Adventuring in the Albacìn

Que tal, chicos? After a long blog entry last time, this entry shouldn´t be too bad, I hope!

Starting from.. yesterday evening! For our Granada adventure yesterday, we met at 8:00 PM at Correos, where Inma and Jaime were waiting for us to begin our trip into exploring the Albacin in Granada!

The Albacin Quarter in Granada is famous for being the ´Arab Quarter´. This part of town managed to evade the total change the rest of the city saw in the reconquest of Granada, and it´s old Moorish roots, street side vendors, and seveal tea houses gives a look into what Granada looked like before Catholic Spain torched and took it back from the Moors.

We started the familiar path into the Albacin (As we had been to the earlier part of the Quarter before- the blog concerning the tea house.) but as soon as we arrived we walked past the small array of tea houses and stores, opting instead to climb the long, winding alleway straight into the heart of the Albacin. It was definately a workout for the legs hiking up all those winding stairs!

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These narrow, winding alleyways made me think we weren´t even in Granada anymore, but somehow a couple hundreds years back in time. I wouldn´t have been the least bit surprised to see a horse tied up in front of a home! The Albacin does have a reputation for being disorientating, and it´s not without truth!

After walking through the alleyways, we stopped a brief moment to look upon some very large, Moorish influenced houses. These houses were apparently the homes of the richer families in the Albacin, and peering at the gated archways, one could see why!

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After touring the richer houses, we walked not a few feet away to see a small altar embedded in the wall. Jaime explained to us that in older days, people might not just go to the church to repent or pay respects, they could walk over to a nearby altar to accomplish the same holy mission. The one we saw was out of use, but a nice arrangement of flowers inside indicated it wasn´t forgotten.

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After walking a bit more through the Albacin, we then came upon the Mirador de San Nicolás, a church with a spectacular view of the Alhambra. Dozens of people littered the outcropping in front of the church, to view what former President Clinton called the most beautiful sight in the world:

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(many more on my photobucket!)

After looking upon the magnificient view of the Alhambra, we then walked into the center of the Albacin to have a quick tapas, and we walked over to one of the most popular restaurants in the Albacin. We sat down at an outdoor table, and ordered our drinks, waiting for the snack that always comes with drink orders. Little did we know what the tapas in the Albacin were.. but we we soon found out what they were when they were placed on the table... a delicacy I common associate with the French.. snails!

Yes, snails. You read correctly.

Needless to say, the surprise on our faces at our evening snack was priceless. They are cooked in a delicious sauce, and are perfectly fine to eat, but the look of it did make my stomach do a bit of a flipflop:

(Warning: these pictures are of escargo! (cooked snails) If this will make you queasy, be forewarned!)

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However, being Natalie D. West, adventurer, I certaintly couldn´t just say no to eating snails. Scott was of the same mind, and while he went at it with a smile, I couldn´t help but sport a hesitant grin at the camera:

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We bravely plucked out the snails from their shells, and munched on the scary looking snack. But as most things that don´t look good at first, they were surprisingly pretty good! We ate another helping of snail, my roommate Stephanie watching in hesitant interest. But she couldn´t be outdone, and with our combined encouragement (and eating one along with her!) she ate one!

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We are proud to we are the first group of Americans that have eaten snails with Jaime and Inma! Hurrah for us Abroadco kids!

(the pictures of the snails will end here, but there are more on my photobucket.. look at them if you dare!)

After enjoying snails, and some calamari and honey fried zucinni, we headed back to look upon the Alhambra in the light of the moon. Only about two hours later from our first glance, and the now full moon shining on the Alhambra was gorgeous:

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(lots more on my photobucket!)

After watching the Alhambra´s evening glow, we finally made our long walk back to town. A small group of bats darted through the alleyway as we left the old Moorish quarter, as almost if saying farwell to the small group of Spaniards and Americans. It was definately a night to remember, and I´m certain this won´t be my last adventure into the ancient past of Granada.

Dancing, daytrips, and the Alhambra, oh my!

Buenos Tardes, amigos! After a really super fun weekend, I’m back and ready to update with lots of new things that I’ve been doing! So I’ll waste no time, and rewind back to Friday afternoon!

Friday afternoon, Scott and I went walking down to once again explore a bit more of southeast Granada, and find the discoteca that we were unable to find last week. With a bit more direction, we successfully found it’s location under an hour - a bit improvement over last time! After triumphing that, we once again headed over to the huge Walmart/Mall center… also known as Carrefour. We shopped around, buying myself a cd of my new favorite Spanish band, Amaral. I highly recommend logging into Youtube and watching one of their videos. They’re awesome!

After venturing to Carrefour, we then headed to the Center of Modern Languages to check our messages and such, and then we both headed our separate ways for the night- Scott was a bit tired from the week, and wanted to go to bed, but I headed home to get dressed for the evening!
Friday night me, my roommate Stephanie, my classmate Robert and his girlfriend from England, (after watching the futbol game of the night…Hurrah Holland!) went out to explore Granada’s nightlife! Much akin to New York, Granada is the place that never sleeps- resturants, cafes, tapas bars, everything is up and running, and the city is packed! We all met at about 10:00 PM and got to immerse ourselves in a typical Spanish Friday night- walking around, enjoying the cool night breeze… until the discoteca opens, of course.

A discoteca is pretty much what we would call a club in the United States, but here it has almost a reverent tone for it- you mention the ‘D’ word to a Spaniard, and they’ll instantly tell you where their favorite one is to be found. We went to a discoteca called Camboria, that was way out in the Sacromonte. The cool thing about this dance club was that, like most of the buildings in the Sacromonte quarter, the underground part was a cave! The dancing was to be found aboveground, as we were early to visit at 2 AM in the morning.

