first of all, an update of the last month or so since i've updated this thing. after my parents and i went our separate ways at the airport in Paris, it was quite the adjustment getting back into daily life and studying for...spanish finals. now, i know how to handle one to two weeks of sheer finals torture at UCSB--all i need are daily beach runs, obscene amounts of mexican food, practically moving into my favorite coffee shop for studying, and black licorice scottie dogs as a self created award system for memorizing my billions of flash cards. here, in spain, the story is quite different. not only are finals a month long, but the system is designed for students to learn all the material and do all the assignments in this month of pure chaos. as you can probably guess, this did not go down so well. as i'm sure my mom and dave could tell you, there were moments when "thriving" was possibly the last word i would use to describe my state. yet, somehow after hours of studying, asking anyone and everyone for help, and making the simple (yet revolutionary) discovery that life would manage to go on after finals, it all ended. on the 7th of february i took my last exam and completed my 7th full month in Spain.
how can it be approaching the end of february and officially be called the second half of my spanish experience? as i said early, i prefer to look at the second half as a new beginning--a beginning where my spanish has significantly improved, where granada is now my home, i have some vague concept of the elusive spanish school system, and my desire to take advantage of every opportunity i can is bursting at the seams in order to truly experience what living in the south of Spain is all about.
so, here are some post- semester 1 pics to give you a mini-highlight:
instead of picnic-ing in a park, why not an ancient moorish castle?
Kristen and Giorgio exploring our neighborhood and views of the Alhambra
post picnic happiness with the gang.
for me, this picture captures pure happiness--finding home and family thousands of miles away. with salty sand on my skin, the sound of waves, and lifetime friends by my side, somehow the south of Spain feels like home more than ever.
