say what?

as i was riding the city bus to the main bus station to purchase tickets for the next spanish adventure to Cordoba, it hit me. i have now been living/traveling in the iberian peninsula for four months, one third of a year! in all honestly, i counted the months several times trying to figure out how this time warp could have happened (at this point an older Spanish women glanced curiously at me as i kept using my fingers as a counting tool and looking astonished each time i reached four). once this fact actually sunk in, my mind began to think, has spain become my new home? has my day-to-day spanish life finally become normal? in many ways, the answer is definitively 'yes.'
looking back on my first couple of weeks, i can remember taking note of all the many differences between cultures, people, silly little details, and systems between españa and my idolized home state. many times i was left asking,"why in the world would 'they' do that this way? who would think of taking a 3 hour break in the middle of the day? and can a california girl really become apart of this established community with their foreign customs?" well, now as a four month resident (and with an official residency card. yes, i'm finally legal) i can say that this california girl and southern spain have learned to live together and found a healthy balance of give and take. the things that i once found odd: how the light switches for the bathroom, kitchen, living room are located outside the room door--makes for cruel jokes when friends are in the bathroom, flipping open the gas and lighting my stove with a match, walking up a massive hill for 35 minutes to get to class (and many times the teacher or half the class not attending), greeting friends and strangers with kisses on either cheek (left first, THEN right...the direction thing has lead to some awkward situations), ALL shops and stores closed on sundays--forced break, concept of healthy food (many spaniards insist that ham and white bread are crucial to a healthy diet. sadly, i am not joking), more people oriented lifestyle...(and much more) have now become quite normal. suddenly, eating a mid-day 'merienda' (the meal/snack eaten at the beginning of siesta) is a daily necessity and is followed by some classic R&R (i have given in to the siesta!!!). when walking down the street, i am constantly asked for directions by both out-of-town spaniards and confused foreigners. amazingly enough, i can actually give them directions (monuments, street names, and occasional history if they look up for it). don't get me wrong, i still stand out like a sore thumb. i can't help my california ways, of smiling at people passing in the streets (not so common here in granada), running in the mornings while the old spanish men take their daily walks, and whipping out my camera when i see an old spanish couple sitting on a bench... give and take.
some quick pics to share this new hiking/walking spot that i've discovered thanks to my landlady and a new spanish friend, Ana.

Ana, Kristen (that cute california red-head), and i had a beautiful picnic at the top of the hill. yummm

fútbol (soccer) love. can't wait to come back up here with my soccer ball.

fall has come

here's a quick one considering i have yet to truly make headway on my psych homework. goodness, over a month in and i finally figured out how some of the assignments and reading work--there is some satisfaction with this revelation, but for a while, ignorance was bliss.
after living in granada, population pushing 900,000, i've come to understand the ups and down of living in a small city. while i love the constant activity, underground concerts, diverse eating spots, and opportunities to get lost in movie set-ish ally ways, sometimes i need out.

hence, kristen and i decided to ditch the city for the day and head to Ronda, a cool little white village a couple hours train ride away. it is a well known fact among my fam that fall is my favorite season, so when we arrived to a beautiful view over the reds, yellows, greens, and oranges of the countryside i was in heaven. the cool fall breeze kept us walking and exploring for hours, getting lost in the colors of fall and the quaintness that is Ronda. and yes, this picture is real and it actually looks like this--the sun came out at the perfect time.

here is our eating lunch spot overlooking the spanish countryside and little white town. mind you we are sitting on the walls of an moorish castle. times like these are priceless and are what make life that much sweeter.

just happiness...overlooking everything, feeling the fresh air kiss my cheeks. life is good.


one last Ronda pic
so, halloween in spain must be explained a tad bit. the image of this tasty and fairly comical holiday of wandering the streets in varying costume extremes and overdosing on sugar does not exist. spaniards are still in the scary halloween mode where everyone is dressed in something related to death and are literally SCARY. walking around on halloween night was a tad frightening. the truth is, halloween was more a day about mourning the dead until a couple years back when globalization did its work on this holiday. therefore, spain is still figuring out how to "celebrate" and take advantage of the comical costume and candy consumption perks. i decided to stick to the classics and break out my pumpkin carving skills, while brainstorming epic costume ideas for next year.
sorry for the overload of pics and lack of commentary...i'll try and get another blurb in this week. sending lots of fall lovin' to all corners of the world!

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 :)

traveling ladies, portugal edition

hola todos! i am now back on the blogging scene, as i begin 'real life' as a student and resident of granada. before i dive into exasperated tales of the first day of school, today's city-wide strike, or sweet flat-mates, i must share about my recent trip to southern portugal and the learning experiences that traveling entails.
first of all, due to craziness of the last week of the language program this trip definitely qualified as 'last minute' and 'spontaneous.' qualifications for our destination: 1. reasonable priced transportation 2. beautiful sandy beaches and salty water to wash away any stresses--easy enough. hence, we were faro, portugal bound. after a 2 hour bus ride to Malaga (beach town in spain), a 6 hour layover, then another 5 hours by bus to Faro (arriving at 2:00am), our trip started off with the not so pretty part of travel. as we were wandering around faro in the middle of the night, rollie-suitcases clanking on the cobblestones, depending on my google map directions and help from various portuguese hotel doormen to find our hostel, it was time to stop and appreciate--we made it to PORTUGAL, we are on vacation, and life is good. after sleeping off our travel day real vacation began. our faro adventures were unique due to the lack of tourism and nature of being an old-school port town. we found a local beach with gorgeous blue water, delicious sangria, and classic relaxation atmosphere...sound of waves, soft sand, and good friends to share the moment. after a night spent listening to portuguese karaoke songs and making the mistake of singing the spice girls to a bunch of confused locals, we heard rumors of a beachy island a short train ride//boat away. needless to say, we left in a flash, bound for this mysterious island and island luxury that surly awaited us. the island of Farol was everything and more...i'll leave it at that.

