Gibraltar and Morocco

Hello Everyone!!!

So the past week has been an absolute whirlwind. My program took me to Gibraltar and Morocco in a wild, fast five days. We started out in Gibraltar, which happens to be a fascinating little place mostly built on a massive rock that protrudes from the Mediterranean. Although it is a British colony, the locals speak a hilarious mix of Spanish and English as it is connected to Spain. The main attraction of the city is its collection of African monkeys that run around the rock and are famous for stealing food from children and climbing all over people. I happened to be pretty obsessed with the monkeys and made loads of friends (what other kind of friend will groom you for fun??). I pretty seriously considered stealing one to live with me and be friends forever, but then I probably would've been banned from the Gib, which would suck.

After our wonderful monkey times we were told that we were going to go on a short walk up the rock. The word 'short' was a total joke. We walked straight up, literally 45 degree angles almost totally consistently, for a whopping two hours. I don't know what my problem was, but I was totally straggling-- I even walked backwards and pretended to take photos sometimes so that it would be easier (really embarrassing!). But once we got to the top, everything was worth it! We could see the coast of Africa and the blending of the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, it was so incredible! After hanging out and watching the sunset over the water, we made our trek downward. Mariah and I decided that the best way to do this was to play fairy princess and gather flowers and take loads of pictures of our happy, sweaty selves against the beautiful scenery (typical, I know). While doing this, we realized that we were getting so hungry that we were delirious-- I'm pretty sure my stomach began to eat itself. Our prayers were answered in the form of an Irish pub called The Clipper. I got this massive spaghetti bolognese and devoured it like a ravenous animal. Our program director then treated a few of us to apple crumble and banoffee (sp?) pie that was to die for. The four of us destroyed those things like vultures on their favorite carcass, so we had to order more. I think most people at the restaurant thought we were clinically insane, but that didn't stop us, we needed more! Even after we were satisfied, we were still filled with an insane energy that lead us to sing a cappella dubstep through the streets and across the Spanish border to our hotel, we were probably a vision of dysfunctional youth.

The next morning we woke up to board a bus to Tarifa, Spain where we were to catch the ferry that took us to Morocco. The ferry ride was a quick 45 minutes, filled with bananagrams and staring at the water. We arrived in Tangier, Morocco-- I was so excited to be in a new country and new continent, it was quite overwhelming. Tangier is a typical border town, it's pretty but not the most gorgeous. We took a walk around the old medina and visited an NGO that worked to teach women artisan skills so they could make their own money. We had a wonderful time talking to some volunteers about women's rights and the progression of laws in Morocco that are working to create more equality between the sexes. We were also fed an incredible lunch of couscous, which introduced us to the greatness that is Moroccan food.

Soon after, we took our bus to Asilah, a stunning coastal town. I fell in love with Asilah. All of the buildings in the old medina were painted white with a blue stripe and door (if it was a house). The blues were all so vibrant and the doors so intricate. The city is also known for having famous artists paint murals throughout the medina, so every corner had a different beautiful piece of art. Mariah and I went a little photo crazy, I'm pretty sure we took a picture on every block-- we just had to remember everything about this gem!

After that short excursion, we were surprised with a camel ride! It was obviously just to have the photo op, but it was fun nevertheless. My camel was named Leila and she was a total angel. The camels proved to be a hilarious experience because they spit on a few people and made these incredibly hilarious groaning noises (one practically assaulted Maria by groaning in her ear, it was hilarious). We all probably looked super dumb because I kept trying to pet and hug all of the camels, Riana was scared of them at first, and Maria screamed a few times-- always winning??

