A mishap and a half...

So as you all are aware, I spent the last week touring Lyon, France and Lisbon, Portugal. Let me tell you, they are both absolutely beautiful cities with a lot of their own charm. Also, it was very different being in two countries where you don't speak their language at all. I thought I would recognize the roots of some words from Spanish in both French and Portuguese, but it was much harder than I thought it would be. And God forbid anyone try to talk to you about anything! I will always be sympathetic to foreigners in the US now. I have a lot of respect for them attempting English or asking if you speak their language, especially in a country where people get annoyed if you don't speak English to them.

I digress.

Perhaps another day I will get into the details of my trip, but for now I want to go into what happened on Saturday, September 25th.

It was Aimee's birthday, so we wanted to go out and do a little something different. In Lisbon, there is a really famous "oceanarium," or as we say in CA, aquarium. Aimee was excited about it, so we asked for directions at the help desk at our hostel. We needed to take the Metro: Green line to the Red line to the end of the Red line. Get out of the Metro and it's right there. The Metro is really cheap and REALLY fast in Portugal, and we wanted to see the fishies, so off we went.

After we got off the Metro, the three of us realized we were actually pretty hungry. Trying to save a bit of cash, especially not knowing the price of the aquarium and anticipating a big, special dinner for Aimee's birthday, we went to the grocery store and got some bread, some brie, some serrano ham (which is also popular in Portugal), and a couple of apples.

We decided it was nice outside so we ate outside. We all lined up on a bench in an ideal spot to people watch, me on the left, Aimee and Lauren on my right, then began our lunch feast.

It was a good place to people watch because it was crowded. We were enjoying ourselves on our bench. I placed my purse on my left, touching my leg, so we could all have easy access to lunch.

We were all chatting and enjoying lunch and I can't even explain how it happened... I felt something move on my left. It took me just one second to realize that my purse had been there. I absentmindedly reached for it. I touched the bench. I looked. It was gone. I looked up and whoever it was... well, they were long gone, too.

My purse was stolen from right underneath my nose with two other people right there with me.

The first thing I felt was annoyed. Did I really let this happen from RIGHT next to me? Hadn't I always been the overly cautious one with my purse on my shoulder or on my lap or in between my feet? People have even asked me, "What, are you going somewhere?" because I didn't want to put my purse down.

Then, I felt a wave of disbelief. How could the two people I was with have not seen anything? Even if I reported the theft, I would have nothing to tell the police. I know nothing about what s/he looks like...

I suppose I had a moment of feeling impressed. I mean, there were three of us and my purse was touching my leg. Touché, theif, touché.

I began a mental checklist of everything in my purse. My wallet has one debit card in it, only one just in case of something like this. I don't have any credit cards. I had about 30€ cash and some change that probably added another 5€ (change is a good thing to have in Europe... they HATE breaking big money here.). My 19€ phone was there, too, with about 17€ on it (it's a prepaid phone). Other than that, petty things... some hair ties, bobby pins, nail clippers, the post cards I bought in Lyon and Portugal (I figured keeping them in my purse would help keep them standing upright and not crumpled like they would be in my backpack), some tampons... nothing too valuable. In a moment of uncertainty, I reached for my wrist. My bracelet was still there. In that moment I was able to maintain my composure, sure nothing drastic had been lost.

"Well, you can take a picture of the bench and always remember that this happened... It's a story at least..." Lauren said to me, lightening the mood, or so she thought.

Then I realized my camera was in my purse.

My camera. My camera with all the pictures from the last day of class through all of my trip.

I lost it. I lost control of myself and bawled.

My pictures!

I'm not upset about the money or the phone or even the camera itself... but the fact that I will never have those pictures... It's very, very upsetting.

My mind raced through what I was missing: our farewell dinner from the Residencia, the chalkboard notes our ILP literature professor wrote, all the pictures from France, including a particularly beautiful picture of Danielle, me "performing" at the Roman ruins, a street cellist, the churches, the museum, the views... Then all the pictures in Portugal, some of the food we ate, the explorer monument, the giant map, the "Golden Gate" bridge, Big Jesus, Jim modeling schnazzy European clothing, all the pictures from Sintra, climbing up to the Cruz Alta, and the kind of silly video I took explaining how we had climbed up to the highest peak, taking about four hours and by the time we got to the top the fog had rolled in...

