Dunbar's Number

Dunbar's number. A number which British Anthropoligist Robin Dunbar suggests is the maximum number of people a person can hold a meaningful relationship with. Although 150 is often used in reference to this evasive number, Dunbar never claimed to have found an exact number where the human brain reaches a so-called tipping point. Rather, he acknowledged and asserted that this tipping point does exist.

Over a month into my experience here in Granada, I find myself questioning this number, and, if I were being perfectly honest, being afraid of it. I constantly wonder, "What is my number? When will I not be able to make anymore new relationships? Will I start to let go of people who mean a lot to me without knowing it?"

A large part of being a study abroad student involves (as it should!) meeting a lot of people from a lot of different places. This process is arguably the most important learning aspect of the study abroad experience. That's why we went abroad right? To learn different cultures and languages. To be better citizens of the world. To be a less stereo-typically ignorant Americans. I have met 75 people in my program plus the staff plus countless others throughout the time that I have been here. I feel myself forming relationships with many of them. I feel myself forming meaningful relationships with them. That's what I want, right? Right?

It's funny how we try so hard to form these relationships in the beginning. We really want to belong and identify with people when we are in a foreign place where we know no one, with good reason! We try so hard that we fall into a good rhythm. But then we forget. What about all the other people in the world? What about the people I have left at home? What about all the people I have yet to meet? My hope is that, throughout my time here AND throughout the rest of my life, I create my own number. A number that could potentially be infinite.

That time I had to open a bank account...in Spanish

The other day, I had to open a bank account for the very first time in my life. I walked into the big bank on the biggest road in Granada (Gran Via de Colon), and looked around trying to figure out who to talk to. I first walked up to the tellers and waited in like for a few minutes. "Alguien aqui habla ingles?" When the answer was no, I took a deep breath and said, "Tengo que abrir una cuenta (I need to open an account)..." The woman behind the window looked at me as if to say, "Really? You came up to the teller booth?" She points to a woman sitting at her desk and told me to speak with her. I walk up to Carmen, a impeccably dressed and put together woman, and tell her (all in broken Spanish of course, but I will spare you and write this in English), "I have to open a bank account, but I don't know how to speak Spanish very well. Regardless, I wouldn't know how to open a bank account even if we were speaking in English". Carmen gave a small chuckle and asked me for various items (my passport, evidence of my matriculation at the university, etc). She asked me a few more questions, told me where to sign, and somehow, miraculously, 45 minutes later, I had a bank account. No big deal. Now if only I could figure out how to activate my debit card...

Cool thing for today:

So I am studying in Granada this semester, and I am loving it! I got here about 3 weeks ago, and it is flying by! I will also be blogging for Cornell abroad while I am here. If you like, you can follow my adventures here!

And a picture of the view I see here everyday:

Books.

Pride and Prejudice = Gossip Girl in the 1800s.

Don't get me wrong, I love reading, a lot. I also love reading classic books, as a matter of fact, I am making my way (albeit slowly) through War and Peace right now. I think that often, "classic" books make readers think and really have a lot of meaning to them, but I just cannot get myself to like Jane Austen. For the record, I also like "beach books", and contemporary novels, and mystery books, and scary books, and historical books, and books about nannies, and books about children, and even books for children.

I just don't understand the allure of Jane Austen novels. I will ALWAYS lust for a rainy day curled up with a cuppa tea reading a book, but I will NEVER lust for the same scenario where the book is one written by Jane Austen. I always wanted to like her, I am pretty sure that the "Jane Austen Phase" is something that most teenage girls go through at some point. I never did. Awkward.

I much prefer:
-Dostoevsky
-John Grisham
-Jean Plaidy (I like daydreaming that I am a Tudor in the 1500s and that I am part of the British Royal Court. nbd.)
- J.K. Rowling (obviously.)

....And generally male authors. Not sure why, but female authors always come off a tad whiny to me. I am pretty sure I do too, and I am trying to fix that :P

Anyways, tell me what you think! Do you like Jane Austen? Who are your favorite authors?

Cool Thing:

This is a really GREAT book that is super easy to read. I know it is by a woman author, but it's really good!



:)
T

More Food (Or Should I Say Disasters).

Helloooo!

I really didn't want to write this post, but I suppose it would be unfair - and fairly misleading - if I didn't. I attempted make a recipe I found on Pinterest. AND IT FAILED. I was extremely upset because this (a failed recipe which I didn't know how to fix easily) had never happened to me before.

I tried to make pizza. In a frying pan. I don't know why, considering I do have an oven, it just seemed like a cool idea. Needless to say, it did NOT work. At all. The dough wouldn't cook from the top and would burn from the bottom. It was so bad. My first disastrous cooking experience made me so, so distressed. 

EXCEPT! I just remembered a funny story from Culinary Class (yes, I get to take cool classes like culinary as part of my degree :) )

Now before I start the story, I would like to point out that this is about baking, and I do not, by any means, claim to be even a remotely good baker. 

So, on our last day in culinary lab, it was kind of like the show chopped, where they gave us surprise ingredients and we have an hour to make a menu using them (except it was no where near as hard because our "secret" ingredients were chicken, butter, and eggs. ha.) So anyways, we get to choose teams, and we have to make a menu and serve it under a time limit. So my team from last semester's marketing class decided to all team up for old times' sake. Additionally, since we spent so much time together for our marketing project, we felt that we would work as a "well-oiled machine", I believe they say. 