The bus then took us to Rabat, where we met our host families and got to walk around the old medina. My host family was an incredibly generous family of four-- mom, dad, son, and daughter. None of them spoke any English or Spanish, so our conversations consisted of us saying "thank you," "delicious," and "beautiful." But despite the language barrier, I felt like I bonded with the family well. They changed so many of my preconceived notions, proving to be some of the most generous, hospitable, and happy people I have ever met. One of the main objectives of this trip was to educate us judgmental Americans on the fact that our negative stereotyping of Muslims and the Arab World is pretty misconstrued and false. My family fed my a mountain of delicious food, all the while my grandmother was telling me to eat more and more and throwing bread my way consistently. It was truly wonderful. The next day we were fed an incredible breakfast that included these to die for pancake/crepe like things covered in butter and jam, I was in heaven. We then crossed the river to Salé, the neighboring city, to visit an NGO, Hope for Salé. On our way we drove past the three mile long shantytown that housed over 70 thousand people. This was a transformative experience for me in that a lot of people on our tour bus decided to take pictures of the shantytown and its inhabitants. My sociologist self was reeling in shock from the fact that we privileged Americans were taking pictures of impoverished people from our nice, air conditioned tour bus. All of the other Oxy girls on the bus were filled with disgust and shock that our peers thought it was okay. When we debriefed about the trip on the last night, one of the Oxy students brought up their disgust about the matter, and someone had the nerve to say that they took pictures of the shantytown because they thought the contrast between the traditional Moroccan garb and the shantytown was beautiful. BEAUTIFUL??? Yeah, people's poverty is stunningly gorgeous... what??? No one said that they did it to bring awareness to the fact that there was great poverty in the World, nope, it was just aesthetically pleasing. It is pretty terrible to think that there are college educated people who don't see a problem in taking pictures of people's poverty to post on facebook to show all of their privileged friends that they are so worldly and conscientious-- it is shocking. But that experience made me more grateful than ever for my Oxy education, I'm so glad that I can be socially aware enough to take issue with the fact that my fellow peers could take pictures of impoverished people like animals in the zoo. Sorry for the rant, but come on!

After that, we visited Chellah, the Roman ruins, and the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V. Both were very beautiful. One interesting thing about the ruins was that there is a tradition that women who had problems getting pregnant could go to a pila in the ruins that has eels and if the eels came out and showed themselves in front of the woman, she would be granted fertility (the truth is that there were also priests of some sort that would sleep with the women to impregnate them). But it was really cool to walk around ruins that represented such a mixture of cultures. Alongside the Mausoleum was the beginning of what was to be the World's largest mosque, but was never finished. It was really cool to see such a massive floor plan. And, of course, the Mausoleum was incredibly ornate, the arches and ceramic design were absolutely stunning.

That evening, we had one of the best experiences of the entire trip, we bathed at the Hammam. I payed a total of five euro to get a full body scrub my a large Moroccan woman. It was a totally liberating experience, eight of us girls went in to the hammam, which was filled with a ton of locals, and we went topless and had a totally typical hammam experience. My scrubber woman took me away from the group and brought me into the hot room were she put me on the ground and proceeded to scrub every inch of my entire body. She scrubbed layers and layers of dead skin off of my body and poured buckets upon buckets of water over me. I pretty sure my mouth was wide open in shock/happiness the whole time (some Moroccan women straight up laughed at me). So there I was, laying on the floor of the bath, being thrown around by a 200 pound, naked Moroccan woman, and I loved every second of it! I think I got over some of my fears of the female body (I was casually encompassed in her breasts sometimes, and it didn't totally freak me out!). But man, I have never felt so clean in my entire life! My skin was baby smooth and glowing, I wish I looked like that all of the time. But after an hour or so we left to go get henna. My henna was absolutely beautiful and the artist did it with such speed and precision, it was awesome.

The next morning concluded our time in Rabat, we took a seven hour bus ride to the Rif mountains where we went to the home of a local olive farmer and ate lunch with his family. We had a wonderful conversation about the life of a Moroccan farmer, one thing that stuck out to me the most was that he said that the reason he loves living in the country is because he can see endless land, knows that everything is fresh, and is connected to the earth. It was all so beautiful. The mountains seemed to go on forever and were sprinkled with yellow wildflowers and olive trees. I understand why it was heaven to him.

After lunch we drove to Chefchaouen, and I have to say, I loved it almost as much, if not more, than I loved Asilah. Chefchaouen is a tourist town that's main focus is selling artisan Moroccan crafts. It is a stunning city, resting among hills, that is painted white and blue from head to toe. I spent a total of 40 euro and got a mountain of gifts. The beauty of shopping in Morocco is that the industry is built of bartering, it's almost like a show that each shopkeeper has to convince you to buy something. I had a lot of fun playing the bartering game. For example, I bought a massive, gorgeous camel hair/silk/leather duffle bag that started at 700 dirham (about 70 euro) and got it down to 250 dirham! I got to play the poor student card a lot and did a lot of reverse guilt tripping. I also purchased some small paintings from an artist who painted each item right in front of me. I wish I could have purchased everything in his shop! All of the blue and white has become a bit of an obsession of mine. So look out, Morocco, I'll be back when I have a house to furnish (and a disposable income). We then were treated to an amazing dinner and I ate my favorite Moroccan dish (in Spanish it's called a pastilla, but I'm not sure what it's called in English...). Basically, it is a genius concoction of chicken and veggies inside of a soft pastry shell that is covered in powdered sugar-- hello heaven! I was so happy! The dinner consisted of jokes upon jokes and all of us thinking we were going to die from happiness. It was the perfect end to the trip.

