My Final Week in Granada: Hija del Sol

This semester has flown by.  This is my final blog about my experiences in Granada, Spain.  My final week:

5/6

Thursday was the last day of classes at CEGRI.   At 9am I had Culture of Spain and we discussed our tarea externas.  Then I had class for Culture of Islam at 6:30pm where we watched Arab music videos (some of them are really entertaining) and looked at Alicia’s wedding photos.  (Alicia had a Muslim wedding in Morocco.) 

Our final dinner was at this lovely restaurant.  There were tables set up in a circle around this fountain.  We had nice food.  (A salad of sorts and tapas.)  I did not really like that stuff, but for dinner I had the salmon and it was delicious!  I had a really good time during the dinner, lots of good conversation and entertainment.  Yaniera spilled red wine on MaryPat and then literally 3 minutes later Katherine spilled wine on her.   Good thing MaryPat looks good in red!

During dessert Brian and I presented the CEGRI Superlatives.  Between my classes this day, Brian and I worked on the awards.  Everyone won one and we spent hours making certificates and printing them out.  But it was definitely worth it.  One teacher told me that no one had ever done superlatives before.   I had a great time and I think everyone really enjoyed it.  (But we forgot to print off two of them so two people didn’t get ones! I felt so bad!) 

MaryPat and I won the “Cutest Best Friends” superlative!  I’m glad everyone else recognized this.  MaryPat also won “Biggest Social Butterfly” and “Dancing Diva.”  Kelly won “You Had Me at Brasero” (meaning she was the most likely to run away with her senora), “Most Likely to Steal a Dog off the street,”  “Most Likely to Pack More Snacks than Clothes when Traveling,” and “Should be Couple” (yes, “should be couple”) with Justine.  Katherine won “Most Bella Brunette,” “Most Packages Received,” and “Best Features.”  Justine won “Most Likely to Fall off a Cliff” and “Most Effected by the Volcano.”  And in addition to the “Cutest Best Friends,” I won “Most Likely to Become Famous.”  So no pressure or anything…I can’t let the Cegrians down.

After dinner we went to a bar, Granero, with all of our teachers.  We drank and danced with them.  

Elsa and MaryPat

Me and Yaniera

MaryPat and I showed some of our teachers how to do the sprinkler—just giving back by sharing American culture.  We were at that bar for a while and then most of the students headed over to a discotecca, Metro.  And we danced the night away.  We left Metro around 5:30 or maybe later and headed over to Mirador de San Nicolás (a far walk) to watch the sun rise over the Alhambra.  Despite the immense pain my feet were in on the walk back down to my house, this was the perfect night.

5/7

            Since I didn’t get home until early in the morning, I slept a lot of the day.  Then Katherine, Kelly, MaryPat and I were going to meet up for tapas at 380.  Katherine, Kelly, and I were waiting for MaryPat because she was running late when all of a sudden she showed up with Nerea (remember, a teacher at CEGRI and married to Miguel Ángel, the Resident Director) and a friend of hers.  It was such a nice addition.  We had some more wine and tapas and talked in Spanish about the program and our experiences in Spain. 

Katherine, Me and Nerea

            After 380, Kelly and the friend of Nerea’s went home.  So Nerea, Katherine, MaryPat, and I went to Hannigan’s.  Once at Hannigan’s a lot of the guys in our program showed up.  (They wanted to hang out with Nerea.)  We stayed at Hannigan’s sitting in at a table, talking, and having a great time until 4am.  

At Hannigan's

       From Hannigan’s us girls and Jack, Clay, and Kevin went to Granada 10.  But G-10 was a bust.  We started to part ways to go home.  Katherine and Nerea left and we lost Jack.  No pasa nada.  Clay, Kevin, and I walked MaryPat home.  Then not ready for the night to end, the three of us went to Kapital for the hour the disco had left open to dance.  Since it was just me and two boys they made a “Kaye Bocadillo” aka a “Kaye Sandwich.”  I think all the other girls were jealous.  Guys too, actually.  We ended the night on “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson and walked home with the sun out. 

