Flamenco at the Alhambra!!

I just got back from a flamenco show in the Jardines del Generalife at the Alhambra!  That’s probably one of the cooler things I’m going to be able to say in my life, so I felt the need to get it out there.  The Generalife is a beautiful palace constructed in the 14th century as the summer home for the kings of Granada, and the gardens that surround it are incredible.  There are lots of pools and little secluded pathways, and it felt so crazy to be walking in the footsteps of ancient Arab kings.  Our visit was especially cool because we went there at night, which meant the gardens were lit up and we had an amazing view of the city of Granada.  Since it was pretty dark, I never got a good sense of the layout of the area, but I almost think it was better this way.  It was too dark to read the informational plaques if there were any, so we just got to wander around and enjoy the landscape.  We’re also going to tour the inside of the Alhambra in a few weeks, so then I’ll learn about its history.  

That was definitely the coolest thing I’ve done so far.  This morning I went to orientation, where I met some other students, got a tour of the Centro de Lenguas Modernas, and heard scary stories about why not to be out at night in the Albayzín, the historic Muslim quarter of Granada.  After that, Andrea and I had lunch with our host mom, and I got my first taste of a Spanish siesta.  Pretty much everything really does close down.  Stores here have unusual hours, like 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., and even the center of the city, where I live, is pretty quiet.  Although right now I’m too jetlagged to fully enjoy the siesta, I think I’ll grow to like it.  It allows people to make the most of the cooler nights (which they definitely do—when we walked home from los Jardines around 12:30 a.m., the streets were more crowded than I’ve ever seen them, and even little kids were out) and sleep through the sweltering afternoons.

I’m pretty stoked about improving my Spanish while I’m here.  Mark Bennet, the program coordinator, reiterated how important it is that we speak Spanish all the time, and it seems like most of the students are taking him pretty seriously.  We all talked pretty much exclusively in Spanish on the way to and from the Generalife, and even though it makes it hard to have deeper conversations, I think we’ll get there eventually.

Well, I wrote most of this last night and now I have a lot more to say, but it’ll have to wait for another time.  ¡Un abrazo!