Following that, we had a debriefing/reflection session about things we learned on the trip. It proved to be sadly lackluster in that the only people who talked were Oxy kids and everyone else seemed to not understand the privilege that all Americans have. It served mostly as a means for the four of us Oxy students to reflect on how grateful we are for our education and our social awareness and how scary it is that there are so many people who do not understand the gravity of poverty and prefer to stereotype all people of the Arab World as terrorists.

So yeah, that was my whirlwind of a trip. I am so grateful that I got to go and experience more than just the touristic side of such a beautiful, fascinating country. I hope that I will get to go to Morocco again soon and experience even more of the country. The Moroccan people that I was lucky enough to meet filled me with interesting things to think about and very seriously changed a lot of my misguided preconceptions of the Arab World. As cliché as it may sound, those five days were extremely transformative and I look forward to traveling to other parts of the Middle East and the vast continent of Africa.

Love you all!

My 21st Birthday!

Hello Hello!

This past Monday was my big, bad 21st birthday, and I couldn't have had more fun! The day started out with class, as per usual, which lead to a wonderful lunch from my sweet host mom. She made my favorite kind of chicken noodle soup and lasagna paired with some pink sparkling wine and strawberry tart! It was so delicious! Then Riana and I met up with Maria and Mariah for a nice walk through the Albayzin, a very old neighborhood, and found all kinds of beautiful graffiti and view points to sit at and enjoy the weather and each others' company. We had so much fun taking in all of the beauty that is Granada and even discovered a beautiful little park full of hippies and crusties playing music and enjoying some of the trashiest malt liquor, it was quite fun (even though we stuck out like sore thumbs with our showered selves and sun dresses). After that little park session, we walked to a famous vista to watch the sunset over the Alhambra, it was breath taking!

We then walked to our favorite American diner (feel free to make fun of me) for my birthday dinner. We ate delicious cheeseburgers, chocolate pancakes, and BLTs, I couldn't have been happier. Sometimes I just suffer from the most intense burger cravings... as much as I love Spain, I can't always  function without a good ol' cheeseburger for more than a week (oops!). But after my heart's desire was met, I walked back to the apartment to have a wonderful skype session with my best friend, Chelsa. It was so wonderful to hear everything about what is going on back in LA, it made me miss my friends so much!

After skyping for a couple of hours, I met up with the girls again with the intention to go have a wild night at the bars and our favorite discoteca, Granada 10. But after meeting up, we decided against the bar thing (who want's to go to bars on their 21st, anyway?) and went to an ice cream shop instead! We had so much fun! The waiter gave me a piece of chocolate cake and a shot of rum along with my fudge brownie strawberry ice cream sundae! Yum!!I was so happy to get to spend the evening with all of my lovely girl friends and eat delicious food, it was such a classy 21st!

The next day, we went on another beautiful walk through the Realejo, the Jewish neighborhood and home of the famous graffiti artist, El Niño. I have just been falling more and more in love with this city! Now that the weather is finally warming up, it makes it so much easier to spend hours outside!

On Wednesday, Riana, Maria, and I went to our favorite discoteca to dance the night away. We ended up having so much fun, hanging out with our French DJ friend and requesting all of the songs we could ever desire! It's a wonderful set up we have, we go to ladies' night, so we get in for free, and the DJ plays all of the songs we love so we can dance the night away!

It was such an incredible birthday! I even received a wonderful package from my loving family and some cards from my wonderful friends, could I be happier? I just love everyone and everything and am so grateful for everyone in my life! Here I come, age 21!!!

Carnaval in Cádiz

Hello everyone!

Sorry it took so long for an update, but the past three weeks have been absolutely wild! My group of friends and I decided to go to Cádiz for Carnaval because it is the second biggest celebration of this pre-lent insanity in the whole world! We had heard a lot of wild stories about the ridiculous amount of people and pee in the streets, but decided to go despite the nasty reviews. It turned out to be a totally wonderful/silly/insane experience. We were pretty awe struck at the costumes that people wore, it's basically halloween x100,000-- the costumes are extremely intricate and well done. Riana, Maria, and I thought that being princesses was the best idea, and we were pretty on point. Walking through the hoards of people, we had a lot of silly encounters with people screaming/chanting "blanca nieve" (snow white) at me and demanding pictures, it was hilarious, and I got a lot of goofy pictures out of it.