5/8

            Saturday, Kelly, MaryPat, Katherine, and I were supposed to meet up for shopping at 10am.  But no one remembered to tell Kelly we decided to bump it back to later.  So Kelly showed up and none of us were there!  I got ready quickly to go meet her, but I took a wrong turn and ended up going way out of the way.  Basically an hour later we finally met up.  Although it sucks that I got lost with only a week left, ironically I now finally know where everything is in Granada. 

            We did our souvenir shopping and then went home for lunch.   After lunch I went over to MaryPat’s place to help her pack.  Then we met up with Katherine for some more shopping.  I said goodbye to them both as they were leaving for home the next day. 

That night Kelly and I met up with a group of people to go get tapas.  We went to Feng Shui would is delicious and gives Noodle size portions for the tapa.  After tapas we said goodbye to more of our group.  Kelly, Sarah Berkley, her friend Aaron, Brian, and I all went to Hannigan’s.  Any night at Hannigan’s is a great night.  I am really going to miss that place.  Murphy’s Pub back at U of I will have to suffice. 

Representing XO "Throw What You Know"

5/9

            Sunday.  Most of the group left this day.  It was surprisingly sad.  I didn’t realize how it isn’t just Granada that I will miss.  It’s this experience, this past semester.  Kelly and I discussed how it isn’t the place so much as it is the people that have made this time abroad so great. 

            I went shopping some more during the day and that night Kelly, Aaron, Sarah, and I went out.  We were going to go to a Flamenco show, but the place was too crowded.  Kel and I took them to 380 and then Sarah took us to her favorite tapas place.  Poor Kelly has been having problems with her contacts this whole semester.  They started to hurt her.  Kelly decided to take one contact out and throw it away.  So Kelly was half blind for the night.   Kind of funny.  She wanted an eye patch so badly.  And I would have been in full support of this fashion choice. 

After tapas we went to Feeling for one last night of dancing and fun.   It was fun, sure.  But the highlight was probably when Kelly hugged me and we weren’t balanced so we went DOWN.  You know when you fall and you are just so embarrassed that you just want to stay on the ground with your eyes shut?  This would have been one of those moments until Aaron did the funniest thing I’ve ever seen when people fall:  He played “jump the creek” over us.  I thought this was just hilarious.  

Dancing Queen

A couple more hours of dancing, maybe a few more falls and we walked home.  Aaron was visiting and his hostel was on my street and Sarah lives close to me so we all walked right to where I live.  Very nice.  We said goodbye to Sarah because she left for Israel the next day.

5/10

            Monday was a day of more shopping for me and saying goodbye to my favorite parts of Granada.  Then that evening Kelly and I had places to go on a tapa crawl.  We started at Feng Shui and had two servings of noodles each.   

We were quite full at this point.  We moved onto the next place we wanted to try, but it was closed.  Instead of continuing our tapa crawl, we went and bought ice cream and did some Kinder Bueno shopping.  We each bought 30 Kinder Buenos.  The workers thought we were insane.  We stayed in that night and I was able to get some packing done.

5/11

            Tuesday I….yes, SHOPPED.  But for clothes this time.  I had a really nice morning walking around Granada and taking in the sites (or stores…).  Then Kelly and I met up that night to go for a walk and we took some pretty pictures by a cute park.  

Kelly's favorite tree.  Pat the nose!

And I pick the nose...

Then I went over to her house to have dinner with her señora, Lina.  Lina has a nickname for me now, “bruja pelua” which essentially means the “wicked witch.”   I have decided to take it as a term of endearment.  Lina is a fellow witch then, we have a coven here in Granada.  

           But seriously though, I think she has magical powers.  Her food is so delicious.  Unfortunately I was not prepared for the true effects of a full Lina meal.  I have eaten there twice before, but I ate more than I should have this night.  Instantly I was fighting off the urge to fall into a coma.  Kelly thought it was hilarious.  But I could hardly pay attention at the table.  I was trying so much to keep my eyes open.  After dinner I collapsed in Kelly’s bed.  Needless to say, we did NOT go out that night. 

