I am officially back in student life, which means no more nightly trips to the discotecas and that is just fine with me. As much as I love dancing the night away, I am excited to take things down a notch and slow it down. My goal is to find a balance between dedicating myself to my studies -- since that is the reason I am here, after all -- and also making time to enjoy my time here in Granada. This past weekend happened to be the perfect union of those two goals: I spent the days catching up on reading (turns out that I am not a fast reader when it comes to feminist theory in Spanish, go figure) and then used the nights getting reacquainted with Granada. Among the chulo things I found to do this weekend, there was a feminist demonstration, an anthropology film festival, and a lunar eclipse. The demonstration was in protest of violence against women. There have been 42 femicides in Spain this year. The group putting on the demonstration is a local organization of young feminists in Granada, called Asamblea Feminista Unitaria (or Unitary Feminist Assembly). After all, what would be a more appropriate first weekend activity with my new feminist cohorts than going to a feminist demonstration? Unfortunately, I was unable to to attend the event at the last moment (I ended up having an amazing heart to heart with one of my new friends) but they host these demonstrations monthly so I'll just make sure to catch the next one in October. I'm hoping to eventually infiltrate the group but poco a poco The next night, Saturday night, I went to the anthropology film festival, hosted by the University of Granada, with some of my friends from my cohort. The event consisted of screening two ethnographic films and a brief discussion with a professional anthropologist regarding his own fieldwork. The films themselves-- one of which was about medical professionals working in Bolivia ("La Esperanza del Oriente") and the other was about a famous festival in Peru ("Saynatakuna. Máscaras y Transfiguraciones de Paukartambo") -- were very interesting, but what I found most exciting was the totally surreal feeling of being engaged in sharing anthropological work with professionals from across the world. Especially after feeling so overwhelmed in class that week, it was refreshing to feel like I actually knew what was going on. The festival will be continuing each weekend until December, so I am hoping to make it to quite a few screenings. Finally, the "Supermoon" lunar eclipse occurred on Sunday night / Monday morning. Despite the fact that I have class twice a day (for a grand total of 8 hours of classes a day) every day this week, I decided I wanted to stay up until the main event, which was happening at 4:47 AM here. I mean, YOLO, am I right? A group of us went up to one of the most famous and gorgeous lookouts in Granda, el Mirador de San Nicholas, to watch the eclipse over the Alhambra. As picturesque as spending a night in a Spanish plaza, overlooking the most visited tourist attraction in Spain, drinking wine with friends sounds, it grows old quickly during the cold hours of the night. Our troop called it quits around 4 AM after watching the slowly progressing penumbral stages of the eclipse. Most of us had class in the morning and were hoping to catch the maximum eclipse and the red stage of the "Supermoon" from our respective balconies, but unfortunately the weather had different plans; what had been a beautiful night quickly turned into an overcast morning during our walk home so after staying awake most of the I didn't actually get to see the red moon. Qué pena. But, hey, all things considered, the view was still better than I have most nights.
