Anybody there ?

So busy and so in need for a change...

I dont complain, but my agenda is packed. Tween he uni, my job, the particular lessons I give, the Italian I need to keep up with and my Master by mail...Pfiuuuu : Need some holidays.

So what are the news ?

At the end of may I will be in France t take those F...exams ( I am fed up with studying). In Mid june til end of august I will be i Iceland and from the beginning of october to the end of April in Italy.

Funny timetable....

Need to be in an Envlish speaking country too. My spanish starts to contaminate my English.

Post a comment to show me that somebody is still dropping by, cause if not I will stop to post here : So boring ifo one is reading those short lines.

bye

Sweet winter...

Winter is sweet here. So sweet that you dont know how to dress if you go up the hill or in the "valley" of Granada. Furthermore, if the sun shows up - which happens quite often compaed with Normandy - everything look and is warmer. Andalucia, sweet Analucia... and cold or humid, this city has still a strong heartbeat, thanks to its people, wandering in the streets for the sake of chatting with their friends, seated in a bar or on some benches, down the streets, in some squares or just on some plazas.

I displayed some new pictures on the French website. As Fede - the Italian girl I met in Lapland on a bus - was here visiting me for 5 days, we went to see the Alhambra... Yes yes ! you know that place ! The astonishing arabic - more like nasrid - palace, located on the greatest hill of Granada and surrounded by a forest.

Splendid gardens, amazing arabic style, dozens of small palaces or towers - from all styles, since all the sultans who lived there built something. Granada Sultana fell in 1492, a few month before Colomb left for America. Then the Christian kings left in intact. They added their style and built some more palace, but this time in the occidental style but preserving the magnificent essence of Boabdil last palace. Boabdil was the last sultan of Granada, who " fought like a woman and cryed like a child"...

So yes ! you know that place ! The lions fontain ! One of the most simbolic plae of Andalucia ! The one which makes Versaille fontains looks like childish, compared with the way the Arabic way - so secret- of dealing with water... letting it coming in silently, without a murmur, like a magic spell... using water to make a palace looks bigger...

By the way do you know how they call those small windows - made of wood and preventing anybody to look through it from the outside - which give on some small yards and rooms ? Those windows which were only designed for the sultan women, who used them to know what was politicly going on in the Sultana? JEALOUSY ! I love the idea...

If you happen to have read Irving Washington, you may also know that place by : "The tales of the Alhambra", wrote in 1832. A poetic version of the "Arabic nights"...

Urban poetry...

I displayed on line some new pictures on my French website. Before I put any new one about Granada ('could take time since my connection is quite slow ...) here is 2 pictures - one in Rvk, and one in Granada.

The one in Spanish means "I am not the woman of your life, i am the woman of MY life"

Conclusion ?

Busy bitch life...

31 hours a week...I have 31 hours or classes a week. Christ I am studying all the time and i dont have time for nothing. At least in France the time table was better. Look by your self : I am starting everyday at 9 o clock. Nice you would say but I finsih classes at 22h twice a week !

Here we are very far from the Nordic or so called finish standart. No 45 mns of class...2 hours staight. WOUA. Some teachers give us a break but most of them dont. Therefore my mind automatically disconnect after 1 hour and one minute.

Lunch time is between 15 and 16h. This is not too bad, but one thing i find hard to get used to is the dinner time, around 22h30-23h30. I am used to eat and do something after...here you dont feel like doing anything except nothing. I do sleep then. Or I can watch a film on TV. 1H30 of film stands for 2H30 of real time on screen. Too many ads here ( 22mns !!!! ). Moreover Spanish TV is really shit. On the same scale that Italian one. The French one is much better I had to confess. Well much better I dont know but at least there are no ads compare with the Spanish tub.

I am carrying on with the Italian - which help me to mix it with Spanish...funny - and the stoping smoking thing. YES, i am giving up smoking again. I had become oo much of a heavy smoker since last fall and fags are too cheap here ( as the cancer by extension ). SO YES, i am giving up with patch. 3 weeks. I am happy for me but not for the swing mood. Very bad swing mood due to smoking. Hum. At least I know i can accuse the cigarettes, not my life ;))).

Weather is still quite soft. T shirt in the afternoon. But we 've got a grey weather - almost Rouen - for a week now. And Strangely, I still miss Iceland.

I just finished to read over my last entry..wow..I sure should read me again before posting...

What I didnt tell you that you should know...? hummm...That you are all welcome to drop by for a start, i can accomodate you all guys, feel free.

I should later give a brief historic of the town. Granada is a city doted with a great heritage. Full of arabic features and christian symbol, one could reallt think of some streets of Morocco if you happen to be strolling down the narrow paths of the albaicin, the Arabic district right in front of the fortress : L'Alhambra.

So...Tapas and people. 2 key words here. Pollution is also one...but lets not mention it for now ( I am saving it for later ).My university is a fine one even though a bit small. It was the first university in Granada. Built in 1531, it sure looks old, right i the center and far from Cartuja, the biggest campus here.

Sun, sun and sun. An average of 25 now. Quite high for an October. The last time I saw real rain was in Iceland he he. I still wonder how nature manages to grow. I still find it hard to belive that it can get cold here in winter time despite the Spanish telling me that it is the case.

We went out yesterday in a bar called "Labrador", at around midnight. We ordered the labrador, a brownish drink which taste a bit like porto, and along with it some free tapas. After the third round we no longer needed to go and eat dinner : THAT is convenient. Arriba Arriba...

Ps, for some pictures, check my French website. I will soon display some

A month in Granada. Already.
For those I didnt speak too recently, I found a nice little flat in the center of this very crowdy city. Calle san Tomas, 14, 3 piso 10, CP 18004 Granada.

I am living with 3 Spaniards - all of them from outside Granada - and things are going fine. Switching from Englisg to Spanish was a bit tough at first but I swear to god that I am getting better and better. I understand everything but I am still working on my expression..Give a couple of months...

I already have Friends there, all Spanish. I was first accomodated by Lorena, a friend of mine who used to be erasmus in Rouen a few months ago. Thats why I already have friends there.

Going out in Granada is really something, especially for me who is more used to the Nordic countries or the greeness of Normandy. There people down the street 24h / 24h. Amazing.

You can ever decide to spend part of your night in a " botellon" ( a gathering of people drinking spontaneously in a special spot in the city - 10,000 people last week ), a very entertaining thing which generates tonnes of rubish the day after ( no environmental consciousness yet here...) or go in a tapas bar, ome of Granada`s specificity. 1 euro 50 a beer and free tapas along. Then if you want to eat, you have to drink..he he he he

I have much more to say but I need to take some exams in spanish, in order to determinate my level. They will dispach me after in some groups with the same level.

Bye bye

Hello everybody !

Welcome to Granada, andalucia !