Hola!
I spent a wonderful weekend in Granada, enjoying the best weather yet!
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I hung out with friends, took walks around the city, went shopping, and spent as much time as possible in the sun. I went out for tapas and to a few bars at night. I also spent time with Maria during lunch and helped her with her English homework. I'm very intrigued by her English workbooks-- some of the phrases it teaches are so awkward! Helping her makes me realize how confusing English is and I really give her credit for trying to learn it.
On Sunday, I ran by the river with two friends and when we reached the end of our path, we decided to cross over the highway to the mountains and hiked our way back. It was beautiful and so much fun figuring out how to get home! Then we had our senoras pack us lunches and we ate outside at a plaza where a lot of other people were eating. After lunch we went up to one of the most famous viewpoints in Granada (called San Nicholas) where we read our books and enjoyed the sun. There were tons of students hanging out there and some guys were performing circus-type acts so we all crowded around to watch them. It was a lot of fun! Three of our friends happened to be at the same place, so when the sun was about to set we walked with them to another viewpoint and had a beautiful view of the sunset. On our way home, we stopped at our favorite tapas bar (the boys had never been there but they loved it) and had two tapas before returning home for dinner. It was a great day!
During my first few days in Granada, our program director took us on a tour of the city and showed us important places we would need to know during our time here. One of the places he took us was a wine/oil shop really close to our school. He introduced us to the owner, Francisco, who was so friendly and told us that if we ever wanted to come back for a wine/oil tasting, he would be happy to host us. So, last night 6 of my friends and I went to Francisco's store and spent 2 1/2 hours there as he served us more food than any of us have ever eaten in one sitting (for only 10 euro per person)! We sampled 4 types of olive oils (my favorite was the one from Granada), 3 types of wine, bread, olive, tomato, and liver pastes, 3 types of cheese, ham, sausage, sardines in lemon olive oil (I actually liked them). It was delicious! We were all so full and couldn't imagine eating more when he brought out 2 plates of dessert that we had to try. There were chocolate and caramel covered almonds, both white and milk chocolate with almonds, a pastry with chocolate in the middle and sugar drizzled on top, and two other pastries. It was a really cool experience to learn about the different specialties of Granada and Spain that we couldn't have gotten from any restaurant. I will definitely go back and visit Francisco and hopefully spend another night learning about Spanish cuisine at his store.
On Thursday night I'm leaving for a 10 day trip to Italy-- Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome-- I'm so excited! I'm staying with two of my friends (Josh & Marc) in Florence and am excited to see Becky, Lauren, and Dre while I'm in Rome (and celebrate Lauren's 21st with her!). When I get back, my mom is meeting me in Madrid and flying back to Granada with me. It will be wonderful to see her and spend time with her in Granada and then we'll go to Madrid and Toledo the following weekend. I can't wait!
I hope you are all doing well & I love hearing from you :)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
My 5th Continent
Hi!
I hope everyone is doing well! Last weekend I went to Morocco on an organized trip with about 45 other students on my program. It was a great experience and cool to know that we were in Africa! We arrived Friday night and had dinner and hung out at the hotel. On Saturday, we walked around Tetuan and weaved in and out of the Meriendas (markets where they sell fruit, fish, nuts, etc). This was definitely not my favorite part of the trip because I saw live chickens in cages ready to have their heads chopped off to be sold. It was disgusting! Later, we had a typical Moroccan lunch at a cool restaurant which was delicious except for the fact that they served chicken. Needless to say, I didn't eat my chicken. I liked the cous-cous and the tea with cookies was great too! We also walked through the Jewish quarters of Tetuan where the 6 Jews on the trip took an exclusive Jew picture :) There was a walkway with 6 pointed arcs to represent the 6 points on the Star of David.
Later that day we traveled to Tangier where we had the opportunity to ride camels for a few minutes around a parking lot. It was definitely a little anti-climatic after my 30 minute camel ride in the Negev desert in Israel, so I didn't do it but enjoyed watching my friends squirm as they got on and off. We walked around the markets of Tangier and had time to buy souveniers, then returned to the hotel for dinner. It was my friend's 21st birthday on Sunday so we stayed up with her and celebrated in the hotel.
The next morning we woke up at 6 for breakfast and traveled to Chechaouene which was my favorite city. It was beautiful-- located right next to the mountains and was full of white buildings with blue doors that reminded me of pictures I've seen of Greece. We saw women washing their laundry outside near a river which was really cool. It made me really appreciate washing machines! We toured the city and then had some free time again and a lot of us bought scarves, one of the souveniers that Morocco is known for (mine is really pretty!). After another Moroccan lunch (not as good as the first day) we headed back to the bus for our long trip back to Granada.
The weekend was a great experience and I enjoyed observing Moroccan culture. We barely saw any women outside, and when we did, they were dressed in typical Muslim clothing. We also had to be careful about handling our purses and wallets because it is easy to get pickpocketed there.
I'm really glad I went on the organized trip because I definitely would have been lost if I would have tried to see the country with a few of my friends.
That's all for now! We had our first day of no rain in Granada yesterday which was wonderful and I sat on a bench in the sun for 10 minutes just enjoying the warmth. Time for class now-- I'll write again soon!
