chocolate and vanilla

some things never change--contentment and slight disgust after a gelato binge, cravings for norah jones/joni mitchell and bubble bath on rainy days, growing wonder after each traveling excursion, and i am content to say, pure happiness and sisterly moments when that crazy Dane, julie streton is around. as you can guess, i'd been anticipating my other half's arrival since i set foot on this continent. this is europe after all--in my mind we are practically neighbors, and i was beyond excited to finally reap the benefits of this new proximity. while spanish tardiness and 12:00am airport closing times (really, granada?) kept julie stuck in madrid for a night (and me knitting and zoning out to coldplay in the abandoned airport for hours) she arrived tuesday morning, ready for some hardcore catch up time. how can i go about summing up our four days in granada together? it can basically be broken down into three pieces: 1. walking 2. eating 3. chit-chatting (under the radar 4. gelato sampling) almost every day we walked up to one of my favorite spots: san mirador san nicholas (view from sitting on the wall located to the right) we sat for hours talking, laughing, gazing at the city below, and planning future rendezvous, before walking down the hill through the mysterious streets of the albayzin towards yet another one of my favorite tapas bars (i was determined to make her try them all). here are some pics from our walking adventures:




what i love about granada is, you may walk to the same place twenty times, but each trek is different--new doors are opened (literally...behind each plain-jane door is an arabic garden, funky museum, or cool view never before seen), new street performers, and new ways of experiencing the city. the alhambra solidifies this idea--with the new season, the trees are all changing colors, flowers are blooming, and the golden fall lighting makes this palace even more breathtaking.
another important event: CINA'S 21st BIRTHDAY!!!! for this big day, julie, kristen, and i made a mexican food feast for cina, our california folk, and our new spanish amigos. i got my game face on *and foolproof apron* making fajita style meal with all the goods. julie was my wingman: you know you have a good friend when they're cutting bowls of onions and sautéing veggies over a hot stove for hours on their vacation for people they've just met (and all with a smile).
my only complaint about julie's visit was that it was too short! four days with hours wasted on things like class was seriously a tease. i couldn't help but let a couple tears escape as i walked back home after getting in one last goodbye hug in the airport bus at 5:00am. with skype dates to hold me over, i now finally have plans to hop on over to denmark in the spring and physically see the world of ms. julie streton (and indulge in as much danish black licorice as humanly possible).
*this last photo is for you, dave. i had the honor of introducing your favorite spanish breakfast to the 'cold dane.' we had to keep warm during the mornings somehow :) hola, churros y chocolate!

julie, i seriously miss you already! i think denmark is too cold for you anyways, come back to the sun and falafel paradise!

a bridge and a bird

in order to keep some sort of regularity with this whole blog deal, here comes a fast re-cap of the past spanish week and the constant pattern of exploration and reward that is daily life. starting with last weekend: now, think like a spaniard and rationalize-- hmm, there is a holiday on tuesday for one saint or another, do we really need to go to school or work the monday before? it just doesn't make sense to have a weekend, enter reality for a day, then back to vacation. let's just call it a "puente" (bridge) and make monday the prep-fiesta day. hence, i had a phenomenal four day weekend filled with piso dinners, medieval festivals, rain appropriate activities, and drinking gallons of tea.

on sunday evening, my whole piso decided to invite some new friends, three guys from Morocco and one German over to the piso for dinner. despite the minute size of our kitchen all five us began chopping, sauteing, tasting, and singing to hilarious american classics to prepare for our guests. i seriously lucked out on the flat-mate front. all four of them are complete sweethearts (and great cooks). after make-shifting a table and collecting every chair in our house, our mini united nations sat in my living room: Moroccan, German, French, Belgium, and the token Californian friends (all speaking Spanish). it was simply fascinating. as conversation floated from politics, to religion, to pop culture, to spain, to history, it hit me how unique this life is and how much we have to learn from each other. also, that i need to brush up on my current world events and european history... it must be noted that the evening proceeded with a game of sheraids of famous people we all wrote on pieces of paper and stuck in a hat. who was most noted, but michael jackson and shakira. go figure.

