Campo.

Yesterday, my family invited me to go with them to the campo. My senor is an olive farmer, so they have a house and a farm in a pueblo outside the city. They own a large amount of land and quite a few horses, so I got a chance to ride one of their horses. Considering I had only done it maybe once before in my life, it was kinda scary, but really cool. It is a really cool place. It was a festival in the pueblo yesterday, so the entire family was there pretty much. Jaime has 12 brothers and sisters, so I was pretty overwhelmed with all of the people. Also, my senora Maria and my senor Jaime are pretty awkward to begin with. I felt like I was just standing around in the way for the first hour because Maria didn't tell me what we were doing. I got a lot more comfortable as the day went on and talked a little more. The only problem is, all they talk about is farming, horses, and inside jokes, so it's kind of hard for me to participate. I enjoy just listening sometimes, though, because it is good practice for me. During the day, I ate better food and more food than I have the entire time I have been here. I should have gone to the campo more often! I feel like they were all trying to get me drunk with the bottomless glass of sangria they were feeding me all day haha. (Maria told me I had to drink up so that I could dance later haha) I got to see their festival where they have a live band and the people of the pueblo go to dance and socialize. A lot of them were dressed in gypsy clothing (traditional flamenco dresses). It was really cool. I feel like Maria talked to me more yesterday than ever before and I actually saw she has a personality haha. Seeing the way the family acts in the campo makes me feel like I was wrong about them, but then the second they are alone with us, they are immediately quiet and awkward. It is the weirdest thing ever. I wish we would have tried to go to the campo more times than we did because we would have probably gotten closer to them and felt more comfortable, but who knows. The day in the campo was really fun for me even though Maria is convinced I didn't have fun because I didn't talk much. I just don't have the vocabulary to talk about farming techniques is all lol I am really glad they took me. I got to have one last experience of the true spanish culture!

PORTUGAL!

My FINAL trip of the semester has already come and gone!! It was quite the adventure. Five of us decided to rent a car and drive to Portimao, Portugal for the weekend. Driving was quite the experience, but we made it all in one piece and nobody got any tickets (unlike others who tried before us). We rented out an apartment that was VERY close to the beach and we had a kitchen so we could cook!! It was a much needed, relaxing weekend. The only stressful part of the trip was the birds on our terrace. There were these crazy sea gulls that had a nest on our terrace. Every time we went out on it, they would start squawking and try to attack us. So much for eating dinner and watching the sunset lol. It was kind of yucky out the first day, so we didn't get to go to the beach for long, and we tried the pool, but it was still too cold. So, we just ate ourselves silly and watched movies. (There was an english channel YES!) The next day was even worse than the second, :( so we did what any 20 year old adults would do....we built a fort in the living room. hahahaha We waited out the storm eating french toast and hanging out in our fort. On Sunday, it was actually sunny, so we got to go to the beach! None of us forgot our mothers on mother's day, so I think God threw us a bone. ha It was SO beautiful! The water was more clear on the first day (before the storm ruined it), but it was still amazing. We spent the day laying out and wandering the beach. When it finally got warm enough, we swam in the waves. I think this was the first time I have actually swam in the ocean without being scared out of my mind. I got owned by the waves on the way in, but it was a blast! Also, I got sunburned AGIAIN! I just can't wait to hear what my senora has to say about it this time haha We got to lay on the beach in portugal, play like little kids again, and eat like kings. I say it was a very successful weekend! BUT now this means only 10 days until I have to come home :( I am not ready yet! I am going to soak in every moment I have left here!

Corrido de Toros...BULL FIGHT!!

