The trip started Friday morning when we at 10:00 a.m. I packed my backpack (Petra and Melissa you'd be so proud of my new packing skills), made a couple of bocadillos (sandwiches), grabbed my umbrella and headed for the meeting place. Well I guess it wasn't my lucky day because my umbrella decided to break on the 5 min walk to the bus stop. Melissa rushed to greet me as soon as I arrived at the bus stop asking me to be her roommate for the trip. We all piled on the bus and a few of the girls rode in a van because there wasn't enough room for all of us....and off we went. The bus ride was fairly painless. I slept for a large part of the trip. In Spain, it is a law that buses have to stop every two hours for a 30 minute break. So halfway through our trip, we stopped at a rest stop and enjoyed our bocadillos. I laugh every time I stop at a "rest stop" in Spain because it is nothing like one in the States. People at "rest stops" in Spain are dressed up; there is a formal dining room; and you can't purchase a pickle n' pouch. Melissa, Sarah, and I listened to our Ipods for the remaining 2 hours of the trip...often laughing at some of the "oldies" from middle school.
We arrived in Granada and made it through the chaos of figuring out who was going to room with who...Melissa and I ended up rooming together as planned, and my friend Angela also joined us. After getting situated, a few of us met up to walk around for an hour before we had a group meeting. It had been raining before we arrived so as we walked, we tried to dodge puddles and mud. At one point I jumped over a puddle and landed on some slick clay, I slid across the patch and almost landed on my butt...luckily balance was on my side! That could have been bad considering I had only packed 1 pair of jeans for the weekend.
Luis, the program director, took us on a tour of the city. The narrow streets and the rich history are something that I truly hate/love about Spain. Imagine walking down streets with a group of 60 students...yes, we got lots of looks! We hiked our way up the narrow, stone streets to lookout over the city and across to La Alhambra. It was such an amazing view. Once at the top, we had 45 min or so of free time. Melissa and I wondered the streets looking for a place to buy dates. Lucky for me, she remembered a little shop where she had been able to purchase them last year. Our next mission was to find ice cream. I never imagined that it would be so difficult to find ice cream, especially at a heladaria (ice cream shop). Later we were informed that it is not ice cream season in Spain and that most places don't start serving it until it gets warmer.
Later that night we made our way through the "tea street", basically it was a street lined with tea and hooka shops, and to "little India". Imagine two extra narrow streets covered with black tarp and lined with Indian shops. It was cool, but I definitely didn't feel like I was in Spain. A group of us decided that we wanted to see a Flamenco show but we didn't want to pay to see it...fortunately, we found a restaurant that had a free show with dinner. The show was definitely not what I expected, but we shared a couple of pitchers of sangria, enjoyed some delicious veggie pizza, and saw a great show!
The next morning we were up bright and early for our trip to La Alhambra. I can't even put into words how beautiful it was. Everything from the military quarters, to the view of the city, the hunting grounds/summer home, and the gardens--gorgeous is an understatement. I ended up taking about 100 pictures just at the Alhambra. I was telling a friend that I've never really been interested in history but it's been really hard not to develop an interest while I'm in Spain--the history here is so rich. One of the really cool things about getting to visit the Alhambra was that we stood in the room where Columbus asked the queen for permission for his expedition to America. One day I will live at La Alhambra, I just know it :D
Later that afternoon my friends and I enjoyed browsing through the shops and eating ice cream. We happened to pass by the end of a wedding so Sarah, Melissa, and I perched ourselves on a bench and waited for the bride to come out. You bet we took pictures and were being completely creepy, but it was a lot of fun to see all of the people dressed up.
In Spain, "tapas" are a very important/well known thing. They are comparable to appetizers. The biggest meal of the day is eaten around 3 pm and then usually for dinner, at 9 or 10 pm, people eat tapas or bocadillos. In Granada, when you go out for drinks at night, all of the restaurants/bars serve free tapas with the purchase of a drink. Saturday night, my friends and I met up and went out for tapas. It was a very interesting experience...the tapas weren't what I expected, but then again nothing in Spain is. It was definitely a lot of fun and there were a lot of laughs! The next morning we left early to head back to Alicante. If any of your ever get the chance to come to Spain, I definitely recommend visiting Granada!
I decided that instead of posting 100+ pictures from my weekend trip, I'd make a slideshow instead....I successfully made a slideshow but for some reason it's not letting me upload. I'll just have to post pictures when I get time or try and post the video again.
I've been enjoying the beautiful Alicante weather this week! It has been sunny and 70+ degrees every day this week. I kept laughing to myself imaging this weather at Boise State. Last spring all the sun had to do was make an appearance and the campus was covered with girls in bikinis. I walked to the beach on Wednesday in shorts and I've never seem more stares in my life...it is because Spaniards still consider this "winter" so they thought I was crazy!
I'm loving Spain more and more each day, I don't know how I'll leave.
March will be an exciting month...I'm going to Sevilla and Valencia, my dad is coming the 31st for 3 weeks and Brittany will be here shortly after. Then off to see Justin, Nikki, and the kids! I apologize for the length of this post...but my dad informed me that I needed to update it, so blame it on him.
I hope that most of you are enjoying the cold Idaho winter...I think I'll go for a walk on the beach :D
Sounds like too much fun! I didn't know that your dad was going to visit you. That is definitely something to look forward to. Thanks for the update.
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