However, my most favorite part was that offered an unmatchable view of the Alhambra at night. I was very unhappy I didn’t bring my camera, but the view was spectacular. We danced, we laughed, and we had a lot of fun hanging out in the cool night breeze of Southern Spain. Stephanie and I retired early at 4 AM, where more people were showing up at that time, but for us, it was super late! We took a taxi home and slipped back into bed after a fun filled night out in Granada.

The next day we took the opportunity to sleep in, as a long night out on Granada had us beyond exhausted! We didn’t wake up until 2 in the afternoon, and our host family had gone to visit relatives, so we took the opportunity to go visit a Chinese restaurant a block away for lunch. Chinese food is a bit different here in Spain than in the United States, and me and Stephanie figured, (as Stephanie is bilingual in both Spanish/Chinese, and studied abroad there) that the more east you get, the more authentic the food becomes. It was interesting in not Spanish food for a change, but still nothing like back home. 6 Euros was all it cost, so not a bad deal either!

After eating out, we then walked down to the nearby mall, that is very close to our home. It’s definitely not Boca Raton Town center, but I liked it’s small shops atmosphere, without finding an Express, Claire’s, or Auntie Em’s in sight. We walked up and down the three levels of the mall, mostly window browsing as we went during siesta time. After touring the different shops and eyeing the mall’s discoteca and movie theater, we then walked down to a nearby cyber café and surfed the ‘net for about an hour. Soon dinner time rolled around, and we headed home to grab a quick cena.

After dinner, we were wide awaked and wanting to walk around a bit, so we called up Scott and suggested simply just walking around Granada. We then all met up at the post office, and walked to each of our houses so we knew how to get there. Then, we finally found a park bench and sat and talked about ourselves for about 2 hours, ranging from topics such as favorite books to childhood video games. At about 1 AM we called it a night, and headed home for bed. For the next day was our trip to the world famous, Granada representative… the Moorish castle of the Alhambra!

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(Link to all of the pictures on my photobucket, again not in order due to computer mixing them up, but reading along with this entry will help you along!)

The morning of the Alhambra started off with a late get up at 9 AM, which I didn´t mind at all. Me and Stephanie munched on a quick breakfast, and met Inma at Correos at 11:20 AM. From Correos, we then walked way down the main street from correos, and after a bit of walking, turned up an inclined road to a large, gated opening. We walked through the large doors, and found ourselves in the most beautiful forest park! Trees were everywhere that the eye could see, and even in the wooden depths we saw ruins of ancient Moorish castles. But as we walked further and further through the forest, we saw ahead of us a great, red castle-like building peering out from the trees... the entrance to the great Alhambra.

In the shade in front of the Alhambra, we met up with the University Tour group, and Inma bid us farewell from there. We then waited a mere 5 minutes until a large group of students showed up on the city bus, and grouped all together, we followed our profesora up to the large entrance, and entered inside the famous castle.

We then walked through shaded tunnels, Moorish inscriptions littering all the entryways and passages. It was difficult not to imagine living in this building day to day- what had me most concerned was the fairly new addition of a railing... how did the Moors not fall down those twisting, narrow staircases? Definately a question on my mind.

We then walked out to a large courtyard of sorts, where the profesora explained the military faction of the Alhambra lived in this part. Lots of ridges of stone, perhaps where a soldier might rest or practice amongst others, or prepare himself to do battle with the soon to be conquering Christians.

We then walked up a large bastille, climbing dozens of stairs to reach the top.. the view was magnificient. All of Granada was sprawled below, and everywhere you turned the city´s rich history and modern day buidings all came together in a stunning display. Looking out farther than the city below, you could stare for hours at the looming Sierra Nevadas, or simply gaze to the large Moorish wall nearby, protecting Granada from ancient invaders. I was blown away by the sight, and lots of pictures in my photobucket albulm reflect that!

After viewing from on high, we walked down and back towards the center of the Alhambra, to then tour the more recent additions to the Alhambra, of the construction Ferdinand, Isabella, and other Spanish royals added on to the already great palace. A room for visits was the first on the tour, followed by grand ceilings with latin words inscribed in stone. However, not all of the Moorish rooms had been redone, more often than not, they were simply refurbished and kept the same. However, a more modern refurbishing was seen when we walked to the court of the Lions, a famous room in the Alhambra. Disappointingly, the lion statues were nowhere to be seen, instead a large plastic tent. Apparently the lions were taken out to be restored, and they won´t be back until 2010. Well... now I know when to plan my return trip!

After visiting the Catholic refurbishing and the Moorish center, we walked outside of the Alhambra´s interior to view a magnificient stretch of miles of gardens. Our profesora informed us that the Moors´s heaven consisted of gardens and green everywhere. Also in heaven was to be found four rivers, the two of which were milk and water, the other two wine and honey. This was reflected in the many fountains we saw, where little canals from 4 directions lead straight into the fountain. It is easy to see why the Alhambra has been called ´Heaven on Earth´- to the anicent Moorish rulers, the Alhambra was a reflection of paradise! We toured the gardens for the last hour, and towards the end, we were up high enough to take pictures of the stretch of the palace. Make sure to visit my photobucket and see!

After visiting the Alhambra, me and Stephanie walked through the large city park before the Alhambra’s entrance, and enjoyed sandwiches our host mom prepared for us. After a quick dining, we walked back to the city and browsed some souvenir shops that littered the cobblestone streets. After peering into all the nearby ones we could find, we headed back home to take an afternoon siesta after the long winding walk through the Alhambra!

After taking a siesta for the afternoon, I was re-energized to go out an explore some more. Even though there wasn’t a bullfight going on, I really wanted to go see Granada’s bullring, and also explore the western part of Granada, as I’ve been pretty east-centered from my homestay and school. So I grabbed my new purse, my fan, and my trusted map, and off I went!