I was SO excited to hear that there was going to be a bullfight in Granada! I have been learning a lot about it since I have been here. It is actually pretty controversial out here. I mean, they do kill 6 bulls in about 4 hours, so I understand why some people would be opposed. There were some protestors outside the plaza de toros when we got there, but nothing too exciting. Anyways, I loved it. I see it more as a cultural tradition, and they use the bulls for meat anyways so where's the harm? Yea, I know, I have no soul. Or as my father would say, I'm "just looking at them like giant burger" lol Thank you, dad. I feel like the bull fights here are like baseball games back home. People bring in snacks and beer and just hang out. The whole atmosphere there was exciting. It was really cool to see how the matadors acted with the bulls. It was almost as if they were dancing with them rather than "fighting" them. The matador could stand right in front of the bull and hold its horns and the bull would not charge because he was mesmerized by the red. Dumb bulls. All they would have to do is charge at just the right moment and they are the winners, but they never do. One of the best parts of the bull fight was after the matador killed the bull. After the round is over, everybody in the stadium cheers and waves white fabric/flags if they liked what they saw. It is then the president's choice on how good the matador did. If he did well, he gets the ear of the bull. If he did very well, he gets both ears, and if he did fantastic, he gets both ears and the tail. I heard that it is very rare for someone to get the tail, but I got so see somebody get it! It is so cool how passionate the people are about the sport. They throw flowers, hats, or any random thing at the matadors when they are done with their round if they like them. The bull fight was a lot of fun for me and definitely a once in a life time experience that I will never forget!

Paris!!

So...I have officially decided that volcanoes are the most selfish landforms on earth. They just try to make everything about them and take everything good from everybody else. All of the skys in northern europe were closed for over a week because of a stupid volcano in Iceland. Iceland? Really? I had tons of friends that missed out on their trips that they had planned to Munich, Amsterdam, London, etc. because of the volcano and even some stuck in places like Italy and Paris with no way back to Granada. Or trip to Paris was the following weekend and we were pretty nervous that we weren't going to get to go, BUT they opened up all of the flights on the day we were flying out of Madrid! Wooooo! We were so luck to get to go! I absolutely loved every minute of the city. We walked out of the metro stop by our hostel and right in front of us was the Moulin Rouge! It was the perfect way to welcome us to the city. On our first day there, Molly and I just walked around the city by the river and went to Luxembourg gardens. It was a nice relaxing day after our full night of travels. The only bad part about walking the city was that it is SO big!! The maps are deceivingly condensed. It was a lot more efficient for us to take the metro the rest of the time. By the end of the trip, we were all sick of running around the metro stations. On the next day, we woke up and took a boat tour down the river. We got to see a lot of the main sights off of the river, which was really cool. We then were off to see the Arc de Triomphe. The round-a-bout that people drive around that thing is crazy!! The best part was seeing the tourists who couldn't find the underground walkway to the arc try to frogger their way over to it hahahaha After seeing the arc, we met up with our friend Jerry and headed to the catacombes. They were amazing! It was kind of creepy, but a really cool thing to see. There were just thousands of bones and skulls stacked up on the walls. Nuts! That night, we did a nighttime bike tour of the city. This was probably the best thing that we did while we were there. We got to ride bikes, eat ice cream, see all of the sights at night, go for a boat ride, and drink free wine. What more could you want out of an evening in Paris? I think that I loved the city at night the most. It was so gorgeous, especially when the Eiffel Tower sparkled with lights every hour. The next day, we headed off to the Louvre to go hang out with Mona. Mona was a little bit anti-climactic. It was really cool to get to see, but it definitely was not what I thought it was going to be. We wandered around the Louvre for a couple hours/got lost looking for the egyptian exhibit and saw tons of amazing art. After the Louvre, we went inside the Notre Dame. I think that the Notre Dame is my favorite building in all of Paris! I don't know why, but I think it is so beautiful and different than anything else I have seen. I liked the inside the best because it had tons of stained glass. SO beautiful! The next time I go to Paris, I want to go to the top of the tower. We didn't get a chance to do that this time. That afternoon, it was time to climb up the Eiffel Tower! It took a while to get up to the top, but the view was so pretty!! I couldn't take enough pictures of that dang thing! ha For dinner every night in Paris, we just decided to buy loaves of bread, cheese, sausage, and wine. It was the cheapest and most delicious meal of all of my trips! I feel like a trip to Paris wouldn't have been complete without wine and cheese right? I think that Paris is one of the most beautiful cities in the entire world. I got to see so much stuff while there, but I also feel like there is still so much for me to see. I am definitely looking forward to going back there one day.

