last day in granada....
the bus for Madrid leaves tonight at 10 and gets to the airport at like 4.. ugh! Not looking forward to waiting in the airport til my flight at 11, but we have to leave early cuz people have really early flights. I had my last final this morning, political system of the EU... didn´t go as well as I would have liked but I did my best, maybe 7.5 range. I´m really excited to go home! But not looking forward to hauling around my 4 pieces of luggage. I´m also sad about leaving Granada and my friends I´ve made here, but it´s been a great time. I was sad about leaving our señora all by herself for the holidays, but then she´s use to having students coming in and out. She´s been hosting for 15 years, so that´s about 60 students! It´s quite funny she didn´t even bother to learn our names, because she said our names were strange and hard to remember.
boarding my plane in 24 hours!

Hola a todos! I just got back from a weekend in Bilbao. The pinxos were delicious, they´re these little snacks they serve at the bars -the goat cheese was my favorite. .. here´s some pics!
Only 4 more days in Granada....

I went on a last minute trip to Portugal this past weekend. Only a 4 hour drive and we stayed at a nice hostal in Lagos- cute harbor town where we woke up to seagulls every morning (afternoon). We chilled on the beach and watched surfers and wind surfers wipe out. The weather was windy, but very sunny and warm. Then for dinner I had Portuguese speciality, vino verde, a dark white wine -greenish tint- with my fish of the day.

We rode out to Sagres and hiked up a cliff of red claylike stone to watch the sunset -gorgeous! Overall, it was a wonderful time, good group of people too. It appeared that Portuguese people there knew more English than Spanish. Geographically you would think that Portugal would be overwhelmed with Spanish influence, but no. Probably because a lot of tourists come from the UK.

¡hola! no he escrito en mi blog hace mucho tiempo...

A couple weekends ago I went hiking in the Alpujarras, a series of pueblos strung across the mountains. It was a relief to get out of the city, and endulge the fresh mountain air! The city we stayed at was called Capiliera, and our hiking guide told us that in the Alpujarras they fabricate this red wine called la Costa -which of course we had to try! We stumbled upon a small bar that night, and had some (lots) of Costa -very pure and strong. I chatted with the bartender for a bit and told him I was from Ohio. Surprisingly he was familiar with it. Turns out that his old antique cash registrar was manufactured in Dayton!

I had a nice Thanksgiving with my studies abroad group. The directors organized a dinner at a restaurant on the Plaza de Gran Capitán. The food was good... different good. The turkey was a weird texture, kinda like meatloaf, but good flavor. ¡toma!

Hola todo el mundo!
My aunt was here in Granada this past weekend. We had a great time. We went to Alhambra, of course, my fourth visit. On Thursday we went to the Cuevas de Nerja. They´re these natural caves discovered in 1959. It was very humid descending deeper into the caves. In Nerja we also stopped by the Balcon de Europa, then went on a carriage ride around the pueblo. Then yesterday we at a really nice lunch in the Albacin neighborhood. We relaxed and enjoyed the view of Alhambra!

I fell that my Spanish is getting really good! It really helps to have Spanish friends to practice speaking -and to learn vulgar phrases and slang haha. Also I talk with my Señora a lot. The other night my Señora took out me, my aunt, Niki, Niki´s mom, and Niki´s mom´s boyfriend out for dinner. It was fun and Señora Carmen laughed at our guests, because they ordered water at the tapas bar haha. She´s funny. I met her sister the other night, and they were trying to hook up either me or Antro with this 44 year old man. Ahhh no thanks! They wanted Antro to find a boyfriend in Spain so that she wouldn´t leave.

I got a haircut the other day! My mop-top frightened the little Spanish ladies when I walked into the Peluquería. It was difficult to communicate what I had wanted done, but eventually we worked something out. Apprehensive at first, she cut and styled my hair. She did a good job, it´s nice, shorter -gotta get use to it.

I played poker with some Spanish friends last weekend. There´s a bar where everyone brings their own cards and chips and plays for hours. We ended up playing til 4 A.M. At first I thought the boys were just trying to get Niki and I´s money, but Niki -because of beginner´s luck :) - won 10 euros. It was a fun night, a nice break from nights out of clubbing.

Last night Niki and I went with a couple friends to the thermal baths in Santa Fe, right outside Granada. After driving around in the olive tree fields for like 40 min, they finally found the baths. It was like a natural jacuzzi, with large stones and a waterfall. It was the perfect temperature to keep us warm in the cool night. We chatted and watched the stars for a couple hours, very relaxing :)

I got back from a mini vacation in Barcelona yesterday. It was so fun. Did all the tourist stuff and saw all the buildings nerdy architecture students would enjoy. I really liked Barcelona, but I´m glad I chose to spend my 4 months study abroad in Granada. Barcelona is swarming with tourists and chorizos (bad guys). But it was awesome to see Gaudí, Mies, Meier, Nouvel and Calatrava´s architecture.

