Closingggggg Time - Granada Edition

What will I take from this experience here in Granada:

Its hard to think about this whole thing coming to an end. After 6 weeks, life in Granada comes to understood as the norm, the reality. As I contrast my current self with the one 6 weeks in the past, I do notice a few differences. 

My Family: Here in Spain, the bond of family is stronger than any other. Getting to see that first hand and really getting to be accepted into a family has helped me to realize how fortunate I am to have the family I do back home. I realize i'm not always grateful for everything they do or I don't always display my gratitude and love that I have for them. I am definitely going to be taking that with me and making some changes. 

Happiness in Life: I think the past 6 weeks have been some of my happiest in a while. Id obviously love to be happy in life so I have been thinking about what it is that made me happy here. For one, low stress. We had homework and tests but that was really our only obligation. My host family really brought me a lot of joy during my stay here. Not only did they make me feel at home but they took care of really any problem that I had. Mis compeñeros were super great as well. Everyone is kind and funny and I feel like they would be there for me if I was in trouble. Really looking forward to continuing those relationships in the future.  Life here made me think about where I value my own personal happiness. Everyone has goals but what are they for if attaining them means being miserable or something less than happy. Just made me think about some things. 

Cultural differences: This is pretty straight forward but everyone is different. I am glad I was able to experience a new culture here and see how people interact. It is often tough to try and take things from one culture and move them into a different existing one but I am going to try to do that with certain aspects of this culture. Everyday kindness being the biggest part. Saying hi to people on the street. Doing favors for those who you care about and others and expecting nothing in return. Just things to make peoples day better. 

3 Do's and Don'ts to future participants on this program: 

DO - Plan any tours you want in advance if you are traveling separate from the group on the weekends. We went to Barcelona and thought you could just walk into a lot of these places right when you show up but that is not the case. 

DO - If possible, talk only/primarily in Spanish with your host family. Not only will it help you learn the language but it also helps you grow closer with them while building fun memories. 

DO - Rest easy if you are worried about not knowing enough Spanish. I really did not know much at all upon coming here (4 years in HS and then nothing for 3 years) but it all ended up wonderfully. Within the first week you will have already made huge amounts of progress and the teacher will be good at easing the transition. 

DON'T - Forget to put sunscreen on all of your back when you go to the beautiful beaches of Nerja or Malaga. The sun is relentless. Also you cannot rent jetskis there unfortunately. 

DON'T - Feel obligated to have all your days filled with activities. It is really nice to sometimes just take some time out of a bust day to just wander the city and relax with no agenda. 

DON'T - Be afraid to put yourself out there. You will be immersed in a new group of people who want to be your friend and experience these new things with you. Let yourself go and make some new relationships! 

PAZ

THNX4THEMEMORIZ

- Patrick Wilson 

GRAcias, de NADA - A Bittersweet Goodbye

It’s hard to believe that our time in Granada is coming to a close already.  This group has become a second family to me, Granada a second home, and – somewhere along the way – Spanish, a second language!  While I can’t wait to see my family and friends back home, I’m amazed by how much sadness I feel at the thought of leaving.  Granada has been very, very good to us.

For anyone reading this post and considering studying abroad, I could not recommend it more highly!  I have learned so much about myself, gained so much confidence, found so much peace, and come to so appreciate the diversity and cultures of this country.  Plus, I never imagined that my conversational Spanish would improve this much!  To Granada, to Andy, to the wonderful CEA staff – goodbyes are going to be difficult. 

DO:

• Realize that the little, day-to-day things will be what you miss most.  Andy mentioned this to us, and it really resonated with me.  The Alhambra was beautiful, but it won’t be what I remember.  Certain songs, the ice cream at Los Italianos, the children I pass everyday on the way to class, the jokes and mannerisms of my classmates, the way the mountains look at sunset, the double-cheek-kiss greetings, the way people answer their phones, the sound of house slippers padding down the hallway, the flowers spilling from every balcony – these will be the memories that make me smile years from now.
• Get involved in activities and organizations of the city.  For example, many of us volunteered regularly at a school/orphanage, I joined a Spanish running club, we got caught up in the (admittedly disappointing) World Cup festivities, and we enjoyed all of the Corpus Christi activities.
• Work to adopt Spanish attitudes and customs, rather than attempting to force your American lifestyle on to the Spanish society.  Sure, I might want to eat dinner at 7:30 or bring a friend to my house, but there’s a reason for and beauty to the norms of life here.
• Try new things, and leave your comfort zone.  For example, the crazy-delicious food!
• Appreciate and respect your host family.  My host mother has been so good to me, and I am amazed by how hard she works.  I try not to take her for granted.
• Wear sunscreen!!  ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS J 
• Pack comfortable walking shoes with good traction.  The first day it rains on the smooth sidewalks, you’ll understand why!
• Bring a non-breakable gift for your host family (whoops on the non-breakable part L )

