Here is my collection of funny things - edition 1!
1. On my very first day in Granada I arrived before my roommate Bridget so I had dinner with the family without her. Naturally on the first day I was exhausted and my Spanish was painfully rusty. As I sat through our first meal trying to muster enough vocabulary to piece together a statement, I muttered "Gracias Ana, este sabe a rayos!" For those of you that speak Spanish you may know that this means, "Thank you Ana, this tastes terrible!" In my attempt to compliment my host mother's cooking, I managed to insult her and demonstrate my less than perfect speaking abilities. I quickly apologized for my bluff and it has now become a lively joke around meals, but was one heck of a first impression.
2. Another comical memory from my first week here includes free mojitos, a 40+ crowd, discounted skin care and laser hair removal, and a less than friendly bouncer. Yes, you guessed right, my friends and I somehow acquired coupons for free mojitos at a skin care spa promo party down the street! Without knowing the reason behind the mojitos, we spent one of our first nights here mingling with a large amount of older men and women seeking discounted drinks and hair removal deals. This experience made for a funny first week story to share with the rest of the group the next morning!
3. A bunch of students in our GRIIS program recently decided to join the gym down the road and it has without a doubt been filled with funny moments. Our guide Teresa promised that joining the gym would not only be a good way to burn off some delicious tapas, but also a funny way to mingle with Spaniards. My roommate Bridget, our friend Diane and I experienced this first hand when we tried to go to a Spinning class. Fun Fact: European Cycling Bikes are different than American bikes and the perceived exertion scale that most US spin classes run on, is non-existant. Instead, there is a very precise scale that measures which level you are on, your RPM, distance, and calories burned. All of this information I'm sure is useful if you speak enough Spanish to understand the instructor over the music; however, we did not and this resulted in a very confused and tiring 60 minutes.
4. Not to be discouraged by our experience in the cycling class, Bridget, Diane and I returned to the gym for a Cross Fit training session. This time, in our broken spanish and with our lack of athletic/gym vocabulary, we spent 45 minutes guessing which exercises we were expected to perform and providing all Spaniards nearby with a hysterical show by the Americans.
This is only a brief summary of the ridiculous things our broken Spanish have gotten us into, more to come in the next few months!
Hasta Luego
4. Not to be discouraged by our experience in the cycling class, Bridget, Diane and I returned to the gym for a Cross Fit training session. This time, in our broken spanish and with our lack of athletic/gym vocabulary, we spent 45 minutes guessing which exercises we were expected to perform and providing all Spaniards nearby with a hysterical show by the Americans.
This is only a brief summary of the ridiculous things our broken Spanish have gotten us into, more to come in the next few months!
Hasta Luego
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