Yes, I’m completely aware that it’s been a good 6 weeks or so since I’ve written in this. I’m fully admitting that I’m a terrible blogger. There. =P

BUT, lucky for you all, while I was in the Madrid airport during my 7 hour lay-over coming back to Granada, I jotted down everything I wanted to say in here on my iPhone…iPhones really do save lives (well, moreso boredom than anything, really…)

While I could really focus the entire first half of this entry on the disasters I faced with actually getting to Italy (my airline going out of business and me having to fly into Rome a day later to meet my friends), I’ll choose to not dwell on the little, negative things in what was really such an amazing experience. 

Essentially, throughout Italy, I hauled ASS. 7 days, 4 cities. I made it HAPPEN, people! First up was Rome. At first I was a bit upset with the fact that I only had 2.5 days there, but I certainly took advantage of every minute I had in that city. While there, I visited the coliseum, pantheon, Trevi fountain (which really does sneak up on you out of nowhere as its a monstrosety of a fountain located right behind a building in a seemingly residential part of Rome), the Spanish steps, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Square, and finally…St. Peter’s Basicalla. In life, I think we experience very few moments where our breath is completely taken away by something so beautiful, and our bodies have no other choice but to give in to the response of tears. That being said, I bawled upon walking into the Basilica. It really is impossible for pictures to even do this creation justice. Such a pure place filled with art that makes you proud of the art that human beings can create when given such a gift. For some reason, I couldn’t help but think of my family in the Basilica, and how much everyone would absolutely love it. In reality, I was thinking of grandparents the entire trip—thinking of they should really be the ones getting to experience this place, as neither of them have been able to return since their families immigrated to the U.S. That being said, I make sure I took in every precious moment for them that I was experience. None of my time spent in that basilica was taken for granted.

Overall, for me, the entire city of Rome had a so

ON TO FLORENCE!—I found myself entering this city with extremely low expectations, simply because everyone I knew who had been there told me that it was one of the most beautiful cities they had every seen. Therefore, I figured it’d be better to expect the worst and hope for the best—I did the right thing! I was very impressed—a city painted entirely in shades of reds, oranges, and yellows. It even glimmered in the freezing temperatures. Oh yeah…that’s another thing. I could have sworn that Florence was the coldest city I had ever been to (even colder than Chicago, in fact), but little did I know what I was about to face when I arrived to Venice…I’ll save that for later. At any rate, I also made sure to fully optimize my time in Florence, visiting the top of the Duomo with incredible views of the entire city, Academia with with original works of Michelangelo (including the original David), the tombs of Michelangelo,  Dante, Leonardo DiVinci, Galileo, etc. However, as beautiful as Florence is, I found myself running out of things to do there after 2 days. Therefore, it seemed like a good idea to go visit the city of Pisa for a day, as it’s only a little over an hour train ride from Florence. I was pleasantly surprised by this little city! All the things people had told me about Pisa (it being entirely too small, fairly shady, overpriced, etc.) proved themselves to be completely untrue. As cliche as it is, one can’t help but admit that it’s still a little fun to take a picture posing as if you’re pushing that bad boy of a tower back up ;-) I highly recommend a day trip to Pisa for anyone who finds themselves running out of things to do in Florence!

And the “frozen” cherry on top of this amazing trip was last, but certainly not least, Venice! The train ride up from Florence led me to believe that we were going to be in the ultimate winter-wonderland. There was as much of 5ft of snow as we were passing through Bologna. But no…Venice was SO cold, in fact, that it couldn’t snow. Instead, the entire city had turned to ice—quite a site considering it’s all built on water. We knew were going to be in for possibly, painfully frigid experience. 

The city was a bit different than I expected, but in a really interesting way. It was rather dark and mysterious behind all the back alleys with a sort of ancient, medieval look to it that you could tell possessed a lot of ancient beauty. Once we arrived in the more scenic, well-known parts of the city, we could see it…this was really one of the most beautiful cities on earth. Even in its frost-bitten state, Venice is a city from your dreams. Truly one of the most romantic places I have ever seen. We found ourselves braving the sub-zero temps just to breathe in every bit of opportunity that we could. Luckily, this landed us in a restaurant with a pizza that was unimaginable in all the best ways possible…Pizza a la carbona. Yep this is what it sounds like—a pizza with fresh, raw bacon bits soaked in the yolk of an egg spread throughout the top with a mouth water cream sauce…I died and went to heaven. After eating pizza for every lunch and pasta for every dinner in Italy, this was the BEST one I had, and I was so grateful that it was my last and was my final memory Italy’s impressionable food =) The only thing that pained me (aside from the cold) was seeing the reality of a city that really is sinking. How could such a thing be possible?? I’m hoping that one day in life I’ll be able to go back and share with others the same type of amazing experience I had there.