It was all gone.

I stood in the walkway and cried.

I guess I wanted to write this as a warning. Buy purses with a long strap. Always be more than aware of your surroundings.

Luckily, I had a sizable amount of cash and my passport in my money belt, which was locked in my locker in my hostel.

I also blocked my debit card. A new one should be coming in the mail in 4-16 business days. It seems like quite a span... but it's coming straight to Spain. Hopefully the 50€ I have left will last me until then. If not, I will use my Chase account and deal with the fees.

I'm glad I have a backup account... But I would feel better if I had more money in that account, since this is the second time I'm having issues with my Bank of America account (at no fault to Bank of America... Just waiting for a card to arrive the last time, this time it was stolen).

I digress.

I also heard of at least 2 other robberies that occurred in Lisbon while we were there. One was a woman on the street that needed 12€ just to get home because her house was across the river and the police couldn't take her that far. Then, when I got back to my hostel, the guy asked if my passport was in the bag. I said no, he was relieved because he had just gotten back from the police station because two Italian girls in the hostel were robbed and their passports were in their bags.

Anyway nothing super valuable of mine was taken. I wasn't mugged, there wasn't a struggle, nothing like that. It's just really really unfortunate, albeit slightly impressive.

Just learn from me and be even more cautious than you already are being!

Vacation.

So I've decided my life here is just too rough, especially after finishing finals, last night's flamenco concert, and the rain and thunder, and I just really need a break...

Luckily we have a week off between the end of ILP and the start of Spanish classes... So I guess I'll just go to France and Portugal with some of the coolest people ever or something crazy like that.

Hehehe!!! VACATION!!!

Anyway I just wanted to let you guys know that I'll be out of the country for about a week. Hopefully I get at least one chance to let you know how things are.

Talk to you again soon.

<3 Natalie

My little gentleman

So I finally decided to do some laundry this morning, but there is a puddle of bleach in the dryer (for who knows whatever reason... probably a stupid boy put it there thinking you're supposed to?). There aren't any clotheslines and the closet came with two hangers. Needless to say, I have clothes ALL over my room. Since my bed is inaccessible due to my spread-out, drying underwear, I decided this would be a good opportunity to post an entry about my little gentleman.

As I said last time, I had to go to the police station Tuesday morning. I had been putting it off in an attempt to go at a time where I actually wouldn't miss any class, but it came to a point where I didn't really have much of an option. I was going to miss class. Unfortunately, all of my friends had already done it, so I was left to the adventure myself.

I had a map and directions, so it wasn't too big of a deal. I was a little worried about missing a street sign, though, since they are so few and far between around here. I got to a fork in the road, so I moved to the middle, V-shaped piece of sidewalk to read the street sign across the way.

And that's where I first saw him, a little dog, probably a Dachshund mix of some sort, sniffing at one thing or another on the sidewalk. I smiled at him, a cute little scrappy thing, but kept to my agenda. I pulled out my directions squinting against the dark at the sign across the street. It was the street I needed to take, so I continued moving in that direction.

The sound of paws clicking against the stone walkway was unmistakable. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him walking in my direction about 10 yards back. I smiled again, figuring his home must just be in this direction. I continued on.

I came to an intersection without a street sign (no surprise there). I stopped, pulled out my map, and tried to figure how far I had gone.

The paw-clicking stopped.

Once I figured I still needed to go straight, I glanced over my shoulder again. He stood, about 5 yards back now, just facing forward, panting with a typical doggy smile. I may have chuckled. Either way, I kept going.

So did he.

I heard him get closer and closer and eventually he passed me. I figured at that point, he was done following me. I didn't mind, but it did make me kind of sad. It was nice having a buddy.

He got to an intersection and promptly stopped and looked over his shoulder at me. I could almost see the question in his eyes, "Is this our turn?" I caught up and started to make the turn, but mostly to look for a street sign. He went ahead. But, of course, it was the wrong street, so I turned back around.

