This year marked my second year in Spain for Semana Santa aka Holy Week, which marks the week leading up to Easter. As a Catholic country, Spain obviously takes Easter and Holy Week very seriously so there are a number of religious ceremonies held throughout the week. It also serves as the spring break equivalent for most students since there are no classes that week so it's a huge time for traveling both within Spain and within Europe in general.
With the way schedules happened to line up, Semana Santa was deemed the most convenient time for my friends to visit. The fact that they were coming during this week was particularly fortuitous because none of us had ever experienced Semana Santa in Granada before! When we were studying here in 2012, this particular group of friends had spent the week traveling in Italy and I had spent in Madrid and Bilbao. So while I was been able to get a sense of this Spanish tradition, I always felt a little guilty that I had never experienced the Granada version because southern Spain is especially renowned for their fesitivities. Well, now was my chance!
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There are few people in your life with whom you can go weeks, months, and maybe even years without speaking and then just slide back into a comfortable, familiar rhythm when you are back together as if no time had passed at all. For me, one of those groups (I suspect) will always be my group of friends from studying abroad in Granada. Our group was made up of six of us, each from different universities, different parts of the States, studying different things and in different phases of our lives. We were brought together solely by circumstance: we all happened to be studying abroad in the same program in Granada, Spain in the spring of 2012. And while that semester abroad was instrumental in each of our lives for distinct reasons, we all fell in love with Granada and we did it together.
After a very relaxing and educational long weekend with my friend in Cartagena, I was off to Valencia on my own to experience las Fallas! This was the first time I had traveled to a new, unfamiliar place by myself and I have to admit I was very hesitant about embarking on a solo journey but I was determined to see las Fallas, even if it meant I had to go on my own! Las Fallas are one of the most iconic cultural events in Spain, right up there with the running of the bulls in Pamplona and the giant tomato fight in Valencia. I mean, how could I NOT go?
Before resettling my roots back in Granada and buckling down for the long haul at the end of the semester, I decided to go on one last trip with one of my friends from GEMMA. For personal reasons, she would prefer for her identity to be left anonymous so we'll call her "Dawn" (and to respect her wishes I won't be posting any pictures of her but she was there! Trust me!). This particular trip resulted from an interesting compromise: I wanted to go to Valencia to see Las Fallas (see next chronological post for more details about Las Fallas) and "Dawn" was interested in taking a trip but couldn't be away from Granada during the actual dates of Las Fallas. So, we agreed to road trip halfway to Valencia together ahead of time for our own mini getaway and then I would continue on to Valencia on my own. Now, I have to confess I was absolutely no help with the planning process of this trip. Between all the traveling I had done last month, trying to stay on top of my workload, and participating in an intensive art therapy course I was pretty overwhelmed. Luckily "Dawn" is incredibly organized and put together an amazing itinerary for us!
Well, it's official - I've completed all my remaining "to do's" in Granada! Honestly I didn't think it'd be THAT easy or happen THAT quickly... I guess it just goes to show that when you are open to opportunities they really do just fall in your lap!
Less than 36 hours after arriving back in Granada I was already back on the road! This time, to Barcelona! I had visited the city before in 2012 when I was studying abroad but I was only there for a weekend and there was still so much I wanted to see and do there so I was very excited when one of my group of friends invited me to join them on their long weekend in the city! Don't worry - I'm not going to recount the entire 5 days play-by-play style. I'll just give you the highlights!
In a bold move, I decided to celebrate Carnaval again this year. My last Spanish Carnaval was... well, frankly it was a nightmare. I was very hesitant about making any effort to celebrate it again. But when my friend Lucía invited me along to come with her back to her hometown in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, to celebrate Carnaval I knew it would be a giant mistake not to take her up on it. I mean, how many opportunities do you get to travel to new places with people who are actually from there? Sometimes amazing opportunities fall right into your lap. Such was the case for me on Thursday afternoon when I happened to be sitting at a cafe with Milada enjoying the most decadent post-lunch cakes and coffee. Only minutes before I was supposed to be heading out for class, I received a message from the director of my former study abroad program asking if I wanted to come along on their weekend trip to Ronda and Sevilla the next morning since some students had fallen ill and their spots on the trip were now up for grabs.
Oh man, I have been meaning to go back to Sevilla but I was all set to get some major work done this weekend... Did I mention you can bring your friend? (Milada happens to be the friend I brought along with me last weekend when I was invited to join this group on their hike through the natural park) Well... my class DID get rescheduled that was supposed to be tomorrow but I still have so many things I was supposed to get done tomorrow during business hours including figuring out visa stuff for next year, sending in my absentee ballot and straightening some stuff out with the postgraduate office.... Did I mention it's free? Well.... Have you ever looked at someone's face when you tell them, "haha funny story, we just got invited on a free weekend trip to explore some of the most beautiful places in Spain but you can only go if I go and I'm not sure if that's in my flexible schedule right now..." Ok, fine, what the heck! YOLO! Let's do it! And 14 hours later, we were on a bus! I can understand why reality shows have become so popular -- real life really is so much more interesting and intricate than fiction, especially when it comes to relationships with other human beings. It is rarely ever the initial intention to build a deep and everlasting relationship when we met another person, although that does happen. But nonetheless, there are so many varieties of deep and meaningful relationships that we build with each other. It is actually quite amazing.
I've been thinking about relationships (in the general sense of the word) a lot lately. I've realized the majority of the relationships I consider to be fundamental in my life are based on technological proximity rather than actually spatial proximity and it's really unsettling to think that most of those relationships will never be grounded in daily physical experiences again. There isn't one single, organized community for me to return to. But I guess that is part of growing up. Looking at it from the other side of that same coin, it is amazing to think of how many relationships can be maintained and nurtured even without that physical proximity. Or how you can have almost no relationship to speak of with someone but then you can still share such intimate and special bonds with them. This past weekend has been quite the collection of eclectic social circumstances. The truth is you really just have no idea how someone is going to fit into your life and how that role is going to change. I have realized that I only have a matter of months (official number yet to be determined, but most likely eight) left here in Granada. Now, I realize that following my last post my dewy-eyed desire to stay in Granada may strike some as contradictory and nonsensical, but the truth is Granada is my home. I've always been pretty easy going about adapting to wherever I am and have developed sentimental feelings about a lot of different places in my life. And I, of course, hold Champaign-Urbana and even Bloomington in very special places in my heart but there is just something about Granada that calls to me. And as much as this particular chapter in Granada has certainly had its challenges, I realize how extremely fortunate I am to have had the opportunity to come back here. In reality, those challenges are a big factor in why I am now feeling so appreciative about being here in Granada. In the last few months I have realized with certainty that my professional life most likely does not belong here in Spain, which means that my adult life will most likely not be based here. Now, I still don't know where exactly it will be based (and trust me, I am open to a LOT of different options) and I am sure I will fall in love with many more places in my lifetime. But right now I really want to focus on just cherishing this time here, in Granada. And I know that this city will always be a huge part of my life and that I can always come back and visit, but there is something so special about living in the place that just warms your heart. I want to take advantage of all that the city has to offer so in addition to my more lofty goals that I mentioned in my last post, I am also attempting to hold myself to some smaller, more manageable ones. Each week I want to: try a new bar or café; go on a walk and photograph a new part of the city; do something new that I haven't done before. For example, this week I went to the Spanish post office for the first time to retrieve a package. It was new and I have never relished waiting in line at a government office more!
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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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