I walked along the long road of calle Ronda, and enjoyed seeing a part of Granada unfamiliar from my daily day to day walks. I saw all different shop windows, despite the fact practically all of them were closed for Sunday. It was definitely not as hot out as early morning, so the light breeze gave my fan a vacation in my purse. After navigating down several streets, I then toured some outdoor shops alongside the busy road. It was really neat in the fact that all of the shops were centered around different countries. Wares from Africa, India, Jamaica, Russia, and others were to be found, so I saw all sorts of neat items from around the world- that was definitely a highlight!

After browsing, I finally walked all the way up to the Plaza de Toros. My camera was full of Alhambra pictures, so I couldn’t snap any, but the first thing that came to mind when I saw the bullring was "Is this a Roman colloseum?" I could definitely see how bullfighting descended from Roman gladiators, as it was very Roman-esque. It was closed, but different resturants and bars were operating out of it, so I walked around and enjoyed seeing all their activity. One gated doorway was slightly ajar, so I saw a bit of inside the ring. I definitely hope July has a bullfight, because for some strange reason, I think it would be awesome to watch!

After circling the bullring, I then took the main road to the center of the city, where I stopped in a popular ice cream store, and ordered myself a tasty combination of pineapple and chocolate ice cream. Yum yum! After munching the tasty cold treat, I headed home for an 8:45 dinner of pork with salad and tasty slices of bread. At 9:30 PM I got a call from my folks, where I was able to wish my dad a happy Father’s Day, and catch up on their life and mine. After enjoying an hour long conversation, I went to prepare myself for Monday morning, and write up on my blog! But, with the internet working slow, I was unable to both post my pictures and write up, so I only got my photobucket up and running. Que mala suerte!

Yesterday afternoon us Abroadco students went on a mission to locate the Bus station in Granada. We did find it after a lot of walking and exploring, but we didn´t get lost! The bus station was big enough that we could see it a road down, and venturing inside, we purchased tickets for Friday. The reason? This weekend we are going to Morocco! I am totally excited!

We will be leaving Friday afternoon to bus over to the city of Malaga, where Scott’s sister and her husband live, and it will be all of us Abroadco kids, one of Scott’s friends from class, Scott’s sister and a friend of theirs who’s been living several months in Morocco. We’ll ferry over Saturday morning, spend all of Saturday in Morocco as well as Sunday, and then bus back to Granada that Sunday evening! I am totally psyched, but of course, next week’s blog will cover all of that.

Today’s morning was class again, and always practicing lots of different things! I love class for all the interesting topics we cover, as well as the learning style helps me remember a lot more! Every day we learn something completely different, and more often than not, a question about something in everyday life, (example: the word Vale, which interprets to ‘ok’ or ‘right’ in English) will become a topic of class discussion. Always interesting! Tonight at 8 we are going with Inma to explore a bit in the Albacin quarter of Granada, and it should be as awesome as all the tours I´ve been on so far!

So with that being said, I’ll leave off here, until my next post of my adventurous outings!

Hasta luego!

Tasty Tapas, Arab Baths, and Ghost Stories!

Yikes, where have I been! It´s already Friday and not a post in sight! Ayiyiyi! This week has been kind of hectic when being able to publish up on the web, and my post for yesterday was cancelled due to the school´s internet shutting down! Ack! So I have a lot to cover, and much to tell! Let´s see...now where was I from last.. oh!

Tuesday, after publishing my blog entry, me and my two other Abroadco students met up with a classmate of mine, Robert and his girlfriend, who are studying here in Granada as well, but both hail from the not-so-sunny England! Tuesday night was the futbol (soccer) game, and of course at the sports bar we all met at was packed with Spain fans. We watched about half the futbol game, until the point where Spain had the lead on Russia, and cheered amongst the large gathering that had come out to root for Spain, and then we all ventured for tapas at the nearby tapas bar.

Tapas in Granada, which none of us Abroadco students had ever done yet, is when you buy a drink at bar, and with your drink comes a kind of small, free snack that comes with it. The first tapas bar we went to we had Spanish torillas and a meaty version of pizza, and the second one we went to had a large combination of noodles, french fries, and toasted bagels. Yum! We were out for about three or so hours just chatting about our different lives and such. (Example- in England, aluminum is pronounced differently than in the United States- different!)

After getting our dinner from the snacks, we all headed our seperate ways. We came home to learn that Sergio, the oldest son in our homestay family, had broke his thumb, hence why everyone had been gone that afternoon! His arm and hand are all bandaged up, and apparently our host mom had been in the hospital all day with him. Que mala suerte! So it was awesome that we went out for dinner ourselves, since Eloisa had all that going on Wednesday! Ow ow ow!

Wednesday morning was another day at school, where we are learning different tenses and how to use them in sentences. The teaching method is a bit different, and a little harder, but I actually feel I am learning more than in the United States! Every day I learn something I didn´t know in that class, so its always an interesting lecture!

After class, I headed home for lunch and a siesta for the afternoon, then explored more of Granada on my own. Because our next adventure planned wasn´t scheduled until 9:40 PM that evening... to visit the Arab Baths of Granada!

The best way to describe the Arab Baths would try to put you in my shoes. We met Inma at 9:40 PM at our rally point, Correos, and from there we walked a short distance down from the mail area to a not so busy part of the city. We made a few turns across cobblestone roads, and laughing at random jokes all the way there, we finally made our way to a sign that read Banos Arbes.. or, Arab Baths!

We walked inside the dimly lit area in the main waiting room, where Inma went to go speak with the receptionist as we lounged around the room:

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We then were informed by the receptionist to go inside the next rooms, change into our bathing suits, and make sure to take a number. We then headed inside the complex, changed, and entered the spa itself.

Cameras were no good in there, so I suggest, for some visuals, a quick search of ´Arab Baths´ might help to understand exactly what they look like. What I can describe was that it was a dimly lit underground room, complete with tiled floors and Arab decor, and everywhere candles lit up the large room. Different sauna pools were scattered throughout the room, and each of these pools were temperatured differently- caliente, (hot) mas caliente, (more hot) and a cold pool. (frio) The water was very enjoyable with the different temperatures, and the point was to simply hop into one and relax oneself for however long, and when it got too hot, a quick jaunt in the coldest pool would cure the heat.