Mostly out of curiosity, I gave him a kiss sound while I crossed the street. He looked up, saw my direction, and was promptly following me again.

I got to my turn and he was right next to me. I saw some benches, so I sat down to orientate myself, make sure I knew what street I was looking for. My new friend laid down just a few feet in front of me. That's when I got a quick picture:


Isn't he cute?

I could read the street sign and it was indeed the last street I needed, so I turned and walked towards the police station. I could see about 10 people sitting down, already in line, so I took my place next to them.

My little gentleman walked ahead, looked back at me, walked back, looked at the line, looked back at me, and just stood there for a second. Then he turned back around continued on his merry way.

I will never forget that little dog, even though I know I will probably never see him again. Hopefully he made it home safely.

A few updates...

Firstly, let me apologize for the late entry!! This last week has been rather hectic. I had an adventure to a beautiful Carmen (a sort of private garden) on Tuesday, a seminar about the Alhambra on Thursday (This will have it's own blog entry. Look forward to that soon!), an adventure through the Alhambra on Friday, a full-day beach trip to Marbella on Saturday, and trekking and getting a few things together for school and the policía yesterday.

That's the short version anyway.

I also had to struggle with making a class list, which I will finalize tomorrow at 10:30 am. Even though I will likely end up with 4 classes, it is recommended we sign up for 6 and drop as we need to, just to make sure we don't end up in an unexpectedly difficult class. After picking my 6, I am already so excited to start up real classes. The Intensive Language Program has been a fun experience, but I'm ready to feel fully immersed in the Spanish world and be launched completely out of my comfort zone. Even now, when I go out and have to speak Spanish to someone, I usually have at least one other American with me and about 75% of the time we end up speaking in English anyway. It is nice and relaxing, but I really want to feel that same comfort in Spanish. Sadly, that doesn't just happen. So begins my adventure in languages.

I think I'm the only person in my program who hasn't gone to the policía yet. I was so set on going on a Monday morning, when class starts at 10, so as not to miss class or a Friday orientation session, but after I failed at filling out the form without help from the program coordinator over the weekend, I didn't have much of a choice but to fill it out today to go tomorrow morning. I'm a little sad I have to make the walk alone, but it will be relieving to have it over with.

Marbella was beautiful and the water was fantastic. Kirsten and I spent at least 4 hours just hanging out in the water and talking, making games out of swimming farther and farther out and trying to touch the bottom, which got surprisingly difficult. Kirsten was much better at it than I was. Lauren and I had a lunch of bread, nutella, peanut butter, and bananas. I also brought a can of tuna, an apple, and a peach. It was fun to have a sweet, beach-side picnic under the sun. There were palm trees on the beach, too, so there were plenty of sandy shady spots as well.

Yesterday, my monitor brought us up and around Sacramonte, which is on the outskirts of the town. Like he said, "La mayoridad de estudiantes extranjeros en Granada se quedan en el centro y viajan por todo el resto de Europa sin conocer el resto de Granada," which means, "Most foreign students that study in Granada see the center of town and the rest of Europe without seeing the rest of Granada." I could definitely see that happening. People get so caught up with their immediate lives in the centro that they never see the outskirts, which are totally different from the centro. It was quite a walk, but it was quite the experience as well.

In other news, during our 10-day break between the end of ILP and the start of real class, I will be traveling to Lyon, France for a much-needed reunion with one of my best friends at UCSD, then to Portugal to enjoy some time with my Americanas from Granada.

It has been quite an eventful week and there are still so many adventures to be had!

La Catedral de Isabel la Católica

So, as I stated a few posts ago, we went to La Catedral de Isabel la Católica a few days ago. It was one of the most amazing, beautiful, breathtaking things I have ever experienced, and my first time going into a 16th Century cathedral (considering there are about... none... in the USA). It is very well-kept and preserved and majestic in its own way.

Firstly, I should go into a little bit about Spanish history. Spain was a Muslim country for hundreds of years, after the Moors from North Africa took control of Spain from the Visigoths (who were Catholic). Then, in the 15th century, during what is known as the "Reconquista," Catholics began retaking land back in Spain. For a long time, however, Granada remained a Muslim city, should the Sultan pay a heavy tax to the Catholic rulers. Eventually, in 1492 to be precise, they invaded anyway and took back Granada.

