This is the fourth week of our semester classes and I’m learning a lot. I’m starting to actually get homework, which I have mostly avoided up until this point! Helping the kids with their English homework is more fun for me than doing my own. :-) Still, I hardly have homework compared to what I have in Ohio. I like my classes for the most part. I'm currently taking Spanish Art History: Baroque to the present, Islamic culture and civilization, Spanish 20th century lit, Latin American Lit and a speaking/writing required class. They're going well, but it's definitely a challenge to sit through 2 hours of a lecture class in Spanish writing notes the entire time! I guess it's good practice...
Really, the best part about taking classes here is getting to SEE all that I'm learning, right in front of me. Last weekend we took a trip to Córdoba, another city in Andalucía, and visited one of the most famous mosques in Spain. I absolutely loved this visit because I got to see the reality of everything I'm learning in my Islamic culture and my art history classes in one. It makes the hours of note-writing in class worth it!
I'm still amazed at everything that I've been able to see while I've been here. However, even though I've been able to see and do so much, I think when I look back on this trip my best memories will be the simple conversations I enjoy with my madre at the kitchen table. I learn so much from her every time we talk and she has been an amazing blessing to me since I’ve been here, in ways I don’t think she’ll ever know. We talk about anything from what’s going on in our lives to current events going on in the world, from what food she made that day for lunch to love and faith. And she’s so full of never-ending hugs, kisses, and “hola guapas” that you always feel better just to be around her. Especially when homesickness comes around. I’m surprised it still comes and goes—I thought I certainly wouldn’t be homesick by now! Being around my family and the friends I’ve made here helps...
I want to write a brief summary of everything I’m learning, but I can’t. I don’t know how to sum it all up. I learn so much every day through my family, my classes, my friends, my trips and so on. All I can really say that my view of the world and my life has completely changed, but I'm not sure I can explain how, because I'm not sure I really know yet! I feel like a completely different person already, and I'm excited for all that I still have left to learn and grow during the two months I have left here.
I did have a dream last night that I returned home to my house on campus and I was sad! Not the reaction I would have expected to have, because right now I feel like I'll be so excited to return. But that must be a good sign that I'm really making Granada my home. I talked to one of my ISA advisers today and told me that it's usually harder to return home than it is to leave!
Anyway, nothing too excited has happened here lately. It's just normal life in Granada. The most exciting things I've been up to lately:
Last Friday night I went to a Discoteca, called Mae West, for the first time. A discoteca is a dance club where all the Spaniards go to hang out on the weekends, most people arriving around 2 or 3 and staying until 6 in the morning! It's a crazy life they live here, and I cannot keep up with it! I had fun, but I was really to leave much earlier than 6.
Earlier that day I got my hair cut (yay!) It was a challenge explaining how I wanted my hair cut in Spanish, but I practice on my madre before I went, to make sure I had the vocab down. It went well!
Something to look forward to this weekend is the campamento (retreat) I’m going on with the group of jóvenes (the youth) from the church. We’re taking a bus to the mountains right outside of Málaga, about 45 minutes away from Granada, where we will stay for 2 nights and two days doing who knows what…All the people I’ve met at the church are so fun so I’m excited to get to know them better through this. We shall see what happens!
Well, I'm off to do some homework now! Hasta luego...
I want to write a brief summary of everything I’m learning, but I can’t. I don’t know how to sum it all up. I learn so much every day through my family, my classes, my friends, my trips and so on. All I can really say that my view of the world and my life has completely changed, but I'm not sure I can explain how, because I'm not sure I really know yet! I feel like a completely different person already, and I'm excited for all that I still have left to learn and grow during the two months I have left here.
I did have a dream last night that I returned home to my house on campus and I was sad! Not the reaction I would have expected to have, because right now I feel like I'll be so excited to return. But that must be a good sign that I'm really making Granada my home. I talked to one of my ISA advisers today and told me that it's usually harder to return home than it is to leave!
Anyway, nothing too excited has happened here lately. It's just normal life in Granada. The most exciting things I've been up to lately:
Last Friday night I went to a Discoteca, called Mae West, for the first time. A discoteca is a dance club where all the Spaniards go to hang out on the weekends, most people arriving around 2 or 3 and staying until 6 in the morning! It's a crazy life they live here, and I cannot keep up with it! I had fun, but I was really to leave much earlier than 6.
Earlier that day I got my hair cut (yay!) It was a challenge explaining how I wanted my hair cut in Spanish, but I practice on my madre before I went, to make sure I had the vocab down. It went well!
Something to look forward to this weekend is the campamento (retreat) I’m going on with the group of jóvenes (the youth) from the church. We’re taking a bus to the mountains right outside of Málaga, about 45 minutes away from Granada, where we will stay for 2 nights and two days doing who knows what…All the people I’ve met at the church are so fun so I’m excited to get to know them better through this. We shall see what happens!
Well, I'm off to do some homework now! Hasta luego...
No comments:
Post a Comment