First Weekend and Then Some

Hola!

The first weekend in Granada was a lot more exhausting than I expected, but worth it!  Here, no one goes out until 1130/midnight and then you don't come back home until about 5 am.  I went out both Thursday and Saturday night.  On Thursday, a group of about 20 of us met at a bar called "Living" and then to "Chupiteria" followed by a club called Cambodia that sits in the mountains and has amazing views.

On Friday I was too tired to go out, but earlier in the day I met up with some friends to explore some more of the city.  We found side streets packed with great stores for souvenirs.

On Saturday, friends and I explored the park across from apartment where I was able to squeeze a run in earlier in the a day, Parque Garcia Lorca.  His house is also right near the park but I have not been able to take a tour of it yet.  We then continued to explore the city even more.  That night I met up with friends to tapa hop and then we met up with others at Granada10.  Due to it being our friends birthday weekend, our group got a free bottle of champagne for every 5 people in our group, we were seated as VIP, and ladies got in for free.

On Sunday I met up with two friends to explore Albayzin or "the old city".  it has amazing views but we had to be extremely careful as it is one of the Gypsy cities.  We were meeting our entire study abroad group later that evening at the Teatro Municipal Isabel to see a play.  To kill time in between, we bought what is now my new favorite food.  Banuelos  con chocolate.  They're mini donuts that are freshly friend in front of you topped with chocolate sauce that has a hint of Nutella... SO GOOD!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albayz%C3%ADn
http://www.granada.org/inet/wagenda.nsf/wwcetod/Teatro%20Municipal%20Isabel%20la%20Católica

Starting yesterday, I finally began planning and brainstorming trips!  My first one will be this weekend to Malaga :)

Day 3!

Today was my 3rd full day in Granada and I had SO MUCH FUN!!  After school and lunch with Carmen's neighbors (we eat there a lot and theres a Spanish daughter my age along with another girl from my exchange and one from University of Indiana) I met up with about 14 other kids from our group for churros y chocolate at Cafe Futbol.  So unbelievably delcious.  I want to go back to try some of their other desserts and drinks, and of course their paella (that's my favorite Spanish dish).  While we ate I got to get to know some kids who I have not been able to talk to yet which was great.  After, our intent was to walk through the "old village" but instead we happened upon Alhambra, which is a Spanish mosque a top a huge hill.  The views we saw from the top were breathtaking.  We were able to look over all of Granada and watch the sun set.  Before going back to our respective senoras for dinner we stopped at a bar for sangria (which spain is famous for!) and tapas.  It still blows my mind how cheap the drinks are in Spain and how you always receive free tapas (snacks) with your drinks.  Simply incredible :)

This is the Cafe Futbol
http://www.cafefutbol.com/

This is Alhambra
http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/

La Empieza

Hola Todos!

Today was my first full day in Granada.  It is breath taking! The city is surrounded by snow capped mountains but is then filled with palm trees making for some amazing views (pictures to come!) My Spanish has improved with the loss of jet lag thankfully.  My senora, Carmen, is a beautiful and badass 60 year old women with a sarcastic sense of humor which I love.  I've been making a lot of new friends from the group and can't wait to build stronger bonds.  Today after our first day of orientation, we all went out for an enormous and delicious lunch followed by shopping for shampoo and ect.  After dinner a few of us plan on finally chilling out and getting some drinks :) I'm so excited for what the next few months have in store!

Besos!!

Getting Excited!

Hola!

I'm currently still in the states but I can't wait to take off to Granada this Saturday! Please follow me on my blog here :)

Gracias!