Jeff Harris Travels

I made some panoramas from photos I took in Granada. Click the links to see them.

Alhambra from the Albaycin Neighborhood
Alhambra from the Albaycin Neighborhood (HI RES)

The Albaycin and Sacromonte from the Alhambra
The Albaycin and Sacromonte from the Alhambra (HI RES)

The Albaycin from the Alhambra
The Albaycin from the Alhambra (HI RES)

Fuente de las Batallas (Fountain of the Battles)
Fuente de las Batallas (Fountain of the Battles) (HI RES)

I’ve made it to Valencia.

I just got in from grocery shopping. I bought some potato cake (like the Señora made… or did she?!), corn flakes, hamburgers (I’m slightly embarrassed to say), some crackers, ketchup (I bought the cheap brand and not Heinz. It was tempting). I forgot milk for the corn flakes. But the store is about 1 minute away, so no biggie.

Last night, before leaving for the train, my roommate Matt and I were forced fed (practically). The señora always made great food, but the quantity she made it in was always over the top. It will be nice to eat at my own pace now. I’ll miss Granada, but I think I’m ready for life in Valencia.

So I arrived in Valencia at about 5:30 this morning. It was about 9ºC (48.2ºF), but it definitely felt colder. After sitting around in the train station and skyping (I made it a verb) with Madre and watching some Spain shows on my iPod, I headed by taxi to my apartment on Calle de Santos Justo y Pastor.

I have one German roommate, a girl named Igna. There’s a German guy who’s leaving on Sunday. Two Peruvian girls are coming on Sunday, the same day I’ll be moving into a larger, more quiet room. Right now I have the room closest to the door and next door neighbor…

At about 4 or so, as I was attempting to take a cat nap, loud music started playing. Then screaming started. Then things started to be thrown. The screaming got louder, the music got louder, and the wall was vibrating. My roommates came to see what was up. Supposedly the neighbor sometimes flips out and starts singing really loud and yelling. He kept repeating “¡Olé!” I was more entertained than scared, but it was ridiculous. The cops and paramedics showed up (peep hole video below).

I also made another video. It shows about half of my (last) walk to the apartment from school in Granada. It’s made up of about 600 photos.

Also today, I registered with the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia’s Bellas Artes (Fine Arts) department. I won’t find out what my schedule will be like until Tuesday, at the earliest, after I pick up my ID and supplement information and attempt to sign up for classes online. I have until February 16 to finalize the schedule.

Tomorrow will be my last day in Granada, and today is my last full day.

Tomorrow I have my final exam at 10AM. Following the test, ISA is having pizza for us one-monthers. Back to the apartment after that to make sure I have everything packed and ready to go for my train ride Thursday night. The train departs Granada at 9:55PM Thursday night and gets into Valencia at 5:05AM Friday morning.

I was able to contact Paqui, the woman I am renting from, and she’ll be meeting me at 9AM Friday, so I’ll be waiting around in the train station for a good 3 to 4 hours. Fun! It’s surprising to me that the two times I have spoken with her on the phone, I have been able to understand what she says and have her understand why I say. It’s kind of a confidence booster.

I made it up to the El Mirador de San Cristóbal (a vantage point) in the Albaicín neighborhood of Granada. Click below to see some of the photos I took:

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I wanted to make sure I had at least one photo of the food my senora makes before I go off to Valencia. For lunch today we had ham, fried cheese, a spinach salad with walnuts, an egg, bread, and french fries.

Yesterday I spent the day at the Alhambra, the very old Moorish complex, and later an important place for the Catholic Monarchs. 

The place was beautiful and it was peaceful walking around alone, though plenty of other people were there. I took over 800 photos, so I have about 150 decent ones from the day.

I also took some video…

Click here to watch the video in higher quality

Click below to see some photos…
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On Friday afternoon, I went on a tour of Granada’s Cathedral and Royal Chapel with ISA (my program company for the January intensive month). The cathedral is huge, with ginormous columns and a large dome.

There’s some interesting aspects of the Royal Chapel. The coffins of the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, and those of daughter Queen Juana la loca (the crazy) and her husband and child are on display underground. Cameras weren’t allowed in the Royal Chapel, but they were in the Cathedral, surprisingly.

Click below to see of the cathedral and more…

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I can’t believe I only have nine days left in Granada. The past two weeks have flown by.

On my way home from a mandatory meeting this evening, I took some more photos.

This weekend, I hope to make it to the Alhambra, the old Moorish complex. Supposedly, it takes a few hours to see the whole thing. I also hope to make it back up to the Albaycin neighborhood, overlooking the city of Granada. My camera batteries were dead last Thursday for the group tour of the neighborhood.

Photo’s from this evening:

Punisher: Not a place I’d like to eat at

Rebajas

Plaza in the Dark

El Rey del Burgers

Centro de Lenguas Modernas (CLM), where I’m studying in Granada.

This weekend was successful and productive. On Saturday I contacted a woman who rents apartments, who I knew of through a past participant of the UMBC/UPV exchange. I was surprised that she understood me so well and that I understood her enough to know when and where to meet her. My mentor, Carmen, her friend Raquel and I met the woman outside the first apartment she was going to show me. It had four rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room. After checking out the first apartment we visiting another one around the corner. It was nice, but the long hallway to the bathroom wasn’t that appealing. The first apartment ended up being the one I chose, mainly because the room had bright light and it was pretty large. It has everything included (gas, wifi, electricity, water) for €320/month. I will be sharing the living room, kitchen, and bathroom with three other people, another guy, and two girls.

After we were done apartment hunting, I went back to my hotel to do some birthday skyping. It’s so nice to live with technology that can make it seem like you’re feet away, instead of a continent away.

Later, around 10, I made my way over to my mentor’s place, where we had a yummy dinner of “Spanish Omelet,” sausage, pizza, and some sort of meat, I think pork. We also had a homemade birthday cake!

On the way back to my hotel I snapped some other pics:

My future street:

I’m in Valencia for the weekend to look for a place to stay for the spring semester. What a beautiful city.

Last night I went out with my mentor and her friends. She was assigned to me by the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia to help me get settled and adjust to life in Spain. She’s super nice and her friends are also very helpful and fun.

I have yet to make a decision on housing. The two “flats” I saw yesterday were nice and one included wifi, gas, electricity and water in the price, but some of the people were real slobs that lived there. Despite that, I might end up there.

I’m meeting with Carmen, my mentor, later today to see other apartments. I also will be calling Paqui, a woman I know of through a past participant of the exchange. She doesn’t speak any English, so that should be interesting.

Today was a relaxing day. Sleeping in until 13:00 (1PM) was nice. After a hearty lunch, the normal here in Spain, or at least in this home, my roommate and I attempted to go geocaching, but we experienced some technical difficulties, so that will have to come another day.

We did however make it to Parque Federico García Lorca, named after one of Spain’s greatest poets. It is a large park, though a good amount of it was blocked off, most likely in preparation for Spring. After walking through the park, we headed north for a bit and then back south to the apartment. I think I’ve walked more in the last five days then I ever had before.

>>For all the photos of Granada, check out my Granada flickr set<<