DON’T:

• Stop speaking Spanish the second you leave the classroom.  I admit, my classmates and I were occasionally guilty of this.  My biggest regret of our trip is that we didn’t speak more Spanish in informal situations.
• Get in the habit of four-hour siestas!  Naps are great.  Sleeping the whole afternoon away is not.
• Spend too much time holed up in your bedroom.  Even if just going to the park or a café or your amiga’s pizzeria to study, don’t let these opportunities to immerse yourself in the city slip by.
• Neglect studying.  You’ll be taking the equivalent of a 20-credit course load form one of the most prestigious universities in the world.  Even if the pace of life is slower here, the course if not.  Stay punctual and get chunks of work done every day.

And one final do - say thank you to this beautiful city for how it has changed you, challenged you, helped you, and filled you with joy:

STOP! In the name of Granada: Do and Donts of Living

Watch my video here

NOMS

Who could have guessed that I would be lucky enough to be placed in the family that owns a pizzeria. Apparently someone at CGIS knows me pretty well or can guess that carbs are my favorite food group. In addition to making the best pizza, pasta, calzones, and tortellini in Granada - my family goes all out on Tuesdays (their only free day from work) with all kinds of different Spanish food. The Italian influence in the pizzeria is obvious and I have seen a few cross-overs in my host mum's home cooking as well - but usually it seems that they're a little sick of pizza by Tuesday. My family is from Bilbao so I'm not sure if that has something to do with the Italian influence. Although my whole family works and cooks at the pizzeria, it's my host mum that cooks all the meals in the house. As a vegetarian, clearly I haven't been able to fully experience the Spanish cuisine that my host mum would usually cook for the family, but she has been extremely gracious in her interpretations of traditional dishes into those without meat (even though my family still thinks I should eat seafood).

My host mum shops at both the large supermarket chain and at the stores in her neighborhood equally. She has her favorite vendors that she always goes to and others that she avoids.
Usually she will shop for groceries 3 times a week, whenever she needs more food (I fear this might be a bit more often with me here). And she cooks for about 2 hours a day in the house - although technically she's in the kitchen of Pizza Tutto all day.
The influences she has are her mother's cooking and her aunt's - as well as her own influence from cook books and tv shows. Her favorite cooking show is La Cocina de Karlos Arguiñano a chef from the north of Spain that cooks many different kinds of Spanish food from all over Spain and Latino America.
When shopping, she has a list of everything she needs and the meals that she is planning to make.
Her favorite is arroz a la cubana - arroz blanco con tomate frito y huevos frito. To me this doesn't sound overwhelmingly appetizing but she said she's making it next week so I guess I will get to try it!
My entire family has definitely noticed an increase in the price of all food. Especially, flour, cheese, olive oil, and fruit. Now they are seeing simple vegetables like iceberg lettuce go for .60 - .90 euros which they find ridiculous. There is much injustice in the food system here, and much of their native crops are being shipped out to other places that they are in demand - and cheaper foods are imported for sale to Spaniards. This is especially seen with oranges and nuts.

Mi Casa En Espana

The house where I live in Spain is really nice and I'll be giving you to a brief tour of it and point out some key differences.  So the picture below is a view of the outside of the apartment building where I live (its the black and white stripped one).

When you enter the house you'll immediately see the living room and dining room to the front.  They're both pretty stand for a living room and dining room.  One notable difference though is that they have a large glass table in front of the couch in the living room.  You might be thinking "coffee table",  but its much larger and higher than that.  It looks like a standard table you would eat from and thats because many of the families here eat some of their meals in front of the television.  My family doesn't and they actually rarely, if ever, spend time in the living room even though its really pretty and nicely designed.  

Heading to the left from the entrance you'll find the kitchen.  The small side table is where we eat all of our meals together.  This room is also pretty standard with no major differences except maybe for the electric stove burners that always make beeping sounds when you use it.  

Heading straight through the kitchen you'll find the laundry room.  They don't use dryers here due to it being soooo hot all the time so they hang their things up outside to dry.  Below is a picture of the open atrium between the buildings and you can see that they have clothes hung up on lines outside their windows.  This is a pretty big difference since we always use dryers and will typically never dry our clothes this way.  

