Hola amigos! I hope I haven`t chased everyone away from those last couple of long blogs, but with so much to tell, it`s hard to keep everything from being written down!
So yesterday, after finishing the last chapter in the Morocco epic, I headed to my homestay to meet with Stephanie to go to the Parque of Ciencias. It`s about a 20 minute walk from my house, and a bit hot in the middle of the day. But my favorite thing to do in Granada is walk walk walk and explore explore explore, so off we went!
We finally reached the park at about 5:30 PM, and I took a couple of snapshots of the entrance to the science museum. (As always, other pictures not linked here can be found on my photobucket: http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/)
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There was a large helicopter right outside that I`m sure my Dad is going to love to see:
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Parque de Ciencias.. how exciting!!!
We entered through the large doors to view a gorgeous interior. I was definately growing more and more excited as I looked all around at the different exhibits that were just inside the main building:
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Stephanie then headed up to the main desk, myself seconds behind from snapping pictures and gawking at everything. The ticket price was 5 Euros, which was pretty cheap in my opinion! Apparently, the Parque closed at 7 PM, so the ticketer said that with our receipt, we would be able to return the next day to visit. I was very happy to hear that, because I knew the next day I would be coming back!
We first walked around the main lobby area, touring the displays that were littered all around. For starters, we climbed up a spiraling staircase to see the above exhibits. Large windows showed the outside part of the park, and I quickly grabbed a picture:
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(Who is that girl in the orange with that camera? Hmmm.....)
The first one that caught my eye was the Nueva Velociraptor exhibit. Being a dinosaur maniac, I immediately sprinted over to check it out, Stephanie a few steps behind me.
When we entered the room, it was pretty dark inside, but lighted displays showed us we hadn`t accidentally walked into a broom closet:
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The exhibit was in both Spanish and in English, so I definately got the best of both world with information! (The English translation was a bit off, but I was just impressed they had one as well!) If you might have heard, just a couple of years ago a big debate took place in science to whether or not Velociraptors and their cousins had feathers or not- up to that point, half believed they did and half said scales. But then a discovery in China, as I read the display, showed a fossilized Velociraptor with feathers, and thus this exhibit was to show the new, updated form. I was definately impressed!
There was a short 3-d movie playing inside, and Stephanie eventually had to drag me away from watching the animated velociraptors attacking a herd of herbivores. It was a small exhibit, but very informative!
Next stop was to an exhibit about different scientific laws. Entering in the room we were confused at first what it was all about, but reading the displays told us that not only were they information, they were all hands on too! Some examples of the hands on activities we did were experiments about electricity, weight distribution, and the movement of air (ex: why planes fly)
We had a great time trying out each and every one of the exhibits, one of them for example:
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(You put the ball over a hole in the display, and pressed a nearby button. Then, air came out and made the ball levitate in place-so cool!)
After touring the scientific laws display, we meandered over to the inventions exhibit.
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There, we got to enjoy looking at different human invention that had been accomplished, such as old phones, old computers, old radio players, and dozens of different electronics. I took many pictures, as evident on my photobucket, but here are a few examples:
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(Made by Siemens!)
Next stop was to another hands-on exibit, where you could try different experiments about perception.
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Mind tricks, optical illusions, and even an experiment about trying to outline a star by using your reflection... I could probably write 5 pages about everything in that room. Stephanie and I had a great time trying to fool our brains, and learning about how perception works.
After touring the perception exhibit, we then traveled back downstairs to view the Andalucian exhibit. The Andalucian exhibit covers the period when Southern Spain was ruled by the Moors, and all about their history, lifestyle, inventions, and influence the Moors had on Andalucia and the rest of the world:
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info about Moorish Granada-I found this one very interesting! http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4291jpg
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Info about military procedures: for the guys back home!
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After learning about the different inventions and history of the Moors, we headed downstairs to view the Earth and Universe exhibit:
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In this exhibit, there were so many different displays about the universe, the solar system, ecosystems, animals, and more! Several displays contained animals to view, such as lizards, krill, fish, and even one full of bees. We spent the last half hour touring each and every one of the exhibits, but soon the announcement came that it was time for the Park to close. I made a mental note to come earlier the next day!