I particularly enjoyed this trip for it´s other highlights, other than the pools- one room in the sauna had a small tea pot, where I once again got to enjoy some delightful Arabian mint tea-my favorite, and also from before we had been given numbers on a wrist tag. This number was for our massage, which I was very happy to receive for 15 minutes. A relaxing night at the spa, with some tea and a massage to boot! Que bueno!

The next day was yet another viaje in the afternoon after class, in which we got to explore a bit more of Granada´s history...and some legends. I had mentioned interest in phantasmas (ghosts) and so on top of getting a history tour, we did get some ghostly tales!

The first ghost story (this one is a bit creepy!) came down a road we walked not far from the main plaza of the city, where a nice looking, glass doored building sat. Apparently, this building in the late 1500s was infamous for rich Spanish woman to commit illegal abortions in the dead of the night. The story goes that every night you could see the women enter in, mostly sneaking in to avoid being caught, and having these illegal abortions, whereas the bodies of the unborn infants littered the rooms. Today it is said the spirits of these unborn children still haunt the place, and is regarded pretty scary by the locals. I didn´t see any evil spirits myself, but the happy little glass doored building. After the tale, we moved on past the Music Department, and ventured back to the old hospital.

With Stephanie here, not only did we get to explore more, we also got a bit of history- the hospital was one of the first to open in the late 1400s in Spain. To understand this, you must understand what it was like back in the days of old- Hospitals weren´t what they are today. Instead, it was believed by everyone in Europe that sickness was a sign God wanted it to happen. For example, if a peasant came down with the Black Plague, he wouldn´t be advised to go seek medical attention. Instead, he would be told to simply take it as it was, as God made everything happen, thus it was a sign He wanted it so.

However, despite this common belief, the rich would have none of that. Instead of lying back and suffering, they would pay lots of money to enjoy a trip to a hot spring or a fake instant cure to make themselves feel better. Thus, up until San Juan de Dios, nobody had thought to change this system.

Juan, as he was simply known before his title, was a man from Granada who simply would not stand by and watch the poor die in the streets. It didn´t agree with him that this was God´s work making people ill and simply fated to die. He then sold all of his wordly possesions and dedicated his life to helping the poor who were sick, as well as the rich- all that were sick were equal in treatment, not simply those who had money. He was given the title ´de Dios´in his lifetime for his movement, and Sainthood a half a century after his death. San Juan is important in that he changed what makes our hospitals what they are today- his example spread all over Europe, and soon hospitals for all of the sick were being established. Thus, in Granada started what becomes our modern hospitals.

After learning that interesting tale, we then walked down the long road named after the Saint, and soon then came upon the University´s front gardens, where a statues of Mary was center to the entire area. I took some snapshots of the garden itself and the surrounding area:

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We then walked up to the building where San Juan spent the last of his days, a hospital turned.. the University of Granada! This was also the main hub of the entire campus, complete with a huge library. We toured inside the old building, and observed different rooms and statues of the university, as well as being on the hunt for the mysterious ghost.. of San Juan!

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We walked around the different rooms and went to this one open area, which mysteriously I didn´t have any pictures of! The room was odd in the fact that there was a specific kind of tree planted around. Inma explained to us that these trees were commonly seen in front of graveyards, and with that information came an eerie silence. At one point I thought I saw something moving in a classroom, but at a closer inspection, there was no one there.... needless to say, maybe our ghost hunt had some success!

After touring the University grounds, we finally walked up to a large bridge that led into an early part of the Albacin. This old passageway had been under restoration, but looked a thing of the past when we walked up to it:

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And Inma then grabbed our attention to the right of the large Moorish passageway, to observe a large building with hundreds of windows:

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The legend of this building wasn´t spooky or sad, but sweet in its own way. The story goes that there was a man who was very in love with a woman, and they were seperated from each other. Because he loved her so, and was always looking out of a window to wait for her, he built 365 windows exactly, (the legend goes) so that each day he could wait for her by a new one. We tried counting them all.. but I´ll just believe there are that many windows!

From there, we ended our historic and ghost-a-rific tour! For the rest of this fin de semana, (weekend) we have Saturday to sleep in, and Sunday to go explore the Granada-famous Moorish castle, the Alahambra! So with that said, I´ll see you all next week, with a lot of pictures of one of the (unofficial) seven wonders of the world!

Adios, amigos!

Organized Wandering

Hello again! This blog will be a bit shorter than my previous post, so if you have been following along and haven’t seen the Sevilla entry, I highly recommend it! And for today, as always… I’ll start off with the previous day’s events~!

Yesterday afternoon for lunch we had a chicken and potato soup, with large pieces of potato wedged in it. As always, delicious! I particularly enjoyed the chicken bit, very tasty!
Had a quick siesta yesterday afternoon as usual, and spent a good hour yesterday fixing my blog post and uploading all those Sevilla pictures! In the computer lab I met up with Scott, and we decided after finishing our respective internet messages, to go off somewhere!

Of course, that somewhere turned into where and how. As we didn’t have any planned trips until Wednesday, it was up to us to figure out something to do. (There’s a lot to do in Granada, so it’s pretty much figuring out what to tackle the day of.)

We decided perhaps, a walk to the western side of town? We had never been there before, as our school and our homestays are all on the east side of town, and I really wanted to see where the bullring was, despite no bullfights going on in the rest of June. So with that settled, and our plan of action laid out on a map, we left the language center.

We walked down the main street near the center of the city, and as soon as we were about to cross an intersection, Scott recognized a girl from his Spanish class, and we met up and started to chat. Apparently, she was going to meet a girl from her school group, and two other students that were in her class. She asked us where we were going, and we said for some "organized wandering." She then invited us to join her group for churros at a restaurant, and we decided, heck, why not?

