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?
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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!
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! Well, the last week and half has been crazy to say the very least. Break officially started on the 19th but before it began there was a seriously mad rush of work to be done, including presentations and research papers in fields that I am NOT well versed in in English, let alone in Spanish. Of course, despite the extreme amount of work I had I still managed to fit in a midnight viewing of "Star Wars"! One of my friends and I had been watching an episode each week for the past six weeks so we were well-prepared and there was no way I was going to let an essay get in the way from being a part of that cultural experience, especially since we found a screening in English! (Fun fact: I had seen a screening of Star Wars Episode 1 in Spanish when I studied abroad in Granada in 2012 https://buenviajegranada2012.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/may-the-force-be-with-you/). While the decision to go see the movie may seem reckless, especially considering the fact that the paper was due at 10 the following morning, I could not have imagined anything that could have pumped me up MORE! Most feminist film I have ever seen and it definitely got me motivated to finish up that essay. Although I will confess that whole night, fueled by Red Bull and adrenaline, really messed up my sleeping schedule. But thank goodness I had that whole afternoon to recover because the next morning I was off on my Christmas adventures! Germany Part I: First stop: Basel, Switzerland aka birthplace of Roger Federer (#1 on the map). Now, it wasn't that any part of me was terribly invested in visiting Switzerland or Basel on particular on this trip, but I found a sweet flight (22 euros, HOLLA) to Basel from Málaga so my host for Germany Part I, Stefan, indulged me with a day visit to Switzerland before heading on to Germany, the main attraction for the Christmas 2015 traveling season. It wasn't until I was actually on the flight that I realized (classically) how little I had prepared for this trip. I had been so overwhelmed with all the work I had to do leading up to break and Stefan had been so on top of things with all his itineraries and whatnot that I had just blindly trusted him to take care of everything. I didn't even realize that Switzerland wasn't on the Euro (it ALWAYS pays off to read those in-flight magazines!)! Oops. But, it all turned out just fine. I was able to exchange some Euros for Swiss Francs at the airport and met up with Stefan at the airport no problem (although there is a terrifying moment when you get off the plane in Basel and you have to choose which country you are going to enter....). And we were off! First stop: the Weihnachtsmarkt aka Christmas Market. European countries, but especially Germany, are famous for their delightful Christmas Markets and one of my main objectives of this trip was to experience as many of them as possible. The best part of the Weihnachtsmarkt...? Besides the adorable storybook-quality of it all, of course, is the gluhwein (hot, spiced wine) that comes in collectable mugs! Needless to say, collecting mugs quickly became my favorite pastime of the trip. And let me tell you, all my German friends had talked up these Weihnachtsmarkts to such an extent that I honestly didn't think they would live up to the hype but they absolutely did! They looked like something right out of a storybook, like little Christmas villages made up of adorable artisan booths. Right off the bat I was feeling about this whole German Christmas thing. Now, Stefan and I only had the afternoon and evening to fully experience Switzerland before we had to catch our train to Freiburg (#2 on the map) so we only got to do a brief perusal of the Weihnachtsmarkt before we were off to see the Basel's main attraction: Basel Münster. Originally built in the 11th century and later rebuilt in the 14th century after the original structure was destroyed in an earthquake, the münster's tower has an incredible view of the city. The incredible part was you could climb the entire way up, even coming face to face with the bells that still toll throughout the city. It was really tempting to break into a "Hunchback of Notre Dame" song but the tight spaces up in the tower didn't lend themselves well to dancing or getting swept away in the musical moment. After climbing all those stairs we were starving! So we headed back to the Weihnachtsmarkt to grab some delicious treats before our city tour, which was going to be in German. Now, I had been practicing my German every day for weeks on Duolingo leading up to this trip but even so I still only knew very basic or totally random words. Stefan and I had previously decided that it