The trip consisted of us boarding a bus in Granada, that took four and a half hours to arrive in Cádiz, where we proceeded to party outside until 6:00 am when the bus left again. So basically, we had about 15 hours of being outside in our costumes, which turned out to be a little bit rough. When we first arrived, everything seemed so clean and nice, we went to the beach to relax in the beautiful sun and play around before going into the city center. After a couple hours of this, we decided to go to the plaza in front of the cathedral where all of the festivities were, to find out that the festivities consisted of a bunch of people in costumes drinking in the street-- there wasn't any music or parades or anything. So we spent our time making friends with random Spaniards, British people, and other Erasmus kids. But man oh man, it was a lot of time to just be hanging out in the plaza, so we wandered around the city to pass time. We encountered crusty kids playing bizarre instruments, people peeing on everything and anything (there were literally rivers and puddles of pee all throughout the streets... gross!), and every single kind of costume under the sun!

At about 2:00 am, we started to get a little disgusted about the amount of pee, alcohol, and broken glass that littered the streets, which was really rough because we still had 4 hours left! So we ended up making our way slowly to the bus stop so we could sleep on the ground, so classy, I know.

Looking back on the whole experience, it was totally and completely worth all of the standing in pee! I had a wonderful time meeting all kinds of hilarious Spaniards and Europeans. The costumes were so wild and exciting! And now I can say that I've been to the second largest Carnaval celebration in the world! Next stop: Rio?

Sevilla and Ronda... I wish I was a Spanish princess!!

Hello everyone!!!

This past weekend was the absolute best weekend I have had yet! Our program took us to the cities Ronda and Sevilla, it was incredible! We first arrived to Ronda and took a walking tour of the town that included a history of Arab settlement and a visit to some Arabian baths. The city rested on exquisite cliffs that overlooked miles of farm land. The view was breathtaking! We learned a lot about how the Muslims came into the city and transformed the architecture and all-around style of the area. The baths were super interesting to see, I had no idea that they were so intricately made and so spiritual! It was also crazy to see how the Christians came into Spain and totally changed everything-- they destroyed the beautiful mosques and changed the style of architecture, crazy! 

Our time in Ronda was a mere three hours, we then took a bus to Sevilla. Sevilla was absolutely gorgeous! We stayed right in the center of the city, next to the river and by a huge park that housed a giant fake palace that was constructed for the World Fair in the 1930s. Right when we got there we were able to take our first non-military style shower since I've been here! It felt so wonderful to not have to turn off the water every thirty seconds. We then went out to dinner and ate in the beautiful Plaza de España. That night we went to a private flamenco show and it was the most incredible, beautiful, passionate, thrilling experience of my whole life! I have never seen something that moved me so much! The show started with two men, one playing beautiful Spanish guitar and the other singing and doing palmas (rhythmic hand clapping). I cried out of happiness twice because it was so wonderful (I'm not even embarrassed about it because I was so happy!). A lady flamenco dancer came onto the stage after a few minutes, I have never seen someone dance with so much power and passion, she was absolutely stunning! I'm pretty sure that I looked totally stupid the whole time because my mouth was wide open in a silly shocked smile, but whatever! She danced for about a half hour and then a man came and changed places with her. His feet moved so quickly and he exhibited so much power... all I can say is wow! I have decided that I absolutely NEED to have a Spanish guitar player and flamenco dancer at my wedding! I wish I could live inside of the theater and listen to the music and dance every single day! Ahhhh I can't even explain how perfect of an experience this was!!!

After the show ended, Riana and I were so awestricken that we decided not to go out (listening to top 40 music just sounded so lame after listening to such beauty). We went back to our lovely hotel and watched some Spanish-dubbed Step Brothers and had a super long talk about people (so typical!). The next morning we went on a tour of the Alcazar, a Spanish palace, and the Cathedral, the third largest one in the whole world! The Alcazar was absolutely beautiful! The architecture was a mix of Arabic and Christian styles and proved to be unbelievably intricate and gorgeous. The palace consisted of multiple rooms and courtyards that served as both the living areas of the royal family and meeting places for the government. The rooms were adorned with decoration from floor to ceiling and each door was a beautiful arch. There were also gardens everywhere and reflecting pools that accentuated the beauty of everything. Basically, I fell in love with it! I would do anything to be a princess in those times! 

