Last weekend in Granaaaaaa

Wow - I cannot believe 5 months have passed and I am headed to Madrid tomorrow night! This weekend was really fun. I went to Pilar's apartment on Friday night and we just hung out. Saturday night we went to Mae West and stayed until 7 AM! Then we woke up at noon and headed to the beach in Malaga. We brought and umbrella and food with us (like real food - meat and spanish tortilla) which I guess is really common here in the summer. People brought tables and chairs with them and everything! The weather was beautiful and we stayed until around 7:00 PM when the sun started going down. Yesterday Cheryl asked me what I am going to miss the most about Spain...and I got to thinking about all of the things I love about this gorgeous place....

My Friends

What started as an intercambio with Pilar became a great friendship. I talk to her every day, and I love hanging out with all of her friends. She is one of my best friends, and I am going to miss her sooo much! I am really glad we got to travel together and I can't wait until she comes to Chicago!! After I met Pilar, the time started to fly here - I look back and it's like a blur - we have done soo much together in a very short period of time.

Even though I drifted from a lot of the American friends I made initially after I met Pilar, I am still glad to have met them and I look forward to seeing them at ISU and reminiscing about our time here.

The City

Granada is an absolutely amazing place. There is a famous quote by Francisco Alarcon that says, "Dale limosna, mujer, que no hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada." He said this to a girl that was being approached by a blind beggar. It means "Give him charity, girl, as there is nothing worse in life than being blind in Granada." The city is absolutely gorgeous. With the view of the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada...sometimes when I walk around, I still feel awestruck at the beauty. Granada is a big city, much bigger than what I was expecting...but the center is very small - you can get everywhere you need to go walking. There are a lot of pueblos (suburbs) of Granada where many people live with their families but come to the city to work. There is so much history here. With the Alhambra and Los Reyes Catolicos' bodies preserved in the Cathedral...every day I walk past a gorgeous fountain/statue of Christopher Columbus proposing his plan to Queen Isabel. The streets are so clean, the shopping's amazing, there's a beautiful green park nearby with palm trees and flowers...I am really going to miss the city.

The Food

I have tried more new food in the past 5 months than I have in my entire life! I lucked out with my host family and we have amazing food cooked for us every day! I love the Spanish tortilla, paella, sangria...all of the typical Spanish foods. I even like cured ham on rolls! Although I am not crazy about sea food, I have found a lot of types I like - salmon, dorada, shrimp...Granada's tapas are amazing especially because, unlike the rest of Spain, they are free when you order a drink!! They cost anywhere between 1 and 2 euros which is super cheap because the food is super good! My favorite places are La Bella y La Bestia, Riviera (where I tried fried octopus by the way), and POE. I love just walking around and stopping into different bars for tapas.

The Culture

Although it was hard to adjust to and still is hard to follow, the slow, relaxed pace of life here amazes me. When I walk through the streets, I pass TONS of people and I don't even feel like I am walking fast haha - people just stroll along, enjoying the city, the people they are with, and the weather. In stores and restaurants everything is much more relaxed. If you can't pay today, come back tomorrow. The customer is NOT always right haha. "No Ashley, I have no idea when your midterm is going to be and your final project is due sometime in the next few weeks..." haha - it was really hard for me to adjust to that when ISU has parents' weekend planned for 2015! I had to start leaving my house at the time we arranged to meet because otherwise I'd be waiting for a half an hour. The band goes on at 10:30 really means get here at 11:30! Ryan's flight out of Malaga left at 7 and the check in desk didn't open until 5. The offices didn't open until 6...haha so why did we get there at 4? I used to think I was last minute because I like arriving places right on time...ask Ryan he hates it - but now last minute has a whole new meaning. Also, the closeness of families...Pilar and Ange talk to their moms every day even though they are 25 and 26 years old. The family is very important here and everyone always knows what's going on with each other. The daily schedule is also really different. Lunch time is a time for family conversations and a big nice meal. We eat lunch around 3, take a siesta, and then most people eat dinner between 9 and 10 PM. If we go out at midnight, we are the first people in the bar!! Discos get busy around 3:30 AM and close at 6:30 AM. It took some getting used to, but now I wouldn't want it any other way!

