So much to tell! Well, kind of, but really just a lot of pictures to show! On Saturday morning my roommate Meghan and I walked down our street to a little mom and pop café for churros. They were so good! The chocolate wasn’t overly sweet and the coffee balanced everything out. Also only 3 euros for everything! Gosh can’t get over these prices. After resting a bit we made our way to Plaza Nueva to meet up with everyone to tour the Alhambra. We split up into two walking tours. I really liked my tour guide, as he was eloquent but also very funny in a sarcastic way. The Alhambra itself is incredibly beautiful. Words and pictures do not compare to actually being there. The gardens were magical, the buildings vast, and everything was so amazing. Fun fact: it was almost considered one of the 7 wonders of the world but actually placed eighth. My camera died towards the end so I wasn’t able to capture the insides of the sultan’s room, but plan to return anyways. After a very long but great tour, I walked back down into town and got a chicken shwarma pita. It was so good that I now consider it my favorite food and am limiting myself to one a day until I get tired of it. The next day was Sunday and we all went to Nerja for the day, which is on the Costa del Sol. Only an hour bus ride away! We walked around the town center for a bit and it was beautifully sunny (super hot). We spent the rest of the day on the beach. I made sure to apply lots of sunscreen, don’t worry! Another fun fact: public drinking on the beach is not only legal but highly practiced. And beer is only 1 euro! Some of us rented paddleboards and kayaks for a bit and explored up the coast a ways. It was my first time and I would love to say that it was easy but it wasn’t…my balance definitely needs work. But it was so much fun! The water was so blue and clear that I could see to the bottom, as far out as I went, which was reassuring. We also saw a decently sized jellyfish. The Spanish call jellyfish “la medusa”. Today we took a tour of a church as well as the internment place of Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand. It was, of course, very beautiful and ornate. Lots of intricate detail and our amazing program manager, Noelia, was an awesome tour guide! After the tour, Meghan and I decided to head up to the cave museum in the outer hills of Granada. Correction: Meghan decided to go and convinced me to climb those hills but I was happy I went in the end. It was cool to see how people lived in the small places. Walking home we got caught in a rainstorm and ducked into a café to wait it out. I ordered a tinto de verano (wine + lemon soda) and the tapa was toast and hummus. So delicious!
Until next time!
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There is so much to tell that I’m not too sure where to start. I am now settled in Granada! I have been here for about three days and it is so incredibly different from back home. Right now I am living in a spacious apartment in the college neighborhood with four roommates. Two are from my program and we get along really well. We each have our own room and there are several balconies that look out over the city. We certainly lucked out. The first full day here we had an orientation to go over all of the details of school and living here. It was long and basically the overall message was that it is important to approach everything this year with a positive and open mind. That afternoon we had a four-hour placement test to determine what level of Spanish we are. It was incredibly difficult to take it after many months of not practicing the language. I placed in level 5, which is intermediate. I was pretty happy with the score because that meant I was eligible to take classes in Spanish, which I mean, is the point of coming to study in Spain. Currently I am enrolled in History of Spain, Culture of Islam, and Spanish Literature, as well as my mandatory grammar classes. I wanted to take History of Spanish Art but the class was full and I figure I can always take it next semester. After the test we went directly to a welcome party for all of us students to meet and mingle. Yes there were tapas! It really is an amazing tradition to be able to take part in. Basically Granada is the only city where when you go out and order a drink, they bring a small plate of food along with it. For college students, it is a great deal. The next day was a blur and I managed to finalize my classes, shop for some much needed room necessities, and get a SIM card for my phone. Everything is so cheap here! I paid 15 euros for 1.2 gb of data and unlimited texting in country. In the evening my roommates and a few friends went for some tapas before meeting some other students to go out and check out the Granada nightlife. We went to this bar where shots were 1 euro each and were numbered 1-180 based on their strength. Then we went to another nightclub that was having ladies night. It was so fun! Mainly because they were giving salsa lessons and everyone just dances by themselves and there is no pressure to have to go grind on someone or any ick like that. I left earlier than everyone (2 a.m.) and took a taxi home. This next morning I felt like complete crap even though I’d had almost nothing to drink. I think that the whole staying out late and drinking thing will be limited to once a week or every two weeks. Around 10:30 we all met up to take a tour of the Albaicin neighborhood, which is the oldest neighborhood in Granada. It was incredibly beautiful and full or Arab architecture and detailing. Towards the top was a vista point perfect for looking over the Alhambra. It was more beautiful than words can describe. I’ll definitely be back because there were so many tourists that it made it hard to take in the whole experience. Plus I hear it’s amazing in the fall! That’s about it so far. Saturday we tour the Alhambra itself and Sunday we go to the beach. Classes start next Thursday and I am thinking of taking a weekend to go travel somewhere soon. If anyone wants my address to send letters just shoot me a message! Also if you want a letter from Spain than let me know. Happy almost October!
