Confidence and Confusion

How is it possible that this is the beginning of week four in Granada? Time flies...

I had a great weekend in Granada.  It was nice to relax, sleep late, and hang out with my friends.  On Friday, Lynn found a hiking trail online only fifteen minutes outside the center of Granada (near the Alhambra).  The website claimed the hike was only two hours, but it actually took us around four! We couldn't stop taking pictures and admiring the absolutely UNREAL views.  It was amazing to all of us that we could take a short walk outside of the city and end up in such a serene and beautiful place.  You sure can't do that in New York! (Unless you count Central Park which...I don't.)

Just one of the many, many pictures I took on Saturday.

There was random playground equipment! So Lindsey, Colleen, Hannah and I took the opportunity to be five years old again.

Maybe more exciting was Allie's visit to Granada! She is a close friend of mine from high school, and is studying in Alicante (a city about 3 and a half hours northeast of here) with Clemson University.  Her program came to Granada this weekend, and it was great to catch up with her! :)  I promised her I would visit Alicante, so I'm hoping I can keep that promise even though a lot of my weekends are busy. Plus, she lives on the beach! That'll definitely give me incentive to find time to go!

Allie and me with our delicious frozen yogurt. Mine was of course covered in Nutella. :)

When I first got to Granada, I wasn't even close to being confident in my Spanish-speaking abilities.  I still have days where I feel like I don't understand a word (exaggeration), but those days are becoming few and far between.  On Friday, I went to a hotel near my house to make a reservation for my dad's svisit.  The man working spoke English, but I chose to speak to him in Spanish instead.  He didn't even have to switch to English to talk to me, and I understood every word! Wahoo! I consider this a big achievement, since I've found many people here do not have a lot of patience for Americans learning Spanish.  The last three and a half weeks have definitely been about gaining confidence.  Now, when I go into a restaurant, taxi, school, hotel, etc. my heart doesn't start to pound out of nervousness.  I can do this!

Of course, there are moments of confusion.  Take yesterday, for instance.  After class, I power walked down to what I thought was the bus station to buy my bus ticket to Madrid (my flight to Italy next Thursday takes off from there).  I heard the bus station closed at 1:30, so I had to hurry.  After frantically crossing multiple streets and dodging several cars and motorcycles, I arrived at my destination.  I confidentially approached the ticket counter, and told the man working that I was looking to buy a ticket to Madrid for February 23rd at 8 AM.  He stared at me. "Uhh, did I say the right thing?" I thought. Yes, yes I was sure I had constructed a perfectly Spanish sentence.  He told me there wasn't a trip to Madrid until 9:10 AM.  I was confused. I grew flustered. The internet said there was an 8 AM bus! I was positive he was wrong.  I argued.  I informed him that the Internet's schedule said the bus left at 8 AM. He shook his head at me, and wrote down the number "9:10 AM" on my paper. Duh, I understand, I thought. I'm not stupid.  My Spanish became Spanglish, until I was positive I wasn't even making sense. I said "Gracias" and walked away, defeated.

I stood in the lobby of the "bus station" for a solid 3 minutes until I realized I was, indeed, an idiot. There wasn't a bus from this station at 8 AM because I was at the train station.

...Oops.

In my defense, the street signs leading up to the train station only said "Estación" with a picture of a train on it.  The train looks oddly like a bus, okay?! So, that was my one blonde, stupid Lauren moment of the week (I hope. The week has only just begun...We all know I am capable of much more).

I needed to be cheered up last night because I missed home, and my friends, and it's Valentine's Day and all and I knew I wasn't going to be with a lot of the people I love.  Luckily, my good friend Ryan Facebooked me and told me he is coming to Granada in 2 weeks! He's studying in Dublin, and I can't WAIT to see him! He wasn't home for very long last summer, so this will be a happy reunion. :)

Happy Valentine's Day to everybody! Valentine's Day isn't about having a boyfriend or a girlfriend, it's just about having people in your life that you love. I have a lot of those people, and I hope all of you have un día fantástico! :)

Lauren