Farewell España

Oh my gosh! I can't believe I leave Granada today!!!  I had to write one last post before I left!

Over the past week I've tried to get everything in that I hadn't done before.. Hannah and I relaxed in the Arab Baths and got a massage there, we shopped in the Albaycín, and shopped for souvenirs (of course!)  Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been very good, so we weren't able to take many pictures or go anywhere outside.  This picture below is of the shops in the Albaycín, they're all Arab shops and most have some pretty neat stuff in them!  Mom and Dad, this is where I bought your gift!

The one nice day we had I took pictures around where I live.  Since we've been getting so much rain, the trees and plants are in full bloom.  Granada is gorgeous!!  The only bad part is that my allergies have been killer! And since the Sierra Nevada blocks all the wind from coming through to Granada, the allergies stay here.

I told Encarna that we have to take pictures before I leave!!  This is Encarna, you've heard so much about her, now you finally get to see what she looks like!  And even though she feeds me 3 pieces of ham for dinner every night, I still think she's a nice lady!! haha

And a picture with Julie.  Carmen wouldn't let me take a picture with her.  She said that she hasn't been in a picture since she was 10 years old and she wants to keep it that way! (No pictures in 80 years!!! ...impossible!)

A few of us went to Mamma Mia, a delicious Italian restaurant, for my going away dinner and afterwards we went to an Irish Pub, Hannigans, to hang out with a big group.  It was definitely hard saying good-bye.  I think it's so hard because I know I won't see most of the people here again!

Yesterday in class we didn't do ANYTHING!  So we decided to take pictures instead of sitting around staring at each other!  Devin, Laura, Liza, Holly and I are the only ones left from our first month! So sad to leave them!

Starting from left to right:  our teacher, Fermín (he's drawing on my foot..); Me; Douglas from New York; Laura is sitting next to me, she's from Boston; "Violeta" is above Laura (I put her name in quotes because that's her Spanish name, not her real name), she's from China, Enrico is at the very top, he's from Italy; Laura is sitting next to "Violeta", she's from Germany; Holly is directly in front of Laura, from Texas; Ece is in the very front, from Turkey; Devin is on the end, from Michigan; Liza, from Kentucky; and Mariangeles, our other teacher, is poking her head out right above Devin.

I'm all packed up and ready to go.  It doesn't feel real that I'm coming back home, but I'm still very excited!  I will definitely be ready to be home after my 31 hours of traveling to get back to the USA!! I leave tonight and take a bus to Madrid, sleep in the airport, hop on a plane in the morning and fly to Belgium, then fly from Belgium to Chicago and Chicago to KC!  it's going to be a long, long, long adventure!  The next time I post, I'll be home!  No worries, I'll have to post at least one more post to wrap this all up, or tell how reverse culture shock is going.. it's going to be so weird to drive again, or be able to use my cell phone! CRAZYYYY!!!!

Good-bye España! I will miss you a lot!

Overview of Everything!

I can't believe I only have a few days left in Spain!! It feels like just yesterday I was getting off the airplane and wandering around Madrid in the rain trying to find my group, when we didn't even know what they looked like or who they were!  I feel like I've come so far since then.  I'm so proud of myself for doing this and completing my dream of studying abroad.. and what better place to do it than Spain!

I've definitely had my ups and downs throughout my study abroad experience.  I have met some amazing people, traveled to places I thought I would never get the opportunity to travel to, learned the language so much better, and learned to survive in a foreign country!  But on the other hand, I've had rough patches trying to adapt to the culture, language and food, which were totally expected when coming over here.

All in all, I've visited 19 different cities in Spain (including one British Colony), but went on 20 trips (Nerja twice!), made amazing friends, and now have  memories that will last a lifetime!

Here's an overview of my 3 months in Spain:

January 26: Snowed in at the airport and spent 46 hours traveling from the time I left Kansas City to the time I got to Madrid, with the time difference it felt like 53 hours!

January 28:  Finally arrived in Madrid! This picture is in front of the Palacio Real. (City #1)

January 29:  Toledo.  The most beautiful view of a city!  And still trying to recover from jet lag! (City #2)

January 31: Arrived in Granada and went to a Flamenco show!  (City #3)

February 2:  Took a trip to La Alhambra with ISA and my classes began at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas (CLM)

February 3:  Visited the Albaycín

February 4:  First discoteca with my besties!

February 10: Conquered my fear of the public bus, thanks to Mike and Federico! 

February 11: Tried to play raquetball and turned out wandering the streets of Granada.  Also, my first time eating churros!

February 12:  Went to Ronda with ISA (City #4)

February 13: Went to Málaga with ISA (City #5)

February 17: Met Spaniards at an intercambio and went out for tapas with friends

February 19: A bunch of us headed off to Monachil for the day to hike in Los Cahorros (City #6), then went to the Salsa Bar and to Mae West, a discoteca, with friends

 February 21:  Hanging out at our favorite tapas bar with Brittney and Amanda

February 25: Disaster trip to Barcelona (City #7)

March 4: H-Bombs with my classmates

March 5: Carnaval de Cádiz (City #8)

March 11-12: Went to Sevilla, Kansas City's sister city, with ISA (City #9)

March 13:  Visited Córdoba with ISA (City #10)

March 19: Favorite trip ever, Nerja!! (City #11)

March 27: Las Alpujarras (City #12)

March 28: Hung out in Salobreña with ISA (City #13)

March 30: Got a tattoo with Liza and Rachel

March 31: Going away dinner for Mike and James

April 1: Nerja again! (Not counted)

April 2:  My second favorite trip, Gibraltar! (City #14)

April 7:  Total girls weekend, Salamanca (City #15)

April 16: Almuñécar (City #16)

April 17: La Herradura (City #17)

April 19: Motril, my least favorite city of all times (City #18)

April 20: Torrenueva (City #19)

April 21: Went to the Cathedral with Rachel and her parents and watched the Processión Silencio

April 22: Watched more processionals near my casa

I think I did a pretty good job of traveling and getting to know around Granada!  Not only did I travel to all these places, but I've also used every form of transportation (except boat).

