Monkeys, Rain, and too many Cathedrals

Why hello there! It has been quite a while! Classes are going well but it's becoming hard to want to do homework since we don't really get what I'd consider homework. I can tell that my Spanish is improving though, which is great. I watched Spanish TV for the first time this weekend and I understood a lot of what I was watching! Yaye for me.

Anyway, the past few weeks have really flown by. I've had two weeks of classes since my trip to Paris and I don't even know where they went. We walked up to the Albayzin the Sunday after Paris and I noticed that some of the trees are starting to bud. Apparently it's unseasonably warm here in Granada and some places saw blooms in January.

A door on the way up to the Albayzin

This weekend was really fun. On Friday AIFS left Granada to go to Gibraltar, Sevilla, and Cordoba. Our first stop was Gibraltar. It's on the southern tip of Spain and on a clear day the African coast is visible from it. Gibraltar is actually part of the United Kingdom so they had their own form of the pound and the people spoke both Spanish and English. It was quite interesting actually because we found Reese's Peanut butter cups (they don't exist anywhere else in Spain) and they even had Yorkie bars - delicious chocolate bars from England. I bought a Cadbury egg - something that I thought I was going to have to miss this year and was very excited to find them in Gibraltar.

Anyway, like I said, on a clear day you can see Africa. However, this was no clear day. Within 5 minutes of getting off the bus and going through customs, were were all pretty much one big mess. We had to walk across an air strip with the rain coming down and the wind pushing us all over. It was a little fun, but I really didn't plan on getting soaked. Neither were our umbrellas since they failed to work and we ended up having to put them away because of the wind.

Walking across the airstrip toward the rock

After our lunch we hopped aboard mini buses to go up to the top of the rock. First we stopped at a spot that would be so beautiful in sunny weather. There's a light house and when you look out at the ocean you can normally see the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the coast of Spain, and the coast of Africa. However, all I saw was water and rain clouds.

I don't know how we didn't blow away!

Next we stopped at some really cool caves and were greeted by monkeys jumping on the mirrors of our buses. Apparently there are 300 monkeys living on the rock and somehow they got there from Africa.

Hanging out with the Monkey

We headed back to the bus to go to Sevilla. Our hotels were interesting. They had a kitchen to make food but not enough utensils, and no soap to wash the utensils. I'm not even sure if they were clean when we got there. But we got to go to a grocery store right across the street to get our dinners. Believe it or not, I had a grilled peanut-butter-banana sandwich and it was amazing. You should try it sometime. Very delicious. The next morning we saw a big dead bug outside the door of our neighbor which worried me a little. But other than that there weren't any problems

On Saturday we went on a tour of Sevilla. Once again, more rain. But we were lucky in that it didn't start until after our tour finished. I absolutely love Sevilla. It is probably my most favorite city so far on this trip. I had really wanted to study there instead of Granada, however I realized when I was there that it probably would have been too big for me. I just like how there's so much history in the city. With all of the rain we weren't able to explore as much as I would have liked to. A few of us had lunch at this nice restaurant. I ordered paella but it was nothing like homemade paella. During the afternoon I went on a run with two girls and we got soaked! AHHH. That night everyone stayed in .... oh rain rain rain...

The Cathedral in Sevilla

Sunday we packed up our stuff and headed to Cordoba. But oh wait! We weren't allowed to leave Sevilla because THERE WAS A MARATHON HAPPENING! The city had closed off exits. Oh if I had known about it I would have done Sevilla instead of Rome and all of AIFS could have watched me. We got out of the bus for about 45 minutes to cheer on the runners and it was so cool. Most people seemed to be having fun as they cheered and so many of the runners loved having us there. They were smiling, high-fiving, and even clapping at US as we were cheering and clapping for them (I didn't see too many spectators where we were at the 19km mark). It made me really excited to run Rome!

Runners in the marathon - they were happy to have us there cheering them on

We got to Cordoba and it was SUNNY!!! We had lunch and went on a tour of a mosque with a cathedral inside of it. I forgot to mention that in Sevilla we went on a tour of a cathedral. They're nice, but I have no idea how many of them I've seen on this trip. I'm ready for something different. We had two hours after the tour to explore the city. It was such a cute little city. We each got a delicious ice cream cone that hit the spot! MMmm.