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Well, I officially have the first week of classes under my belt. Wow. I'm going to be honest -- that was more challenging than I had imagined. Granted, four hours for any class, let alone one in a non-native language, is going to be trying and I've only had one class so far and that class can get pretty heavy on theory. Since class started on Tuesday night, I've gotten up at 8 every morning to read for class and I am honestly reading until class starts again at 5. It's been a pretty overwhelming introduction but I am learning a lot and I intend to use this weekend to play a little bit of catch up (I'm not exactly a fast reader in Spanish) and brush up on my own knowledge of feminist history. As the only American in the course, everyone looks to me to be familiar with our history and I like to think I am, more or less, but it has been embarrassing to realize how LITTLE I really do know. For example, we were talking about the right to vote (in reference to the Suffrage Movement) and I didn't know when the 14th Amendment, which gave former slaves the right to vote, had been passed. It was horrible to have everyone, including the professor, look to me and just have to say "I don't know". It was even worse when the topic spread to the Pope's recent trip to America, which I had known about only through Facebook posts and didn't know anything about besides the fact that it had happened. To be not be able to engage in the conversation when the rest of the class seemed to have some pretty serious opinions about what went down gave me such shame. But there's only so many things that I can work on at one time -- becoming fluent in Spanish, learning this theory, creating a life for myself here in Granada, becoming more familiar with American history and current events.... but, poco a poco. As a sort of treat to myself for having finished the first week of classes, I went and bought myself some official UGR swag. This was a big moment for me because over three years ago, when I studied abroad here in Granada, all my peers were buying UGR swag and I promised myself that I was going to wait and buy a UGR sweatshirt when I was a real, enrolled student at the institution. In the years that followed, I would come so close to giving in the getting that sweatshirt early. Heck, I even went to that very same shop a year ago and picked up a tshirt for a fellow IES alum. But I held out. And now I earned it. And man, it feels good to wear that bad boy around the house. I also picked myself up a mug. That's right, my university was founded in 1531 -- it's older than the United States of America! In addition to the madness of starting courses, I had my first house guest this week! By happenstance, my sorority sister, Dani, is moving back to Granada to teach English! Like myself and almost all people who visit Spain, Dani also caught the bug and now can't keep herself away. She was crashing at my place for a few days while she was looking at apartments in town. It's been surreal because up until this week I hadn't been speaking English verbally at all (that is to say that I've been texting and messaging in English but not SPEAKING per se) and now I've been speaking in English with Dani at home and speaking in English with my new Scottish friend in the program. Talk about a mind trip. Dani has now found an apartment and moved in yesterday, but it's definitely nice to know that there is a sister and fellow American nearby! So while this week was definitely a little overwhelming, I am looking forward to next week -- I am starting two new classes: feminist historiography and medicalization and health, the latter of which I am pretty sure is in English. I am hopeful that these courses will go more smoothly. BUT, the important thing is that I am trying and optimistic. And while I have realized that weekend trips are most likely out of the question for me during the semester, that just means I'll have to make the most out of my breaks 😎 *Addendum: To answer your questions from earlier blog posts, while this is an international program, the vast majority in my cohort is from Spain. There are two students from Mexico, another one from Argentina, but I believe the rest (besides me, the French Canadian, and the Scot) are from Spain. I believe the strong inclination towards Spaniards in my particular cohort is due to the fact that the courses are taught in Spanish while the courses in all 6 of the other partner institutions are taught in English. Thanks for the comments, guys! Keep 'em coming! Well, the life of leisure is officially over! Classes have begun and now I am getting into the full swing of things in this next phase of my life as a graduate school in Europe. In terms of pragmatics, there are
22 people total in my program (all female, surprise surprise!). Of those 22, 18 are first year students like me and the other 4 are in their second year, doing their mobility year here at UGR. The master's program is broken down by semester: first semester is obligatory courses in feminist history, theory and methodology; second semester is electives at your home institution; third semester is electives at your mobility institution; and fourth is working on your master's thesis. So, that means that all 18 of us have all our classes together this first semester. However, in addition to our compulsory classes, us first years have been invited to take additional courses with the second years since there are so few of them. In classic Nora over-achieving manner, I am intending to take two extra courses (ideally taking one as an audit, don't worry). All the classes are in Spanish and most of my cohort peers are native Spanish speakers, except