From there, the two of us walked to Carrefour, as it is only another 5 minute walk away from the science park. We browsed around for a bit, as Stephanie had never been there before, and I needed a new pair of headphones. Our purchases also consisted of 6 Euro beach towels, as we are going to the beach in Nerja this weekend, and we didn`t have any of our own! Stephanie bought a pretty red one, and I bought a Florida-labeled towel out of sheer irony.
We toured around a bit more, and then we were back on the road heading home. Our dinner consisted of yummy grilled cheese with ham, and we tried a bit of traditional gazpacho! Gazpacho is a famous Andalucian drink, made of vegetables and lots, and lots of tomato! It was a bit spicy, but drinking it made me feel like I was gettting healthier by the second.
After dinner, and relating our adventures with our host family, (with taking classes, I now use more and more use the past tense in Spanish! Hurrah for learning!) we headed to bed to enjoy a early night after a very busy day.
Wednesday was morning class, where we now are now discussing the Imperative form. The best was at the end of class, when we had a debate using command forms about the benefits and disadvantages of television. It was definately fun!
Class soon ended, then I quickly headed home to grab a tasty pasta lunch, with a side of delicious kiwis. I was planning to leave immediately afterwards to have enough time to explore the Parque de Ciencias a bit more than I had time for on Tuesday! Stephanie, however, wasn`t feeling too great- the culprit being that she caught a cold. Que mala suerte! She decided to take the afternoon to rest, and wished me well on my adventure. So I grabbed my camera, my purse, and my ticket, and off I went!
I reached the Parque of Ciencias at about 3:15, eagerly excited to start up where I had left off yesterday. Ticket in hand, I went through the entrance and presented in to the ticket attendant. However, she was a bit confused- I didn`t have a signed receipt at the desk. Apparently, I was supposed to have signed my name and a number on a receipt, to validate that I was using the one I had bought. But the attendant was very nice, telling me in English (and understanding I hadn`t gotten that part!) and had me fill out a signature form, and let me through. I was all ready to pay another 5 Euros, because coming back was worth it!
I first decided to walk around the main lobby to double check if I had missed anything yesterday. I didn`t find any exhibit that I had missed, so I decided to head to the outside portion of the park:
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I walked around the main area, beautiful fountains and exhibits littered all around. A lot of them were exhibits about using solar power, others about water power- it was definately fun to try them all out, as before, they were all hands on!
I then headed to the righthand side, and walked through a beautiful garden area:
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There were lots of displays about different trees that grow naturally in Andalucia, as well as some animal statues with information displays. I liked walking through the shaded area of the gardens, as I was the only person in that part of the park, and it was definately nice to enjoy the peace and quiet of the mini garden.
After walking through the gardens, I saw small path that lead out from it. Curiousity got a hold of me, and I followed the path to a most incredible sight.. there, outside, free of any sort of cage (but tethered all the same to perches) were birds of prey!! I took several pictures of them out of sheer amazement! I was pretty sure someone must have been supervising from somewhere, but all that kept me a couple of feet away was a bush.
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It was definately fascinating to get that close to them!
Every movement I made was watched in interest by one falcon, him turning his head at every single gesture I made. A big old buzzard had hopped off his perch to take a snooze near the tether, the falcons being wide awake and staring at me as I stared straight back at them. The two owls immediately took notice I was there: bobbing up and down and making silent movements with their beaks. I stood there for a good 20 minutes!
After vistiting the birds of prey exhibit, I then walked back through the garden aways, seeing a large building with the word `Mariposa.´ I walked into the building, but the doors were shut when I was there. I made a mental note to return there later, and took a couple of pictures before I headed to the next part of the park:http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/IMGP4316.jpg
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Right next door to the butterfly center was a sign about a mission undertaken by NASA, and the first Spanish astronaut! I read over the information for a bit, and apparently the mission this astronaut had made also had the famous John Glenn participating. According to the sign, the team of astronauts had visted the Parque de Ciencias, and had their handprints cast. I thought this was extremely cool:
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After looking over the astronaut handprints, (and trying to fit my hand in each one) I headed over to another section of the gardens. A small labyrinth had been contructed with help from the University of Granada, and small plants with name labels were planted all throughout. The game was to use your nose to `smell´your way through, but all the same I found my way out.. this time...