SO…in summation…Did I freeze my little patooty off and return to Granada possibly 5-8 pounds heavier? Sure. But did I have the adventures of a life time that I’ll carry with me forever? Absolutely. Italy had done me well, and with my many coins thrown into the Trevi Fountain wishing to return there one day, I’m sure I will =)

^^ I was trying to make a joke referencing the Fat Joe song, “Lean back”…we’ll see how many of you get that =P

At any rate, “leaning back” seems to be a fitting title for this post, because it’s something that I’m learning how to do well out here. More or less, I’m a seeing a change in myself that is definitely for the better. In the U.S., I’m a very tense, stressed, and preoccupied person; always thinking ahead (but not always for the best things), always committing myself to obligations at every hour of the day, and always losing sleep over things that worry me. At the end of the day, I can feel where the stress lives in my body, and I find it very difficult to find complacency in a moment.

When I first arrived, I noticed I brought some of my tension with me; sitting all the way forward on the edge of my chair with my shoulders slouched forward when conversing with people in Spanish, trying my hardest to EVERY word that was being said to me, etc…I knew this had to end. This was not what Spain was for.

Lately, during “lio” time with Rafa, I’ve noticed a more relaxed state of being in my body. I’m able to lean back in my chair, sip my coffee, and take my time breathing in the fresh air and constructing my points of conversation…but this isn’t the only thing that’s changed! Other things that I no longer do include:

1. Walk at the speed of a cheetah with my head down (there’s simply too much beauty to take in here to miss). Lately, I’ve been walking with my head held high, acting like I know and own this city (Thanks for encouraging words of advice, Christopher Dea ;-) )

2. Force myself to cross streets even when the sign says don’t walk. This is for 2 reasons. a. Why not?? How often am I in SPAIN?? I think I have the time to wait for a light to change. B.  Cars and mopeds simply don’t give a shit that you’re a pedestrian…bitches gotta go where bitches gotta go! And even if the light is red for them….it’s really just a “suggestion.” 

3. Walk up the escalator. Again, I’ve got the time. As Pilar has said “somos bomberos?? (are we firefighters?) Why the rush? Escalators were invented for a reason—to give my “dogs” a siesta when they start barkin’! 

4. Check my phone ALL the time. Well, let’s be real, this is mainly because I can’t. But I’m definitely starting to love the lack of glue that I have to a telephone. It’s such a freeing feeling. 

In short, I feel good here. Really good. My shoulders are able to release themselves down and away (Some actor’s movement terms for ya from a class of Paul Denhardt ;-)) And my head is always being lifted up by an invisible string of optimism =)

Completely unrelated tangent before I wrap things up—Three things that I’ve acquired a new found love for out here include.

1. Shoes (Damnit…)

2. Club music (Damnit…)

3. Whiskey (Well…I’m not MAD about that one…)

…Until next time, amigos =)

Turning into a true Spaniard with my learned satisfaction in window shopping. Mark my words…this suit WILL be mine some day ;-)

Intercambio = Literally, exchange. But here, an intercambio is more known as an opportunity for foreign exchange students to attend a session where they can practice their Spanish with Spanish students in the area. They typically last for an hour, and Spanish is spoken for half an hour, and English is spoken for the other half (so that the Spanish students of Granada can practice their English as well).

Yesterday was the first gloomy, rainy day here, and in my program, my friend Alejandra and I were the only ones who showed up for the intercambio at 9am…por supuesto =P. We arrived to the main campus of the University of Granada and entered the college of tourism. The particular class where the intercambio was held consisted of college age students or older who started learning English at a later age in life. It was 25 against 2….a bit intimidating at first. I was thankful that we spoke with them for the first half hour in English. Because of this, I felt much more comfortable being able to express myself and my personality, giving them a better impression than I would have if we spoke in Spanish first, haha. I found myself having to slow down a lot, and put things in simpler terms. However, don’t think that is me being condescending and doubtful of these students’ capabilities; More or less, it was me recognizing and being to empathize with the feeling of being a student learning a foreign language. I could see the appreciation from the students when I made a conscious effort to express myself in the most efficient way possible. Comprehension is all the face of the other—it’s easy to tell when you have or haven’t affectively communicated what you wanted to say.