would be a fun game to see how well I could distinguish between his translations and his bold-faced lies he was going to tell me throughout the tour, but it became clear that this was going to be a more intimate tour and that goofiness was probably not going to be tolerated so instead I tried to pretend like I knew German fluently and got the Sparknotes from Stefan during the walking breaks. Of course, eventually she caught on to the fact that I did not understand basically anything that she was saying on this tour, which did make for some awkwardness. Nonetheless, it was a very enjoyable tour and we got to see some pretty cool local sights (for example, each year one house decorates an entire Christmas tree for their whole neighborhood. Fun fact). The tour concluded with a glass of gluhwein at the Weihnachtsmarkt and I could not have been more pumped about that. It during glass of gluhwein that we realized we hadn't eaten a real meal yet that day so we went off to find a restaurant before returning to the münster for a Christmas concert later that evening (that's right--Christmas concert in a 14th century cathedral). Turns out, Switzerland's reputation for being expensive definitely holds true for their restaurants. We walked around for a good 20 minutes searching for affordable options before settling on a cute Italian place. Now, service in Europe, in my experience, hasn't ever been incredible but for some reason this restaurant was completely slammed. When we set out to find food, we had well over 2 hours before we had to get back for the concert. We ended up getting food 15 minutes before the concert started, at which point we had to ask our server to just box it up so we could take it with us. Nothing makes you feel more out of place than walking into a 14th century cathedral, panting, dragging a suitcase (oh yes, did I mention that I had all my traveling belongings?), and carrying a pizza box--not a very classy look. Despite the uncomfortable circumstances of our arrival, the concert was absolutely phenomenal. It was impossible not to get swept up in the grandeur of it all. It was just such a remarkable experience. After a fabulous concert, we had a train to catch! Second stop of the trip: Freiburg! Fun fact: it turns out Freiburg and Granada are sister cities! How perfect is that? I could not have been more excited to be in Germany. Even from the first moment I knew I was going to love it. But graduate school has made old souls of us, so it was directly to bed and then a formal introduction to Germany in the morning. From the get go I was astonished by how at home I felt there. Everything from the physical surroundings (which were much more reminiscent of the midwest than anything in Spain) to the people had an air of familiarity about them. It was a bizarre sensation that morning walking through the park to our lake-side brunch and feeling like I could belong there. I don't think I had fully realized how uncomfortable it is to constantly be an obvious outsider, which I am in Spain. I clearly do not resemble a Spaniard and always stick out as a foreigner, but here in Germany I could easily pass as a native. There was something really comforting about that. But this German brunch, y'all. After a day of traveling and not eating any real meals (forgive me that I don't count eating cold pizza on a train a real meal), I could not imagine a better reintroduction to formal dining. This spread. It was crazy. I think every slice of bread or cheese that I had in Germany was the freshest slice I have ever had. I still can't get over it. But the best part of brunch was that I ordered my own orange juice in German! I was so proud of myself. That brunch really set the tone for the rest of the visit: pure magic. After brunch we were off to the Freiburg Weihnachtsmarkt! Not trying to throw shade at Basel's Weihnachtsmarkt, but Freiburg's knew what was up. There was just so much to look at! And to taste! There are even multiple branches of the markets so you can easily spend hours perusing the stalls. But the Weihnachtsmarkt was only our first stop on the city tour, which also included Freiburg's Münster, the University of Freiburg, and the charming city center. Our lovely day came to an end with a trip to the circus! That's right--the circus. It actually had more of a Cirque Du Soleil type vibe than a traditional circus vibe and anyone who knows me knows that that sort of thing makes me very uncomfortable. It’s not that I don’t enjoy those shows—in fact, I seem to seek them out since this was my second such show since being in Europe this year. But the death defying tricks just make me so nervous for the performers! It’s like when I watch figure skating at the Olympics and I prefer to watch it 5 minutes delayed so I can be forewarned if there are any injuries rather than being shocked by it live. And man, this particular show seemed