Week 5 and most of 6 with a little side of strep and Ronda

Hola!

Sorry this post is a bit late, but its going to include all of last week through today :)

Last week I found my new game plan for Tuesday nights.  There´s a bar that teaches salsa and merangue on Tuesdays and I am determined to become a regular and get my moves down, get ready UConn!  Last week I also finally went to Hookah in Spain.  The place we went to gave us free hookah if we ordered drinks (not mad)

Sadly, I caught strep over the weekend so I spent a lot of time with my bed and movies on project free tv.  My senora, Carmen, has been gone for about two weeks because her brother passed.  But Pepe´s family (the adorable 4 year old that she babysits for) moved in with me.  They were so unbelieveably helpful when I was sick and in general.  His mom even made me a map of all the best tapas bars in Granada.  I was on antibiotics Friday - Sunday but was still able to go on the group´s day trip to a pueblo in Malaga, Ronda, on Sunday.

Ronda was absolutely GORGEOUS! If you haven´t, please check out my Ronda album on Facebook because I can´t describe the sights.  In addition to walking around to all the sights, we toured a toro plaza and cooridinating museum.  We will be going to a a real corrida de toros in Madrid on April 7th.

That brings me to the highlight of last week... I signed up for the Madrid Half Marathon!!! I´m going to be in the city with our group anyway, so I´m skipping some museums, running 13.1 miles, and then meeting the group at lunch and then la corrida (bull fight).  Another kid in the group is running with me and we´re currently peer pressuring two others to join as well.

Another highlight was that Sunday night my time (Sunday morning your time) I got to Skype my whole family, Sara, and Steve! They had invited Sara and Steve over to my house for waffles and some brownies since it was Steve´s birthday last Friday.  They were having a blast, I just wish I could´ve been there :p  Stave and Sara also Skyped me into the UConn women´s senior night earlier in the week :)

After a walk in Sacromonte with the group, I got bunelos (the donuts i´m obsessed with that are described in a previous post) and came home to wait for Carmen as she finally came home last night! :) With her was a suitcase of breads and meats from Leon (northern Spain).  That´s her hometown, and where´her brother´s funeral was.  It´s so nice to have her back.

Steve and I are still working out the details for when he´s here, but the good news is that it looks like we will defenitly be able to go to a Real Madrid game the weekend he flies in!

No school tomorrow as there´s a festival here in Granada, and then Friday I leave for Morocco! Get ready for that blog and gracias for reading, besos!

Week 4 and Carnival in Cadiz!

Hola!!

I'm writing this during my fifth week which blows my mind! This semester is flying and i'm realizing I will have to make multiple trips back to Europe in order to explore all the places I want to go :)

On Monday last week we received a tour of Albaicin which was an uphill hike and very tiring after getting back from Paris at 2 am that morning ( #studyabroadproblems ) but the views were totally worth it! We all received a small taste of Storm Nemo as there were some flakes falling at the top.
Pictures of Albaicin

The main priority of last week was planning Spring Break in March which so far has been a success because... RANGER STEVE IS COMING!  UConn's Spring Break is the week before mine so he is flying into Madrid that weekend, and we will spend the weekend there and hopefully go to a Real Madrid game.  Then we will be in Granada until Thursday.  While he's here i'll be taking him to the Alhambra, Albaicin, Sacromonte, and the Sierra Nevadas.  He'll also be joining our study abroad group for a Garcia Lorca tour and Flamenco.  Thursaday morning we'll be heading to Malaga from where we will leave for Italy!!! First Rome (and we'll be there for Palm Sunday) then Florence back to Madrid.  We have decide to couchsurf through Italy in order to save a ton of Euros.  We then have a day in Madrid and then we return to the States/Granada the following morning.  When I return to Granada that Thursday it will be the peak of Semano Santos in Granada which is a huge celebration for Easter here which lasts until Easter Sunday.

This past weekend I went to Carnival in Cadiz which is basically a Fat Tuesday celebration.  It was the weekend after Fat Tuesday (they celebrate the weekend before as well) but there were still TONS of people.  Everyone dresses up like Halloween and basically the whole city parties in the streets all day and night.  It was about a 4 hr ride each ride and we got there around 430 in the afternoon and left at 530 am... it was insane, so fun, and so worth it.  I was a Mardi Gras cat, check out the pictures on FaceBook!

Thanks for reading :)

Week 3 and a Weekend in Paris!

Last week flew by as a group of girls and I skipped classes Thursday to go to Madrid.  However, our entire study abroad group received a walking tour of Granada Barroca.  We learned the history tied to beautiful place we walk by everyday, different parts of campus through out the city, and the beautiful San Juan de Dios.  After the tour Gustavo took our whole group out for churros con chocolate... which I've learned I may be addicted to.

