A Realization

I had a dream last night. I dreamt that I left Granada and went back to the US. In my dream, I cried.

My dreams have been strangely insightful since I've come to Spain. Unlike my average I-am-a-spy-and-being-pursued-by-the-mafia-and-a-pack(?)-of-giant-spiders dreams, the ones I remember here have always reflected my current preoccupations. For example, within the first couple weeks (when I was feeling generally homesick and stressed out having to deal with everything by myself), I had 2 memorable dreams. In the first, my family came to visit (what I have been looking forward to since my first day here. And now, this week, it is finally going to happen! I can't tell you how excited I am...), and in the second, IES offered to give me a roommate (also something I really really wanted in the beginning). Of course, both these dreams took strange, unrealistic turns (in the one with my family, I found out they had been living in Jamaica since I'd left for Spain and they decided to only stay for a day before taking another trip to Hawaii--understandably, I was upset), but at their core, they were very representative of what I was thinking about at that time. This one took me by surprise, but I realized the truth in it instantly. The truth is, I love living in Granada. I love the city, the way of life, the weather... I love taking my two-hour long walks every day, getting delicious fruit and pastries whenever I feel like it, and the "no pasa nada" (more or less "nothing happened" or "don't worry about it" or, more accurately, "whatevs...") attitude that the whole city seems to share. Perhaps it is related to the fact that the last three days have been ridiculously warm and sunny, so much so that I have a very distinct tan-line from my shirt yesterday, but it seems that lately, my love for Granada has spiked. And I realized, as I was walking around this morning, enjoying the sunshine and warmth and pretty fountains, that leaving Granada will be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

In conclusion, I would greatly appreciate it if everyone I knew would make a collective decision to move to Granada.

I visited the Alhambra for the first time this week, but I'll save pictures of that for a bit later, when I have more time (midterm tests this week...). It was pretty amazing. More details with the pictures. On Friday, there was beautiful weather so I wandered around, found another amazing view, and ate the most delicious plums I have ever tasted. Juice everywhere. I ran across another parade-like thing, with a marching band and some military people, watched some random clowns do a show, and listened to the many street musicians.

Friday night, I went to the Spring Festival, which was basically just a giant gathering/excuse to get drunk. I went with Enrique's young cousins, who were very amusing. It has been a very hanging-out-with-Spanish-people-I-don't-know sort of weekend, because I spend a good six hours of Saturday at a school party thing with my host family. I got rather sunburnt, made a lot of awkward conversation, sat around awkwardly for extended periods of time, and was given like five Tinta de Veranos by my host family, who once again could not understand why I would refuse a drink. That night, I sought out the sunset in the Albyzin.

(Above, the sunset. Below, the view in the other direction with the Alhambra and Sierra Nevadas in the background.)

This morning, to top it off, I went on a walk, got cafe con leche and gelato, did homework on a sunny bench in front of a fountain, and ate a few delicious mini-palmeras (pastry shaped like a pretzel, more or less...). As always, there were protests in the streets (this time against what is going on in Egypt and Libia).