So we went with her to the restaurant, which was back at a plaza had crossed. Her name was Beth, and she was from a university group from Louisiana. (LCU I think?) We then walked over to a large open area with tables, and grabbed a table for six. The outdoor waiter stopped by and gave us two menus, and we read over it while we waited for the others.

The others then arrived, a girl from Beth’s school and two students from her class, who were from Hong Kong, and spoke very good English and Spanish. We then ordered some churros and talked about our respective time and trips we had had this week in Granada! We then got churros, since I was the only one who had ever had some- and as before, they were really good, and very popular with the whole group!

After getting some churros and talking for a bit, we then all split our separate ways- however, me and Scott came to the conclusion that going to the west side of Granada at that point would have taken us way too long. The two students from Hong Kong, Janice and Zack, asked if we would join them to go get a sim card for Zack’s phone. So, since had no plans, we said, sure!
We then walked down a couple of streets from the restaurant to shop at a cell phone store. (the LCU girls had gone shopping in the other direction) Zack and Janice got onto buying a sim card, while me and Scott just browsed and looked at all the phones. After they got the sim card, we were then at the same problem as before: Where should we go next?

We decided check out the cathedral and see if there were times to visit inside, as I really wanted to go back and look around more, and did Scott. Janice said she had been inside before, so I wanted to see exactly where to enter, as the main doors had only been open on Sunday. So all four of us walked over to the Cathedral area, and Janice showed us where we could enter inside to tour the church! I am particularly happy to know where, as I am planning sometime this week to stop in and check it out!

Afterwards, we got on the topic of teahouses, and neither of the Hong Kong students had been to one before. Scott remembered where the tea house we went to last week was, so we all decided to walk all the way down the main road to go and revisit it! I checked the map while walking, and realized that the tea house was a little into the Albacin, or the Arab-influenced quarter of Granada, so I was very excited to discover that- as I have been very much wanting to explore that area!

We then showed the two students where the teahouse was, and suggested they go there, which they were quite interested in returning to visit! We then walked around and talked some more, until it started pushing 8:30, and we all went our separate ways to our home stays.

I then went back home for a 9 PM dinner, and my roommate (who I had tried calling earlier, but she had turned her phone off) suggested that we go out and go visit a tea house, as she hadn’t gotten to one in Granada! Of course, having such a great time last week, I lead her over back to the tea house I had just visited not an hour ago. We both got to sit, chat, and enjoy some good tea after a long day, so that was a lot of fun! After the tea house, we came home near 10:15, as bedtime for us is 11 PM!

Today was class in the morning, and for lunch was a delicious noodles with spinach! Our home mom was out on an urgent call, so we both had a quiet lunch at home that had been already set out for us to eat. Later today, us Abroadco kids are going to meet up with some Europeans and watch tonight’s futbol (soccer) game of Spain versus Russia in the European Cup, and maybe go for some tapas too! It sounds to be a lot of fun, and I am very excited to go.

Until next time!

Daytrip to Sevilla!

Another day, another entry- this time of my first trip with the university, to the city of los toreadors and the famous Cathedral…Sevilla!

That morning, I had to wake up at 6:15 AM to prepare myself for the trip. Breakfast had been already set out complete with sandwiches for lunch, which was tasty French bread with some spiced meat. I left the house about 6:45 AM, as I was going to meet Scott at the mail office at 7 AM to walk together to the bus station. (Stephanie has gotten better, but didn’t want to push herself, so she opted out of the trip.)

At 7 AM, us Abroadco students met up, and off we went down the street. Much like New York, the city was still active even in the morning- taxis lumbering down the road for a new day, trash services cleaning off the streets, and several groups of young people ambling down the streets from a full night of hanging out at the local discotecas. We had to walk a large portion of two streets to make it to the bus area, which Jaime and Inma had led us to the day before. We knew we were in the right spot when several large groups of Americans showed up at the same spot. 7:27 AM the bus arrived, and all of us hopped on in a mass mob, and at exactly 7:45 AM we left the city of Granada… for the city of Sevilla.

The trip itself was about 3 hours from Granada, including stopping at a small roadside restaurant. The sights along the road to Sevilla were also spectacular- several smaller cities spread out against long rows of agriculture, always in the background of the magnificent Sierra Nevada. I dozed for about a quarter of the trip, as the professor from the University began to explain the day’s events, then conceded to grouse at the continually talking Americans in the back of the bus. Finally, three hours later, we arrived at the Archaeological Complex, Italica.. site of an ancient Roman city.

When we first entered the ruins, all around were different replicas of sculptures that had been found on location. Later on we learned the original sculptures were being held in a museum for preservation, but these replicas were just as interesting had they been originals on display. Two were placed in the front garden, and they looked liked they’d always been there:

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Next, a large pile of rubble and ruins lay straight in front of our mass of people, and the professor began to speak (solely in Spanish!) about the history of the ruins. It was a bit difficult to understand the large words he used, but what I did get was that this place had been a Roman amphitheatre and center of culture in the town:

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We then walked into the center of the amphitheatre.....

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then the labyrinth of dark tunnels inside...

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Our group then entered a small room structure, where we all gathered around and listened again to the professor speak:

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I couldn’t help but notice the words ‘Sala de Gladiatorias,’ and understand the significance. This room had been where gladiators, before performing, would wait for their turn in the ring. Along side the room held a plaque in Roman for the gladiators:

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I also took a picture of the translation next of it, in Spanish:

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We then left through the entrance, and my mind wandered to how it must have been like for gladiators to pass through this same doorway to their own battles.

