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!