So after perusing the other ingredients that were given to us, we decided to go with an Asian themed menu, which I am quite proud of, by the way. We had a citrus salad with a soy sauce and ginger dressing for the starter, a Thai style chicken and some egg fried rice for the entree, and a mango and ginger trifle for the dessert.

So anyways, everything went smoothly throughout the entire menu, all of our dishes were completed on time, and everything was given good marks. Then we got to the dessert. Duh duh duh.

It was pretty genius, we decided to flavor the whipped cream with some fresh ginger root. As I was reaching for the ginger root from the ingredients table, the head chef said "Hey why don't you use this ginger paste, it will save you time." So of course, I took his advice and used the ground ginger instead. So we assembled the trifle, even going as far to boil the mango in some sugar water because it wasn't that ripe, cubed up the cake we baked, layered it with the ginger whipped cream, and sent it up for judging.

As we were cleaning, I looked over to the judges table, and they were laughing. So I of course thought, "Why are they laughing? This is peculiar." So we went along cleaning, but a few minutes later, one of the chefs came up to us and asked us what we put in the whipped cream. So we told him it was ginger, of course. He chuckled, and told us, "No. That was garlic!" HAHA! So of course we were ROARING with laughter (well I was.) And the chef tells us not to worry, they wouldn't deduct points. So everyone continued along cleaning, and I suddenly remembered that I had let another team borrow our whipped cream because they didn't have time to make their own. So I ran over to the judging table FREAKING out as they were tasting this particular dessert yelling "THEY USED OUR WHIPPED CREAM! THEY USED OUR WHIPPED CREAM!" Of course, the rest of the class (except for my team) was giving me highly quizzical looks (later I found out that they all thought I was trying to take credit for their dessert) and the chefs and the TA's all burst out laughing because they knew our whipped cream had garlic. 

So, essentially, THE funniest class I have ever had. Ever.

Hope I made you laugh :)

Cool thing:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/pictures-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity

This is the BEST webpage!

<3

-T

Pinterest Food.

So I always go on Pinterest and see all these DELICIOUS looking dishes, and I really want to eat them! So I decided that this summer I am going to try to make as many as I can. The first one I made was an amazingly comforting cauliflower soup which was only with 5 ingredients, completely vegan, and surprisingly filling (and it's just as gorgeous in real life as in the picture). Now, I am not a huge Martha Stewart fan. So to my disdain, the next dish I made is one of hers. I do have to say though, it was quite delish. It was poached eggs and asparagus on top of fettuccine. Then I did a small salad and some roasted tomatoes with some cheese and herbs on top. It was my first time poaching eggs, but it really wasn't a big deal, I did break 2 though!

The Meal (please excuse the computer!)

So I guess I will be posting some more dishes that I make this summer! Maybe I will even try baking!! Okay, that's being optimistic, but we shall see. I am really excited for what I am making this week: it's going to be a Thai curry. Thai food is my FAVORITE. So I am very very very excited. I hope it is gooood.

Here is the recipe for the pasta if you like :)

Crisis.

Crisis (n) - A time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger

I have been having a lot of 'Crises' recently.

1. Where should I study abroad?
2. How do I get more out of my internship?
3. Should I quit my internship?
4. How do I get more out of my life?
5. Where do I get the motivation/inspiration to write another blog post?
6. When am I going to write that article?
7. How am I going to succeed in this world?
8. Goodness I need to stop worrying.

Believe it or not, those 8 things I listed above harrow me. On a daily, I'd even say hourly, basis. Then of course I begin to become even more stressed out because I KNOW that being stressed about what blog post to write (for example) is plain silly. And no where near what would or should be considered a crisis.

I think I have narrowed down my stress to one question: What do I want?

Now the fact that I am even posing this question to myself is quite overwhelming in itself for two reasons. First, I have always known quite exactly and specifically what I want. Always. Second, I have always been very content with my life. It is something that I have always prided myself in - knowing that little known fact that the ultimate secret to happiness is being more than content with what you have.

The thing is, I think I still am. Happy and content that it. The question is, why would I say "I think I am" and why would I pose the question "What do I want?" If I know that all this doesn't matter because all that matters is that I have my basic needs met - that I can create my happiness from anything - then why am I having these questions?

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it is incredibly easy to say something to yourself over and over again, and sometimes (the lucky times) you begin to believe it? Other times, no matter how many times you try to convince yourself something, you know that it's just not working.

Now, it really really distresses me to write this post because I honestly am happy. Now I know you probably won't believe me after reading this, but I am. Whenever I feel unhappy or uncertain or just simply  complain-y, I remind myself of the great fortune that my life is. I think about all the people that are less fortunate than me. Sadly, there are a lot them. I know that it will be very difficult to help them all get as great lives as me (though I am tying to figure out a way to!), so in my crazy head, I kind of justify my life by reminding myself to be not only thankful and grateful but also happy and content with what I have, because it just wouldn't be fair to be unhappy with everything that I have. 

I guess we all need some perspective every once in a while.

Time.

Helllooo Everyone!!

So sorry it has been so long, apparently time really flies. I just wanted to check in and tell you that lots of blog posts will be coming...VERY soon :)

<3

-T