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Next, we walked back through the gardens, several students snapping hasty photographs of more of the ruins, and out towards the larger, spread out ruins of mosaics and homes long gone. On the way there was a spectacular array of trees alongside the road, ruins hiding beneath their shade:

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The temperature was increasing all the while, cloudless skies illuminating the surrounding countryside-

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We then went inside the expansion of ruins, then we toured inside, and viewed original mosaics still intact, left over from when they gave the interior of the home’s floor a colorful flair:

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We viewed several different ones, the professor all the while explaining the different pictures and mosaics typical of the Romans:

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We clambered through the area, enjoying the different mosaics that honored different things: birds, animals, gods, war- different situations for different tastes.

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The homes themselves, according this sign, would have looked like this back in the day:

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We then walked down the road, heat ever increasing, to hop on the bus and ride to our next stop… Sevilla itself!

We drove through the city across a large bridge, that reminded me somewhat of San Francisco. We passed the famous Plaza de Toros, and several large buildings reminiscent of hundreds of years ago. Finally stopping, we boarded off and crossed a large road:

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Our group, ever led by the professor, sped over to the Alcazar, a famous Moorish palace in the heart of Sevilla. Entering inside, you would see large expansions of gardens all around, complete with castle architecture:

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Touring through the gardens, we then visited the main buildings, which hosted an impressive display of curving doorways and hand-carved decorations, complete with open airways, large doors, decorated ceilings, and simplistic centered fountains:

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We then walked to the later modified part of the building, in which when the Christians had taken over the Moorish palace, they added in their own pieces of architecture to the sprawling palace:

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After touring the Alcazar, we left through a huge archway, which led us straight to the next part of the tour... the Cathedral!

Unfortunately, the day we picked to go wasn’t the best one- a religious ceremony was taking place that very day, and no one was allowed to go inside the massive church. However, we were given 2 hours of free exploration to walk around and view the gothic styled building ourselves:

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Finally, we were given a half an hour to walk around the large Plaza de Espana, which was a large building centered in the city, and our professor explained several different films have been shot in this historic area:

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We walked past different mosaics of different cities in Spain, and both me and Scott posed by our favorite cities:

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And then, as fast as we had came, we all walked back onto the bus and slept 3 hours all the way back to Granada.

For Sunday, I enjoyed sleeping in the first time this week. Our host family went for the day to visit family, and me and Stephanie took the opportunity to go out for churros for breakfast. It took us a while to find a churro-operating café, but eventually our efforts were rewarded! We found one very close to the house, and dined well for only 5.20 euros split between us! Churros are fried dough sticks served with a hot chocolate dipping sauce, and were very tasty!

We then ventured into a Chinese-owned dollar store, where I successfully bought a convertor for my computer, so that I may type my blog entries before I upload them online. Hurrah! (And the convertor was only 1,20 Euros, so I got one for a good price!) Afterwards, my roommate and I stopped home, where she took a nap and I went walking for a bit.

I had hoped to go see a corrida de toros, or a bullfight; however a stop to the tourist office and a quick inquiry told me there wasn’t one being held this week: only during special events! I’m going to make a point of talking with Jaime and Inma to figure out when an upcoming bullfight will be, because I really, really want to see one! (Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, most of the students I’ve talked to don’t want to see one, but my host mom says it’s fine to go alone, so if I don’t find anyone to go with by the time one comes up, then off I shall go! :D)

After visiting the tourist office, I browsed through some tourist shops, as most of the regular stores were closed for Sunday. I then walked through my favorite part of town, the Cathedral square, and to my delight, the Cathedral was open! Traditional mass was taking place when I ventured inside, and only a few feet was allowed before the main part was gated off- as for tourists to watch, but not interrupt. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but it was a gorgeous interior! Huge sculptures and paintings all around the entire church, and it was definitely eye candy. I will definitely go back when it’s open for touring to see all the front of the church, but what I saw on Sunday was definitely worth the stop!

Afterwards, I walked more around the city, mostly near the neighborhood where my home stay is. About 2:30 PM I came home for lunch and a nice, long siesta after a very busy week. I then got to try out my new convertor, and enjoy typing a blog leisurely, not as the typical rush at the school! After writing, I went wandering around Granada for a bit, as I had nothing else planned for the day, and enjoyed seeing some familiar sights and roads I had been on the week before. All in all, Sunday was pretty relaxing!

Today was back to school as usual, and I had to update my blog late as usual, as uploading pictures online takes a very long time! For the afternoon, I haven’t got a plan yet what to do, but maybe converse with my roommate to go out for tapas or something, or go exploring in Granada... there´s so much to see here!

As a final note, make sure to stop over and check out my photobucket, as I took so many pictures of Sevilla, I did not post all of them here!

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note-they are not in order! My camera decided to mix them up....

Until next time!

The east side of Granada

Hello once again! I´d like to start off by saying many, many thank yous to everyone who is commenting and reading this journal. I love reading them, and the suggestions and advice are very helpful! Many thanks again!

Yesterday, after being chased off the computer right after posting my last entry, (apparently the school is having some tests that are taken online, and since this is the only place to use computers, all the facebook surfers are chased out of here.)

I met up with Scott, my Abroadco buddy, as yesterday Abroadco didn´t have anything planned for us to attend, so we decided to make our own afternoon trip. Scott´s host family had mentioned a discoteca that played dance, techno, and trance music, so he really wanted to locate it' and it was in a place we´d never been, so it was uno bueno idea. My roomate is still under the weather, so she couldn´t come with us exploring. So off we went!

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We walked for about little more than a half an hour from the school to the very eastern side of Granada, that is across a long, but not so wide river. It was pretty hot out as we walked along the busy streets.

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There were several large round-a-abouts, which I will definately have to remember to take a picture of, because they are enormous! We have several in Boca, but nothing on the size of these.

We passed a large park, which was called el Parque de los Ciencias. It was very large and spacious, with several buildings that I assume host a ton of different information on science. I marked that down to return to, as it is definately the mejor of the sciences of South Spain!

