Otoño

I think that fall has finally come to Granada. The light has changed a little (it gets dark around quarter of nine now), and it's "cool" enough that I can wear my jeans during the day without melting, so I blend in a little better with the locals. This is my favorite season at home, though, so it's a little strange to be here. Send me pumpkin products!

What's new? I feel like I haven't written in ages. Hmmm. Well, one night last week there was a huge fashion show in the center of town produced by some of the local stores, which mainly consisted of seemingly fully-clothed models walking down the runway until - surprise! - they turned around and reminded everyone present that we were in Europe. That same night across the street there was a salsa/cha cha cha concert, and the plaza was filled with coupes over the age of 70 attempting to sway back and forth to the music. Really, really cute. I went to a show that night, a bedroom comedy that came to the Teatro de Isabel la Católica, the main/biggest theater in Granada, from Madrid. It was a Friday night, I really wanted to go to the theater, and didn't really feel like going with anyone. Besides, I believe that was the day that everyone was off on some Arab Bath experience with the group while I was in class, so they weren't around anyway. The show was funny, and it was great to be in a theater, but I only understood about 50 percent of what was going on, what with how fast the actors were speaking, the nuanced dialog, and the fact that I was sitting up in the 4th balcony three kilometers away vertically from the stage. You must understand, of course, that in Spain one doesn't do anything alone; even sitting on a park bench eating a donner kebap (a wonderful gyro-like Middle Eastern pita thingy) is enough to broadcast to the world that you are a social pariah - I know from experience. So, going to a show (which, like many things in Spain, started at 10:30 at night) by oneself is completely unheard of. I could tell that the woman who was seated next to me was already wary of the fact that I was alone, but combine that with the way I didn't laugh at what was apparently one of the funniest lines in the play because I didn't understand any of it, and it was enough for her to conclude that I was a sociopath. Midway through the show, I saw her nudge her husband to put up their armrest so that she could scoot away from me.

I had my final exam today for my intensive course which went as well as could be expected, especially since vocab wasn't on it and I had the prof. correct it with me as soon as I was done. This coming week we're off to Madrid, Toledo, and Segovia to see the same things I saw either two years or four weeks ago, but it'll be nice to travel. I also have a friend from Bates who's in Madrid for the semester, so I'll see her then. After Madrid, I hop on a plane to Brussels for a few days, come back to Granada for two days of class, and then hop a few countries to visit London and my friend Steve who's studying at Oxford. I'll keep you posted.