Lunes Lunes...

Back at school again after a 3-day weekend, and it is both calming and distressful to return to some sense of routine. How can I settle into anything and call it "normal" in this place that is all so new and exciting to me??? I can tell you one thing that is becoming monotonously normal - the food. I eat the same toast with the same jam for breakfast every day, a bocadillo every day for lunch, and she has about 4 dinners that she cycles through. Tonight it´s garbonzo bean soup...again. Haha. I complain, but there could be far worse things that could happen to me or that could be going into my stomach.



Anyhow, I suppose I should update on the past 3 days that i was unable to post for.



Friday was el dia de San Fernando III, who is the patron saint of Sevilla, and so we didn´t have classes. I went with 4 other girls to Italica, a small, ancient Roman city about 15 minutes from Sevilla by bus. After looking like idiotic Americans who don´t know how to use the bus system, we finally made it to the bus stop in Italica. The remains of a Roman colesseum are the most impressive part of the area. We walked through, imagining as we walked through the corridors gladiators preparing to face either death or victory. We imagined where the kings and queens might sit, and the children who attended these spectacles of mercilessness so that some day they might be so hardened to brutality that they could serve in the most fierce army the mediterranean world knew. It was a beautiful day, despite a forecast of cold rain. We took our time roaming through the streets of a long dilapidated city, admiring the marble corpses of statues of gods or wistful maidens. After exploring for a while, we went to the streets of the small town of Santiponce which houses Italica, and eventually found a sweet little cafe to stop in for a lunch of arroz con pollo that was absolutely delicious. We came back to our host home for dinner and some rest before meeting up with some other ISA students to go watch Indiana Jones at a nearby theatre that sometimes shows english movies. It was amazing. I strongly suggest that everyone go see it because it is....hilarious. Funny in a similar way that "I downloaded a ghost" was funny.



Saturday morning we woke up and headed out for the 30 minute walk to the meeting point from which we were leaving for Granada. I listened to "Kite Runner" on my ipod for the 3-hour bus ride through the mountains, and before I knew it we were unloading outside our hotel. Our group had the first scheduled tour of La Alhambra, which was the last moorish stronghold in Spain. It is a palace, fortress, and gardens, all styled by Arabs with Muslim significance. It was so incredibly beautiful, and also very interesting to see the difference between Christian and Muslim architecture. Muslims believe it is sacreligious to have faces or animals in their decorating because it´s too much like idols - the religions that Mohammed originally had to face were very ceneted on idol worship, many of which were in the form of animals. Parts of the Quran are inscribed on the stucco walls, and many of the windows are covered with wooden lattice so that women, who are not to be seen by men, can look on without being seen. There are many fountains, and our guide repeated several times that the music of La Alhambra is the sound of music. I like that. After the tour we had some down time in which I got a quick nap and then we grabbed some dinner -- the best food I have eaten this whole trip. Granada has a very strong african and middle-eastern influnce, and the restaurant where we ate was Turkish food. We practically inhaled it. That night they took us for a quick walk - which was more like a brisk hike - up to a patio type area up high in the city from which we had a beaituful of the illuminated Alhambra, and beyond that the Sierra Nevada mountains illuminated just barely by the remaining daylight reflecting off of their snowy peaks. This was a bitter-sweet experience, because although it was beautiful, I felt as though we were intruding on something sacred with our loud English, expensive cameras with their ceaseless flashes, and painted faces posing for facebook pictures. A small group of gypsies was seated on some benches smoking cigarettes and playing guitars. I couldn´t understand the words they were singing, but I imagine they were probably singing about spoiled American kids who see the world through a digital camera screen and dollar signs. And those same kids were circled around listening in fabricated appreciation of these people, although most of these kids couldn´t see past the dirt. I don´t pretend to be above materialism. In fact, I realize that the reason for most things bothering me about people, especially people my age, is that I either see it or fear seeing it in myself. I´m just saying what I saw. Anyhow, we listened to a few songs and then headed out to go see a flamenco performance in a small venue tucked in the side of the mountain. I have never seen a dance that is more soulful. I am convinced that their minds thought nothing of the intricate steps of their feet and tossing of their skirts, but rather that their hearts pounded the rythm intensely through their veins and into their muscles, as though telling their own life story through movement. By far the most "spanish" experience so far: sipping sangria while watching flamenco.
Sunday we had free time until we left at 2, so I explored the city with some friends and we found an artisan´s market filled with beautiful things mostly from north Africa. I bought a moroccan tea set - my most exciting purchase of the trip. I ran out of money so I didn´t eat lunch before getting back onto the bus to finish my audiobook over the winding mountain roads once again.

Finally a break through at home - i played cards with my host sister for about an hour last night. I had already gone exploring for nearly 2 hours and it was another hour and a half until dinner. I couldn´t stand sitting silently in my room for all that time. I taught her some games, we played "ir pescado" and "rapido" and a few other games. It was great, and she is just as cute as she can be. I didn´t feel judged, and that is very refreshing. Our host mom confronted Rachel last night about the fact that she never talks, which is honestly because she has no faith in her ability to express herself in Spanish. We are confounding to our host mom: we like eggs for breakfast, bring tons of luggage, and are always tired when we come home. Well, at least she´s had international students before so I don´t think she takes any of it personally. This morning i was opening up my bocadillo to examine its contents and she walked in...I think she thinks I didn´t like it and that´s why i was looking. I told her I was just seeing what kind of sandwhich it was.

I feel like my Spanish is getting worse. I understand it much better, but I hardly speak it. And when i do I am intimidated so my tongue refuses to sculpt smooth, beautiful words, and instead jagged chunks of something that is barely recognizable as Spanish fall out of my mouth. I haven´t started dreaming in Spanish yet. Although I did have a strange dream last night. All these people from my past like Katie Festervan and Morgan Benton and Dylan Bagget were there, as well as some of my current friends and some random people from this trip. We decided to put on a play for our parents, in which we switched roles and played like we were the grown-ups. I realized I was playing my mom. We realized after a while that the grown-ups weren´t watching any more and were not interested in our little game, but we kept on playing grown-up, much like playing house when we were little. Maya, of course, was the best at playing grown-up. I couldn´t decide if I was going to play a little baby, a college student, or a mother. Hmm...deep...


Well, I guess this is already too long, so I should check out for now. Hopefully I will write more tomorrow. I love hearing from you guys...comments are great (wink wink, i miss you and want to hear from people I love...)

hasta luego!!!