Las lobas de las Alpujarras

Just about 3 days after I got back from spring break, we left for the Alpujarras Mountains with ISA. It was our final ISA trip, and my favorite by far. The day before, a few of the girls and I came up with a completely ridiculous idea to dress up like indian warriors for the hike. So, we met early the next morning, bought some spears at the nearest euro tent, and painted our faces with war paint. It was pretty cool in our eyes, but probably completely ridiculous to everybody else hahaha. (kind of the point) We decided to call ourselves las lobas (she wolves). Everyone had a tribal name and a matching wristband. And yes, we are all over 20 years old, but who doesn't want to be in 6th grade forever? I felt it was very appropriate for the task at hand. During the hike, we would capture people and paint their faces (red=death; blue=joined our tribe). It was just what we needed to spice up the 80 person sheep herd through the mountains they tried to call a hike. We had a great time, and a lot of people actually played along. The Alpujarras were beautiful! It was the first time I had been up to the mountains since I have been here. The closest I had gotten was behind the Albyzin. I wish that I had time to go back there and hike on my own. I had a great time on this trip! At the end our our two days of hiking, we stopped in at one of the little mountain towns. It was so cute and had tones of really cool shops. The weather was really nice while we were hiking too. (not raining for once) Not to mention, the buffet feast that ISA treated us to after the first long hike!! I think that this was the perfect trip to end with ISA.

Spring Break FINALLY!!

Wow! It has already been over a month since I went on my spring break trip! I can't believe how fast the time is going out here. I traveled to Dublin to meet up with the love of my life, Danielle, and then we were off to London, Prague, and Rome for spring break. It was the best spring break ever!! We started out going to London for a few days. I loved it in London! Since Danielle had been there before, she was able to show me some of the things that she liked best the last time she was there. On the first day, we went to Buckingham Palace and accidentally saw the changing of the guards. Que suerte no? This meant that I couldn't take obnoxious pictures with the guards, but that probably ended up better for everyone involved. That day, we saw the westminster abbey, big ben, london eye, millennium bridge, london bridge, and the cathedral. While we were walking by the river, we passed by a lot of street performers and one of them was a lady with over 6,000 piercings! SICK! In case you are wondering, yes, I did give her money so I could take a picture with her haha. I think my favorite thing that we did while we were in London was Camden Town. It was this huge marketplace where people sold anything and everything you could think of. You could walk around there and look at things for hours. We actually ended up getting lost in the middle, SURPRISE! The people around Camden Town were nuts! They were all dressed in crazy clothes and had spiked crazy hair with diff colors. It was an interesting sight to say the least. Oh geeze I almost forgot! On the way to Camden Town, we stopped at the train station so that I could go to platform 9 3/4. If you know anything about me, you probably know that this made my life since I have been waiting for my letter to Hogwarts since I was like 9. Hahaha My embarrassing Harry Potter freak side got to come out in public and I loved every minute of it haha. The only thing negative that I could have to say about London is that it was RAINING! UGHHH. I guess this is the year that the rain has decided to follow me everywhere I go haha. Other than that minor detail, I loved London! Our next stop was Prague. I had heard nothing but good things about this city, so I was really looking forward to it. The rumors are true. I think that Prague is possibly the most beautiful city I have ever been to! I could go back over and over again just to walk around and look at all of the buildings. We did a walking tour of the city and it was amazing! I think my favorite building is the church right behind the square with the two towers. At night, with the lights, it is one of the prettiest sights in the city. The Prague castle is also another amazing sight. Actually, all of the sights are amazing sights! The Prague nightlife was pretty nuts. The best part was that they definitely party like the spaniards (late into the night)! We did a pub crawl recommended by our hostel and it was probably the best idea we had because it is SO easy to get lost in that city. All I have to say is that I could only take one night of that because Czech's are crazy! lol One of the days in Prague, we got to go into a high school english class and speak with the students. This was one of the most interesting things that I have done since I have been here. We got into small groups with the kids and just talked about anything and everything. The kids were very interested in the US, especially our school systems which I thought was really interesting. It was exciting because they had tons of questions! I got to teach some kids about my culture at home and also got to learn a lot about the Czech culture which I knew nothing about before arriving in Prague. It was a pretty cool experience. When it was time to leave Prague, we did not want to leave. I am definitely going back one day. Our next stop (and my final stop) was Rome. In Rome, we decided to do a segway tour of ancient Rome on our first day. This is probably one of the dorkiest, tourest things a person could do, so of course we were compelled to try it. It was AMAZING!! Minus that fact that I almost fell of the segway, ancient Rome was my favorite part of the city, actually, I went back twice while I was there to go inside of the colosseum. Our tour guide was so great. I don't think I would want to do ancient Rome any other way, because he was able to explain everything to us and give us all of the history, which we wouldn't get by just walking around by ourselves. Also, we got to race around on segways and wear super cool helmats!! HA! Long story short, I LOVE ancient Rome. I actually want to watch the history channel with my dad after seeing all of this stuff so I can learn all about it. What? Who said that? Father will be proud. Anyway, let's see, Oh! The food in Italy. YUMMMM We had pasta and pizza everyday and I loved every minute of it. There is nothing better than sitting on the spanish steps, eating a slice and people watching. Also, there was gellato. I am going to say that I got multiple gellatos that were all delicious and leave it at that. Of course, we made a wish into the trevi fountain while we were there too. It was actually a lot bigger than I thought it would be and beautiful when lit up at night. Sad to say, I didn't get swept off my feet by a beautiful Italian man and taken for a ride on his moto, so that is proof that the wishes in the fountain definitely don't come true. Sad day. On easter sunday, we went to the basilica for easter mass. There were SO many people there! Even though I had no idea what was going on since it was a catholic mass and it was also in latin, it was still an amazing experience. I mean, how many people can say they got to go to easter mass in Rome and see the Pope? It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. My only regret about Rome is that I didn't go to the vatican or sistine chapel. They were closed the entire time we were there. It was bad timing on our part, but even more the reason to go back again! This trip was one of the most amazing and unforgettable experiences of my life. I loved every minute of it.