I couldn´t help but notice on our quest for the discoteca that, outside the city, (much like Laramie) the mountains are noticeably more visible. I got some great shots of these *huge* mountains:

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Magnificent!

After walking around the area for about an hour, (Scott´s family had marked a street down, but they were not sure where it was) we ventured into a grocery store. Scott recommended highly I purchase a chocolate spread for toast, and I decided to buy one:

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(I tried it this morning with my toast, and it was very good!)

After venturing the supermarket, we walked down a bit more of the main street to a huge superstore. Think Walmart, a grocery store, and a mall all together! Scott had been in one similar in Malaga, but I had never been, so we ventured inside for a bit and saw all the different things. One thing interesting I saw was large pigs legs, (hoof included) hanging in the meat section. Later on I found out it´s considered a delicacy in Spain. (For 70 plus Euros!) aa

After having ventured for 3 hours, me and Scott walked back to the main part of the city, where we parted ways for the night. Dinner was eggs and of a course a side of bread! I was a bit tired the night before, so right after dinner I headed to bed!

This morning got up at the same time, and went through my breakfast routine (with the tasty chocolate spread for my toast!) and off to class! I took some quick pictures of what my classroom looks like:

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(and my homework!)

After class, I met up with Scott and we ventured into the school bookstore, where we both bought notebooks for class with a university logo- so now I have something more than two pieces of computer paper to take notes on! After that venture I went for la comida, consisting of tasty sopa con pollo y pan! After lunch, I had my afternoon siesta and went exploring more of Granada, buying a university t'shirt to wear around. At 5:30 PM, Jaime and Inma met with me and Scott (Stephanie is still sick-but she is taking medicine a docotor in Granada prescribed her) and took us out for some ice cream! Que deliciosa!

But the main reason of today´s meeting was to show us the rally point for tommorrow´s trip...Seville! We leave Granada at 7:30 in the morning with a large group of students from el Centro de Lenguas Modernas on a tour bus, so I am definately going to bed early tonight. (Inma told me the bus ride will be three hours long, so maybe I will sleep on the way there.. though unlikely, since I´ll be too excited!) I am very excited to go, and of course, I will take lots of pictures during my trip este Sabado.

Well, time to hit the publish post button! Until next time!

Two days worth of info, and PHOTOS!

Hola, amigos! Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday, but it was a hectic day, so I wasn’t able to make time for a post. However, that just means more stuff to talk about in this update! (and of course, PHOTOS!)

I’ll start off from Tuesday afternoon! After my last blog post and declaring my knowledge of the way around the city- ironically, I got lost. For about an hour. Que dia! However, using my map and managing to wander on the right street, I was able to find my way home. My host mom was extremely nice about the whole ordeal, and told me it was very typical of students to get lost in their first days. So I didn’t feel too horrible about it!

For lunch, we had a delicious vegetable soup and with some smaller meat slices on the side, always with a little dish of bread. The bread is so good here! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat bread from the United States again, the difference is incredible!

Afterwards of my exciting adventures in getting lost, I took my daily siesta until about 4:45 PM. Then, me and my roommate headed for our planned meeting with Abroadco for a tour of Granada.

We met up with Scott, the other Abroadco student, in front of the post office, el correo, which is our ‘rally point’ for everything! (Trips, meetings, etc). We chatted as we waited for Inma to come and take us on the tour, always watching the very heavy traffic of Granada. Granada reminds me of a smaller version of New York City- maybe like San Francisco- it’s definitely a city, but it is a lot smaller than NYC. My host mom told me it was the smallest city in Andalucía, so it makes sense. But don’t be fooled, even for being small, there is a lot going on!

Inma then arrived, and the tour began. We first headed over to the ‘Theatre’ which was an outdoor theatre. It was originally built by the Romans, and refurbished by the Moors- as you may see below, it definitely reflected the Arabian time period!

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There was a show going on later tonight for all of the people to see, as it was a kind of city amphitheatre. The one thing I find really interesting about Spain is that, buildings may be centuries old, but if they work, they are still in use today!

(Walking down the road!)

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After visiting the outdoor theatre, my roommate Stephanie (who had been feeling ill earlier) asked if she could leave a bit early, as she felt very sick. She went back home to recuperate some more, which was sad that she missed out on the tour! (However, as soon as she feels back to normal, I’m going to take her on the tour myself! Can’t miss out on the excitement!)
After Stephanie went back to our house, we continued on our tour!

Next, we walked down an old Arab quarter- like a bazaar with items hung up everywhere, reflecting an extreme North African flavor. I found myself questioning whether I was in Spain or in Morocco! We walked down the narrow pathway through the shops, and saw all sorts of Arabian gifts and dress hanging up for sale. There were also some gypsies in the street that approached Inma with leafy branches, which she promptly responded with a ‘no’ when they tried to give them to her. She explained afterwards never to take their offerings- apparently, when you take the proffered items, they demand you give them money. If you don’t, they put a curse on you. Hmm…..

After walking down the Arab quarter, when then visited a Catherdal. Now, this isn’t your run of the mill Baptist Church. This place… was HUGE! Also of interest was this church is also the tomb of Isabella and Ferdinard, the King and Queen of Spain who paid Columbus to "discover" the new world. The funny thing was it has two sides as well- as it was worked on in both the Baroque and Reinassance period. It wasn´t finished, and today they are arguing whether or not to start again a 300 yeard overdue project. Who knows?

(Baroque side)

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(Reinassance side)

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As you can see from the photos and size comparison to people, this place was incredible! I was truly blown away, as I’ve never seen anything like it up close and personal. Inma told us that there were bigger churches in Seville, so I’m really looking forward to seeing those- I mean, insanity!

After the adventure to the huge Church, we then walked over to yet another large, old building that was the law school of Granada! It apparently had been built by the Romans as a palace, and of course, was converted into a school! We walked up a large staircase to discover a library full of students, who were studying for their own finals this week! The library was a new addition to the school, (new being around 1700s-1800s).