“Oh La La!” Pretty much my reaction to everything I see here, but imagine it in a try-hard French accent. Yup that’s me! Saturday morning we woke up and decided to head to the farmer’s market for breakfast. Side note – I have lived in Napa for a long time and believed that we had an amazing food culture and new how to really do things, especially farmers markets. Nope. Lyon definitely takes the cake on that one. Throughout the city you can find markets on everyday of the week with the most amazing produce you have ever seen. Everything is also extremely cheap! Let me put it into perspective. For an entire plate of figs, you have to hand over two euros. These are not small plates by any means either. Anyways, after walking through and looking over everything, I settled on a tomato and goat cheese tart, as well as a chocolate croissant. Cue the drooling, as I am still thinking about them. So good! After, we walked along the river for a while and people watched (second favorite activity here, beat by eating). In the evening, we met up with some of Kasia’s friends to cook dinner together. On the menu was veggie stew with copious amounts of baguette, cheese, and wine. We pretty much rolled ourselves down the hill back to Kasia’s apartment afterwards. I ended up staying awake till almost two in the morning and felt confused until I remembered that jet lag is an actual thing. The next morning? You can probably guess…farmers market! This one was atop a giant hill that houses the most adorable neighborhood. The market itself was packed and never-ending. One thing that caught my eye was the many vendors roasting chickens. Holy moly the smell alone sent me into withdrawals of Thanksgiving and roaring fires and all that fall stuff. We decided to pass as it was only breakfast time and didn’t feel like lugging an entire chicken back to the apartment, but resigned ourselves to trying it some other time. I might come back simply for the roast chickens. I ended up with three croissants somehow: an almond, a chocolate, and a plain one. I added a latte and felt very satisfied with my last breakfast in France. We walked around the neighborhood for a bit after and explored. I’ve noticed that the people here seem content with just hanging out and enjoying their days. No one was rushing around and everyone seemed so happy. Back home I usually try to have things planned and fill up my days, which sometimes leaves me feeling stressed out. I decided to make it my goal to learn the art of doing nothing, or as the Italians call it, farniente (I think). The highlight of the day was visiting the Museum of Fine Arts. It was located right near Kasia’s apartment and luckily for us, had free entry all weekend! As we are college students trying to watch our budget, this made it more appealing. The art of course was beautiful and there was much to see. We saw sculptures from ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Islamic times. There were even mummified body parts! So cool. There was also a large collection of paintings from different periods and many different artists. I recognized the Degas and Monet ones, but everything else was pretty new to me. Towards the end to entertain ourselves, Kasia and I started making up names for the different paintings we saw, giving them new and hilarious meanings. I think we received a few funny looks as we were cracking up but it was too funny for us to care. Unfortunately after that my camera battery died and I had forgotten to pack my spare one, which was a bummer because we happened across the “World Skate-Cross Series”. Apparently a huge deal! There was a race, as well as a course with jumps and ramps which we got to watch the contestants navigate. It was so cool to see people racing around on rollerblades of all things. We headed back to the apartment when it finished because our feet were tired and resting seemed like an optimal idea. I fly to Granada tomorrow and am a bit nervous as I can only hope that it is as amazing as Lyon has been. I’m pretty sure it will be, but I’ll let you know!
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Amani P.Last fall I took off for a year abroad. Now I'm back in the states, trying to figure out this crazy thing we call life! Archives
February 2017
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