We headed home to Granada at 5 and made it here by 8. Once again, it felt great to be back in a city that I know. Every day that goes by now I realize that Granada feels more like home to me. I'm no longer counting down the days till I return home, they're now the days I have left to enjoy Granada.

I just got back from a run that was absolutely amazing. I went on the same route that we went for the hike and even though I was running up a mountain for the first 35 minutes, it was a really great run! I was the only person going up the hill the entire time and it was just so peaceful and really amazing to be able to stand there on the mountain and look over all of the land. I felt so little up there but it was such a cool feeling to know that I ran up there. I think I'll do that run more often because even though I was gone for over an hour, it didn't feel like it at all. I wasn't ready to come back down.

And before I go, I have to mention how it's like 68 degrees here but if I hadn't checked out the temperature I probably would have walked outside with my winter jacket on. I'm so used to seeing everyone here bundled up for winter weather. If I were in VT and it was 68 I'd probably have capris on and just a light sweater if anything. How strange!

Anyway, I must go shower now. Hasta luego!!

Finally we have France!

I'm finally caught up and have uploaded my photos from France!

Last night I went to the movie theaters with a friend and we saw Juno. It was in Spanish so I didn't get to hear all of the little things in it, but I got the main idea of what was happening and was able to understand them a little bit. It was a good movie. Other than that, not much to update you on...

Granada's Cathedral

Yaye I've accomplished something this morning! I have uploaded the pictures from Segovia. After looking at them again it made me want to go back!

Since today is Friday I don't have classes. This morning we had a little tour of the Cathedral nearby in Granada and of the place where Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand are buried (we could actually see their caskets). For those who don't know their Spanish history, they were the ones that finally ended the Reconquista by taking over the City of Granada from the Moors in 1492. What else happened in 1492? Oh yeah, how about Columbus discovering America. And who gave him the financial means to do that? Why, it was Queen Isabella!

I enjoyed the tour for the fact that I got to learn about the history of Granada, as well as the huge building, the Cathedral, that I walk by quite often. The one thing that bothers me about going into Cathedrals though is how much colder it is inside of them than outside! I was freezing the entire time! It'll be good when summer comes, but we probably won't have any tours left to go on.



So yesterday was Valentines day and Thomas surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses! I got a call that I had a package at our main office and they were there! I really wasn't expecting to get flowers at all. He's such a good boyfriend! I don't know what I'd do without him. Thank you Tom!!

Thank you Tom!

Pictures from Toledo!!!

Well that took a while. Here's one photo album....more to probably come. This was from the first day of our trip to Madrid, where we stopped in Toledo for the afternoon.

It's Starting to Feel Like Home

So today I think I realized that this place is starting to feel like home. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and miss VT, but today, I was able to call Granada home. But it's strange, now that I've had a month of hot chocolate and toast with marmalade, I'm ready to have my toast with peanut butter again. The only problem is......where's the peanut butter?! I found some Peter Pan Creamy PB at el Corte Ingles but it would cost a lot for such a small jar. I think though.....I may end up giving in and buying it! AHHHH

I'm trying to upload my pictures onto Kodak right now but I think I've been working on them for an hour and it's not going anywhere. The internet here is so slow when I need it to work for me. Oh well!

I saw London, I saw France, now where are the Underpants?

Well it's been quite a while since I've updated this thing and so I figured that it was about time. A lot has happened in the last two weeks and luckily I've been keeping a journal to record things. That made it easy when I was gone to Madrid and Paris and didn't have internet access. But let's start back on January 30....

We left Granada in the morning and drove north for about 4 hours to a town called Toledo. It's a really nice city, and very old. We went there back in my junior year of high school so it was nice to see it again. We had a walking tour of the city where we were led to the Cathedral, a church, and a Synagogue. Our tour guide was a little old man who had led Hillary Clinton on a tour of Toledo back in the 90s. It's so funny how much I hear the Spaniards talk about her.

