2 weeks ago, I traveled with some friends to Barcelona. This was our first trip where we planned everything on our own- pretty exciting! We took a bus to Malaga, then flew with RyanAir to Barcelona. RyanAir has ridiculously low prices, so naturally we were a little nervous about the sketchiness of the flight. But it was such a success! After being delayed an hour due to an oncoming storm, we boarded the plane and picked our seats. I noticed the plane was Boeing-made, which made me smile and feel like my Dad was with me on my flight. Our hostel was close to a main street- Las Ramblas- and had everything we needed. We saw a lot of the "must-sees" in Barcelona which included a lot of Antoni Gaudi's architecture. Gaudi created masterpieces all throughout Barcelona, which stand out due to his eccentric style. I loved it! One of my favorite things we did was walk around Park Guell. This park had beautiful architecture, amazing views of the city, AND the caves where Top Model cycle 7 runway was held... qué guay!
My other favorite Gaudi moment was our tour of Sagrada Familia, his famous unfinished Cathedral. Gaudi died before the Cathedral was finished, and many of his plans were destroyed in a fire. The architects who are continuing Gaudi's work on the Cathedral are sticking to his plans as much as possible, but you can see a definite contrast between the old and new parts of the building. The inside was simply breathtaking. I could have stayed in the Cathedral all day- watching the light come in through the stained glass windows, listening to the choir sing, and admiring the amazing design. Also on our trip, we went to a Fun. concert! Which was pretty fun... :) We rode the metro, went to the beach, went to the IceBar, made some friends, took some tours. Overall, it was a success.
One big difference between Barcelona and Granada is the language. In Barcelona (the capital of Catalonia), they speak Catalán, which is very different than Castilian (Spanish). We were actually surprised by how little we understood Catalán. To us, it sounded like a mix of French, Spanish, and German. Catalonia is a very proud and strong community in Spain. Their language, culture, and economy are are distinctly different. While Spain is going through a tough economic time, Catalonia wants it's independence from the Spanish nation. We saw this pride and feeling of independence while we were in Barcelona. It was a really interesting and exciting city to visit, but I was very happy to return home to Granada. I found that I had missed the Andalucían way of life while I was away in Barcelona. It was really interesting to see how two cities can be so completely different, and only be an hour plane ride away.
Last weekend, we traveled with our program to Sevilla. The forecast called for rain all weekend, so we were all a little nervous. Mother Nature was kind to us, however, and we had beautiful sunny days. My favorite part of the trip was the last day when we had free time. We walked around, explored Sevilla, and decided to rent a paddle-boat down the river. It was a really fun day, and we definitely lucked out with perfect weather. If I hadn't picked Granada to study abroad in, I could definitely see myself in Sevilla. Everything was pretty similar to Granada, because it is still in Andalucía, but the city is a lot bigger.
Now I want to tap into my "future-teacher" self and talk about one of my favorite experiences so far in Spain. Through my roommate Emily, who has a teacher, who has a friend, who has 3 kids.. I got a job teaching English to Spanish children! After emailing the mom a few times, we decided to meet up in Plaza Nueva and walk to their house together. They have a 6 year old boy, 4 year old girl, and 1 year old girl (precious). They don't speak much English, so my Spanish was put to the test. Although they had to repeat some things (very slowly) we communicated pretty well. She requested that I play with the 2 oldest kids and speak as much English as possible for 1 hour each week. It was really tough to speak English and not have the kids understand, and it was a little frustrating at first. I spoke a lot of basic Spanish to them and threw in as much English as possible. The next week, I was a bit more prepared. I drew a colorful "game board" and explained to them that every time they said a word in English, they get a point on the board. They both got really excited and were anxious to speak as much English as possible. We named animals, colors, numbers, body parts, etc. I'm sure a lot of the words I teach them will go in one ear and out the other, but they are already getting some basics down. I taught the older boy, Alvaro, "please, thank you, and you're welcome." They laugh a lot, like I'm speaking some silly made-up language, but I'm hoping the more they hear me talk, the easier it will be to learn. It's also a good way for me to learn basic Spanish vocabulary! I am really looking forward to continuing with these kids, it has been wonderful so far.
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| I'll leave this 6 year old's artwork up for your own interpretation. |
I feel very adjusted to my life in Granada. I truly feel like I have 3 homes- my home home, school home, and abroad home. I am excited that I've been able to adapt to a completely new lifestyle, house, people, schedule, food, and so on. Sometimes it is a little sad thinking about everything going on at home and school without me. I know, however, that I will have a great time reconnecting with friends and family when I get home, so I just tell myself that everything happens in it's time. Right now it's my time to be abroad and experience life here. Where ever you find yourself in life, it's your job to make it good and make it yours. Here is a quote from one of my favorite books, The Art of Racing in the Rain.
"That which we manifest is before us; we are creators of our own destiny."
And with that, it's time to study for midterms!
All my love,
Eleanor
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