Now for Paris!
Getting to Paris via Ryanair made for a long but cheap travel day.  We got to Paris late only to find out that our "international" phones didn't work outside of Spain.  Thankfully the hotel that the other girls were staying at had wifi so I could contact my friend Tissem through Facebook to come pick me up :) Seeing Tissem was amazing! She was my suite mate last semester as she was studying abroad at UConn (she lives in Paris).  After we got dinner she brought me to my friend Katie's.  Katie is one of my best friends from UConn and she is doing UConn in Paris for the semester.  I met all the UConn in France kids that night and they were all super nice and fun.

After staying up catching up, getting and I got ourselves to the Eiffel Tower first thing Friday morning to beat the lines.  We went all the way to the top! The view was absolutely amazing and definitely set the bar for the weekend.  Then it was off the Notre Dame, Jardin de Palais Royal, the latin corner, and the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and other known classics.  The pictures of Notre Dame on Facebook do not do it justice.  Also, a service was taking place while we were in Notre Dame and it was amazing to sit in on that for a bit.  We went back to Katie's dorm to meet up with the rest of her group and go to the market (they don't have meal plans) and then we made dinner...and drank too much wine... which Tissem joined us for :)  Fun fact about all my dinners in France: I had a French Baguette at each one!

The next morning Katie and I did a walking tour of Montmartre which included Moulin Rough, Sacré Coeur, and lots of "speciality stores".  Their was a service going on it Sacré Coeur as well, and it had an incredible view from its steps.  On our way back to Katie's dorm we stopped to get some sweets. An assortment of dark chocolates and macarons, which Paris is famous for.  The macarons were incredible! I wish I had tried more flavors while I was there.  That night Katie and I met up with three other girls from UConn in Granada and we saw the city of lights at its finest.  We of course went to see the Eiffel Tower at night (which sparkles on the hour for 5 minutes!), we rode the Ferris Wheel, and then walked the famous street in between to the Arc de Triomphe to visit that at night as well.

My final day in Paris was my Teasouuup (Tissem) day! We went to her favorite suburb of Paris, Montparnasse.  There we went to the top of the sky scrapper, Tour Maine-Montparnasse.  From the top of that we could see all of the monuments including the Eiffel Tower.  The craziest part was that we were higher than the Eiffel Tower! After that adventure we got mussels from her favorite restaurant and crepes from her favorite crepeteria.  THEY WERE SO GOOD! Mine was nutella with banana and coconut and hers was nutella with almonds.

It was an amazing weekend!

Second Week and Malaga Weekend

Last week was my second full week here and my first full week of classes.  the classroom set up here is much different, and I definitely prefer our set up in the US.  Here, the teaches rotate to each class instead of the students.  So if you have two classes in a row you don't move in between.  The teaching style is all different, and once again I like the teaching style in the US more.  Here, they strait up lecture, with very little interaction or discussion with the students.  Its hard to stay focused with zero interaction, including things like power points.  But so far the classes are very easy so that's a plus.

During the week we went to a Flamenco show with Gustavo and the rest of the group in Sacromonte, which is located in mountains' old village of Granada.  the buildings there are built into caves giving the the inside of the flamenco bar a very cool look (see facebook!)  The dancers and guitar players were amazing and we each got a free sangria which was a plus.

This past weekend I went to Malaga with six other girls from UConn in Granada.  Malaga was  much warmer than already warm-for-febrero Granada as it is about an hour and a half south and located on the beautiful Costa del Mar.  I was able to wear shorts :)

There are so many things to see and do in Malaga and I definitely want to go back to do more.  When we arrived thursday night we simply explored the center of the city, including the city's gorgeous Cathedral, and two bars with live Flamenco music (see facebook for videos!).  The city was all lit up with festive lights because they had begun decorating for Carnavales (going to Cadiz carnivales in two weeekends!)  The next morning we  Alcazaba is an old castle that stretches over some of the highest points in Malaga giving us AMAZING views of the city's every angle. And best of all, we rewarded ourselves with some local beer on top.

Next, we walked to the beach and dipped our toes in the ocean (water was still to cold to swim) and we had lunch on the beach.  Next we visited a bull fighting stadium and the Picasso museum.  We couldn't get inside the stadium, but the museum was excellent.  We then went to a local restaurnt, Pimpi, recommended by my senora which is known for attracting celebrities and their house wines.  We then tapa and pastry hopped a bit.

The next day we went to Picasso's house and a huge market before heading back home.  Once home it was time meet everyone at the bars to watch the Real Madrid vs Granada game.  Granada won because Christiano scored on his own goal while trying to block a corner kick!  Then we went to the discoteca to celebrate our friends birthday.

The next morning (Sunday) a few of us went to the festival "San Cecillo" in Sacromonte.  The festival was at the very top of the mountains, so we got to see the famous view of Granada that's there.  The festival celebrates Granada's saint through food and live flamenco music and dance.  There were also some great venders including one where you could make your own trail mix.  I personally held out for the 4 euro chicken paella that was made fresh during the festival in a huge pan of a large fire.  It was a delicious way end to my weekend.

My original plan was to stay up and watch the Superbowl that night, but I crashed.  Beyonce killed it though! And I practically cried during the Destiny Child's reunion!!