1. I named my blog "No Pasa Nada" ("It's Nothing" or "Nothing Happens") because I've heard it said by the locals many times and it seems to be the motto/lifestyle here. It basically means that nothing is that big of a deal and nothing matters as much as you think it does so RELAX you crazy American! The people here are so laid-back in everything they do...they talk more slowly, walk more slowly, and they're much less productive than most Americans (not including myself), but in a good way. Almost all the stores are closed here at any time from 2pm-8pm so everyone can go home to eat, take naps and spend time with their familia. AKA the important stuff, AKA my kind of place.
2. It is way colder here than you would expect the south of Spain to be. It's generally been in the high 30's-mid 40's during the day, and they say the temperature drops about 50 degrees F at nighttime during the winter months. It's because Granada is north of the Sierra Nevadas, so the city doesn't get the warm air coming from the coast because the mountains block it. The houses are still built for the summer months, though, AKA they have tile floors and there is no heat anywhere (and I mean anywhere) besides the occasional space heater. I've finally come to terms with the fact that until spring I will not be warm, not even as I sit under my covers with 2 pairs of pants and 2 sweatshirts including a Northface on with the space heater 2 inches from my bed. Also, everyone tour guide and local thus far has told us that it never rains here, so naturally it's been drizzling for the past 2 days. Sweet!
3. You can pick out Americans by looking for who is smiling and saying "please" and "thank you" after everything. I never noticed it until our orientation here, but Spaniards think Americans are overly polite and smiling too much is kind of like a sign of stupidity. I prefer not to know what they think of me.
4. Besides siesta and the fact that everyone is good-looking, one of my favorite things about Spain is tapas! I had never heard of them before coming here, but they're just various types of appetizers that come when you order a drink at any restaurant or cafe. And in Granada they're FREE! We've had some interesting tapas since being here, but my favorite was at a bar called La Bella & La Bestia (Also my favorite bar simply due to the name and way it was decorated like a castle), where we ordered 4 glasses of red wine and they brought us a HUGE plate that included 4 big toasted sandwiches, sliced potatoes baked in olive oil, tons of pasta and a very very large portion of fresh olives! In total we paid 2 euro each. Muy bien!
5. The host family I'm living with speaks not one word of English. This was shocking to me, as I assumed stupidly that everyone's family would know at least some, just in case the language barrier became a problem. We were all very very wrong, but surprisingly it hasn't been as horrible as I thought. My host mom's boyfriend picked me up from the hostal to take me home and show me around the city, and he told me multiple times that I spoke very well and he thought we understood eachother perfectly. I decided to just let him think that. My host mom speaks so fast that she's just become accustomed to repeating herself for me, which I feel badly about but I also think I get a little better everyday. It just gets exhausting sometimes trying to figure out what everybody is talking about and being the only one who doesn't understand, and that's when I awkwardly nod my head and thank God for Google Translate!
6. We learned in class today that less than 1% of students in the world get to travel and study abroad. I miss home a lot and it gets hard/frustrating trying to adapt to all the different things about this place, but I feel so lucky that I'm getting this opportunity and I know it will be so wonderful and worth it when all is said and done!
More revelations later! I still need to talk about La Alhambra and Molly's First Day of School! Here are some pics to hold you over until my next post! Adios amigos!
My cute room! But don't be fooled, it only looks warm and cozy.
One of the street corners near my school!
Not tapas, but fresh shrimp from the Mediterranean! Muy delicioso!
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