Another adventure in Wonderland

So I have been a true bum lately. I really have done very little of interest in the past week. Did classes...ate meals...took buses...the usual. I had a mildly interesting weekend though. So, we usually start making plans to go out after dinner, which means 10ish. And then we spend an hour dithering over who's coming. And then I have to get ready and go to the bus stop. So on Saturday, I was just going to go get some ice cream with a friend. At midnight, which is not unusual here. And so we get to el centro, and we decide hey, the ice cream place is open till 2...why not wander?

So that's where it starts. We met a guy from Holland...I don't know what they're called, but all the bars and clubs hire people to stand in the plazas, and hand out cards and try and get you to come in (that's what the Holland guy does). They're actually pretty helpful in finding places, even if it's not their club, and I've had great conversations (in English) with some of them. But anyway. We went in for all of 5 minutes, and then we continued wandering, and decide to go for the ice cream.

So the reason we went to this PARTICULAR ice cream shop is because the guy at the counter seems to have a soft spot for the pelirroja in Spain, and I'm clearly trying to work this to my advantage and get free ice cream eventually. (They have ferrero rocher ice cream here...it's amazing). So tonight, he was excited to see me again, and told us that I look just like the girl in Ironman (none of us knew who the actress was, it's Gwyneth Paltrow. The main difference is that she's fluent in Spanish, and I am not). But all the same, he gave me an extra scoop of ice cream. We found out his name is Sebastian. He told my friend to take care of me. He's super nice, but also at least 30 or so....but all the Dickinson kids like him, so maybe we'll practice Spanish so we have a friend?

So...we were going to wander some more. But another club person started talking to us, and we found out she was British (seriously, these people are great to talk to, and they always give us free cocktails). We caught up with people we know, we end up going to a different club, and dancing till 4:30. Then to the bus, where we waited an hour just to put me on it (thanks guys!)

But here's where the night went slightly sour. On my walk home, I heard someone behind me, and I started walking faster...but they ran to catch up to me. It was some guy, like 6 inches shorter than me, and I didn't listen to him, I just said, sorry, I don't speak Spanish. Well, unfortunately, he speaks English. (I need to learn to say something in a really obscure language...I guess I could put that Japanese to use). So he told me he just had a question...but then kept asking where I was from, what city, where was I staying, how long, do I like going to the beach...this is so not the first time I get slammed with personal questions by creepy guys here. I made up answers, and tried to shake him off, but he kept walking with me, and I figured it was safer to go home than to wander around trying to lose him. But he followed me there, and kept asking for my number, and I kept saying I didn't have a phone. And he kept asking how we would keep in touch if I didn't have a phone...yeah, seriously. So I kept saying I had to go to bed, and finally I just turned away. But then he simultaneously hugged me and tried to bury his face in my chest, and I jumped back and opened the door to my house and shut it in his face. And was extremely unnerved for about half an hour until I calmed down.

Never having had this issue before coming here, I've never exactly had practice shoving people in front of traffic to get them to leave me alone. It's not like I'm not alert. It's just pretty tiring to have people tap your arms all the time in clubs, to step in front of you and say "guapaaa" or "bella!", to make that weird little hissing sound, to whistle, to take pictures of you (daylight or not) and walk away, to touch you as you're walking by...but all of that is way less creepy than being followed home. Also, mace is illegal to sell here. I'm not sure what girls are flattered by that attention...but I'm pretty done with it. We stopped to look at a cuchilleria before churros, I considered it (a cuchilleria is a knife shop, for the non-Spanish-speaking).

I didn't really let that stop me from going out the next night...I just made sure I got home before 6 AM. We went into el centro again, and found so many foreigners (I'm finding it unlikely that we'll ever have Spanish friends. All we find are Erasmus students and random English-speakers). However, we did find a guy from Ohio and one from Australia that were great to talk to, and didn't do all the weird Spanish/Italian things.

Also...I think I'm going to stay the year here. I'll still be home over winter break, because I have to get my visa extended...and I just figured, why not stay the year? It's either Carlisle or Malaga, and I do hate February in Carlisle...plus, I'll get to see Lisbon, Barcelona, and Valencia. I'll miss all my friends going home after fall semester (I know you guys read this, even though you clearly already know what I'm doing). But because I'm staying the year, I had to sign up for a class at the University, which is my nightmare du jour. I went to one class of History of Al-Andalus, and the professor speaks really quietly and doesn't look at anyone, just mumbles at his desk. I couldn't hear him because I wasn't in the first row, but apparently he said we could either take notes on what he says, or take notes on the books (which you can't buy, because they're obscure, but someone is going to make photocopies...). So going to class isn't necessary. Not what I'm looking for, I like feeling like I'm learning something. So I was going to take a translation class, but decided not to go because it's right over lunch time...and it takes over an hour to get to or from the University, so I wouldn't be able to eat every day I had class. So...tomorrow I'm trying a heritage class or something, and I'm getting someone to tell me how a literature class was. You're really not supposed to be shopping classes like this, but I'm not sure who's going to argue with me.

So, this weekend we're going to Granada and Cordoba...which I've actually known stuff about since we focused on them in my freshmen seminar (1492: The Year the World Changed, proving pretty useful so far). Granada has the Alhambra, the most-visited site in Spain, which is a beautiful Muslim-designed palace (unfortunately Spain had a no-diversity initiative around 1492...kicked out the Jews, the Muslims, and killed a good portion of the indigenous populations of the Americas). I'm pretty excited to see the cities, and it's an overnight trip!