Just in case you're worried I'm getting too full of myself, never fear! I have plenty of embarrassing/awkward moments every. single. day. It's wonderful. I mean, obviously I trip on cobblestones every day. That's a given. But with living in a city comes using public transportation, and with using public transportation comes a whole world of embarrassing possibilities. Like having to run a whole block to make your bus in the morning when you see it at the stop while every person watches you and the bus driver laughs as you get on. Or when you drop all of your coins on the bus floor while trying to recharge your bus pass. Or when you are standing waiting for the doors to open so you can get off the bus (and being really cool and planting your feet just right so you're not being jolted by the starts and stops like those other dorks around you) and those doors open into the bus instead of flat against the outside, and so they squish you between the door and the pole and you yelp as, again, everyone stares at you, and all you can do is pry yourself from this awkward and painful situation and run off the bus and put on sunglasses and certainly not look back at that bus.
Despite the plethora of awkward situations taking the bus creates, I actually really, really like that I can use the buses. I've always lived in a suburb and go to school in a small town, and we always drive everywhere in cars. It is so fun for me to just be able to leave and get all over the city whenever I feel like it, and I get to see such beautiful views of the mountains and different neighborhoods and parts of the city just on my normal ride to school. Obviously the more I do that, the more familiar and connected the city becomes, and I think it becomes more beautiful because of that. I love Chicago more than any other city I've been too, but I'm sure part of that is the fact that I've been going there since I was little, so it's familiar and each time I go I am reminded of the wonderful times I've had there. Who knows, maybe I'll feel as strongly about Granada after living here for the whole semester.
Speaking of becoming familiar with the city, I am definitely feeling a lot more connected because of the different Spaniards I am meeting and activities I'm doing. My professors are all Spanish, but the ones who teach our social change and history seminars don't speak English at all, and they "dumb down" their Spanish a lot less than our regular professors. It was really frustrating at first, but I realized today how much more I understand our history professor (he usually teaches at the University of Granada) now than on our first day of class last week. I have also started the community service component of my program, and I work in a school near my school in the Albayzin neighborhood. I have a variety of classes there in which I teach English... one large class of 6th graders, where my friend Devynn and I are sort of teacher assistants, two small classes (5 or 6 students) of kids about 14 years old where we are more of tutors and are really there to help them practice speaking (we play lots of games!), and one class of three students who are deaf! That class is super interesting because the students' first language is Spanish Sign Language (lengua de signas), but they all now have hearing aids and are actually kind of on a similar path to learning Spanish as me! So I get to basically sit and watch all of them sign with their teacher as well as speak Spanish, and get to practice my Spanish as I talk to them and help with their work (that is the only class where I am not teaching English). I was nervous that I would be no help at all in the class for hearing impaired students when I first asked if I would be able to work with the hearing impaired students (los zordos) for my community service, since I don't know Spanish sign language and obviously don't have a great grasp of Spanish yet, but the students understand my speaking surprisingly well and we really have been able to communicate so much more than I expected and I've even taught them all how to sign their names in American Sign Language. One of the girls is especially excited and practices the ASL alphabet and shows me every time I've met with that class. I have so much fun with them and the other classes too, because the kids are actually excited to practice English and are hilarious. I know it's going to be a really fun experience at the school and it's just a very relaxed atmosphere with the staff and students.
Finally, as I mentioned earlier, I have started an intercambio with Irene, a student here in Granada. I met her through the host brother of someone in my program, and have gotten together with her twice now. It's such a cool experience to be able to communicate with someone in two languages. Usually I talk in Spanish and she talks in English, but we can obviously switch if we need to explain something more specific or too difficult and we both know enough of the other language to be able to understand what the other person is saying (for the most part...we've had a couple conversations where we try for 10 minutes to figure out what word or concept the other person is trying for, and that is also pretty hilarious). I love finally getting to know some Spaniards close to my age, and an intercambio like this is so helpful because you learn more casual and every day things, both about the language and the culture.
So that's an update on life for me right now. I'll probably do multiple posts the next couple weeks because I have trips coming up (the the pueblo for a festival, and to IRELAND!), and I also visited the Alhambra and Córdoba and Seville in the past two weeks and want to at least post pictures from those trips. ¡Hasta Luego!
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