5/12

            Wednesday, Kelly and I met up after lunch to go up to these beautiful gardens.  First, of course, we bought ice cream.  Our final scoop in Granada.  (I got “Mango and Yogurt,” Justine!)  The ice cream lady gave us samples of her favorite ice cream and joked around with us.  It was a lovely final ice cream.  

     We sat down near the fountain in Puerta Real and were just minding our business, talking and eating our ice cream, when this creepy man walked right up to Kelly.  He didn’t even acknowledge me. 

He came up to her, looked at her and then said, “ohnoonononononononononononono.”  He put his hand on her shoulder.  “Ohhhnononononononono.”  Then he put his hand on her arm.  “Ohhnonononononono.  Then he put his hand on her knee.  The stopped at starred at us while we sat in shock. 

I have the unfortunate characteristic where in weird moments just like this one when you should just walk away, I begin to shake uncontrollably with laughter.  Kelly started to laugh too, which we did for about 30 seconds while this man just looked at us. 

Then he reached out to touch Kelly’s knee again.  At this point we both stood up and said “no.”  We moved over to another bench, but that was the weirdest thing to happen to Kelly her whole time here in Granada.  Apparently, he is a crazy man that everyone who lives in that area of Granada knows about.  Basically it was Granada’s way of saying goodbye.

After the crazy man excitement, we hiked all the way up this hill just to find that the garden was closed.  It has specific hours when it is open to the public.  So instead we made our way over the Alhambra and sat near the Palacio de Carlos V and just took in the view of Granada.  This place is amazing.

            Afterwards we went home, got ready, and met up at 9pm with Nerea, another girl from our program, Dana, and our art teacher, Mónica.  

Monica and Dana

Nerea, Kelly, and Me

          

We went to this really nice tapas place that they liked.  The tapas weren’t overly impressive.  It was just bread and meat.  But the atmosphere was great.  It was roomy, well lit, and a great place for conversation.  We sat and talked only in Spanish until 1am.  It was such a great night.  We talked about classes, music, shared stories of our travels, and the boys of Cegri a little bit!  These two women are such sweet people and really helped make all of us have great experiences here in Granada. 

            After tapas we said goodnight.  Kelly, Dana, and I went to a KABAB KING (apparently Kabab King spells kebab “Kabab.”  We figured that out last night.)  I was able to get my final kebab as well.  And it was delicious.  We were going to go out, but it seemed like the perfect night anyway so we went home for some good sleep. 

5/13

            Now today.  My final day in Granada!  This morning I walked to CEGRI to give some books I didn’t have room for in my luggage.  Then I went to Plaza Mariana and had pan y chocolate while I waited for Kelly.  Once we met up we hiked back up the hill to get to the gardens called Carmen de Los Matires.  The gardens were absolutely stunning.  I felt like I was in the live action version of Jungle Book or the Secret Garden.  It was a great way to spend our last day.  We just walked around and took in the beautiful views.   Also, there were a ton of PEACOCKS!  I’ve never seen a peacock before so that was really exciting.  They’re so big and lovely birds. 

Pretty bird, but we were still able to resist the mating call...

            I came home in time for lunch and now I have just woken up from my final siesta in Spain.  I am going to really miss this place, but I am ready to get back to my life!  I feel as if I put everything on pause.  Tomorrow Kelita and I fly out of Granada to Madrid at 9:45 and then take a flight from Madrid to Chicago at 12.  Everyone say a prayer that the ash doesn’t delay or affect our travels! 

United States of America, HERE I COME!   

You have just experienced the most incredible four months of my life so far.  Thanks for tuning in. 

Siempre,

Kaye

Yamas! (Cheers!)

