Beautiful weekend

On Thursday, I made pumpkin smoothies and turkey pasta and went to a potluck. Although with good people, it was not with close friends; I was invited by Michelle's request. Eventually, I realized my mistake, and my introversion shined as I had nothing to contribute to the connections all around me, nor any desire to force anything out. I left everyone at a bar and walked home to skype with Joel and my family and wish them a happy thanksgiving. Everyone loved the smoothies.

On Friday, we adventured. We went around the corner of Michelle's apartment, marveled at the blazing red of the fall leaves, cuddled with a sweet cat, watched the sun set, admired the infinite beauty of the Albaycin and Realejo, where it's impossible to exhaust the supply of images in the cobblestone sidewalks, graffiti art, and winding staircases peppered with hidden treasures. We filled leftover hours with hookah and tea before speeding to the university's thanksgiving dinner for all us homesick California kids. I had a wonderful time talking with Allie, Gabi, and Lauren, three girls who had always given off great vibes, but with whom I'd never spent much time.

I didn't sleep that night and got out of bed at 7:20 to catch an 8:30 bus to Cordoba. It was completely dark when my alarm went off. I walked up the street and up the stairs to Gran Via as light danced through the alleyways and filled the city. I passed persistent partiers with beer bottles in their hands, still celebrating the previous night. Maddy, Vani and I met up at the bus station and headed off. I made the mistake of trying to read at first, which resulted in relentless nausea for the next three hours of the trip. Once we arrived, we sat in the sun's unseasonably warm glow as we waited for Maddy's friend in the UC Cordoba program to meet us. We wandered the streets of the Juderia, the old Jewish quarter, we saw the blend of history in the Cordoba's famous church-then-mosque-then-cathedral, we ate kebabs, we crossed the river, we wandered some more. Cordoba was charming and beautiful. It was much more like Sevilla than either city is like Granada: fairly flat, absolutely covered in bitter orange trees, highlighted by its patios covered in flowerpots, central monuments surrounded by streets careful to present a charming, antique, cheerful feel, replete with whitewashed buildings, brightly painted signs, eateries, and souvenir shops.

I got home exhausted, elated, ready to sleep for a half day and wake up with the rush of my emotional energy compounded with its physical counterpart, until grumpy folk on the other end of Skype pushed me off my high. I woke up dreading the day rather than ready to seize it, but I'm determined to let the otherwise good vibes of this weekend push me through a productive and satisfying week before heading off to Istanbul!

Mantra for tonight

I am thankful for the ability to write coherently and fluidly in both English and Spanish. I am also grateful that I can write rigorous research papers that follow academic norms as well as specific directions regarding format and citations, and that I possess the intelligence and drive to keep looking until I find valid sources that allow me to answer the question at the expected depth. All of these skills will serve me much further than what I will suffer tonight compiling this group essay, dealing with a section that lacks everything outlined above.

[Edit] Even when Word crashes, just as I finish researching and writing her entire section, and doesn't auto-recover any of my work and I have to start over from the beginning.

past, Granada Blues Band, future

Friday was a fun day. On the way to get long-overdue mojitos with a few Cali girls, I ran into my first 15-M protest. It was a group of about 150 people who slowly made their way down one of the main streets of the city before gathering in a plaza and chanting some more. It was neat, but too small to be particularly inspiring. I was a fan of their "Tu que estas mirando, tambien te estan robando" chant, aimed not only at the police making sure nothing got out of hand but also at the people walking urgently around the groups, complaining about the obstruction and delays.
After some delicious happy-hour mojitos, a couple of us made our way down to Boogaclub. It's a rock bar that I found out existed last week...on my street. I pass it twice a day on my way to and from school and had somehow managed to completely overlook it as I thought I'd mapped out the block: the tapas bar, the fruiteria, the other tapas bar, the chino, the comic book shop. A somewhat embarrassing observation-fail, but anyway, the club promised live music, the 70s Experience featuring songs by Hendrix, the Stones, Cream, etc, from the Granada Blues Band. They were fantastic, and after they were done playing, the venue put on some very neat electronic-tribal-world beats fusion music. Ignoring the fact that the place was almost empty, Michelle and I danced our pants off along with three other good souls. Once we got a bit tired, we reenergized with kebabs and tequila before heading out to dance at La Sal, one of the city's few lesbian-dominated gay clubs. Unfortunately, we got there just as they were closing, and didn't dance too much more before turning in.

Now it's crunch time. I have no option but to make this month incredibly productive before heading out to travel for most of December. I'll be spending a week in Istanbul with two very cool girls, then a week and a half of school, then, as everyone who reads this probably knows full well, Joel is coming!  (!!!!!!!!!!!!) We'll be visiting Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, and London before heading back for a couple days in Granada.