here's a pic of a medieval festival Kristen and i stumbled upon. as dorky as it is, i love stuff like this. tons of vendors lined the plaza, funky music, huge tents of roasting meat and various food preparations, and prime people watching. naturally, i sat with my delicious pizza bread, chatted up the artsy vendors, and throughly enjoyed the little extra zest added to my day.

despite the greatly shortened week due to the blessed puente, it was tough heading back up the mountain Cartuja and more classes filled with confusion. luckily, i had the genius Andrew Bird to keep me going strong.
i can't even express how much i love this skinny man with his awkward speech, jerky 'dance' movements, and uncombed hair. after he kicked off his shoes and cleared his throat, he was ready to blow minds. the combination of violin, whistling, base, xylophone, improv drum beats, and singing (all made more epic with a loop machine)definitely left my mind blown. i had been lucky enough to see him perform twice in the states (henry, it just wasn't the same without you), but this was by far my favorite performance. plus, it made me realize how mesmerized i am by live music, whether it be a guitarist in a plaza or on stage--it is some sort of therapy.
that is probably far too much info once again. ah well, this is a learn as you go kind of art. ***must be noted that my other half, the vanilla to my chocolate, arrives tomorrow in Granada! julie streton, i'm anxiously awaiting your arrival!!!!

"poco a poco"

well, vacation is officially over and classes at the university of granada have decided to step into its hard to fill place. in all honestly, it is quite difficult for me to describe what has been my first "week and a half" of university life, spanish style. i'll try and figure it out by breaking it down...let's start with week 1: monday--classes cancelled for ceremonial reasons. tuesday--one of two of my classes cancelled (plus, spanish professor came a solid 20 minutes late and proceeded to make up for lost time by talking a mile a minute aka no entiendo nada). wednesday--countrywide strike and classes cancelled. thursday--one of two classes cancelled. friday--teacher didn't show and no class. obviously the first week was a joke...thanks for the memo, spain. i would have loved to get in on this little secret before i literally had to pull out my aggressive, pushy persona to fight for a place on the bus. i have never seen buses so jammed packed with students carting it up the near vertical hill to the land of Cartuja (where the different university buildings are) now, while you may be thinking, 'adrienne, come on. your school life is obviously a piece of cake. don't even bring your sass about a hill over here,' i must say this week has been a different story. and that the hill is HUGE. i will have buns of steal at the end of the year when i start ditching the bus and taking the 50 minute hike from my piso.
***above is my UGR (university of granada) student card. my spanish street-cred it now legit. flash this bad-boy and i get 10 cents of my bus ride and can borrow books from library.

now that spain has started to get it's rear in gear (as much as it is possible for the land of españoles), my classes usually start around 8:30am and i head home around 3:00pm (with various scattered breaks suck at the top of the hill). here's my list of classes for you, dave: spanish theater and performance, linguistics of the golden age, spanish literature from 1939 till today, psychopathology, and psychology of learning. (as i mentioned before, since this is spain, the teachers of two of my classes have yet to show their faces...rumor has it they're coming next week. why not an extra week or two of vacation?) but the classes that i have attended...wow. let's just say the teachers do not believe in syllabi, writing anything legible on the chalkboard, or repeating any of the homework or crucial information regarding the class. therefore, my strategy is to latch on to any spanish person semi-willing to repeat basic info, look confused and grateful for the help, and then find my next victim for the following class. i know it will get easier with time, but it is so hard to figure out what the teachers even want, and the content of the actual class, of course. my vocab of fruits, beachy-things, and articles of clothing from my previous college and high school classes just aren't quite cutting it. and for those of you who know me, understand my need for organization, putting assignments in my calendar, and just being on top of life, can probably predict my slight freak out mode.

at santa barbara when i was stressed and needed to relax and put life in perspective, i had my various places of serenity (usually with an ocean view...so spoiled.) i am on a mission to find these places in the land of Cartuja as well. here is attempt number one.
maybe the best bit of advice i have literally received from every spanish person i have encountered and related my school insecurities to, has given me the same line: "poco a poco" (little by little). i need to remind myself that my education here extends far beyond the classroom and i will get in the loop with effort and time. for now, i'm tackling each class one at a time (hour by hour) and finding ways to educate myself on the best tapas bars and open air tea markets in town :)