to be quite fond of flirting with danger—I was on the edge of panic for most of the show! But really, it was incredible and was certainly a unique experience to have in Freiburg—definitely not your typical tourist activity. We had planned to go out on the town afterwards but someone it had escaped both of our attention that it was a Sunday night and that despite the glamour of Europe that there would certainly be nothing open in a small German college town on a Sunday night during winter break. Epic fail on our parts. But it turned out for the best since I crashed as soon as we got home anyways; definitely wouldn’t have had the energy for a night out. The next day I had to catch my train to Aachen in the afternoon, so we spent a leisurely morning again strolling through the city and relishing yet another German brunch. Before we knew it, it was time for me to head on to the next part of my German journey: on to visiting the Fritzsche’s! Germany Part II: A Very Fritzsche Christmas From Freiburg, I was headed northwest to Aachen (#3 on the map) to meet up with Eric (the friend from high school who had visited me in Granada in November), who had been working there since the summer. I arrived in Aachen with just enough time to check out their Weihnachtsmarkt, which Eric and I navigated with expert precision. In less than an hour, we were able to get some gluhwein, enjoy some bratwurst and reibekuchen (potato pancakes), and do some last minute Christmas shopping! We ended the evening off at one of Eric's favorite bars for my first German beer of the trip. Even with spending less than 12 hours in grand total in Aachen, I still found it to be quite a charming town and think that their Weihnachtsmarkt might have just been my favorite of all. Now that's what I call a successful power visit!
Early the next morning we were off to Berlin (#4 on the map) to meet up with Eric’s sister, Lauren, who had been living there for the past year and a half. Lauren and I went to middle school together and we also happen to share a best friend so we all go way back. Lauren still had to work up until Christmas Eve, so Eric and I were on our own to check out the city. Luckily for me, Eric had previously lived in Berlin for a semester in high school so I had my very own tour guide (although we admittedly decided to call on the help of a professional tour guide in the end)! We saw the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the parking lot that is now where Hitler's bunker used to be and of course we checked out another Weinachttsmarkt. But the majority of the visited was dedicated to various Christmas celebrations. Christmas Eve was spent with Lauren’s friends at what can only be described as the most adult apartment I have ever been in. Lauren’s friends were all American academics in Berlin on fellowships that she had met through work so the evening was definitely sophisticated to say the least. Dining on homemade clam chowder, discussing the state of our native America from afar, going out in the middle of the evening on a wine run—the whole thing seemed like it might have been out of a Woody Allen movie. The next day we had a lovely brunch at Lauren’s roommate’s dad’s place, featuring those amazingly flaky German croissants and Lauren’s vegan coconut, banana and blueberry pancakes. It was really nice to spend time with adults socially, which I’ve realized isn’t something I do frequently here. Even now at 24 there is still something so exciting about feeling like a big kid being invited to participate in the grown ups’ conversation. But the day was far from done—Lauren had arranged to cook a traditional German Christmas dinner for the three of us. Eric and I helped in whatever ways we could but I was mostly relegated to dish duty as my culinary skills are lamentably subpar, especially in the context of Christmas dinner! In the end, it all came together wonderfully. We had all the fundamentals: spätzle, rotkohl, broccoflower, and printen cookies from Aachen for dessert. And Lauren even cooked a duck! To make it even more magical, we all ate dinner in our fuzziest, most festive pajamas. Of course, it was really bizarre spending Christmas away from my family. Skyping them all during our dinner preparations, which thanks to the time difference was right after they had all opened presents, was extremely bittersweet. It’s so hard to wrap your head around the fact that everything will go on just the same without you—eating the same traditional cinnamon rolls, everyone taking their usual spots to build their Christmas Legos or try out their new video game. It’s hard to watch it all happening without you. But I am truly so grateful that while I didn’t get to spend Christmas with my blood family, I was able to spend Christmas with family. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a more comforting Christmas abroad. The next day it was back to Spain with me. Leaving Germany was strangely bittersweet. I honestly hadn’t expected to like it so much. But I am convinced I will be back, and with better German the next time! And while I did do most of the basic tourist things in each of the places I visited, it really struck me how much this entire trip has felt more like visiting family than going on a glamorous European vacation (although I do realize those two experiences aren’t mutually exclusive). I had never visited someone abroad in their own home and gotten a glimpse into what their favorite parts of their cities were before and I think that might be my new preferred way of traveling. It was so refreshing to just revel in someone else's love for where they are and I got to experience that three times over the course of the trip. Sure, there are more classically tourist things I would like to get to do one day in cities, but nothing will ever replicate these intimate perspectives I got to experience and I will forever cherish those. Finally took my first international trip of the 2015-2017 saga! Olá, Lisboa! I had been to Portugal before, visiting the beautiful beachside town of Lagos when I studied abroad in Granada in 2012, but I had never visited the capital city, Lisbon / Lisboa, and I was super excited as I had heard absolutely wonderful things from friends who had visited. I was meeting up with some sorority sisters who were abroad for work – one friend, Dani, is actually teaching English in Granada and then Sam was fresh out of her tenure in the Peace Core, having worked in Mozambique for the past two years. As each of our schedules was a little hectic, we were all traveling separately but had rented an apartment together in the heart of the famous Alfama district in town. Sam, her friend Caitlyn, and I were there from Wednesday to Sunday, with Dani arriving on Friday afternoon and staying a few days extra on her own. From the limited amount of traveling I have done on my own, I have learned that I am really not the most prepared when it comes to planning. That’s not to say I am not prepared – I make sure I have all the pragmatic details of traveling taken care of, but I definitely lack the innate drive to create itineraries and plan my days ahead when traveling. In fact, I really hadn’t thought much ahead in terms of what I actually wanted to do in Lisbon; I mostly just wanted to explore the city and enjoy the sights, which were supposed to be utterly breathtaking. My travel companions seemed to be of the same mindset, so the three of us spent the first day meandering around the city, doing some shopping and taking it easy. I had gotten in around 1 AM Wednesday night / Thursday morning and they had already been traveling a bit after leaving Mozambique so we were all a little weathered. We ended up finding some truly exceptional thrift shops, enjoying a trolley ride around the city (the trolleys are one of the most recognized icons in Lisbon and I am so disappointed I never got a good picture of one!), and going out to a charming family-owned bar for some authentic ginjingha (Portuguese liqueur made from sour cherries) and Fado music (best described as the Portuguese equivalent of Flamenco, but it features a singer and live music rather than a dancer). Dani was arriving the next day and we were torn between wanting to save as many activities to do together as a group and wanting to take full advantage of our time in Lisbon so we compromised on taking a day trip to the nearby parish of Belém during the morning and meeting Dani back at the apartment in the afternoon so she could get settled and then head out again together in the evening. We left bright and early, successfully managed to find breakfast, navigate the metro and train schedules and finally made it to our destination (with only a few minor setbacks, including missing our stop on the train and having to double back – who knew you always had to be aware of express trains when it comes to suburban metro lines?). Belém features some of the most well-known tourist sites in Lisbon, including: Jerónimos Monastery, Monument to the Discoveries, and Belém Tower. All in all, it was a lovely morning, topped off finding a delightful bagel sandwich food truck where we ate lunch outside the monastery. For some reason, I seem to be able to find most of the food that I crave from the States but am unable to get in Spain whenever I am in Portugal (including bagels, apparently). When I was in Lagos, I had what I still consider to be one of the best hamburgers and best pancakes of my entire life and I was ecstatic to continue this glorious food reunion trend. Unfortunately, what we didn’t realize is that the tourist schedule is pretty restricted during the winter months – all the sites close at 6PM, which is well after darkness has started to set in. It seemed like there were only a few hours in the day