We then walked to the Cathedral and found out that it is the third largest cathedral in the whole world. It was gigantic and gorgeous. We climbed all seventeen stories of the bell tower and got to see all of Sevilla. It was so beautiful to see all of the white buildings and plazas. After all of the touring, we were set free to wander the city. Maria, Riana, and I bee-lined for the Plaza de España because we wanted to see what it looked like in the daylight. It was, of course, phenomenal. Even though it wasn't from the 15th century, we still loved the old feel of the plaza and had a lot of fun sitting out in the sunshine. This is the first time that we have honestly felt warm our whole time being here, it was like a drug. We had to force ourselves to leave, and man, it was hard to return to below freezing Granada. I'm just so excited for it to get warm here, I know it's only a few more weeks, but I just want it to be now! I can't wait to be able to walk around the city for hours in sun dresses, it will be divine! 

I guess it all comes down to this: every city in Spain I visit I fall in love with, I literally couldn't love this country more! Like I said before, I feel like a Spanish Infomercial... if only I could get paid for this haha!

Until next time! Sending all my love from Spain!

Flamenco and other beautiful things

 Hello Hello!!

Today marks the end of my first full week of classes and it feels so great! The week absolutely flew by and I was pleasantly surprised at how non-stressful taking all of my classes in Spanish was. Even though Tuesdays are pretty rough (4.5 hours of class in a row in the same room, yikes!), the rest of the week is wonderfully relaxed. So far, I have fallen in love with my flamenco class, half of the class covers the history of the flamenco dance while the other consists of learning the dance. It is basically a more passionate mix of tap and ballet, two of my all-time favorites! Hopefully I'll be able to get it down over the next four months.

Aside from that, I am taking a class called the Spanish experience of the other, which looks at minority groups that live in Granada, such as the Gypsies, Muslims, Chinese, and Jews. It should be a pretty cool class, especially because I am super interested in everything relating to Gypsies. I am also taking Islamic art and architecture, which also rocks because
we get to go on really awesome field trips to the Alhambra and other famous places. Our first trip was to the plaza Bib-rambla, which marks the old entrance to the city. It was really interesting but also a bit rough because it was -2 degrees Celsius outside and we were all freezing and a bit sick.

Yesterday, between classes, Riana and I decided to take a nice long walk (even though our host mom said that we would freeze to death) and it was during this time that I absolutely, completely fell in love with Granada! For a little while I kept comparing Granada to Madrid, thinking that Madrid was quite a bit prettier (embarrassing!). This is because when I stayed in Madrid I was right in the middle of the oldest neighborhood and everything was beautiful and antique, whereas in Granada, I'm living in a newer neighborhood that isn't quite as gorgeous. So when we went on our walk we decided to go into the very oldest part of the city, we were in search of a lion statue (my favorite) not even joking. Riana happened to know of one that was in this beautiful public space called the Palacio de Cordoba. This little garden/baby palace was absolutely stunning! It had beautiful views of the Alhambra and the river that runs through town, basically, it was perfection! Riana and I talked and talked about how she could get married there and how much we wish we were princesses and could live in this kind of beauty every single day. Now I feel so stupid for not understanding Granada's beauty, it's so gorgeous here!

But now I'm off to my Flamenco class and tomorrow we're going to Sevilla and Ronda, I can't even wait!! Good bye! Besos!

When in Spain... eat Chinese/Italian/Mexican food

 Hey everyone!

Today marks the end of the third week that I have been in this wonderful country and I couldn't be loving it more! In the past week I have done a lot of pretty hilariously non-Spanish things, all of which are centered on food. Although I enjoy the Spanish cuisine, I have found myself overcome with great cravings for burgers, quesadillas, pasta, and of course, Chinese chicken.

The first food adventure occurred as a result of Riana's serious need for chicken mcnuggets and so we journeyed out in the 1 degree Celsius evening to make the hour long trek to the only McDonald's on the outskirts of Granada. The embarrassing part of this story is that Riana and I got completely lost, in fact, we never actually knew where it was, and after over an hour of walking in the freezing weather, we decided to turn around. That being said, our need for a little taste of home was soon fulfilled as we bee-lined to the nearest Burger King. We couldn't have been happier to be there. It turned out to be a wonderful evening as we spent a whopping three hours sitting in the restaurant talking about everything from our love of our families to all of the places we want to travel. We also decided that eating at Burger King was a very Spanish experience because it was full of locals and was decked out with marble columns and other beautiful architecture features, who knew eating a burger could be such a beautiful experience!