I hope everyone is doing well! Last weekend I went to Morocco on an organized trip with about 45 other students on my program. It was a great experience and cool to know that we were in Africa! We arrived Friday night and had dinner and hung out at the hotel. On Saturday, we walked around Tetuan and weaved in and out of the Meriendas (markets where they sell fruit, fish, nuts, etc). This was definitely not my favorite part of the trip because I saw live chickens in cages ready to have their heads chopped off to be sold. It was disgusting! Later, we had a typical Moroccan lunch at a cool restaurant which was delicious except for the fact that they served chicken. Needless to say, I didn't eat my chicken. I liked the cous-cous and the tea with cookies was great too! We also walked through the Jewish quarters of Tetuan where the 6 Jews on the trip took an exclusive Jew picture :) There was a walkway with 6 pointed arcs to represent the 6 points on the Star of David.
Later that day we traveled to Tangier where we had the opportunity to ride camels for a few minutes around a parking lot. It was definitely a little anti-climatic after my 30 minute camel ride in the Negev desert in Israel, so I didn't do it but enjoyed watching my friends squirm as they got on and off. We walked around the markets of Tangier and had time to buy souveniers, then returned to the hotel for dinner. It was my friend's 21st birthday on Sunday so we stayed up with her and celebrated in the hotel.
The next morning we woke up at 6 for breakfast and traveled to Chechaouene which was my favorite city. It was beautiful-- located right next to the mountains and was full of white buildings with blue doors that reminded me of pictures I've seen of Greece. We saw women washing their laundry outside near a river which was really cool. It made me really appreciate washing machines! We toured the city and then had some free time again and a lot of us bought scarves, one of the souveniers that Morocco is known for (mine is really pretty!). After another Moroccan lunch (not as good as the first day) we headed back to the bus for our long trip back to Granada.
The weekend was a great experience and I enjoyed observing Moroccan culture. We barely saw any women outside, and when we did, they were dressed in typical Muslim clothing. We also had to be careful about handling our purses and wallets because it is easy to get pickpocketed there.
I'm really glad I went on the organized trip because I definitely would have been lost if I would have tried to see the country with a few of my friends.
That's all for now! We had our first day of no rain in Granada yesterday which was wonderful and I sat on a bench in the sun for 10 minutes just enjoying the warmth. Time for class now-- I'll write again soon!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Lisboa, Portugal- First trip was a success!
Last weekend I went to Lisbon, Portugal with 3 of my friends and had a wonderful time! On Friday we toured all day even though it was pouring rain the entire time! Highlights include the Monastery and the Coach Museum. We enjoyed exploring the Monastery and noticing some of the elements of Renaissance art that we're learning about in Spanish Art History. The Coach Museum was really cool because it had tons of coaches that were used by royalty and they were so intricate and beautiful. That night we had a great seafood dinner (I had grilled Calamari!) and then went out to a bar called "The Docks" before returning to our hostel to go to bed.
The next day we woke up early to find that it was beautiful and sunny outside! We went to Sao Jorge's castle which was a lot of fun and then to a flea market on the street where they sold everything imaginable! They had cool pottery at one booth and already worn jeans and sweaters at one right next to it. It was a lot of fun! Then we took a train to Sintra, a wonderful fairtytale land with a gorgeous castle. We almost didn't make it because we didn't realize that we had to switch trains, but we eventually decided to get off the train when we realized it was about to move in the other direction! The King and Queen of Portugal used the castle in Sintra as their summer home and as we walked through the castle we had fun picturing them actually living there. The most interesting part was that the King and Queen had rooms on opposite sides of the castle and the guide told us that they wouldn't see eachother for 2 or 3 weeks at a time! I would definitely go back to Sintra-- we loved it.
That night we returned to Lisbon to find that it was pouring once again. After a 3 hour nap, we went out to the closest dinner place we could find. We all ordered salmon and are in agreement that it was the best salmon we've ever had! Lisbon is definitely the place to go for great seafood. After dinner we hung out in the hostel and made friends with the other people staying there. We spoke both English and Spanish with them which was fun because we were able to practice our Spanish outside of Granada!
Even though we endured a lot of rain, we had a great weekend and were proud that our first trip was a success!
The next day we woke up early to find that it was beautiful and sunny outside! We went to Sao Jorge's castle which was a lot of fun and then to a flea market on the street where they sold everything imaginable! They had cool pottery at one booth and already worn jeans and sweaters at one right next to it. It was a lot of fun! Then we took a train to Sintra, a wonderful fairtytale land with a gorgeous castle. We almost didn't make it because we didn't realize that we had to switch trains, but we eventually decided to get off the train when we realized it was about to move in the other direction! The King and Queen of Portugal used the castle in Sintra as their summer home and as we walked through the castle we had fun picturing them actually living there. The most interesting part was that the King and Queen had rooms on opposite sides of the castle and the guide told us that they wouldn't see eachother for 2 or 3 weeks at a time! I would definitely go back to Sintra-- we loved it.
That night we returned to Lisbon to find that it was pouring once again. After a 3 hour nap, we went out to the closest dinner place we could find. We all ordered salmon and are in agreement that it was the best salmon we've ever had! Lisbon is definitely the place to go for great seafood. After dinner we hung out in the hostel and made friends with the other people staying there. We spoke both English and Spanish with them which was fun because we were able to practice our Spanish outside of Granada!
Even though we endured a lot of rain, we had a great weekend and were proud that our first trip was a success!
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