when the sky wasn’t in a state of either sunrise or sunset! This scheduling inconvenience meant that by the time we went back to collect Dani at the apartment, we had already lost our afternoon of tourism. After 6 PM, there really isn't that much to do besides eat, drink, walk around or go out, all of which we did (minus the latter-- who ever has energy to actually GO OUT when they are traveling?). And while the colors of the buildings make the city one of the most recognizable and beautiful cities in Europe, it was almost better walking around it at night since the Europeans really go all out when it comes to Christmas decorations! Apparently the whole politically correct "happy holidays" movement hasn't been embraced as strongly on this side of the pond since there are Christmas trees in almost every plaza. In addition to the plethora of Christmas trees throughout the city, the main streets are also decked out with Christmas lights. The whole scene is absolutely magical. We even managed to stumble upon a Christmas market in the heart of town, where we enjoyed some mulled wine and took a picture with Santa! Before we knew it, we were already on our last day in Lisbon, which we actually spent in Sintra, a nearby town that has by far the number of castles per capita has any place I have ever been! This day trip was what I had been most looking forward to since it had come highly recommended from many of my friends and even though I was sad to not get another full day in Lisbon, I was very excited to spend the day in Sintra. And man, the town did not disappoint. Up until this point, I admit I had been slightly underwhelmed by Lisbon -- I wasn't amazed by the beauty of the city like I had anticipated and I actually found that I was mostly just homesick for Spain, which was not at all what I had expected. Sintra, however, lived up much more to the romantic fairytale view of Portugal that I had envisioned in my head. The city itself is a World Heritage Site and it is not to see why! It's got three castles, a national park and a wonderfully charming city center full of local art and boutiques. The most impressive I thought, by far, was the Pena National Palace. I'm not sure there are adequate words to describe this palace, but it is positively fabulous. For one, it is brightly colored, featuring brilliant reds, yellows, blues, and purples. In terms of architectural style, it seems to have sampled liberally from many different influences, including obvious Islamic and gothic elements. Honestly, it's almost what I would imagine the castle to look like if Disney World's ECPOT tried to imagineer a multicultural castle in the center of their World Showcase. And I mean that in the most flattering way -- the whole structure was truly impressive. And it was clearly so unlike any other palace I had ever seen. It was even decorated for the holidays! Christmas tree and all! The palace is surrounded by Pena Park, a natural park full various gardens and greenhouses, which is where we spent the majority of the afternoon. It was so nice to see full on nature! Back in Spain, at least where I am in Spain, it's mostly like olive trees and a few scattered trees here and there otherwise. It was especially nice this time of year, since I have really been missing the leaves changing back home. We leisurely spent the rest of our time exploring Sintra, eating a traditional Portuguese meal and doing some last minute shopping before heading home early to pack and get to bed for our 4:30 AM wake up call to get to the airport the next morning. Overall, I think the trip was pretty successful. On a personal level, however, I found it quite stressful to not be able to speak the language. This was the first time I had traveled to a country by myself, without a formal group, where I did not know even the basics in the local language. I think it was especially frustrating because there is such a similarity between Portuguese and Spanish that there was this expectation that I would be able to at least understand the language when reading it or hearing it, even if I couldn’t create it on my own. But, I did not find that to be the case. I understood maybe one out of every 10 spoken words but could read Portuguese words much more comfortably. The whole thing really threw me off. I got frustrated and I felt like I was constantly exhausted, always trying as hard as I could to translate my Spanish knowledge into Portuguese. The most bizarre part, however, was that I was very resistant to speaking English even though most people in Portugal do speak English. I wanted to communicate in Spanish. I couldn't help but constantly compare the two countries in my mind -- it felt like I was getting homesick for Spain. Lisbon has been on my list of places I wanted to visit for a while now, so I am glad that I can finally cross it off but, man, I am also so glad to be back home.