-Airplane

-Metro

-Taxi

-City Bus

-Overnight Bus

-ALSA Bus (long rides)

-Hop-On Bus

-Tour Taxi

-Car

-Train

I have to put something in here about International Studies Abroad (ISA).  I would HIGHLY recommend using ISA for your study abroad program.  They are very well organized and know what they're doing.  They are willing to help with anything and everything!  They are there to tutor for classes, listen to problems about whatever, help if they can, basically they're just awesome!

Semana Santa

This is probably one of the most interesting posts I've written, in my opinion, because there is so much cultural value in Semana Santa.  I'm so glad I've gotten to be a part of this and see what the Holy Week is all about in Spain.  For the rest of Semana Santa (Holy Week), I'm staying in Granada.  My friend Rachel's family is in town, so they're doing site seeing and hanging out.  Since I'd never seen the Cathedral in Granada, Rachel invited me to come along and see it with them!  Rachel's taking a Spanish Art History class right now, so she was able to tell us all about the cathedral! (Sorry if the videos don't work, my computer is all of a sudden hating the internet again!)

This room is where the priest's robes are kept.  They enter this room, get their robes and then go into the next room to change.

This is the priest's changing room.  There were no photos allowed to be taken in this room, but I'm sneaky, so I got pictures of everything!

There is a representation of the Virgin Mary enclosed in glass.  She is standing on a cloud of angels and a half moon, this is a representation of her virginity.  Her robes are supposed to be white, but over time they have changed color.

The main part of the Cathedral is amazing!  It's huge and absolutely gorgeous!

These areas are bought by families in the city, they're called capillas.  They are decorated however the family chooses to decorate them and is a guaranteed place for the family to sit during the services.  You can tell where the wealth of the world has put their money.  All of these are decorated very ornately and all are different.

As unreal as it may seem, there are actually people buried under this.  Rachel said that when she had visited the cathedral with her class, there was only a grate over this area.

The pews have Granadas on them! 

Rachel and I standing in front of one of the capillas.

The choir hymnals are HUMONGOUS!  They have to be big enough for the whole choir to see them.

The outside of the cathedral.  I can't believe I had never been inside and I walk/ride the bus past it everyday!  I'm glad I finally got to go!

Rachel's parents invited me to go out to eat with them.  It was very fun, we had pizza!  At night, a bunch of us met up to go to one of the Semana Santa processions.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this, and at first I thought it was kind of scary, but it's just what they do in Spain!  Granada is very proud of the processions that take place here.  The first people we saw walking down the path were picking up twigs and trash, making sure there was nothing on the pathway.

I have been reading a lot about Semana Santa, I'll share my knowledge with you  (Just like I do in every other post!).  Semana Santa is a mass mourning and pubic repentance of sins.  There are more masses in the churches than normal during Easter Week.  This gives everyone a chance to go to as many services as they would like, and it's also a reminder that Jesus died on the cross to save us from ourselves.  The most eerie spectacles of the festival are the Nazarenos, based on the people  of Nazareth, wearing tall, pointy hats and matching robes with their faces completely covered, apart from their eyes.  Seeing hundreds of slow-moving unidentifiable people can be a shock at first, and they appear comparable to the KKK.  Fortunately, there are no ties with the KKK, and the Nazarenos came first.

This was the Silent Procession that we watched.  The only noise was the drum that this person was beating.  Since there was no noise, it made it even more touching.

The drum followed by the cross.

There are even little kids that participate.  This little boy is so cute!

Throughout Semana Santa, there are 32 processions.  Each procession spends tons of money, time and effort in perfecting their procession.  There are usually 2 sculptures, one of a scene from Christ's Passion and the other is depicting a young, mourning Virgin Mary.  These floats, called pasos, are carried by 40 men, some who decide to be barefoot to signify the suffering of Christ.  The men are called costaleros. This literally means "sack men", because of the costal, a sack-like cloth that they wear over their neck, to soften the burden.

After the paso, there were men and women dressed up as Roman guards.

Some of the penitents (people wearing robes), go barefoot or even have chains dragging behind them to signify their suffering.

The Silent Procession, especially being my first procession, was extremely eye opening.  I was lucky enough to see another procession during the day.  This one was with La Iglesia de San Juan and was very close to my house!!!

These people are with the police.

The first paso coming through of Jesus on the cross.

It stopped right in front of us, so we were able to get a bunch of great pictures!

I love this next picture.  You can see all the way up Constitución (the street I live off of) and all the way up to the Albaycin.

The second paso is on its way.

This is a very famous piece of artwork.   The Virgin Mary shedding tears because of the mourning that is caused by the death of Jesus.

This paso was extremely beautiful.

On Easter Sunday, it is traditional to throw rose petals and the Nazarenos remove their hoods to mark the end of the mourning.  In Spain, Easter Monday is a ghost town in the cities.  The people in the processions are sleeping off their hard work that they've completed.  For them, Easter is not a holiday, but it's well worth the pain for the emotion of it.  One of the websites I have read says that the cstaleros carrying the extremely heavy and disturbing scenes of the death of Christ and the Virgin Mary, say they find the experience of Semana Santa overwhelming and heart-wrenching.  Even though this is a emotional week for many, at the end of the ceremonies, in Spain, Semana Santa is considered a fun festival for everyone.