In other parts of Spain, the Spanish Inquisition had already begun. So, naturally, it was brought to Granada through the Reconquista. Many mosques remained standing, just converted into churches/cathedrals by throwing a cross on top of it (usually over the three-ball symbol of Islam, meant to symbolize the Earth, the Universe, and the Seven Heavens of Islam), sometimes even disconnecting their prayer tower from the building of worship and converting it into a bell-tower, because the Queen Isabel held a great appreciation for Islamic architecture. However, the main mosque in the center of town was completely destroyed. La Catedral de Isabel la Católica was then erected in its place, as a symbol of the triumph of Catholicism over Islam.


This is the altar. It is easily the most impressive thing inside that building. Could you imagine going to a place like THIS to worship? I can imagine it would be so hard to be a Spaniard and not be a Catholic, since all they hear growing up is how awesome it is and see buildings like this to prove it. Anyway, I think it's absolutely beautiful.

This is the dome over the altar. Again, it's just beautiful. It's remarkable how intricate the designs are in the marble, gold, and paint. I look at this wondering if artists, carpenters, or architects were the ones responsible, and think it would have been an awesome job to have worked on this back in the day and know it's still standing in nearly perfect condition.

It was too big and too dark inside to get a picture that does this thing justice, but it was a massive gold-plated statue glorifying the Reconquista. Inside the church. It's an important part of Spanish history to the Catholics.


At the time that the cathedral was constructed, most people that came in to worship were not literate. Therefore, there were statues and paintings all over the place to educate people on the happenings of the bible. Most of the scenes in this particular cathedral were of the life of the Virgin Mary. I don't remember what these were specifically, but I'm pretty sure they were related to that.

This is 16th century organ sheet music. I thought that was awesome.

That would be the organ. I thought it was even more awesome. Notice the pipes take up two towers. That thing was MASSive (get it?).

That's what keeps this place standing! Also, I loved the detailing in the ceilings. Remember, this is all 16th century marble, so it's all hand carved. I was thoroughly impressed.

That little speck of a person is me. That's just how big it was in there. It was so beautiful.

If you were here listening to the sermon, this is what you would see. From the back, anyway. People were congregating towards the front for choir practice.

We also happened to be inside during choir practice. I managed to take 20 seconds of video before my memory card filled up and I had to start frantically deleting old pictures. You can see the conductor right in the middle. The choir was unable to be seen from where we sat, but it was HEAVENLY to listen to (I'm so punny today!).

This place was truly amazing and full of Spanish pride. I only wish the pictures did it justice.

Post Office

I've had a handful of postcards sitting on my desk for a while and I finally had a break long enough to go drop them off, so off I went on my first (but certainly not last) trip to the post office.

I had seen it before in a plaza on the far side of Calle de los Reyes Católicos, but I couldn't remember where exactly. So, I went to the top of the street and started following it down until I saw it. It's tucked into the back corner of a wide, not-square plaza. From the outside, it looks like an official building, like a bank or a political building. I never would have guessed it was a post office if there wasn't a little sign hanging on a post in front of it reading "Correos." There were quite a few people sitting on the steps leading to a big glass doorway, the marble there was not heated by the sun.

I don't know why, but I was expecting it to be more like an American post office, where you walk in and get in line. This was something a little different though, slightly resembling a highly-efficient DMV. Ahead were a bunch of marble counter tops. It would have looked like a bank if there was bullet-proof glass in front of the people. To the left was a little machine. I looked at the sign. They broke down their services into four categories. Depending on your category, you had a series of options. To "enviar cartas", I needed to push the A button, take a number, and wait. I got A258, and the highest number of the occupied registers was A242 and there were only 3-4 open. I was expecting a long wait since the A registers don't only deal with things as simple as "enviar cartas", so I found a nice spot on a tall table to lean on.

