Unfortunately my first class, Islamic Culture, was cancelled today which ruined any hope of me actually wanting to go to my Varieties of Spanish class. See, the thing is, I need the "high" of the Islamic Culture class to carry me through the Varieties class, especially on a day like today when it's cloudy and dreary after it's been so beautiful for a week.
This cancellation (and lack of desire to sit through a class that I had huge hopes for) has unfortunately opened up time for me to read, draw, think and mope. It has also given me time to partake in my senoras power trip (helllllz yes!). There are 3 others staying with us this week, 2 British boys and a French girl. I'm lead to believe they're all 16 or 17. Fortunately, as resident resident at this household, I'm treated with just a slight amount more of respect and given a little more "special treatment" than the others who just come for a week or two. So I get all the gossip and even some power trips that are handed down to me from the head matriarch of the family, Ana Manzano Arellano. 'Cause after all, I
am her nino.
To highlight, when I came to the house, there were some advisory notifications posted here and there throughout the house. All in Spanish for obvious reasons. Some of which included, but I'll paraphrase, "Showers need to be quick as there is little hot water for all. Keep the bathroom clean. No showers after 22 hours," "Closet doors need to stay closed when not in use (This one makes me feel like I'm in the house portrayed in the others)," and last but not least, "Leave nothing in your rooms plugged in when not in the house." However, with this new batch of younger students (let me assure you dinners consist of us sitting there looking at each other and feeling ridiculously awkward [Please see Will Ferrals SNL skit where he mentions the Dodge Stratus]. One of the British boys, Oliver, will respond and actually make conversation but the other Brit has no knowledge of Spanish and the French girl has responded in French 80% of the time), I have been given the responsibility to rewrite each sign and then translate it to English and French (I'd love to see my signs end up on some French website of bad translations). I also get to hear about a lot of the gossip. Some of the hot topics between Ana and myself include: one of the British children coming home last night wasted. Ha. So that's been a big deal for her and must therefore be a big deal for me. Also, the French girl being extremely needy and, "even more wasteful than most of the American's I've had here." To which I had to bite my tongue and then use it as an excuse to throw in some awkwardly worded patriotic remark.
So with all my signs written and without further ado, I get to focus on my real draw to Blogger: my grumpy "weather induced" rant/retrospective. First and foremost: Friends. Now, for most of you who're reading this, you had the pleasure of not knowing me as a child. Many of you had the pleasure of meeting me in College (which henceforth will be known as the "Wonder Years"). Many of my social skills, or lack there of, stem from often the most traumatizing years of a child's life: middle school. Without going too far into it, I was awkward. Which isn't too hard to imagine being that I'm a science major (I blame this for the social awkwardness) and had almost chosen to design school if it weren't for my father saying no (I blame this for the slightly autistic self - think the gay brother from wedding crashers). And being how middle school is, fat & awkward = no friends. Thus, leading to my awkward issues today with making friends, I thought I escaped it but it's striking back here in Granada (I thought I had escaped but is obviously still hanging on somewhere). In part my distance away from everyone in my program in Granada, I still feel partially "meh" to everyone here. I know during your study abroad months, people say that you'll make friends faster than you could ever dream, which I don't doubt (the second day in London my best friend here asked me to share her Starbucks, inseparable ever since, awwwe) but at the same time I keep examining the relationships I have here with people. I, by no means, am a "solitary" person. I would much rather be with someone even when not having to communicate (i.e. watching a movie or something). Something about another, familiar body is relatively relaxing. But more often than not, I am choosing to go off by myself, take a run by the sad excuse of a river here in Granada or stroll around looking at the absolutely stunning examples of graffiti here. It's strange, the vast majority of people here are not people who I'd hang out with in Charleston or in Atlanta.. or maybe I'm just keep telling myself that? But as for my effort to become more "involved" I'm planning on doing much more with the group. This weekend a large number of people are going to Cadiz which sounds like a lot of fun, but a lot of trouble. This is why: 1) It's an overnight shitshow 2) There is NO lodging 3) No one has experienced Carnival before.
We basically get on a bus Saturday morning and then get on a bus back Sunday afternoon. This could be bad for a number of reasons. And from what I've seen with the group we have I'm convinced someone/people is/are definitely going to be mugged and/or lost. I'm also positive at least one of the following will occur: a major fight between two bff's, someone will get WAY to drunk and either miss the bus or cause aforementioned fallout, people will get angry because they expect Carnival to have activities at every waking moment and find out that an all-nighter isn't always a good idea. Especially in a city no one is familiar with.
Regardless, the bus ticket there is 20 Euro... and it's basically due by today, so I'm going to do some major pro's and con's. Money is becoming such an issue. Ugh.