Leaving the twisting labyrinth, I then saw a huge building for hosting temporary exhibits. Anybody that has lived in Granada for the last year knows exactly what this exhibit is- because on every single town bus there are flyers for it posted on the windows:
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Inside, the air conditioner was nice and cool, as well as very dark inside. Pictures I took in there were a bit blurry, but all the same you can see the general look of it:
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This exhibit was definately worth all the flyers posted around Granada. Dozens of exhibits, signs, and information all about poisonous creatures in nature were all over this large building.
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Besides displays and exhibits, they of course had dozens of live animals on display as well. We weren`t allowed to take pictures of them, but there were poisonous spiders, snakes, (my favorite was the egyptian cobra) a gila monster, colorful frogs, fish, (somehow there were pirahanas... they definately were waiting for me to stick my hand in their cage), jellyfish, bugs, plants, and more! Every single one had a small information box nearby, that told exactly where they were from and about the specie. It was definately one of my favorite sights in the Park!
After touring the venemous animals, I then decided to make my way up in the very tall tower of the Park. This tall building was famous for giving viewers a chance to view a 360 look at all of Granada, and is used by scientists, city planners, and more! On the first level was different displays about other (famous) tall buildings of the world, and I quickly read through those- I really wanted to go up!
Finally I found the elevator, where a cheerful park staffer greeted me in Spanish. I responded back in Spanish as well, and she asked me if I understood her. I quickly told her yes, explaining I was studying Spanish at the University of Granada. Her smile grew at that, and then she began to tell me about the tower as we went up.
Apparently, this tall building wasn`t just a scenic view for tourists- it also serves the use of scientists, city planners, and more! The tall structure offers a 360 view of Granada, and when I walked out of the elevator, the entire city was like a minature tapestry in the afternoon sun:
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After spending a good time up there, I decided to tour a bit more around the park's outside deck. Near the main center was an outside exhibit of sun dials and other solar experiments:
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I then decided to return to the butterfly museum before I left. The building was open, and I was definately reminded of a minature version of Butterfly World back home in Florida. It was damp and humid inside, but the gorgeous vegetation, fish, turtles, and butterflys made the return trip definately worth the stop:
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After visiting the butterfly house, I toured the museum shop a bit, and then finally made my way back to the city of Granada. I definately hope the new kids that are coming next week want to tour it, because I certaintly wouldn`t mind another trip to this very cool museum!
I then walked all the way to the school bookstore, as when I first visited my first week of school, lots of the items had been sold out due to the huge incoming of students. But returning Wednesday all the items were restocked, as well as some new ones to see! I enjoyed looking around the store, checking out for potential souvenirs. I found a gift that I liked, (with help from the friendly staff) and as I made my purchase, they enquired to where I got my necklace. (Ill post a picture of it next blog, as the computer I am now on wont let me use the USB port!)
I had purchased the necklace in Morocco, I informed them, and then we chatted (in Spanish!) for about 10 minutes about Morocco. I was so happy I was able to hold a conversation with them - I guess I can attribute it all to all the practice and learning I`ve had this month! Que bueno!
I then headed home for a 9 PM dinner, and after a long day of walking, I fell asleep at about 11 PM. It was definately a succesful day!
Today (Thursday) was back to class in the morning, and a review for my upcoming exam on Monday. My teacher told us not to worry about it, as the exam isn`t a big part of our grade, but being the USA student that I am, I definately will be studying for it! Class finished at 1 PM, and I headed down to the computer lab to work on my blog post for today. After lunch was a return to the computer lab, and here I am now!
Tonight is Spain versus Russia game, and I will be going out with Stephanie and friends to go watch and root for my favorite team- I am definately excited! After this post I am going to go shopping for a Spain t-shirt to wear... I definately don`t want to show up tonight without one!
Tommorrow, I am planning to go visit the large cemetery outside of Granada, located nearby to the Alhambra. I love to visit cemeteries and read about people`s lives, so I`m very much looking forward to going to visit. I`ll definately have my trusty camera on my person for pictures about it!
Also in my news, this weekend`s trip (Saturday and Sunday) is going to be to the city of Nerja, to enjoy exploring and of course, the beach! Hurrah beach! I get to use my new Florida towel! If I don`t get a chance to update tommorrow, there will definately be a nice long entry for next week all about my weekend.
And with that thought, I leave now as always:
Until next time!
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