Tapas and Gypsy caves.

After all of my traveling, I have finally gotten to spend a couple straight weeks in Granada and it has been so amazing! I FINALLY got to experience what the city has to offer. My favorite thing in the entire world is now tapas. Tapas are food that come with drinks you order at a bar. They can range from just a few peanuts to an entire hamburger. In every other city in Spain, you have to pay for tapas, but in Granada, they are GRATIS (free)! You can go out and spend less than 5 euro on a couple glasses of wine and eat an entire meal with it for free (if you know the right places to go to). I have found quite a few of my favorite places lately. Also, we have been going to our favorite tea shop for tea and cachimba (hookah). There is a little tea shop up the street I like to call moroccan ally where there are a lot of morroccan shops and tea shops. We go so much that we are pretty much friends with the guy that owns it ha! Every week my friends and I go there fore tea and cachimba and just hang out. One of my favorite things to do (especially when it's raining) Oh, speaking of rain....there is finally SUN!! It has been so sunny and nice lately and I LOVE it! The city is so much more lively when the sun is out. There are so many people on the streets just hanging out, shopping, etc. I can spend a whole afternoon reading by the fountain and people watching(my fav thing in the world to do). I have also explored the city a lot more these past couple of weeks. We went on a hike behind the Albycin. We went up into the hills for an entire day and saw beautiful views of the city. The best part of the hike are the gypsy caves. The gypsies actually live up behind the Albycin in caves! It's like a mini neighborhood that they made themselves. Some of them even have couches outside like patios and stuff. We have also had time to just go out in the city and check out all of the local bars. I am sort of sick of going to discotecas anymore, though. I feel like they are just full of dirty guys trying to rub up on you. Not my cup of tea. I have had such a great time just going to bars and hanging out in chill places with my friends. I have pretty much completely fallen in love with Granada since I have gotten to spend more time here!

Sevilla and Cordoba

As soon as I got home from Amsterdam, I had a couple days to rest, and then it was off to Sevilla! We arrived in Sevilla on friday night and SURPRISE; it was raining. The next day, we woke up and were immediately on a walking tour of the city. It was STILL raining! There were about 80 of us being herded around the city of Sevilla with one tour guide who I couldn't even hear. We made it about 5 minutes into the tour when a few of the girls and I decided that we had a better way to spend the day haha. We went back to the hotel and dried off and then made our way shopping. We had a fabulous afternoon touring the city on our own and spending our money along the way hahaha. I did make it to the Cathedral tour later on that day when the sun came out, so don't be completely disappointed in me. The Cathedral in Sevilla is GORGEOUS! It is the third largest Cathedral in the world behind the one in Rome and the one in London. There is such amazing detain inside the Cathedral including beautiful stained glass windows. Also, we got see where the remains of Christopher Columbus are. That was pretty cool! We traveled to the top of the tower (which was quite the hike) and looked over the entire city. Sevilla was such a beautiful city, but I think I would have definitely preferred to go when there was no rain. The next day, we went to Cordoba and saw the Mosque (where I got to test some of my skills acquired in history of art class) and walked around the city. The city of Cordoba is basically all cobblestone streets and quaint little shops. A great place to go and relax. On our way back to Granada, we stopped at an olive oil factory. It was really interesting! Best of all, we got to taste test the product haha. I definitely bought a bottle of the good stuff to send home to the father. Also, they gave us these awesome hats after our visit! I feel it was the icing on the cake to a great trip.I really enjoyed seeing Sevilla and Cordoba, but going there, really helped me see that my heart still belongs in Granada!

