by Benjamin Geoffrey Stewart
There are certain things in this world that people like to be aware of: the price of food, the condition of their possessions, and whether or not you may happen to be wearing two different types of stripes at the same time. One of my favorite things to try to gauge is unfortunately one of the hardest to pinpoint, and that’s my perception of a place. Not ten days ago, most of Granada was a veritable maze of graffiti, artesanías, and back alleys. However much I pride myself on my sense of direction, I’m most accustomed to finding my way around the woods I grew up in, and I can still get lost amongst the winding streets and endless seas of tapas bars.
Now that I’ve taken the time to read maps (in the safety of my apartment), learn bus routes, and generally wander, I can stroll through the streets of Granada with confidence – it’s almost an entirely different world. Being lost, which still happens from time to time, is more of a challenge than an issue at this point, and every time I go running I endeavor to delve as deep as possible into an unknown region of Granada. Sunday, for example, I was taking my favorite route – the brutal ascent from the bottom of Calle Recogidas up to a viewpoint above the Alhambra. Up there in the olive fields, the whole of the city is laid out beneath you, and you can enjoy the view from inside a small pergola/terrace-like structure of sorts. This was the fourth time I had ascended the Alhambra, and each time I had noticed a small, circular viewpoint below on the edge of a hill. On a whim, I ran on, and enjoyed the second viewpoint for a while before the stares of alerted Spaniards led me to decide to continue on down the hill (which, incidentally, ran away from my district of the city). I know I don’t look Spanish in any way – somehow, being 190 cm tall, white as a ghost, and having green eyes and red facial hair gives me away in this country…pero vale.
So I ran on, descending down a long and winding highway that led to a part of the city I hadn’t seen before. I knew I was at least two miles from the river, which is the relative center of the city, but that’s when the adventure kicked in. Yes, I didn’t know exactly where I was, but my relative-direction compass was still working overtime. I’m fortunate enough to be the Spanish speaker on this trip, so if worst came to worst I could break gender barriers and ask for directions. Though the sun was going down, I’m generally too big for people to want to mess with – I’ve never had the problem of being catcalled at or glanced at or anything else, and Granada is far too touristy of a city to risk being dangerous to generous Americans. What did I realize in that moment? Quite possibly one of my favorite feelings in the world – that I’m independent, free to do what I wish, and have an entirely new area laid out before me, ready to be absorbed and understood. I’m comfortable in Granada now, know where to find wifi, all the food I want, and the local sites. It feels as if I’ve lived here for a month or more.
In laboratory news, I’ve been running behaviorals for a while now, and my first eyetrack is tomorrow. My fingers and toes are crossed that neither E-Prime nor E-Builder decides to flinch; I’m itching to run my experiment for the first time.