For next time: 1. Visit the end of the world! Unfortunately we ran out of time make it Cabo de Roca, the western most point in Europe, but it's an easy bus ride to the cape from Sintra. 2. Come back in the summer! Due to the limited amount of daylight, the lighting wasn't ideal for pictures and I never managed to take the classic streetcar or colorful street shot and I am so disappointed! *Disclaimer: I will continue to update this post with pictures as I get them from the girls I have always tried to do live my experience abroad as fully as I am capable and when I left in 2012 after my semester in Granada there really weren't that many things that I regretted not doing while I was there. The very top item on that short list, however, was not visiting San Sebastián. One of the most popular resort towns in Spain, this coastal city is known for its stunning beaches, picturesque beachfront promenade (seriously it looks like it is straight out of some 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald novel), and world-renowned restaurants. I had planned to make a day trip when I was in Bilbao (about a hour bus ride away) with some friends during my spring break trip in 2012, but we unfortunately had very rainy weather during the entirety of our stay (which is pretty common in that region), so we decided not to go in the end. Ever since then, it has been on the top of my travel to do list. As fate would have it, my good friend Lindsay, who I met through my graduate program, had worked in San Sebastián as an English teacher a few years back and was hoping to take a trip up sometime this year to visit some friends. Naturally I jumped on the opportunity to travel with her and benefit from her knowledge of the area. We decided to go for a long weekend, Friday to Tuesday, in November when there was some time off from classes. For those of you interested in the pragmatics of traveling, Granada has an airport but it is pretty small and therefore flights to and from there are pretty expensive. The preferred solution, which Lindsay and I did in this case, is to take a 2 hour bus from Granada to Málaga and fly out from that airport. We flew out Friday evening on the 13th (we didn't realize the irony of flying on Friday the 13th until after we had already booked our flight) and arrived around 11 PM in Bilbao, catching a bus to San Sebastián where we would be crashing with some of her friends. Now, from my experience I have learned that there are some friends who simply do not make good travel companions and traveling with someone for the first time is always nerve-wracking. Fortunately, Lindsay and I had similar objectives for the trip (i.e. relax, eat some good food, and enjoy the beautiful city). Of course, it helps that San Sebastián is a pretty small place and there aren't that many high ticket "to do" items, so enjoying the resort town is a pretty low key task. Besides, we each had individual objectives so while Lindsay caught up with some of her old colleagues I was able to get some much-needed work done on my end-of-term research projects. We were incredibly lucky in that we had uncharacteristically good weather while we were there. It didn't rain at all during any of the days and only slightly on the night that we arrived so we were able to take advantage of the beach even in November! We didn't fully immerse ourselves in the water, of course, but we did take our shoes off and "partoezin", if you will. Now, don't get me wrong -- I love the beautiful tropical beaches of southern Spain, but there is something so refreshing about the north of Spain. The air even feels different. It reminded me slightly of my summers in northern Michigan, where the beaches aren't always classically enjoyable (and you often have to wear a sweatshirt to tan) but they sure are beautiful. All in all, we had a wonderful, relaxing trip. We slept in almost every day, walked along the beach, ate well and made some new friends. The only thing I could think of that might have made the experience any better would have been getting to also share it with my dear friend, Kelsey, who was also terribly disappointed that we didn't make it to San Sebastián in 2012. But there's always next time -- especially since the city has been chosen as the European Capital of Culture for 2016! Many of you are familiar with the popular “young, adventurous person traveling through Europe alone” trope that seems to have taken on a life of its own when it comes to studying abroad. I have to confess, that whole idea has never had much appeal to me but I decided to try it out this weekend and take a much needed recharge break in Madrid. Now, I know you are probably thinking, “Nora, you have been in Spain for only a month so far, basically living your dream and you’re saying you need a break!?!” Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying. This past month (and trust me, it feels like it’s been much longer than only a month) has been full of so many drastic changes: I’m living on my own for the first time, I’m living in a new country, speaking a language that is not native to me, being thrown back into the academic world, and rebuilding a new daily routine from scratch. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining—I LOVE my new life. I love the challenges and the adventures and the excitement that each day brings. But trying to cope with all of these changes has got me exhausted. Every mundane task takes so much more energy when you have to do it in you non-native language. I needed some time to recharge. And while I certainly could have tried to do that in Granada, sometimes it takes a change of scenery to really get completely out of your head. And as this weekend happens to be a long weekend since Monday is a national holiday here in Spain (basically the equivalent to the 4th of July in the States) and one of my professors from Instituto Franklin (shout to you, Javier!) invited me to check out the Cervantes festival going on in Alcalá de Henares this weekend, I figured it was the pretty opportunity to take a Madrid getaway! Despite my best attempts to convince them otherwise, none of my friends were keen on coming with me so I decided to go alone. I reasoned that it would be a good compromise to the idea of traveling alone since I am already familiar with Madrid and wouldn’t feel overwhelmed with that “I have to make the most of this visit!” panic. And so off I went. I got in to Madrid around 9:30, which was perfect since I had tickets (awkward, I had one ticket since I was going alone….) to a sexual health comedy show that evening at a hipster bar in the Centro at 11:30. I’m not going to get into graphic detail about that experience (hit me up if you want details) but the exciting part was that I understood the act! I understood what the comedian/educator was saying and I even got most of the jokes! For those of you who are attempting to learn a second language, you will understand how much of a highlight that experience was for me. The next day (Saturday) I was planning to spend the entire day in Alcalá, but exhaustion got the best of me and I didn’t end up making it there until 5 (which is still pretty early by Spanish standards, to be fair). It’s truly so surreal how much impact a place can make on you. I only spent a month studying in Alcalá but as soon as I stepped off that train it like I had just been there last week. I still knew how to get to my apartment, how to get to my school, and most importantly, how to get to my favorite bar. Now, this is the part of traveling alone that I really just don’t understand. I am completely fine with the actual traveling portion (taking a bus or train or a plane) but what do you do when you get there? I mean really, how do you pass the time in social spaces when you are alone? I’ve been trying to figure it out for 2 days and I still don’t know. But that bar carries a certain brand of Swedish cider that is not available in America so I wasn’t going to let social stigma stop me from enjoying one before exploring the medieval fair. The experience of drinking alone was just as awkward as I anticipated but the cider was delicious so it’ll go into that “good thing to try once but ideally not again” category. But the fair, oh man – it was so surreal. All the streets surrounding the central plaza of Alcalá were full of tents and booths and people in medieval garb. The smell of sizzling meat and fresh olives filled the air and in the distance you could hear the beating of marching drums. It honestly was like taking a step back in time. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Alcalá de Henares is actually the birthplace of Miguel Cervantes (so it’s kind of like a Kentucky/Illinois type situation with Abraham Lincoln). After exploring the feria on my own for a bit, I met up with my former professor from Instituto Franklin. I can’t be reflect and think of how lucky I have been with teachers and professors in my life – there have been so many that have truly been invested in my future and I feel so lucky to continue to connect with them long after our time in class together has ended. Sunday ended up being a lazy, rainy day. I had intentions of exploring the city and maybe going back to either the Reina Sofia or Prado but the rain and laziness kept me homebound until the middle of the afternoon. Finally, I convinced myself I had to spend some time in the city – after all, I could spend a lazy Sunday in my bed at home in Granada. The top of my list for things to do in Madrid was see the Palacio de Cristal. I have spent so many afternoons in Retiro but somehow I had never managed to stumble across the Crystal Palace (sidenote: the Crystal Palace was used during the World’s Fair to exhibit flowers from the Philippines)! Unlike in Granada, where the weather basically alternates between November and August twice a day, October is alive and well here in Madrid! It was the absolute perfect day to spend some time in Retiro. I finally found the famous lake with rowboats and I even found the Crystal Palace! In fact, I am writing this entry on a bench directly in front of the Crystal Palace (speaking of which, this experience has taught me that if traveling alone is something I intend to do again then I need a selfie-stick, in a non-ironic way. That wasn’t an easy conclusion to accept)! And I hate to say this because I love both Millennium Park and Central Park, but Retiro has got you guys beat, no questions asked. What I think is so magical about this park, and the city in general, is that it has a unique combination of the fast-paced city life we associate with cities like Chicago or New York, but it also has the calm, relaxed, tranquil sort of ambiance that characterizes Spain as a whole. And while I have always enjoyed my time in both New York and Chicago, I’ve never felt the desire to live there. And after walking around this afternoon, I am struck by how strong my desire is to live here at some point in my life. Years 24 and 25 are already spoken for, but who knows what’s going to come after that?