Brussels and Amsterdam!! or as I like to call it: Chocolate and Anne Frank.

Going to Brussels and Amsterdam was a very interesting experience. It was the first time that I had to travel alone through europe, so I was a little bit nervous. Everybody else left thursday night and I left on friday night. I took a bus all night on Friday night to Madrid and caught my plane to Brussels at 730 am. That was an experience in itself! An all night, uncomfortable bus with a baby crying behind me wasn't a very fun way to start my trip. Not to mention, the Ryanair airplanes! They don't call themselves the low fare airline for nothing. They cut back EVERYWHERE they can. The seats would not recline one bit, I had to have my feet in the aisle in order not to suffocate, and I couldn't even get a drink of water for free, but it was cheap, so that's what you get I guess. I finally made it to the airport in Brussels to realize that I had to pay 13 euro to take a 45 minute bus ride into the city. At least I was finally there! In the bus station, I had my first interesting bathroom experience. It was the first time I had to pay to use the bathroom. I had to pay .50 to go to the bathroom and all the while, a large Dutch woman is trying to talk to me in a language that has a very strong resemblance to the teacher in Charlie Brown. Haha It was the first time I had felt clueless with a foreign language. I never thought I would miss spanish so much! I met up with Molly and Josie and finally got to do some fun stuff! We walked around the city and pretty much just fed our faces all day. I had the most delicious eclair of my entire life, a Belgian waffle with tons of goodies on top, and of course some CHOCOLATE!! Ahhhh I was in chocolate heaven. The fact that they gave out free samples wasn't helping much either! We went to see the famous statue pipi which is a tiny boy peeing. Literally. It was the strangest thing in the entire world, but funny to see. After all of this, we headed to Amsterdam. The first night in Amsterdam, we had a very hard time finding our hostel. We used up our entire allotted hour of metro use because we kept getting off on the wrong stop. Luckily, people are nice there and happy to help us. Wandering into the red light district on accident was a little scary, but funny as well. The hookers standing in the window weren't the awkward part, it was accidentally making eye contact with the man coming out of the building haha. The next day, we got up and went to see the Anne Frank. I don't think that anybody else really enjoyed it as much as I did, considering they weren't hyperventilating as we were approaching the building hahaha. The only bad part, is that they wouldn't let me take pictures, but oh well. It was the most powerful thing I have ever seen. I walked through the tiny space that 9 people lived in hiding for 2 years. It was definitely an experience. After I thoroughly depressed everybody by making them go to Anne Frank we at awesome pancakes with tons of goodies on them and then headed back to the hostel because it was getting late and it was really cold and rainy. One amazing invention of Amsterdam: The strupwaffle Mcflurry. Yes everyone, I went to McDonald's lol. It was the best ice cream ever! I had 2 in two days, which isn't too bad considering I have zero self-control. The next morning we woke up and pretty much just went to a lot of coffee shops and walked around the city to take pictures because it was finally nice out. The city is so beautiful. There is a canal that runs everywhere throughout the city, which was a surprise to me. Also, all of the buildings are so skinny and close together. It was unlike anywhere I had ever been before. Later that day, we went to the Van Gogh museum. It was so cool to see all of the original Van Gogh paintings. The next morning, we had to wake up early to catch our bus and head back home, but not without stopping so that I could buy my weight in chocolate bahahha You didn't think I was going to leave without some did you?

Carnaval in Cadiz!

