An Overdue Update

Hey everyone! I have now been in Ronda for a little over a week and already have so much to tell you. First of all, the city is absolutely gorgeous. The streets are cobbled, the stores are chic and the views are better than you can imagine. Every morning I walk across the Puente Nuevo Bridge to get to my school. Of course, being the curious individual that I am, I always have to stop and look down at the giant gorge below. From this sometimes-awkward perspective, I not only see the canyon, but the miles of green countryside and giant mountains surrounding Ronda.

On weekdays I attend school from 9-2. This includes an hour “snack” break when we are encouraged to go to the local coffee shops and get some café or a sandwich. Oh, and did I mention that my school is a former Islamic palace? Well, it is. From my classroom I can see a horse and sheep farm, groves of olive trees and a water park in the distance. Two out of three isn’t bad. My teachers are Carmen and Ana and they are absolutely fantastic. Spunky and confident, they really make you want to learn Spanish. Every day we start off learning grammar and going over culture, but by the end of it we’re usually learning how to order beers or deny someone our phone numbers. That’s another thing; I get the idea that our teachers want us to go out until the ungodly hours in the morning. Case in point, last Thursday my school had an official “Welcome to Ronda Party” at a local tapas bar. While the party began in one place, by then end of the night, we had moved on to another bar and a discotech. I did not get home until 5 a.m.. But when we got to school at 9, the teachers said that they thought we were all too tired and put on a movie. Boy, did that sure teach us a lesson.

But of course, not everything has gone smoothly. After only a few days of staying in Ronda, I officially topped my awkward moments chart. This is a lot considering my history. But alas, it is true. So what is this story you might ask. Well, one day, after a brief siesta, I got bored and decided to go for a walk. It was around seven or so and I had about three hours to kill until dinner. (Eating here is crazy, I know). So I decided to walk to the park to look at my favorite views. When I got there, I noticed a hidden path in the corner of the park that I had never seen before. Now, this path was blocked by a gate and while the gate was not completely closed, it had ropes and caution-like tape draped across the opening that all but screamed, “keep out”. But I thought, what the heck, I’m in Spain. So I snuck through the ropes and began to walk down the path. For awhile it was great. The trail had beautiful views and it was kind of nice to be by myself. After walking for a little bit longer, I found a bench and sat down to be Yoda-like and relax. Only a few minutes after sitting down though, I heard some security sirens in the background and being the semi-paranoid person that I am, I thought, Oh no, the park’s security guard is going to catch me trespassing on this stupid trail and get me kicked me out of my study abroad program. Really, I don’t know why I thought this. So, I decided to get up and make my way towards the trail’s entrance. But suddenly, I began to hear voices and footsteps coming from the direction of the entrance. And what did I do? Did I keep my cool and simply walk out like nothing had happened? No. I panicked and bolted the opposite direction. So here I was, a blonde American girl who had only been in Spain for three days, running down the path away from the entrance and some security guard who I for some reason thought wanted to kick me out of my program. I rounded a corner and finally saw my way out: a massive, iron gate. But when I ran over to open it, my hopes of escape were dashed in the form of a giant padlock.

I could hear the footsteps getting closer and started to panic. So, in a last minute attempt to save myself, I leaped behind a pine tree to wait for the guard to pass. After a few minutes, the culprit I had been running from rounded the corner and walked towards me. It didn’t take too long for me to see that it was not the security guard. Peering out from my branched haven, I made out three young men as they walked by me and sat down to partake in some illegal inhalants. Now, I would like to say that I thought long and hard about just jumping out of that tree and walking away but for some very good reasons I decided to stay. First of all, it was starting to get dark and they weren’t exactly the nicest looking lads on the block. Secondly, Ronda is a small city. If I suddenly appeared from outside of a tree I would be known as that creepy blonde girl who watches people from shrubberies. So I waited for them to leave. And waited. And waited. I waited for an hour. By the time they finished doing their thing it was completely dark and I was freezing. Finally, they all got up and started to walk away and I thought I was out of the woods…ha! But of course, fate had different plans for me. I swear, the moment they rounded that corner, one of their cell phones went off. While my Spanish isn’t perfect, I knew enough to make out “birthday” and “bring wine.” Then they stayed where they were to wait for their friends to bring alcohol and have some big party. I was stuck in my tree. While they couldn’t see me anymore, they were still blocking my only way home. So, I decided to take action. Keeping an eye on the corner, I walked over to the padlocked gate. Looking at it, I knew that there was no way I could scale the thing; it was way too tall. But I noticed that there was a ledge on the side that was only a bit taller than me. I thought that maybe, if I got up onto the ledge, I could scale the gate and achieve my freedom. It sounded like a good idea, but I was also desperate. Either way, I swung one of my legs up onto the ledge and used the gate’s iron bars for support as I hoisted myself up. Unfortunately, even from this height there was no way that I could scale the gate. But I noticed a small opening at the top of the ledge that led into someone’s yard. It wouldn’t get me into the street, but it would get me out of the park. Thus, climbing over barbed wire and ripping my pants in the process, I made my way into some poor stranger’s yard.

Looking around I realized that I was still stuck. The yard I had jumped into was gated and had no access to the street. The only way for me to go was up. I went over to the side of this person’s house and, using the fence for support, hoisted myself up onto their roof. I swear, I am no lying. Slithering across the roof, I inched my way towards the street until I could finally see the sidewalk. This was all done while ducking my head as other people walked by. When the coast was clear, I used yet another barbwired-gate to lower myself to freedom! I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my entire life. When I got back to my house, my host mom Carmen was a bit curious about the branches sticking out of my hair and the giant tear in my pants...but thankfully she didn't really seem to want to know.

So anyways, that is one of the many stories I have acquired while here in Ronda. Hopefully, the rest of them will not be quite as ridiculous but you never really know. Miss you all!