Granada is the perfect place for me. The city is the perfect size, with lots of students and a great night life, and I love the Andalucian culture. I am so grateful to have had this opportunity. I have learned so much and changed a lot. I've been to so many places I never thought I would ever get the chance to see. I have made friends that I'll have forever and memories that I'll never forget.

London

HEY! So I went to London May 8 - 10. I was so sad to be missing Ryan's graduation and birthday!! It was such a great trip though - I went with Pilar, Ange and Susana (all Spanish girls) so being in London was crazyy! They were going, going, going all the time in Spanish way to fast for me to get it all, and I was their translator. Pilar is so good at English, but obviously when you are with Spanish speakers it's much easier to speak your native language. At times it was crazy because of the language thing and because the Spanish are ALWAYS LATE! And I was always ready to go and waiting on them to do their makeup (thanks guys im allergic) and change a million times and everything and I THOUGHT I WAS BAD! lol Being with 3 Spaniards was a lot different than when it is just Pilar and I. I love them all, but I'm just saying it made a lot of cultural things a lot more apparent. There was a bar in the hostel (it was hugeee!!) and so the first night we got there late and had a drink in the bar before it closed. In the morning we went on the free tour that the hostel offered (we chose Spanish lol) so I didn't really get the full effects of the jokes and everything because I was tired and sometimes it's hard to listen to all that historical stuff in English....so meanwhile I was taking all these amazing pictures =) After the tour (we saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the London Eye, etc.) we went to this great place for lunch that the guide suggested and I had fish and chips of course which I really really loved. Then we went on a boat cruise along the Thames River which was awesome because it took us past a bunch of stuff we had yet to see and we ended at the London Bridge and the Tower of London which was really really cool. By the time we got back to our hostel, it was 8:00 PM and the bar crawl with the hostel started at 7:30. Then everyone changed and everything and we somehow caught up with them around 9:00. It was a pretty good time, but we were all EXHAUSTED and could barely stand up haha - so we went home around 1:00 AM. The next day we headed to Camden town which is this cute little shopping center with a bunch of little shops. We walked along Oxford St. for a while which is the famous shopping street in London and bought some souvenirs. By the time we were finished, it was time to head back to the hostel to get our stuff and head to the airport! I really liked London, and I'm really glad I got to get a little taste of it. I definitely want to go back because it is such a big city and there was definitely a lot more to see!

Marbella y Dia de las Cruces!

Hey hey hey! So another great weekend has passed, and I can't believe I only have two left in Spain!! I am full of emotions right now - happy and sad at the same time!! It's madness!

Thursday night we went out to Mae West (my favorite discoteca that I am going to miss!!), and Friday afternoon Pilar and I left for Marbella. It was about a 2 hour drive, and before heading to her aunt's house, we went to Puerto Banus which was full of veryyyy rich tourists!! (Jimmy Choo, pink hummers - you know the works) and we walked around and took some cute pics =) We got to her aunt and uncle's house and oh my goodness!!! It was the most adorable place with her paintings decorating the walls (of mostly flowers =)), very modern appliances (a capucchino machine!!), and two of the nicest people I have met while I have been here!! They made us dinner - I TRIED RIBS! and showed us our cute room lined with BOOKS!! Pilar's aunt teaches high school Spanish so it was awesome to talk to her about studying language. We watched TV, played Spanish and English vocab games on Nintendo DS, and Pilar and I watched a movie before going to bed. On Saturday, Pilar and I went to a beautiful beach. It was really windy, but nevertheless packed with people!! Afterwards, we drove to La Cañada which was this hugeee shopping mall and walked around and ate a late lunch at an "American pizza" place (haha it was pretty good but not Beggar's) Then we headed back home and relaxed and had amazing lasagna for dinner made with bechamel which is this white sauce that I LOVE instead of red sauce. It was really late by the time we were finished so after watching TV for a little while, we went to bed. In the morning we had coffee of course and headed back to Granada for Dia de las Cruces!! This was soo fun! We took a bus into the Albaicin and met Ange and a bunch of Pilar's friends. We ordered food and drinks and talked at these outdoor parties that were stationed around crosses made entirely out of flowers!! I am going to research the celebration more actually because I have to write a paper on a festival and this was really interesting. I went home around 8 to get ready for classes Monday. Today is Cinco de Mayo so I'm going out with Americans for Mexican food =)