After visiting the law school, we then walked down the streets to visit a nearby hospital, which was once a Moorish palace. The definite influence was hard to miss in this old building:

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However, a Spanish flair was to be found in the many paintings that adorned the walls:

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And, the most recent repair of some tiles, was dated to be 1763, Que viejos los edificios! (How old are the buildings!)

It’s more of a recuperative center now than a hospital, but still in use today!

We then walked down a long calle (Spanish for road) to visit our last stop of the day, a huge park for all of the people, and specifically the students, to go and play sports. A lot of people were there when we went, and Inma said if we wanted to play sports, as students, we were more than welcome to participate in weekly sports as long as we had a student id! (Which, as a thought, I did receive one for the University of Granada before the tour. Here’s the picture: Soy un estudiante!)

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After the tour of the sports complex, we then walked back to the Post Office. From there, I decided to visit again all of the places we had visited today! I walked back to the bazaar and the Cathedral, and visited a local gift shop, where I bought my first cosa! (Spanish for thing)

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Que bonita!


After a bit more exploring, I headed home for a 9 o’clock dinner of ham sandwiches. I was very tired after all the excitement of my first day of class and my tour, so I promptly headed to bed.
And now, for yesterday’s events:


The morning started off with a wakeup at 7:30 AM, as usual! I get up and take a quick shower, and get ready for the day- about 8:15, I eat breakfast of some tea, toasted bread, and some cookies. This is what my everyday breakfast looks like:

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I’m growing fonder day by day of tea!

After breakfast, I leave the house at about 8:30 AM for my 9 o’clock class. It takes me about 23-25 minutes to walk all the way there, but it’s also because I take the longer, more linear route. (As a precaution, I’ve been lost already!) As the days grow on and I know my way around better, I will most likely try taking shortcuts. But for now, main roads only!

At 9 AM started my second day of class! Today we had a substitute, because my teacher, Susanna, had hurt her arm and was seeing a doctor. We went over different forms of grammar and verb conjugation, and answered different questions in Spanish for two hours. Afterwards, for the second 2 hours, our regular teacher returned and we went over pronunciation of different verbs, regulars and irregulars.

I’m really enjoying class, despite the long hours, as I learn something new everyday! Today’s learning of interest was El bote, which means if you are going out with friends and you all give your share of money to pay to one person, it is called ‘un bote!’

After class, I walked home for a 2:20 PM lunch. It consisted of rice with a cooked egg, with pasta sauce around the egg. As everything else I’ve eaten here, it was delicious! Afterwards, I took my afternoon siesta, where I finished reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I’m pretty sure it had deeper meaning, but it was okay by my standards. Much better than Old man and the Sea, for sure.

After the siesta, yesterday’s viaje (trip!) was to go to a Tea shop! My roommate is still under the weather, so she wasn’t able to participate- however, she has been to one before, so she wasn’t too disappointed! I met up with Inma and Scott once again, and off our adventure began.
We walked up the most central street and veered off into yet another Arabian quarter, and found a small Arabian themed tea shop. Inside, we ordered te calientes (hot tea!). Scott ordered a tea with mint, and I had the house special tea. It was AMAZING! The tea is made with real herbs, (I inspected the mini teapot to be sure) and that’s what makes it so delicious- I’m definitely planning a return trip!


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All music of Saudi Arabia, of course!

After visiting the tea house, Inma led us up to another road leading to the Sacromonte. The road was alongside the Alhambra, the huge castle that is the most famous of Granada, and offered an excellent view from our pathway to take some snapshots:

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The road’s name was Paseo de los triestes, or the walk of the ‘sad ones’. Inma explained that in Spain’s history, women were not allowed to visit graveyards- only men. There is a graveyard 30 minutes down the road near the Alhambra, and the men used to walk down there alone, leaving the women behind on the road. Since women were not allowed to mourn at the graves, they would mourn along the road- hence the name. The walk’s about 30 minutes to visit the graveyard, so I didn’t get a chance to visit, but I have definitely marked it down to remember!

Afterwards, Inma departed and we walked down the Sacromonte. We didn’t realize it was the Sacromonte until walking for about 30 minutes and asking Inma by cellphone if we were lost. What we didn’t understand was Sacromonte wasn’t a specific location, but all of the houses along the road that we were walking along. All of the houses were attached to the mountainside- they look like regular houses, but inside they are caves! Studying these houses on the walk back, we were able to see where the house began and where the rock attached ended! How interesting!

While walking back, I also experienced my first Machisimo. What this means is men in countries such as Spain, Greece, and Italy (older cities), the men have a ‘cultural’ way of expressing being Macho- they yell towards woman things such as ‘beautiful’ or ‘pretty’ or any word in an almost flirting sense- however, it’s only done to impress friends or companions, not to attract dates. I heard a ‘Guapas tu!’, and ignored it like the locals. It’s a cultural thing, I suppose!

After the viaje, me and Scott both headed our separate ways for home. Dinner was at 9PM, and I got to chat with my mom and dad at 9:30 local time, 3:30 PM EST. It was really great to hear their voices again! After talking, I worked on mi tarea (homework) and went to bed.
This morning was class as well, and later today I am planning to go with Scott to visit more of Granada, and hopefully go to a Discoteca! I am very excited to go, as if you say the word ‘discoteca’ to a Spaniard, they always get excited- it’s a big thing to do in Spain! It sounds much a hangout for young people and dancing, so I’m excited to get to meet new people- It should be fun!


Also, I have lots of more pictures from my days past. I have notes tagged to each ones, so if the photos weren’t mentioned in today’s journal, they will say what they are for your enjoyment! :) Here’s the link to find my entire album, browse at your leisure!

http://s284.photobucket.com/albums/ll32/natalia_en_espana/


Until my next entry, Hasta luego!