The following day Riana got sick with the flu and spent the afternoon resting while I went out on a walk to the Alhambra with a group of school buddies. It was so crazy to be hanging out in the center of town one minute and reach the Alhambra (a giant fortress/castle built by the Moors in the mid 1300s). The architecture was absolutely stunning! There were large keyhole shaped doors and entrances that lead to beautiful gardens and the column filled palace. I couldn't believe that something this old could remain in such good shape and be open for all to see and enjoy.  Everything was just so incredible and stunning-- the view overlooking the city made me really realize that this is my new home for the next four months and it is going to be the greatest four months ever!

That evening Clarissa and I happened upon a tempting little Chinese restaurant called Palacio de Jade, how could we turn that down? The prices were wonderfully cheap and they boasted a whole 25 different types of chicken! The restaurant turned out to be completely vacant except for the nice Chinese family that owned the place (and was eating their family dinner at the moment), so we decided to take the chance and go for it. I have been really surprised at the high number of Chinese who live in Spain, according to my host mom, it is great that they are here because they work harder than anyone else haha. 

The next wonderful food adventure occurred after everyone took the Spanish oral placement exams. The only thing that sounded perfect to us was a quesadilla! So Riana, Maria, Emily, Hillary, and I walked to Maria's favorite Cantina, to find out that it wasn't open for another hour. But don't worry too much, we found an ice cream shop that specialized in this wonderful thing called gofres con helado (ice cream on waffles!) it was to die for! I don't think I have ever tasted a more incredible thing! After such a delicious culinary experience, we journeyed over to the Cantina. The waiter at the Cantina was the sweetest, he gave us all a bunch of free tacos and drinks, it was so enjoyable! 

This brings me to last night, it was Maria's 21st birthday and we decided to go out for a nice Italian dinner before going dancing at the Western themed discoteca. The dinner was absolutely fantastic and it was super fun to get all dressed up! The club was also a really fun experience, we were invited to dance  in the VIP section and made some new Spanish friends. It was also pretty silly in that people would ask me if I was from Norway, Belgium, France, Russia, etc., it made me feel so European! But the part I loved the most was dancing with my girlfriends and hanging out in the most "Spanish" of discotecas.

Altogether, I think the thing that makes me the happiest about being here is that I feel like I have really found my place. I have already come to understand so much more about myself (even though I thought I already knew everything haha). Basically, it all comes down to this: when traveling around Latin America I have really felt the presence of my mom as if I was reliving her life, but there was always something that wasn't quite 'mine' about the experience... I always missed home a bit and wanted my comforts. But here it is as if I have lived here forever even though I still know so little of the city. Each day is so exciting and new, yet feels so comfortable. It doesn't even phase me that I'm speaking in a different language, even though I'm not quite fluent. And although I still think about home, it is in more of a "I can't wait to tell everyone about everything" way. I guess I have just realized that instead of trying to relive my mama's life, that I am finally putting my own Sophie twist on the whole thing. Honestly, I don't think I have ever been more happy with a realization. I just feel so lucky to be having such an incredible time, it is all very beautiful.

So yeah, that's my life as of late. I know that sometimes I sound like a Spanish infomercial, but I just want to tell everyone about how wonderful this country is. I'm sending all of my love to you!! Hasta luego!!

Hiking, dancing, and living like a Spaniard

 Buenas!!
Today marks the fifth day that I have lived in Granada, and I am happy to report that I absolutely love it here! On Thursday and Friday I took intensive language classes for five hours and found them to be pretty low key, but very enjoyable. My class is full of wonderful people who I already feel close to. I can already tell that this is going to be an incredible four months!

The Spanish life is a very interesting one; you wake up early in the morning for a light breakfast, attend classes for a few hours, take a coffee break, go back to class for a couple of hours, go home for a huge sit down lunch, nap, walk around the city, go out to tapas, go to a bar, and then go out dancing!
Aaaahhhh!! Basically, the day starts at 7:00 am and ends at 3:00 am, it's insane, but I'm totally starting to love it! The coolest thing about this lifestyle is that the whole focus of day- to-day life is socializing (something that I am quite fond of). It is very unheard of to sit in your room all day and watch terrible TV shows, which is probably why everyone here is beautiful and fit. The best part about this is that it doesn't matter how old you are, everyone is always walking around and running into friends on the street. Another very traditionally Spanish thing is that everyone walks arm in arm, best friends, kids, and lovers alike! It's all so romantic!