Let me tell you, these people don't mess around. As soon as one was finished, they put a number on the board and a "ding" sounded in the post office. If no one reacted by the time the number stopped flashing, they were on to the next number. I saw one register go through 5 numbers within 30 seconds because it was just so fast. Needless to say, I made my way to the front quickly.

I walked up to my register and handed him my 5 post cards with a simple "Hola." He responded with a "Buenas tardes" or something similar, just a greeting. Looking down at him handling my post cards, all addressed to the USA, I felt like such a tourist, and I know he was thinking that, too. I heard him counting under his breath in Spanish (I don't know why, but that always throws me... People talking in Spanish, even kids talking in Spanish seems normal, but once they start just counting in Spanish, it always seems out-of-place, even though it's exactly as it should be) and punch a couple of numbers into his calculator. He turned his monitor so I could see it, pointed, and said slowly "Cuatro y sesenta y cinco". I got a little embarrassed and handed him a five. He counted out change and handed it to me with an "Aquí tienes. ¡Que tengas buen día!" and I only managed an embarrassed "Gracias."

There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I know I'm a foreigner, but I want so badly to be integrated into society here.

I left and started walking home, taking a much more efficient route since I now knew where I was and where I was going. I remembered seeing post cards for cheap near that part of town, so I started exploring. I managed to find a stand with post cards at half the price of the ones I had just sent, so I picked out a Euro's worth and went to pay. The cashier just held up a finger and said "Uno" quickly and quietly. I handed him the coin and he said "Gracias" as I walked out.

I decided I should just head back, so I did. I saw one of the guys from our program walking towards me and I said "Hey!" as he got closer to me. He jumped, a little surprised at my voice, and looked me over. "Oh... Sorry, I thought you were Spanish!" "Really? Cool! ...No one else does." I said before I could even think about it.

Too American for the Spanish... and now I'm too Spanish for the Americans apparently, haha.

You know... I think I'm okay with that.

Odds and Ends

So, yesterday we went to/inside the Catedral de Isabela la Católica. It was a beautiful, amazing place that I will post about, but since my last post was about the excursion through the Sierra Nevadas, I figured I should go through a few basic checkups before I overload you guys with too much awesome =D.

I believe I found my apartment! It's really close to the university in an area of town that I am more than familiar with. The place has three Spaniards living there currently (one is going to study abroad for the year so I will take her place for the semester). The bedrooms are spacious. There's a glass-enclosed balcony (to keep the cold air out in the winter) and, most importantly, they have a kitty cat!!! It's inexpensive, too. The only thing that makes me hesitate is they are on a year-long contract, so in mid-late February, I will need to find someone to replace me. Since that's when the people coming to study here for the Spring show up, I have heard it's a fairly simple task, but it does make me hesitate nonetheless. I will probably get back to her sometime this weekend.

A handful of us chicas are going dress shopping today! Should be fun... I can't spend too much money because of my current debit card issue, but I might get a skirt or dress if I can find a cute one for a good price.

Classes are going pretty well, I think. I will admit I need to put more time into doing homework though... We don't get too much homework, but there is so much here keeping me busy that I should probably take my time a little more with it.

I can't believe it's been over two weeks already. But I continue to see more and more of Granada each day, and I just absolutely LOVE it here... I wish my American people could see this...

Sean, Aimee, and I went to another tetería recently!! I will probably go at least once a week. Those places are just so amazing, comfortable, relaxed, and beautiful. Plus, the tea is AMAZING!

This is a Paquistaní tea. It's a Granada specialty and the locals LOVE it. So do I! It's sweet, spicy, creamy, and perfect. Their milk teas they brew directly into hot milk, as you can see. It's so tasty.

Today is Kirsten's birthday. Today at lunch, I went around to a few tables and told them to watch me and when I counted to three we were gonna sing. It was PERFECT. We got the whole cafeteria to simultaneously break out into a good old American Happy Birthday chorus. It was awesome and she was embarrassed, as any good birthday girl should be. We're going to get her a cake later, too, but shh don't tell ;).

Overall, life has been amazing and full of adventure. Now that we're all finally settling into it, it's really starting to feel like another home.

I would love to hear from you, so please email me, facebook me, or comment on my blog!!