I started out the week with an MRI for my back (yay) but had to wait until the next week for the results. Yesterday I found out that there’s nothing seriously wrong, but that instead of one lumbar vertebrae being fused with my sacrum, I have an extra one (normally not a problem) but the disc below this vertebrae is slightly compressed. So I get to do fun, weird-looking exercises and continue swimming and doing yoga. Also, included in the low price of (even private) Spanish healthcare, I get a disc of the images of my spine. Try not to be too jealous 🙂

I also found out that the horrible doctor I had in Barcelona was fired (I got a nice letter from the hospital after filing a report).

My tutoree (an older Spanish man who wants to learn English to translate music from Spanish to English) referred me to his friend so I started teaching each of them 2x a week for an hour each.

On Wednesday I woke up early to meet with my program directors for a mid semester check-in, but because I signed up in London, the time got messed up so I was up for nothing. Luckily, I got to wake up early again on Friday to come back. The director was impressed with how much my Spanish has improved and although many of my classes are, um, sub-Swarthmore level shall we say (I’m okay with having less homework, but would love to have classes, like business, teach me about things like business, but I digress…) The good thing was my goal in coming here was to improve my Spanish, which is happening, and I realize how lucky I am to be at a place like Swat where classes are so interesting and profound and I learn a lot.

I’ve also, obviously, done a lot of traveling throughout Europe which is a lot easier from Europe than the US, met a lot of people, love my host family, and am taking classes (however superficial) about things that I couldn’t at Swat (like business and marketing).

Friday we had make-up classes (because when we get class off one week, we have an extra day the next week). After class I went with another girl in my class and a few of our friends from Spain to the U21 Spain soccer team in Granada (we won 1-0) which was fun. My host brother (who is apparently the “best soccer player” and “only isn’t on Real Madrid because he is too young”) was jealous but he had to go to bed.

Saturday was a guided tour of a park and more talk about Federico Garcia Lorca (they’re obsessed with him here). He was a Spanish playwright who is widely known. I’ve read a few of his works, including La casa de Bernarda Alba, which we saw acted out here. My host parents told me it likely wasn’t worth going, plus I was tired from my two-day early wake-up, so I slept in, went swimming, met up with friends from my program at a cafe to do work, and then went out with friends from my business class.

Noah’s flight was supposed to get in at 9:30 to Granada on Sunday but the first flight to Madrid got delayed by over 3 hours, so he didn’t get here until 1:30 or so. I picked him up from the airport (because its excessively confusing to get there and come back, especially because it is so far from the city center). We checked into the language school he enrolled at while here, the bottom part of which is classrooms and the top part of which is apartments. While I stuck to cod to eat, Noah had croquetas and Ox tail.

On Monday he started class around when I have class. I went home for lunch and tutored before we met up with two of my friends to walk into the old district (el Albaicin) and eat snails. On Tuesday after class I tutored again and cooked GF pasta with this amazing Parmesan tomato sauce. I also got membrillo (quince jelly) and soft cheese, my favorite thing here, along with strawberries. I met with the doctor to get my MRI results before going to a vegan restaurant with a vegan friend of mine and Noah.

The under 21 soccer game

Snails in the Albaicín

Vegan restaurant with plants on the ceiling

 Vegan gf pizza (about as good as it sounds, unfortunately)