I am also in love with the tapas scene, every night you are expected to go out at around 9:30 to meet up with friends and eat the free tapas that come with any kind of drink. In the past few days I have had a myriad of different foods and have broadened my taste horizon a ton! Most of the time you don't even know what they are going to serve you, and man, that's very different from my usual 'eat the same thing every single day' lifestyle. The other day I went out to two tapas bars and was served everything from a ham (literally pork) burger and fries to clams with pesto pasta, it rocked!

But I have to say that the best day I have had while in Spain was yesterday. Our program took everyone on a bus to Alpujarra, which is a beautiful area in the Sierra Nevada mountains and we hiked for three+ hours. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! Throughout the rolling hills were little communities of white stucco and stone houses as you can see in the above pictures. The communities had a very warm feeling about them, which made me want to pack up everything and move right on in (apparently loads of British people have felt the same way and actually did it!). Upon arrival, we stopped for a coffee break, and it is in a small café that I found paradise. I ordered a hot chocolate and was given some chocolate filled pastry from a friend, I have honestly never tasted anything more delicious in my entire life! The hot chocolate was basically a melted chocolate bar, it was so thick and rich, I would do anything to drink it every day. And the pastry was exactly how I imagine pastries to taste in France, so incredibly delicious!

After that absolutely perfect experience our group was led through the town to a trail that has been used for centuries to travel between mountain villages. I decided to choose the easier of the two hikes (so embarrassing!) but found it to be surprisingly tricky. We walked up and down through the hills and reached three levels of altitude during the hike. During this time I became really close to our guide, José Camillo, and learned a ton about the nature and culture of the region. We also had a lot of hilarious conversations with Riana and Maria about things such as sugarmamas (which I had to explain) and how much Americans struggle at hiking because they take so many photos. All along the way, Riana, Maria, and I were singling our heart out to Levels by Avicii and stumbling through the rocky terrain (our guide probably thought we were total n00bs, but he loved us just the same!). The hike was absolutely gorgeous and totally fun, yet another way of showing me how incredible this country is. When we returned to the little town, we were happy to discover that our guide (who is pictured in the third picture) actually wanted to stay in touch with us-- he is my first real Spanish friend, I'm so excited!!

Upon returning to Granada, Riana and I walked home for a quick nap and shower so that we could be super fresh for the evening. At 10:00 pm we met up with Maria and had some delicious tapas at two different places. We then decided to go to a discoteca, Camborio, with a bunch of our other friends in the oldest and most beautiful area of town. We learned that arriving at midnight is really uncool, and were the only ones dancing for about an hour. That being said, we totally started the party! Over the next five hours Spaniards arrived and danced the night away with us. It was really fun because we got to teach some locals how to do the Dougie and other hilarious American moves while they taught us Spanish ones. The wonderful thing about dancing is Spain is that people don't grind all over each other, but instead dance happily in groups, it's so much more fun! And much to my surprise, the men were way less sleazy than in the clubs in the US. But at around 4:30 am Riana and I got tired and decided to head home; right as we were leaving we noticed that a bunch of locals were entering the discoteca... I still have no idea how they can function like that!

Once we got home we slept like little rocks until about noon. Then our host mama's kids came over and we got to meet the whole family. One of her daughters has a son named Hugo who is two-years-old. I have honestly never seen a more adorable child in my whole entire life! He was dressed in a little sweater and khakis with baby loafers and had huge eyes and curly hair. Riana and I fell in love with him! And his mom told him to tell us that we were really pretty, making our hearts melt even more than they already had. Our host mama also told her kids about how she was planning to fatten us up, which she has been quite successful at-- I have never eaten this much in my entire life! But who cares... when in Spain!

As for right now, that's pretty much it. I am so happy here and am looking forward to becoming more and more engrossed in the Spanish life!

Hasta luego!