The second half hour spent talking in Spanish was obviously a bit more complicated. All 25 students had free reign to ask me and Alejandra whatever they wanted. As intimidating as this could have been, I was able to retain my comfort level! I was so grateful that we had established a trust amongst each other where everyone felt free to make mistakes and learn from one another when something was expressed incorrectly. During this time, we talked about culture differences between the US and Granada. They were shocked to hear that it was not considered rude to stretch and yawn in the middle of class in the US! …that’s a big no-no here haha. I learned so much about their school system here, and it really made me realize that they’re doing something right. Not only does everyone genuinely WANT to be in school here, but they all have tremendous success in whatever they do. Is this a place I possibly want to teach in the future? Hmmm, creo que si! My eyes have been opened to the joy in teaching English to students of other languages. This is definitely a career path I can see myself going down at some point in life.

For all the students from the US here in Granada, if you have not taken advantage of an intercambio yet…DO IT! You’ll learn more about the people, culture, and school systems here in Spain than you will in your classes. I promise.

“Cool, Joey. You’re in Spain. We Get it. You’re speaking Spanish. Awesome…but what the hell does that even mean?” 

“Vamos a lio” is a phrase Rafa and I use quite often out here. It’s a reference to going outside on that terrace to go have a coffee and chat for a bit. For the longest time, I understood “lio” to mean “patio” “sipping on coffee,” “chat for a bit,” whatever it was we were doing, I didn’t know what it literally meant, so I sort just invented my own translation for the phrase. After finally getting into deeper conversation with Rafa today, I learned that “vamos a lio” is more of a phrase from the streets of Granada. The verb “Liar” can mean a few different things, like to get caught up, or to roll up, let your laundry dry out, etc.  So, whenever Rafa and I say “vamos a lio,” we’re literally saying, “let’s roll up” (much like the popular Wiz Khalifa song, hahaha) or “catch up”. At any rate, I find myself taking advantage of every time we go out on the terrace. My phone stays inside, and the only things that go out with me are my coffee, my coat, and an open mind. Here, I listen to Rafa’s words of wisdom about the culture around me, as well as share stories of my life back home. That terrace is my most my favorite classroom.

In other news, I was able to visit the Alhambra on the inside for the first time yesterday. Did you know anything could be so OLD?? Because I didn’t. Well I mean, I knew, but I had never seen anything like it, of course.  It’s so amazing to me to be able to see something with such history and somehow remains standing after hundreds and hundreds of years. There is nothing in the U.S. that we can compare to it. Our tour guide was right…you really don’t know how beautiful it really is until you go inside and are actually able to see the interiors of the palaces. King Charles of the 15th century was smart to build a place that looks mighty and indestructible on the outside, but immaculately decorated and beautiful on the inside; “Never show people on the outside what you have on the inside” was his motto.  Also, saw the throne where Christopher Columbus received permission to discover the new world…no big ;-)

Totally irrelevant, but later in the day I came home to my favorite pastry served after dinner…Pionono. Pilar sure knows how to pick up on hints and make me happy ;-) 

Ok, time for bed here. Wish me luck this week! Ciao, amigos =)

See that throne? Christopher Columbus received permish to discover the new world there…no big =P

Here it is…my current theme song =)

“Don’t act like you’re not impressed…”

I expressed a concern to some of you before I left saying “I’m worried that no one will know that I’m funny in Spain! I won’t be able to express humor well =(“…I was wrong. Phew ;-)

When I go out on the town with my sister here, Carmen, I sing everything I see to the tune of my current favorite Portuguese song called “Ai Se Eu Te Pego.” I figured it’s important for these Spaniards to know that it’s just as hard to shut me up here as it is in the States ;-) Carmen thinks I’m crazy…but she also thinks it’s hilarious, so what the hell, why not sing my way down the streets?? 

Rafa took me to get new sunglasses today because I was having trouble finding a pair that that wouldn’t cost me something that flippin’ Rockefeller  would pay (Thank you, Amanda Roeder). Here, I was able to learn some terms of negotiation and sales with the help of Rafa to put things in simpler terms for me. My intensive language course professor was right to have our only homework to be to discover Granada and learn the culture of the streets; it’s far better to educate yourself with the language of the people rather than only the grammatical aspects that a book teaches you.

So now, I can walk down the streets in style with my fashionable new European specs without having to make those nasty squinty eyes when taking photos around the city ;-). Well, I’m off to go get lost in town a little bit (something I enjoy doing often before class everyday). Hasta luego mis amigos!