for myself, a student from Canada (who is a native French speaker as she is from Quebec), and a student from Scotland. In terms of schedule, there doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason to when I have class. It's not as a simple as having class at a certain time on a certain day -- it really truly is random. Most weeks I have class every afternoon Monday - Thursday, but there are also stretches of days at a time where I have no classes at all. To add to the exoticness of this schedule, each class is four hours long and even coming from someone who LOVES listening to lectures on feminist theory that is a LONG time to be engaged, especially when the theory is in Spanish. Yikes. I came into this program claiming that it was my "dream program" and if it is at all possible I think that even my wildly optimistic expectations have been exceeded! And yes, I fully recognize and admit that this program is going to be a challenge, as it is bound to be in any situation when you aren't a native speaker. However, I have no doubt that the experience of this program is going to vale la pena. During our orientation yesterday morning, the room was electric with excitement-- everyone from the students to the faculty to the staff members was genuinely so excited to be there. Smiles were practically contagious. And if you juxtapose this entry to the last one, you'll see how much I NEEDED to feel that energy, to be reinvigorated by the passion of my peers. I am now joining a network of people from around the world who share my drive, my passion, and are excited to see where this new adventure takes them. And I could not be more thrilled (but I'm not going to lie-- I have never been so mentally drained in my entire life as I was after that first four hour course on feminist theory). Now for all of you who think that this whole international masters program thing is sounding intriguing, might I recommend checking out the full list of ERASMUS MUNDUS masters programs: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/results_compendia/selected_projects_action_1_master_courses_en.php There is quite a variety in the programs available and not to brag but it can be a pretty sweet situation. Just an idea ;) *Addendum: YES, the classes are difficult. YES, I feel like I am missing information because I am not a native speaker. YES, it takes me an extra long time to do homework (for example, I spent 5 hours reading this morning to prepare for my second day of class). YES, it is frustrating but it can only get better with more and more practice. If these past two weeks have been the transitional period between post-grad working life and returning to student life, what a final send off this past weekend has been! Friday and Saturday there was a music festival in Granada, very similar to LOLLA, called Granada Sound. In classic Spanish style the acts went from just past siesta time, ~ 4:30 in the afternoon, to 5:00 in the morning. That's basically 12 straights hours of rocking out, y'all. Overall, it was a really fun and new thing to experience but completely exhausting. Thank god Red Bull was one of the festival sponsors.
And now, as much as I enjoyed both the festival and the beach and feel very fortunate that I even get to experience any of this, my take away from this weekend is that I no longer fear being on my own. I've been struggling with figuring out exactly how I fit into my friend groups here and between bouts of machismo and dealing with giant groups of international students, I've come to the conclusion that I am really just fine doing things on my own. I'm 24 years old -- I can navigate a bus by myself, decide when I want to go home and, yes, even make my own sandwich if I chose. I'm so grateful for the studying abroad experience I had in undergrad and I think that the fact that I feel totally confident and prepared to do it on my own is a testament to that experience. But I have to accept that I can't, and furthermore don't want, to have that experience again. So as much as I might love to tag along and see some of the beautiful Spanish sights again, I think I'll have to pass. Unless, of course, the deal is too good to pass up =P
To say the last week has been surreal would be an understatement. Not only am I finally back here, in Granada, but I am also readjusting away from adult life. Without work or even classes for the past week, this has truly been a surreal time. As I have yet to meet anyone from my own program yet, I have been spending my time socially with undergraduate students. And not that I have anything against undergraduates, but college is a very specific time in your life and I'm just not there anymore (and how much I was ever really there in the first place is debatable as well), especially with the whole study abroad connotations. The connotations of being an Erasmus student in Europe is very similar to that of being an American student studying abroad. It's all about the YOLO -- drinking, partying, enjoying life to fullest. And it's not as if I'm a saint or a prude or don't enjoy having a good time because I most certainly do, but my intention of coming here to Spain for this program had nothing to do with alcohol or parties. Already, in the past week, I've gone out to the clubs more nights than I haven't and the partying lifestyle is alive and well in the group of friends I've been hanging out with. And yes, I have been enjoying myself and I recognize that this two week period before classes start is as good a time as any to just let loose and have some fun, but it's been unsettling me to constantly be in this YOLO sphere. I crave peers who have similar values and similar goals, but really who isn't looking for that?