Magical Madrid and Granada's Grandeur

HOLA HOLA!
The past few days of my exciting trip to Spain have been quite the whirlwind. After traveling for twenty hours straight, I finally arrived in the beautiful city of Madrid. I can honestly say that Madrid took my breath away (as cliché as that sounds). The architecture was incredible with such great detail, even apartment buildings seemed to be a throwback to the Renaissance. Despite the fact that I was utterly exhausted, Natalie inspired me to wander aimlessly around the city for hours, and I am truly grateful for that. We found ourselves walking through beautiful plazas, laughing at the bizarre street characters (including men who painted their faces like babies and hid behind a sheet that was attached to a stroller with a fake baby sitting in it-- yes, it was as bizarre as it sounds), and eating at the oh so famous Museo de Jamón (museum of ham... questionable/hilarious). We quickly realized that Spaniards are obsessed with ham and they really enjoy hanging it everywhere. We also learned that Spaniards love croissants and that the Chinese love to live in Spain-- there are Chinese restaurants everywhere!

After our first exhausting day we decided to go to bed early, which is so not Spanish. We woke up bright and early the next day to meet up with another friend, Clarissa, and headed to the Prado. Wow, all I can say is wow when it comes to the Prado. We spent a whopping four hours looking at the beautiful paintings done by some of Spain's most famous painters including Velázquez, Goya, Sorroya, El Greco, and many more, while also including beautiful works from Italian and Flemish painters. Although I loved practically all of the paintings, I became fascinated with paintings of the crucifixion-- I couldn't stop wondering how the nails didn't rip out of Jesus' hands and feet with the weight of his body (gruesome, I know). Luckily Clarissa was also fascinated by this and we talked for a long time trying to figure it out, especially because in each painting the nails were portrayed in a slightly different way (some had four nails, some had three, and some had a little foot stand that he stood on), interesting, right?

Following that, the three of us decided to undertake the wild experience of going to one of the largest clubs in the world... El Kapital! This bad boy is five stories tall and plays different music on each floor, crazy! But in Spain it is very uncool to go out before 2:00 am, and honestly, we were not on that level yet. After an hour of sitting in McDonald's (sorry) and getting hit on by 14 year old skater kids, we decided to enter the club at midnight. With this, hilarity ensued. I was proposed to quite a few times, told that I was loved, and offered a job at hollister... I guess my blonde hair really sticks out here!

The next few days included nice experiences with tapas, museums, walks, and parks. I fell in love with El Parque Buen Retiro. It was a giant park in the middle of the city full of picturesque fountains and statues. The three of us decided to rent a row boat in the little man-made lake, which was not only adorable but loads of fun! Basically, Madrid was made perfect in my eyes for that park alone. And despite a scary run in with bed bugs at a neighboring hostel, the trip was purely wonderful!

Then came the beginning of my study abroad program, and Natalie, Clarissa, and I took the high speed train to Málaga to meet up with our group. The train experience was really fun, I got to watch my favorite move, Paul, and look out the windows at rolling hills and small stone ruins-- I couldn't have been happier! Upon arriving in Málaga, I ran into one of my best friends, Riana, and began to explore this precious beach town. It was really fun to meet a bunch of new people and go out for delicious tapas.

This brings me to the present. Our group got to our final destination, Granada, and Riana and I moved in with our incredible host mama. The very second we met her we knew we were going to have the greatest time ever! Her name is Angélines and she lives alone in a beautiful apartment that has marble floors and wood everywhere. She is the mother of four and grandmother of two, and loves them more than anything. But beyond that, she is very talkative and outgoing, she managed to get us to tell her everything in a matter of minutes, and it was fantastic! She reminds me a lot of my own mama, and for that I am extremely grateful. Our first night in our homestay consisted of eating and talking-- both wonderful things. But Riana and I were pretty tired and decided to go to bed early so we would be wide awake for five hours of intensive Spanish classes. We woke up at 7:00 this morning to a wonderful breakfast of toast, tea, and fruit, and took a leisurely walk with our mama to the study abroad center.

The classes today were surprisingly really low key and I learned a ton about the Spanish culture. I really like my teacher and all of the people in my class, it's going to be a wonderful semester! I'm really excited to better my Spanish and become a Spaniard myself. I think I'm already on my way there through my coffee breaks (well, hot chocolate), long siesta, and love of walking around in the evening. It is really cool because in Spain it is not typical to spend much time in the house, instead you are expected to take long walks through the city and meet people for tapas and drinks-- it is a very romantic way of living!

But as for right now, that is all. I am extremely happy and loving everything about Spain! Hasta luego!!