4/29

Greece at last…but first two finals!  I had my Culture of Spain final at 9am.  It was relatively easy, except for my unfortunate block on one of the answers.  Oh well!  After the exam I hurried home to finish my packing and then study, study, study for my Islam test.  We had to take our Islam test at 4:30 with the class earlier to make our bus.  Everything went well and then we were on our way!

As you may know, getting back from Greece was a little bit dramatic, so naturally getting there came along with some stress as well.

First of all, we did not pre-order our ferry tickets from Athens to Mykonos because we were under the impression after talking to the woman running our hostel that we shouldn’t have to.  But then we realize we probably should.  Turns out though you can only order tickets up to four days in advance and we were looking with 3 days to the arrival date.  Eek.   I called up a travel service and we were able to get that all figured out.  Next, we had been planning on taking our Islam test at our normal time at 6:30 and leaving on a 12:30 bus to Madrid.  We would arrive at the airport at around 6am with an hour to our flight.  Which is generally enough time when you print your boarding passes ahead of time.  WELL, because of the volcano for some reason EasyJet decided that we could not print boarding passes for flights during April and they decided to close the check in counter an hour before the flight rather than 40 minutes.  This mean we had to change our bus tickets and take our test earlier.  This cut out a good 2 hours of needed studying.  But we made it, took the 7pm bus and were able to “sleep” at the Madrid airport.  Joy.  I put sleep in quotations because none of us actually slept except for Kelly who has the superpower of being able to sleep anywhere. 

Airport floor in Madrid :)

4/30

            Flight from Madrid to Milan.  RUN in Milan airport to try to get to our next flight which we did not have much time for.  Make it.  Relieved.  It’s delayed by 45 minutes.  Frustrated.  Flight from Milan to Athens.   Freezing on flights.  EasyJet prefers customers frozen.  Get to Athens.  Taxi to Rafina port for our ferry.  Buy delicious crepes, seriously feta cheese is my favorite thing right now.  Then 3 hour ferry to Mykonos island.  Wait for Mina, from Mina Studios where we were staying, to pick us up. 

9:00pm: SETTLED IN OUR AWESOME APARTMENT STYLE STUDIO. 

Turned out Mina is amazing.  Such a fun lady and we adopted her as our Greek Mama.  

The Five of us and Mina!

She told us about the best places to go to meet the boys and about a place called Jacuzzi where there was a “sexy program.”  Apparently a body builder gets in a hot tub along with a woman (? Not sure) and they dance…at the end of it everyone is in this hot tub.  As appealing, and disturbing, as it sounded we chose to pass on that.  But she shared with us all the other great places to eat and beaches to visit.  That night we were all pretty exhausted so Mair, Justine, and I walked down a beach to a mini market and bought some dinner.   Then we slept. 

5/1  MAY 1^st!  This semester has gone by so fast. 

            We woke up, got our bathing suits on and sunbathed at a nice secluded little beach until 4pm.  It was a little windy this first day.  But we still managed to get some sun.  And Katherine managed to be INSANE and jump in the freezing water. 

 At 4 we went back home to shower, eat lunch, and we may or may not have been able to watch an episode of FRIENDS in English.  MaryPat was FINALLY able to make her box of Mac and Cheese that her mother brought for her and she has consequently taken with on every trip.  Unfortunately none of the places we stayed a kitchen until Mina Studios!  

Before we left for the night, I thought it would be a good idea to buy some Ouzo liquor that is Greek liquor.  It sounded appealing.  It’s a clear liquid and when you add water it becomes a milky color. 

We were eager to try it.  But it tastes exactly like licorice.  So we were forcing ourselves to drink this awful thing that tasted like the rejected Jelly Beans from Easter. 

After we got ready to go out to dinner, we went to talk with Mina to get some advice on where to eat.  

After talking for a bit (Mina was almost going to come out with us!) instead of us calling for a taxi, Mina’s husband, Kosmos, offered to drive us!  This was so nice of him.  So he drove us and showed us a beautiful view of the city.  