Carnaval in Cadiz. I don't think there is any one word to describe the experience I had there. Let's start from the beginning shall we? The carnaval in Cadiz is a festival that is like halloween on sterroids. Everybody dresses up in crazy costumes and drinks in the streets. Awesome right? There are performers, shops, and tons of people everywhere! When we first got there, we went to the beach, which was absolutely beautiful! We sat and drank on the beach and took a lot of pictures for a couple of hours and then headed to town. We wondered around the town, got something to eat, and enjoyed the music. It was SO much fun! We made some new Spanish friends, Kristin finally got a balloon (Rafael) and everybody had a great time. Then, disaster hit. At about 1 am, it started to rain. Actually, let me refrase that, it started to MONSOON! On top of that, all of the activity and the bars were starting to shut down because of the rain. Well, we took a bus that was coming to pick us up at 6 am; which in theory, was a great idea. Being stuck in the middle of a monsoon on Cadiz with nowhere inside to go was not what I had planned. We wandered around lost for a little while and then found our way to an underground parking garage. Most of the time, being in a cold, parking garage with a blackout guy laying in his own puke next to me isn't my cup of tea, but it was dry. After we were shooed out by the police, we found a little doorway. It was the only salvation from the rain. I watched as the street in front of me turned into a lagoon as I lost all feeling in my feet. After 4 hours of standing in the rain, I never thought I would be so happy to hear somebody yell CUATRO!!! Our bus was finally there! the ride home was uncomfortable and long, but it made me appreciate the squeaky, twin sized bed I have at my senora's house. Cadiz: you can take my money, my sanity, and my ability to hold a healthy body temp, but you can't take my EYELASHES! bahaha Those puppys were the only healthy survivors. All in all, it was a good time with a fatal end.

Rain.

Rain. That's all there is here is rain. They say it has rained here more these past few weeks than it did in the past year. Just my luck right? I would like just ONE day with a glimpse of sunshine! An umbrella is staple this year in Granada. I bought one once, but it broke immediately. I don't know whether to just utilize my scarf for while longer and wait it out, or possibly throw away another several euro. The chance we had to go to the beach in Malaga was ruined by the sky spitting on us the entire weekend :( I am trying to be optimistic, though. Let's see....good things that come from the rain: 1. I will thoroughly appreciate the sunshine when it FINALLY comes....2. I get to watch people battle for room on the crowded streets for both themselves and their open umbrella (and if I am lucky I get to see the unexpected get jabbed by an unknown umbrella)....3. The countryside is so much greener than it usually is and also, the Alhambra is probably going to be the most beautiful sight ever after this is all done....okay that's enough optimism for one day. I just keep thinking happy thoughts and hope that there is a beautiful rainbow at the end of this everlasting storm!!

Arrival in Spain

The first couple weeks in Spain were out of control! The first weekend was a full excursion of Madrid and Toledo, leading into a week of testing and tours around the city of Granada. All the while, trying to get acclimated and at the same time live it up before we actually had to go to school. Meeting my host family was a little bit nerve racking, but now that I am settled in, I feel a lot better about everything. My senora makes the BEST food, which is only negatively contributing to the obesity problem I thought might be cured by coming a country that doesn't have a McDonald's on every single corner. WRONG. I eat anything and everything she puts in front of me and then some haha! The food here is so different than at home. I eat literally a single piece of toast for breakfast. That must last me until 230 when we have our big meal at lunch. I eat until I wanna puke at lunch and then eat dinner at 830. This schedule is not unlike the one I have at home except for the fact that there is no such thing as snacks here. I don't really have the luxury of a bag of tostidos and some salsa con queso like I do at home. Enough about the food. What about the culture? I think the most surprising thing to me is that cars can drive anywhere they want to. All of the streets that people walk on double as streets for the cars to drive down...minus the big main streets. The city is made for pedestrians, which is optimal for an extranjera like myself. All of the people here have a cigarette in one hand and a lover in the other. Can you say PDA?! Not my cup of tea, but I guess spaniards don't have to keep it in their pants. Who knew? My life before school is sleep all day and explore and then at night discover a new discoteca...(or try to make it to the discoteca and end up stranded in gypsyland at 3 am) but that only happens to unlucky rubias like myself. I am excited to see all the Spain has to offer and maybe actually learn how to speak spanish along the way! ha