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
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