Below is a picture of my bedroom!  Its pretty small and actually smaller than the one I have back home,but I like it.  Nothing too major going on here.  I have a night stand and small dresser that isn't in this photo because it was a little messy with all of my stuff.  

Below is the bathroom I share will by host brother.  This is also exceptionally small, but I'm really impressed with the way they utilized all of the space.    

Finally below is a picture of the spare room they have.  I love this room specifically because it has a large desk where I can study for exams or work on journals.  It also has a bed where I can lay down if I get too tired from studying lol.  Some rooms that aren't photographed for privacy's sake are my host brothers room and my host mom's bedroom and bathroom.  Both are decently big and really nice.  Thats actually where they spend most of their time as well.  My host mom has a tv in her room where she likes to relax and watch shows and my host brother is in love with online video games so hes always doing that in his room.  

So thats it!  Hopefully that gives you some insight into what spanish homes are like!

COMIDA-YUM

We all say our grandma cooks the best food (and yes, my grandma cooks the BEST italian food) My host mom, Pilar, is a grandmother and her love and cooking reminds me of the affection and food my grandma at home gives to me. My Spanish host mom definitely cooks the best food I've eaten in Spain. She says I eat too little (even when I have several servings of food) and cooks everything from scratch (just like my grandma!) - this next blog assignment is about the food my señora cooks.

My professor gave us specific questions to ask our señora (in Spanish, of course!) - I will be typing a rough translation

Where?  My señora buys her food in the supermarket about two times a week. She doesn't go shopping with a specific meal or menu in mind.

How expensive?  Pilar has noticed the prices have increased

How much time?  She usually spends an hour and a half per day cooking!

Favorites food? Paella (mine too) -- **added note by me: this is a rice dish with fish and chicken and shrimp (in Spain, they like to keep the shell on the shrimp in order to lock in the flavor... I'm not a fan)

How did you learn to cook?  Pilar taught herself to cook!

Food television?  She only watches cooking shows sometimes **she is a big fan of drama and reality TV, just like me!

Adios!
Lia

Short Interview With my Madre

We were asked to interview our Madre(s) about cooking, preparation, and shopping.  After doing this short interview with my Madre, I realize that the tasks of a mother seem to be very similar to the tasks of those in the United States. 

I found out that my Madre likes to go shopping in the supermarkets and the neighborhood stores.  She shops at both because some things, such as fruit and vegetables are easier to get fresh.  She also likes to shop at the supermarket for fish as well because she can usually get them very fresh.  She also visits the stores approximately twice within a week.  In recent hears, she has seen lots of increases in the prices of many products that she buys.  For example, she has seen the prices double in the cost for here lights, for water, for food, and even taxes.  During the interview, it seemed like this overwhelmed her the most.  She seemed very passionate in her response to the question. 

When my Madre goes to the store, she ALWAYS knows what to get for ahead of time.  She goes there with a plan because she is under a tight budget and is careful not to purchase items that are not inside her budget.  Normally, after a day of shopping, she would go straight home to make preparations for food.  The preparations usually take approximately an hour for her to make - this is pretty much the same as house mothers in the United States.  My mother enjoys cooking and preparing all the meals.  She gained most of her cooking skills from her mother, but she learned a great deal on her own as well. 

I can tell that my mother enjoys cooking.  I actually enjoy eating her food a lot more than the foods in restaurants.  However, when she cooks rice.... I feel like getting up from the table and RUNNING to my bedroom to hide until she clears it of my plate - that's how bad it tastes to me lol.  Nevertheless, I guess I will be able to enjoy the uncooked rice after learning how much time it took for her to prepare it :). 

After the interview I thought about the things that were said.   I was extremely surprised when I found out that she visits the grocery stores twice in one week.  I usually go once a month - or maybe twice if I ran out of a product much sooner that I expected.  Additionally, I was able to sympathize with her about the increase in costs because the United States experienced the same difficulties.  I remember when gas used to cost 87 cents per gallon - now it is $4.oo. 

It was surprising when my Madre said that she always knows what to buy.  It's interesting.  When I go to the stores, I hardly ever know what I'm going to buy - unless it is something I REALLY want.  Other than that, I shop and go.  I always create a budge but I never know exactly which products would be included in that budget.  It was just interesting to realize how conscious she has to be about her time and shopping. 

She didn't allow me to go shopping with her, and I believe it is because our times may conflict.  Additionally, I was not able to prepare meals with her because, again, she said that our times conflict - as she usually prepares meals the day before while I'm at school or doing an event.  Nevertheless, from this short interview, I was able to see how much work it takes for her to manage a home.  I