s a million different shops on my way to class, so rebuilding my army of earrings will not be a problem.)

That night, refreshed and ready to go after being comatose on the bus, I met up with some friends to get some tapas and eventually we ended up at a discoteca with a gorgeous view of the Alhambra. Let me tell you, finding people is no easy feat when YOUR PHONE HAS NO MINUTES!! In fact, it consists of a lot of pacing back and forth alone in plazas, stealing internet from cafes with wifi (they call it “wee-fee” here heehee), and waiting for calls! But it all worked out, we had a really fun night! I was able to talk to some Grinnell students as well as other IES students; we had basically taken over the whole discoteca, and by the end of the night it was just a bunch of IES students getting on each other; thus, hilarious to witness. HA also, as I was walking around a Spaniard whistled at me “oOOoOOOOoOh, Meeeshell Obama!” Yep. I’m the first ladayyyy. I told you I'm taking over the country! Hahaaaa eventually we took a taxi home around 4, which apparently is the time that Spanairds start arriving at discotecas. Oops! Gotta start building up that late night endurance! 

Day 6: el 30 de enero

Finallyyy a day of libertad!! First day of sleeping in, too. I kept it civilized, woke up at 10:30. Can’t be scaring off my señora by waking up at 2pm…yet. We definitely took the day to relax; Anna and I watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith in Spanish (While it pained me immensely to watch it without hearing Brad’s soothing alpha-male voice, it allowed me to focus more on his physical features, which tend to slip my mind, HAAAAAA). Later we met up with some friends for tapas and then decided to go for a long walk around our barrio. We found lots of cool shops that we’ll be going back to. Granada isn’t huge, but there are SO many shops that I don’t think I’ll be able to hit up every spot I want to before I leave here! Also, apparently January is the month for “rebajas” or huge sales. Every clothing store has huge tantalizing signs reading: “REBAJAS”. It’s been tortuous passing by these signs every day but not yet having time to take advantage of them!!!

So Monday was Day 7, and with it another week of orientation commenced. Everything is better than I could have imagined…I mean, seriously: Among other things, every day includes eating a huge ass delicious meal at 3pm followed by a siesta, for as long as I should desire—

!Si, estoy bastante felliz!