Sagrada Familia

Niki and I at Parc Güell

Mom and I Arc del Triomf

Rooftop Casa Mila

Granada has at least one hair shop, shoe store and bar on every block.. no joke! It´s a woman´s trap winding through the labyrinth of streets. So many amazing shoes! But now I´m desensitized from all the clothing stores around. There´s also a ton of baby stores. Babies -like pets here- are another accessory. So many moms and dads pushing around well dressed babies in expensive strollers. I was tempted to buy my little brother, Reece, something, but he´ll grow out of it in a couple weeks. Better watch where you step on these streets, they´re littered with bombas or mounds of dog crap. I guess picking up after your dog here is a policy not enforced.

The hippies here have the most dogs. Three dogs to one hippy. The parks have gangs of hippies listening to music and bathing in the fountains. They walk around barefoot with long dreads dangling down their backs. There are a lot of hippies here, just living freely... their not a nuisance or anything just different. If it´s not the hippies distracting me it´s the Spanish couples groping eachother. People are just really affectionate here, and making out 3 feet away from me is common.

So I´m pretty sure my Señora does not know my name, or my roomate´s name. She calls us niñas and that´s all. She´s funny, very traditional lady. She keeps asking me if I have a Spanish boyfriend yet, and she tells me stories of these American girls she knows who fell in love with a Spaniard and live in Granada now. Every time there´s a knock on the door or the phone rings she looks at me and shouts "¡tu novio!" Señora teases us all the time! She mocks us when we studder or when we pronounce something badly. It´s really funny actually. Our Spanish friends make fun our accents and mock us sometimes, but we tease them as well.

I went to Generalife on Sunday. It´s the gardens of the Alhambra, or Red Castle. It was magical! So beautiful, I really enjoyed it.

This past weekend we went out with some of our new Spanish friends. We meet some Spaniards in the Intercambios program throught ISA (International Study Abroad). They´re all very nice, and we practice English and Spanish we eachother. They took us to get tapas then after many cubatas (rum and cokes) we went to the discoteca.

I went on a tour to the Catedral and Capilla Real today. I´m pretty sure I know more Spanish religious history than America´s now. It´s interesting to see the Gothic Capilla of Fernando and Isabel and Renaissance-Baroque Cathedral of their grandson Carlos V right next to eachother. These major religious symbols in Granada´s Centro span about one hundred years of construction branching over the changes of Architectual styles.

El Palo en Málaga.

This weekend I went to Málaga. It´s a large city on the coast about an hour bus ride away. The beach we went to was called El Palo. It was nice, a lot of local people there. Unfortunately it was cloudy and cool that day, so I didn´t swim at all.


I went to Museo de San Juan de Dios this past weekend too. It was an old house converted into a museum. I learned some of Granada´s religious history, most of Spain´s population is Catholic.

No one likes Americans here haha. Maybe I should say I´m from Canada? No that´s probably worse... Many people think I´m from Brazil or Jamaica. I might just say I´m from Dominican Republic or something.














Acera del Casino.

A plaza in Granada at night. We got some ice cream here and people watched.














Vista de Alhambra.

View of the old walled city from Albacín- the Arabic neighborhood. There was a group trip to go into the Alhambra, but it was cancelled for some reason. It´s going to be rescheduled hopefully some time soon.














Granada

Class is from 4-8 PM, which is unfortunately during la siesta. Everyday after lunch around 2 or 3 the people rest inside. Most of the stores close down and no one is in the street again until 6-7.












Flamenco.

The other night I went with the ISA [International Study Abroad] group to a Flamenco dance. It was very impressive! The cultural dance originated from Andalucia. It consisted of a guitarist, singer, a few female dancers and one male dancer. After that I went with some people to get tapas. Granada is one of the few cities in Spain where tapas are free when you buy a drink pepsi-cola or tinto de verano [red wine, club soda and lemon].

Granada has a lot of Arabic influence with Morocco a 2 hour drive away. There´s an Arabic district called Albacin, where there are many shisha lounges and Moroccan clothing and decorations. There are also many Moroccan people here. Granada is a very unique city. It´s not overwhelmingly huge, but there are a lot of people and tourists everywhere. It´s very clean, the streets are cleaned daily. However, everyone here has mascotas, pets. So I must be careful where I step haha.

La vida de la calle [nightlife] here is very different. Kids are outside playing until 1 in the morning, and the clubs are bars do not close, as opposed to Columbus bars closing at 2... The people go out around 2 and party til 6 or 7 in the morning. I have yet to do that.. maybe this weekend? I don´t think I could party that long... we´ll see!