Then he took us over to where we could find a nice restaurant.  We went to a place suggested by Mina and ordered some interesting food.  Well, I did anyway.   I ordered octopus.  I’ve never had that before.  And I thought it was alright, but the Greek Salad I had before that was much better.  It ended up being a pretty expensive meal for something with little sucker thingies. 

During dinner our waiter, Christos, ended up joining us and then talking us to a bar/disco called Mykonos.  Throughout the night during almost every song the DJ would add "MYKONOOOOOS.”  So now that is how we pronounce Mykonos.  This place was fun with good music (DMX! Heck yes.)  BUT turns out of all the places we’ve been in Europe Greek men are the most PERSISTANT and in my opinion kind of creepy.  The not-so-subtle grabbing of a friend away from a boy usually tells him she does NOT want to dance with you.  Here, it apparently meant grab onto her arm and put yourself between the two of us to dance.  Fun.   Salvation came in the form of American boys.  We ended up meeting some to dance with us/ block us from the “pulpos” as we say in Spain.  One was from Palatine and the other dated a girl I knew at U of I.  I think that the world really can be quite small.  We came home around 3am and went to bed.

5/2

            Sunday we went to a different beach.  This one was about 3 seconds away from our place.  The sand was soft and beautiful.  The water was sparkling clean and turquoise blue.  You could see your feet on the bottom of the water so clearly.  As a plus, Sunday was extremely hot.  It was a perfect day.  We were able to sit on some lounge chairs for free in front of the restaurant.  Laying out had never been so comfortable before.

Beautiful Water!

  Katherine and I shared a delicious strawberry daiquiri.  Everyone decided they wanted a margarita.  So we attempted to order a pitcher of margaritas.  The waiter did not get the concept and brought us out a shaker of margarita shots.  It wasn’t quite what we wanted.  Who takes shots at the beach?  But we didn’t want to waste the money.  Still felt a little foolish.  BUT it helped me when Kelly and I played paddle ball.  I was much more willing to jump into the water to retrieve a rough hit.  I still need work, but this vacation increased my paddle ball ability.  I can’t wait to continue my perfection this summer with Kelita. 

            After paddle ball I jumped in the water and swam for a bit.  It was so wonderful.  The water felt great.  I have never swam (Word is telling me the word is “swum” that doesn’t sound right…) in such beautiful water before.   I don’t think I can fully express how lovely this place is. 

            For lunch Kelly and I split a margherita pizza that was DELICIOUS and we sunbathed some more.  We reapplied our sunscreen though, don’t worry.  I’m not gonna say that it completely worked.  MP, Kelly, and I still managed to look like lobsters at times.  At 6pm we left and got ready to see the sunset in Little Venice.  We went by these windmills and it was just lovely.  We were able to take some gorgeous pictures.  

MaryPat and I

       After the sunset we shopped a little bit and then went home to make some dinner and hang out.  (Katherine made pasta and it was delicious.  I love being friends with an Italian.) 

    

5/3

            Monday we had to leave Mykonos to head over to Athens.  So we went to the beach until 1:30pm, checked out and said goodbye to Mina.  Then we took a 6 hour ferry back to Athens.  The ferry didn’t seem like it took too long.  We attempted to sleep, but of course Kelly was able to pass right out and Justine took Dramamine so she also slept.  But Mair, Katherine, and I talked.  And as Katherine tried to sleep a Greek man with hair about 4 inches long sticking straight up on his head (clearly taking fashion advice from a porcupine) came up to Mair to tell her that Katherine was beautiful when she slept.  And as this is such a normal thing to be told MaryPat knew exactly how to respond.  So that was fun.  To pass the last hour of the ride we all talked while I attempted to sketch everyone on my little notepad.  But I think I’ll leave portraits to the professionals. 

            When we arrived in Athens we took a taxi ride with a taxi driver that looked like he had catarax…I felt real safe.  But he was fine.  We eventually found our place and ended up having a great hostel.  The place was large and there was a nice shower and a kitchen and a flat screen T.V.  We were really looking forward to our two nights there...alas, fate did not have that in her plans. 