So, after a week of partying, I decided to just embrace the mundane today. And man, I have to confess, I found today's mundane activities so much more exciting than any of the discotecas I've been to! I made my first meal (it was a frozen pizza BUT I had to learn how to use the oven so it counts) and I did my first round of laundry! I supervised as the man came and installed wifi in the apartment, ran some errands, got some Spanish fast food and binged on internet movies all day. And NOW it feels like my real life-- my sometimes exciting, sometimes mundane, but always alluring, life. Alright, alright -- I have finally unpacked everything and am ready to share my new home with the world! It's still a little bare as I am waiting until my stipend comes through to get non-essential things (which until this morning included a pillow as I had been using my extra towel as a pillow but my roommate found that too ratchet and insisted on letting me use her extra). So far my only complaint with the apartment is that it is next to a school and when I keep my window open at night, I am awakened bright and early by the incessant screaming of school children (no, I'm serious -- it is INCESSANT. I do not think they EVER have class). But if that is my biggest complaint, well then I really have nothing to complain about. Both of my roommates have now moved in and they are two of the sweetest, most considerate, and welcoming people I have ever met. They're both pretty set on coming to America with me at some point so hopefully many of you will get a chance to meet them! Anyways, here are the pictures! ¡Qué disfrutad!
There is a silver lining to every crappy situation. For example, everything with the residency process has been a NIGHTMARE here. On two separate occasions I have gone to the Office of Foreigners, stood in line for 45 minutes only to be told that I could not be helped today and to come back the next day. Apparently, only 25 people are able to apply for their residency cards each day so unless you are one of the first 25 people in line in the morning you are screwed. And if you show up when the office opens at 8:30, you’re already too late.
So that whole process has been very frustrating, but the silver lining is that on that same Friday morning there was an Italian girl in front of me who trying to accomplish the same task. After we were both outside, I commiserated with her over the painful process and POOF! New Italian friend! Her name is Francesca and she is participating in the Eramus program here in Granada. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Eramus concept, it’s basically the universal study abroad program that everyone uses in Europe. I do not believe it is compulsory but it is very popular and students can go abroad for either a semester or a year. Technically, my program is also an Eramus program but since I am in the graduate program I am not included in the Eramus undergraduate activities. Francesca was nice enough, however, to invite me out with the Eramus group Saturday night to meet some more people. We ended up meeting a group of three German girls who were all super friendly. Two of the German girls decided to go to bed early but Francesca, Louisa (the other German student) and I went out to the discoteca with the group and danced the night away. Antonio (my Spanish friend) met us out and we all had a fantastic time. In a bizarre twist of events, I ended up becoming the translator for the group. Since Antonio speaks little English and Louisa’s Spanish is not quite at easy conversation level yet, it was easier and faster for Louisa to speak to me in English and then for me to translate what she said into Spanish for Antonio. Um…. What?? When did I become proficient enough to be a translator? Es una locura! When I came to Spain the first time in 2012, the thing that kept me awake for nights on end months before I arrived was fear of not being able to hail a taxi from the airport to get to my hotel. At that point, I had never hailed a taxi in my life and for some reason I thought that I would have immense trouble doing so. As it happens, taxis just wait at the doors of airports for customers so you don’t have to hail them at all and, furthermore, I met up with a group of students also in my program at the airport so I didn’t even have to speak to the taxi driver since they were much more advanced speakers than I was. All those sleepless nights for nothing.