Lookout of Toledo

After the tour we got on a bus and drove around the city until we reached a lookout point with a fantastic view of the city.

We actually got to go to the same sword factory as high school for a short while. I wanted to get a bracelet like the one I had bought before, but they only had the expensive ones left - which cost over 100 Euros. I decided that I could do without it!

We headed to Madrid after that and arrived at the Hotel Principe Pio, near El Palacio Real. They fed us a great dinner and after it we decided to walk around the city a little. Everyone was so excited that they had a Starbucks in Madrid, but considering I had never had Starbucks before, it wasn't that exciting for me.

El Palacio Real, Madrid

The next morning we walked to the Palacio Real where we went on a tour. After, we headed to the Prado Museum which was nice. By the end though I was starving, and a few of us decided to go to Plaza Mayor for some lunch.

Plaza Mayor, Madrid

We ate at "El Museo de Jamón" which means 'Museum of Ham'. They have one on like every block when we were in Madrid, but there aren't any here in Granada. They actually have a Ben & Jerry's shop in the Plaza so we waited until 3 to get ourselves some ice cream!! MMmmm it was so good. With our tummies finally full we headed back in the direction we had come from (this time taking the metro) to go to the Reina Sofia Museum where Picasso is held. Not the man himself, but his art. Unfortunately his exhibit was closed. We walked around the museum until we couldn't walk anymore and headed back to the hotel for some rest. That night I went out to dinner with a bunch of girls that I hadn't hung out with yet and they were a lot of fun. They made a stop at McDonald's to get some McFlurries but I passed on that one. Nothing could compare to my Ben &Jerry's.

The next day we woke up bright and early to get on a bus for Segovia. We stopped at San Lorenzo...(I'm not sure if that's correct) which was a Monastery (again, I still don't know if I'm right). It was really cold and rainy that day so it made me not want to walk anywhere. The building was huge. We were there a few hours but only saw a small portion. I was excited to get back on the warm bus. Once on it we drove all the way to Segovia.

The Aqueduct in Segovia

It was such a cute little town! So different from the other places I had been to. There was an aqueduct in the city from when the Romans were there. We were fed a delicious lunch and had a little while to explore before we met for a tour of the city. We made our way slowly up to the Castle there that inspired Sleeping Beauty.

The Sleeping Beauty Castle in Segovia 

It was so amazing once we got there. You could look out and see fields for miles...well maybe not miles but all I could see was open land. I loved it!.

Looking out of the Castle

The view from the top of the tower

When I got to Madrid I got in touch with Kathlyn Russell, who is studying in Madrid. We went out to a restaurant that, when translated, means "The Laughing Bubble". It was interesting, and actually very good. All of the food was brought out on dishes that were shared with everyone at the table. We ordered a huge salad with delicious tuna on it, as well as these sausage-type things (I forget what they're called) that are cooked with French fries (very yummy sausage) and another dish that had peppers, some jamon serrado, green peppers, and eggs. It was all very yummy and pretty cheap for all of the food we ate. We made our way to Plaza Mayor where we had some Chocolate con Churros! It was my first time trying it and I'm actually not sure how I felt about it. The chocolate we were given to dip the churros in was very different than any chocolate that I've ever had. If it had been milk chocolate I would have finished the entire mug! I ate many churros and left with a quite full belly.

Chocolate con churros - muy delicioso

The next morning was our last morning in Madrid. My friend Sarah and I took a cab with two other girls to the airport and got on RyanAir, a cheap airline in Europe, to head to Paris. We arrived at night and were in the middle of nowhere. We had to take a bus for an hour to get into the city, where we were dropped off at a bus station to find our way to the hotel. We ended up traveling on the metro and eventually found our way to the Best Western. It was so difficult without a map and without being able to speak French. Luckily, like Madrid, most people there knew English so if we asked for help they were able to help us. Oh and a side note - the people in France were so friendly towards us, even though we were Americans. So that rumor - that they'd hate us - was completely wrong!

The Louvre, Paris

We woke up early the next morning, which was a Sunday, to head to the Louvre. On the first Sunday of every month you can get into all of the Museums for free. We got there when it opened. We looked around and finally found the Mona Lisa.