this is the walk out to another beach on the island. being here, in a similar climate to california and natural beauty, it made me extremely appreciative for california and the paradise that i can call my home.
after a few nights in faro, it was time to move farther west in the Algarve (southern region) and explore the town of Lagos.
Lagos being more on the tourist radar, it had an instant familiar, international feel. although the weather decided to front some clouds and potential rain, being the california girls we are, we headed for downtown and then to the beach. as the clouds started to part, the ocean began whispering our names, luring us towards the water. five minutes later it was screaming for us to strip down (despite the lack of bathing suits...haha) and indulge in classic girl spontaneity. below is the pic of our cove and cave swimming :)


this picture basically captures happiness and completely enforces my attitude of when in doubt, strip down and jump in a large body of water. good memories are sure to follow.
as you can probably tell, i could go on and on about our adventures and the beauty that is the Algarve. but, at risk of story overload i will just share one more epic memory of portugal. for our last day in Lagos we decided to take the advice of our Kiwi and French hostel owners to take a boat ride along the coastline. little did we know we were embarking on a pirates of the caribbean status adventure with Fernando the teddy bear (instead of mr.depp) as our guide. the combination of the sandstone rock formations with the overwhelmingly gorgeous water was unreal.

as we passed by Fernando the explorer, blew his conch shell...gotta love him. he's definitely the big man on campus...or on agua.

after an hour or so on the water, we returned completely content and sunkissed. we couldn't have asked for more.

after our boat ride we decided to walk along the bluffs that settle our little butts down on the beach below. after laying on the beach for a solid five minutes, the excitement of paddleball took hold. MOST. FUN. BEACH GAME. EVER. the iberian peninsula folk are all about it...don't worry i'm bringing it back for some cross cultural exchange back to cali.

lastly, as we searched for a local traditional portuguese restaurant that Fernando recommended (and received various directions and opinions from the adorable senior citizen community of Lagos--all in portuguese mind you) we passed by the epitome of elegance, smiling gently in a stunning window frame. after walking by, i couldn't help myself...my mom in me told me to go for, make a fool of myself and ask to take a picture--this woman is priceless. when i asked by smiling and pointing to my camera, speaking spanglish, she simply nodded, leaned against the frame and returned the smile. i hope to be her age, smiling at the young crazy girls walking and laughing hysterically through the streets and remember my own excursions. there are so many adventures to be had and i now realize they are all at my disposable with some planning, creativity, and an open mind and heart.

hasta luego residencia!

what can i say but this past week has been locura (pure craziness) with the combination of shannon's birthday (hello gelato birthday cake!), taking finals, finalizing my ridiculous class schedule, packing up my little dorm room with my explosion of clothing, and moving into my new piso (flat).
***ooooh residenica (dorm), how i will miss your squishy bed, proximity to my california amigos, funny door man who shakes his head and chuckles when i return from the gym drenched in sweat, and balcony to brush my teeth in the mornings. despite the mutual love we shared, i must admit that i will not miss the comedor's (cafeteria) mystery fried meats or vengeful washing machines. it may be silly, but la residencia isabel la catolica was my first home in spain--gave me that foundation for exploration and comfort when i needed it. i will definitely miss the plush dorm life, but am extremely excited for the piso adventures ahead. i think the weather was on my same page, because the day of move-out it rained and hailed. at this point i had to ask, "really spain? should i take this as a sign to inhabit one of the mysterious 3rd floor rooms and be the quasimoto of the residencia?" just as i was pondering this question, the clouds ceased fire and i was able to haul my luggage out to the cab and eventually into my room practically dry.

here is the lovely comedor with the crew. friday (move-out's) meal: chicken nuggets, french fries, 2 strips of bacon, and an iceburg lettuce salad with occasional tomatoes. ya, i'm ready for a kitchen.

Daniel Madird. need i say more? this man once made my stomach turn with nerves with one stern spanish stare, but now we are practically besties. as my oral comprehension teacher, he forced presentations each week, usually refusing any sort of positive reinforcement. but, the complexity of this man--his favorite lecture was giving us a list of "bad words" and "street talk" where he enjoyed watching the california kids blush and the few brave souls, ask for verification of the significance of a phrase.
there is so much to say--about my new housemates, the epicness that is my new neighborhood, looming classes, restaurant discoveries, and truly beautiful people, but i need to get some sleep before i head to faro, portugal for a little beach time before the reality of school begins. it still blows my mind that multiple COUNTRIES are at my disposal for week or weekend trips.
until next time chicos! sending lots of love!!!