This time around, I didn’t lose any sleep (thankfully), but I was most anxious about being alone on my birthday. It happened to fall on the first Saturday I am in Spain, less than a week after I arrived. Now, I’ve never been one to make a big deal out of my birthday, but it seemed to take on a special meaning this year as I lamented all the things I was going to miss in my friends’ lives while I was so far away. In all honestly, things have been so crazy here these first days and without any reason to really keep track of days I had totally forgotten that my birthday was today. It was funny, because people I met kept asking me how old I was and I would answer, “Until Saturday, I am 23”, so it incidentally came up in almost every conversation I had. I certainly didn’t mean anything other than providing accurate information about my age but my roommate and her friends took it up themselves to help celebrate my birthday. My roommate, Cristina, has been studying for exams for the past week so she’s been very busy and since she is unable to go out to celebrate she decided to cook me a homemade traditional Spanish dinner, complete with all my favorite Spanish dishes that they had asked about in the days preceding the big event. When I offered to help prepare the food, she said that it was birthday (despite my protests that it wasn’t my birthday for another three hours) and that I didn’t have to worry about a thing. She and her three friends (two of whom have been staying with us and I have gotten to know pretty well) arranged this absolutely lovely meal out on our terrace, complete with a cake with big, bubble 2 4 candles, and a Spanish rendition of “Feliz cumpleaños a ti”. It was honestly one of the most touching moments in my life. Even in my best-case scenarios, I never imagined that I would be this lucky. So, yeah, OK maybe things aren’t working out as smoothly as I thought they might with my residency card or my scholarship starting immediately, but I am without a doubt in the right place at the right time and I am just so humbly grateful. My first day in Spain, I sleep in until 2:30 PM. That’s right: I slept until siesta time. It was glorious. Unfortunately my indulgence cost me a day of getting my scholarship set up since banks are only open until 2 but no pasa nada. I’ll do it tomorrow. I plan to go check in with my graduate program but now I have to wait until siesta is over since the office is probably closed. My roommate is out, presumably studying somewhere for her exams, so I take the time to shower and become acquainted with my new home (for the record: I could definitely get used to taking my coffee on a terrace, just saying). I can’t help but wonder-- what did people do to entertain themselves before they had the Internet? At 4:00 I adventure out to find my academic building. Without WIFI or a physical map I cannot look up where the building actually is, so I wonder towards the street where I know the building is located, feeling very grateful that I was already familiar with the area. In fact, I walk past my old apartment going to the building; it is only one of many familiar places that are going to pop up for me during the day. Walking down the street, I realize that I do not know the exact address or name of the building and the whole street is full of University of Granada’s buildings. Well… I realize that I am starving and concede the mission by telling myself I will look up the actual physical address of the building at whatever café I find with wifi to eat lunch. In my quest for a café, with wifi, I stumble across a bar where we had celebrated one of my study abroad friend’s 21st birthday that we had never been able to find again, the bar where I had my farewell dinner with one of my closest friends, and the restaurant where I had my first date. Madre mía and I haven’t even had lunch yet!
Finally, I find a café that proudly displays “WIFI” in the window, order an obscene amount of food, and get down to business. I proceed to spend the next 2 hours checking all forms of social media, taking screenshots of maps and looking up addresses to all the buildings I can think that I will need in the next 24 hours before I can get back to WIFI. After my binge, I agree to meet up with my new friend, Antonio (for reference, I was planning to live with Antonio, a random Spaniard, but a pipe burst in the apartment and that series of events led to me living with Cristina and Andrea in my current apartment). Antonio and I run a few errands together and he helps me navigate the complicated world of getting a new phone plan (note: I still do not have a Spanish phone but I am much more familiar with my options). We end the evening in classic Spanish style: with tapas. When I return home, I am pleasantly surprised to find that not only is my roommate home and awake but she is with friends! All three of her friends are also students, around my age, and very intrigued by this American living with their friend. Questions range from my opinions on Obama, the truth behind the glamorous American lifestyle portrayed in movies, how attractive I find Spaniards, which discoteca is my favorite, and whether domestic violence and racism are common problems in America. While I certainly would not say that I am fluent, I am pleasantly surprised by the amount I am conversation I am able to carry on with them especially since I didn’t befriend any Spaniards either time I previously studied abroad. In fact, they’ve already offered to through me a surprise party for my birthday on Saturday and invited me to spend Christmas with their families if I do not return home. It’s only the second night and I have potentially five friends—that sounds like a wonderful start to me! Before classes start on the 22nd, I have three very important tasks:
1. Obtain my residency card from the Spanish government 2. Buy a Spanish cell phone and enroll in a data plan 3. Get a Spanish bank account (to pay for aforementioned cell phone and collect my stipend) *I want you all to keep in mind that I have never done any of these things in English and now I have to do them all in Spanish. First order of business is to find my academic building and make sure everything is in order with my enrollment. Keeping the Spanish schedule in mind, I decide to venture out at 10:00, which seems reasonably neither too early nor too late in the morning. Having looked up the exact name of the building I am looking for, I am disheartened when I realize none of the buildings on the street are called “Center of Scientific Documentation” (because after all, why not put gender studies in the scientific documentation center?). Vale. There are two obvious university buildings, a private high school, and what appears to be a gated government building. Well, I’ll try the university building first. Luckily there’s an information desk and the kind worker directs me to a building that is technically located on that street but does not have a door that opens to it. In fact, you have to go through the shady gate next to the government building to access it! Classic. I find the building with little problem and make my way up to the third floor office. In the department, all the office doors are closed and a maid informs me that no one will be there for another hour. Vale. I head over to my new favorite café (aka the only place in town where I have found wifi) for some much needed coffee and breakfast. I spend enough time there to catch up on correspondence and hopefully not bring too much attention to my now almost obsessive need to have access to the Internet. I return to my academic building, walk up the three flights of stairs, stand outside the office to catch my breath (because we simply don’t walk up this many stairs in America on a regular basis!), and proceed to meet the people who I have been corresponding with for almost two years. Manual, one of the assistants in the GEMMA office, gives me a brief rundown on all the bureaucratic things I’ll have to get done before my scholarship can be issued. My list of things to do is increasing and my vocabulary for bureaucratic matters is not quite up to snuff. But I do understand that first and foremost I need to get my residency card. Vamenos! In classic American fashion, I leave directly from the academic office to the government’s Office for Foreigners. Now, for all of you who have knowledge of the process of obtaining a visa at the Spanish consulate in America and thought, “oh wow how easy! It’s just a drive up window. No pasa nada!”. Yeah, well they make that part so much because the residency component is SO HARD. There are no less than 50 people in the waiting area and I wait 30 minutes to be told that the card I need is only issued in limited numbers and only done first thing in the morning. Joder. The clerk gives me the appropriate form and dismisses me without even looking up before calling the next person in line. As I walk out, I realize that I have no idea what half the information is this form is asking for. Debating between going back to GEMMA or asking my roommates to help me, I decide to swing back by the GEMMA office where they are surprised to see me once again and even more surprised that I have already been to the Office of Foreigners! What can I say? Americans like to get stuff done. Together we go through the form and I feel confident that it will all work out tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed, at least. During the course of filling out the forms, I realize that I have already been issued a Spanish Identification Number in my visa (a piece of information that is usually given with your residency) and decide to see if the bank will accept this form of identification to set up a bank account. Now, as much as I love that the whole point of the GEMMA program is international cooperation and broadening horizons, it is a giant pain for things like bank accounts and cell phones (apparently I have to keep my Spanish bank account when I move to Hungary but I have to get a new phone carrier and plan). Since I have to keep the same bank account while I live in both countries, ideally I would have to find a bank that is found throughout Europe and won’t charge me to withdraw money in other countries (can you see how the lack of reliable wifi access is enough to make me pull my hair out?). Luckily, Antonio and one of Cristina’s friends both suggested the same bank, EVO, to me and I decide to just go with their suggestion. I reach their main campus at 1:00; they’re only open for an hour more. There are five people in line ahead of me and screaming children in the lobby. Again, classic. I wait 45 minutes and am told that since I am younger than 28 I am only eligible for their special youth plan and that is an online application only (but hey, it sounds like an awesome option for international travelers!). I stop by my favorite café for the second time today to complete the online application and to figure out the plans for tonight—I’m supposed to go to out to Camborio, the old stomping grounds, with Antonio and his friends. On the way home, I treat myself to the most famous gelato in the city (fun fact: Michelle Obama has been there!) because it has been a long day and this American girl needs a yummy treat before she takes her siesta. So, ok, nothing actually got accomplished today but the foundations have been laid and my vocabulary for bank-related terms has grown immensely! Fingers crossed for tomorrow and you better believe I am going to be the first person in line at the Office for Foreigners tomorrow. |
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Meet the Author:Graduate student of GEMMA Eramus Mundus Master's Degree in Women's and Gender Studies. Currently living in Budapest, Hungary. Originally from the American midwest. Archives
October 2016
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