Since the other museum we wanted to go to had a huge line, we walked along the river to the Eiffel Tower. I must say that it wasn't as tall as I thought it would be, but it was definitely really cool to see.

Sarah and I had lunch there which was a hollowed-out baguette with a foot long hot dog inside. I wasn't in the mood for a hot dog but I just wanted to be able to say I that I had eaten one of them. It was just so neat! We walked around and eventually made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed to the top and all I could think about was Lance Armstrong and le Tour de France.

The street right near the Arc had so many big-name stores. We looked at them all and ended up going back another day to look at more of them. But that afternoon we headed to the hotel to rest and then went out for dinner. I had a salad with a ham and cheese omlette. I have to say that I loved all of the food I ate in Paris. They had so many chocolate shops! MMMmm. And their desserts looked amazing.

Delicious desserts in the gourmet food store

The first thing we did next day was go to the Eiffel Tower to climb it. The line for the elevator was really long. We decided we needed to the exercise, so we climbed up to about halfway before coming back down. Looking back I wish we had climbed all the way to the top, but half way was still cool enough. We took the metro to Notre Dame and went inside of it. I loved the area that it was situated in. We found a little restaurant and had our first French Crepe. I had a banana and Nutella one. MMMm Mmm!

Notre Dame, Paris

That night we walked around the city. It's really neat to see it all lit up at night. We found the Opera which was A HUGE building! It was really pretty too. We also found the Galleries Lafayette, which were three buildings near our hotel that had many stories tall and were full of stores to shop in. Except I couldn't shop in them because they were mostly designer stores. I felt so out of place there! That was where we were headed the next day.

They had a gourmet food store that I thought was absolutely amazing. I think I loved it because I work in a grocery store. Or that they were giving away free samples. I LOVE FREE SAMPLES! (especially chocolate samples which they had). We had lunch there and I got a HUGE salad, and I mean HUGE! It was so good. I got to have my first French cheese that came with it. Mmm Mmm. I think the food makes the vacation for me. When my tummy and taste buds are happy so am I.

Au revoir Paris!

We relaxed that night and watched the election news since CNN was one of the only English stations that we got and it was Super Tuesday. We woke up at 4:15 the next morning to get a taxi at 5, which dropped us off at the bus stop. Another hour bus ride later and we were back at the middle-of-nowhere airport. We arrived in Madrid around 10:30 and took the metro for 45 minutes before we got to the bus station. The next bus we could get on was at 3:30. It seemed like it was an eternity away but we waited and 3:30 finally came.

We didn't get to Granada until 9. It was so late. And we had no idea where the bus dropped us off. Luckily Spanish is a language I can actually speak so I asked a guy for directions. He told us the city bus we needed to get on and where to get off. We made it back to the hostel at 9:30 and that was one of the happiest moments in my life. I was so excited to see our street for the first time! I dropped my bags as soon as I got in and rushed to eat dinner.

The funniest thing about this trip was the language aspect. I knew before I left that I would start speaking Spanish instead of the little French I had taught myself. When I was super stressed the first night and didn't know where to go I kept speaking in Spanish. However, when I got back to Spain I kept saying merci every time I needed to say gracias. But now I'm back to normal!

The next day (Thursday) I had to wake up for an 8:30 class, since that was our first day of classes. It is now Tuesday, and I've had three full days of classes. I had a little difficulties in the beginning but now I have a new class schedule and only three of my classes will transfer. I'm taking Spanish Literature up to the 19th Century, Islamic culture in Spain (a sociology class), a required Grammar class, a required speaking and writing class, and then Art History. It'll be interesting.

Other than that, I haven't been doing too much. It's nice and relaxing now that I'm back here and am in a city that I'm used to. I had to do some laundry in the bathtub last night to get me through the rest of the week when I'll get the rest of my laundry back. I've been running again which is nice and found a new and better route along the river. I keep hearing about all of the snow VT is getting and can't believe that I'm missing all of it. Yep, I guess that's about it! So until next time, Adios!

PS. I'll have the links to the photos online soon...I'm just a little behind in things