            That first night we were exhausted and decided to stay in and go to bed.  We figured we would have the next night to go out.  (Notice the foreshadowing.  It’s so good that I should probably a Creative Writing major…) 

5/4

            We woke up early, grabbed breakfast (provided by our hostel), and went to the Acropolis.  It was really cool to be near something so historic.  There was a protest going on when we got there.  

Apparently the protesters broke in, so we were able to get in for free.  We spent a couple of ours walking around, taking in the view, and taking pictures.   It was a lovely morning.  

Me and the Parthenon

But my battery died and Katherine’s memory card ran out.  So we decided to return to our hostel for a moment.  Good thing.  Katherine’s mom had put her on the U.S. Embassy email list in Greece.  Katherine had just received an email telling us about a General Strike (meaning everything, public transportation, air traffic control, shops) were shutting down the 5^th and the 6^th.  And our flight was leaving the 5^th.  Realizing we would end up being stuck in Greece for much longer than those two days, we immediately went into emergency mode.  We packed up everything, went to a travel agency and booked the first flight out of there we could.  We were so lucky to find one that would get us to Milan on time for our next flight.  So we flew from Athens to Milan that night.  Otherwise our other option would have been to take a 3 hour bus to a port, to get on a 13 hour ferry to arrive near Rome and then either fly to Milan or take a train.  Needless to say that sounded about as appealing as the 13 year old boys hitting on us at the Acropolis. 

            We hurried to get to the airport in time.   We attempted to take a taxi.  APPARENTLY the taxi drivers in Greece are very rude.  We attempted to hail about 15 cabs.  Most of them would look at us and keep driving.  Two stopped to tell us that yes they do drive to the airport, but no they would not take us and drive off.  SO we took the metro and made it with plenty of time.

  

            After dealing with rude person after rude person we were barely containing our building anger.  But as the Metro station this huge jerk pushed passed me and through the five of us even though there was ample space.  He was being a jerk just to be a jerk because he could tell we were in a hurry.  So I’m moving away trying to hurry and all of a sudden I hear “ASSHOLE” from the most unlikely source—MaryPat!  The guy was one.  And we were tired.  MaryPat said maybe it wasn’t the best way to handle it, but at the time it made us all laugh a little and relieved some of our anger to hear her call him out.  We got on that Metro and thus started a very long journey home. 

 

            The airline we had to take was Olympic.  And Olympic airline is a REAL airline.  It cost 160 euro (ouch), but they served us dinner and gave us free drinks 3 times!  It was so crazy.  Eventually we landed in Milan, figured out we could change our flight to an earlier time.  Our flight from Milan to Madrid was originally at 8pm the next day, but they had a 7am available.  Thank goodness!  Justine was also able to take an earlier flight to Rome so she could meet up with her family sooner and go to a public viewing of the Pope!

5/5

            And here is where we learned about Kelly’s personal “kryptonite.”  She can sleep anywhere we were so sure.  Turns out if it’s cold, Kelly’s superpower does not work.  Even when she drapes MaryPat over her legs for warmth.  It was a long night.  Especially because MaryPat and I thought that this couple near us, who were watching something on their laptop, were watching The Sound of Music over and over again.  Turns out it was a child’s game along the wall of the airport that was playing the music.  MaryPat tried to unplug it.  I think that The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music may forever set me on edge. 

This is what happens when you are lacking sleep, have been traveling for hours, and have a cool camera...

            Eventually we got on our flight and made it back to Madrid.  From there we still had to get on the metro over to the bus station.  Five hours on the bus and we were in Granada!    Then the worst part of the journey is the 20 minute bus ride back to the city center.  You get to Granada and all you want is to climb into bed!

            It ended up being a blessing that we came in a day earlier because we originally would have been arriving at 6am the next day.  Kelly and Katherine both had finals that day.

 

            Wednesday night, sleep claimed me and I rested up for my final week in Granada.  

                                 ¡Qué triste!