The rest of my stay should be pretty chill -- after enjoying a leisurely walk throughout the rest of the park, I intend to wander down to Puerta del Sol (I saw an advertisement for Steak N Shake and I need to know if it’s the real deal) and ultimately end up at a Starbucks because one of the things I miss most about Amerca is the real, grande-sized coffees and cushy chairs where I can do some research for my upcoming term papers (yes, I am going to work on my mini-vacation). I head back to Granada tomorrow afternoon and even though it may not seem like the most exciting of weekends, I could not be more pleased with my mini getaway. Disclaimer: this is a very personal, introspective post
As many of you know, I had a lot of reservations about coming back to Granada for graduate school. For a number of reasons the spring of 2012 was a very emotional time in my life and I was very apprehensive about returning the physical place that represented so much for me both mentally and emotionally. On one hand, I was nervous about coming back here alone after having had such amazingly positive experiences here in Granada: it was the first time I fell in love; it was my first time traveling alone, let alone living outside my native country; and I had a truly amazing group of friends who were studying abroad with me. Going into this new venture, I was very aware that I could never relive that experience but I simply could not imagine coming to a Granada without Meg, Megan, Kokaale, Emily and Kelsey. How could my new adventure possibly live up to the other when that one had been so amazing? On the other hand, the spring semester of 2012 was in large part defined, for me, by a lot of painful personal growth. At that time in my life, I had been repressing some pretty serious baggage and it all came to a head while I was in Granada. Especially exacerbated by some events from the past year (including an ill-fated visit to Granada by myself in the summer of 2014), I was very apprehensive about having to face those memories alone. As it turns out, my time here in Granada has been free (thus far) of any emotional turmoil. I've learned already in this last month is that it is entirely possible to value both of my experiences living in Granada in totally separate (and yet complementing) ways. I was in a totally different place in my life in the spring of 2012 than I am now, in the fall of 2015: the ways I see the world, experience the world, and understand the world have evolved. This is a different leg of my journey and I know that my experiences in 2012 have enriched my appreciation for this current one. And every time I go for a stroll in the Lorca park, I can't help but smile thinking of the wonderful afternoons spent there with my girls. Furthermore, all of the pain associated with that time in my life from 2012 had been compressed to a single episode on a trip to Cabo de Gata, a beach and national park a few hours away from Granada. Without going into details about what transpired on that trip, I have spent a great deal of energy in the last 3 years trying to move past the hurt, betrayal, and pain that I associate with that place. Invigorated by the positive experience I've had thus far, I decided to go back to Cabo de Gata yesterday. It wasn't a trip organized by my program, but it felt like an important step for me to initiate on my own. I admit, when I first saw the familiar rocky formations looming in the distance, my stomach dropped and I felt a slight sense of panic -- was I ready to face this? But after the initial shock wore off, the panic subsided and I ended up having a very lovely day at the beach (besides getting a sunburnt backside, ouch). The point of this vignette isn't that now my life in Granada is a perfect dream -- it's not. It's regular life: full of daily drama, boredom, stresses and adventures. The only difference is now I am free of the fear that has plagued me since finding out I would be returning to Granada. Facing your fears is never easy or comfortable, but once you're ready to jump off that cliff and face the fall... man, the exhilaration is incredible. Cheers to the future, my friends -- it's going to be an exciting ride! |
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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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