Granada:
Granada is a very nice place. It has a ton of Muslim influence. I almost felt like i was walking through Morocco again. Anyhow the Alhambra is situated here. It is a very big palace. Very beautiful and around for many centuries. It has some killer gardens and what not. I went with my program group. I think our favorite part was the buffet at the hotel. That was delicious. We also got to see King Fernando and Queen Isabella's tombs. It was somewhat eerie to see their caskets and think I was 5 feet from 2 of Spain's most influential leaders. A handful of us decided to try out the nightlife of course. In granada is it customary to give a free tapa with a beer or drink. So we drank and dined well until 4am.
Midterms:
The next week was midterms. Probably one of the most stressful weeks of my college career. 2 exams, a couple papers, and a presentation. All in Spanish. The thing about studying here is not that its harder its just it takes longer. and for me, more brain power. I have to mentally ready myself for class so i can translate everything they're saying, and still I miss some important things. And when it comes to writing papers the usual page paper takes double the effort and time. I am doing fairly well. I realized that my reading and writing have increased tremendously. It is the Listening and talking that is still difficult. I know that is it going to take me a lot more practice to be fluent in this language but I am determined.
Sevilla weekend 1:
This was weekend was very relaxing. About 6 of us stayed in town and we just caught up from sleep after the terrible week. We decided to get a wine tasting in! We took a train down to Jerez and went to the famous bodega Tio Pepe. They make Sherry wines. It was really cool. We learned all about the processes and the differences between dry sherry and sweet sherry. And of course we were tried some in the end! It was fun and cheap. A great thing to do!
Barcelona:
Barcelona is one of my top 3 favorite places of my time in Europe. I went with boo and meghan and we just had a lot of fun. It is very very different from sevilla. It is just like a smaller city. It has a huge outdoor market. Rows and rows of fresh fruit or candies. It was crazy. They also had things like a twittering bird market..? My high light of the trip was going to see Gaudi's park and church. Gaudi is just this crazy architect who designed with zero straight lines. His park was like walking through something of Dr Suess. Except Gaudi came long before Suess did. We spent our time exploring the park and then had a nice picnic in it. We then went to see his famous church. this church design drove him mad. He locked himself up in his house for 20 years designing it all the way up to his death. It started constructed 100 years ago and is still not complete. I did not go inside, but I plan to with the parents! Our nightlife was also fun. We met up with a friend from barrington. His spanish was great, so we met his spanish friends and hung around with them. The 2nd night we went to the outskirts of barcelona to a country club castle like party. It was fun!
See Facebook for pictures..
Sevilla Weekend 2:
This weekend was very nice. Thursday was our thanksgiving dinner. It was fantastic. kinda. ha It was a nice dinner held by our program. It started off with an open bar, so we couldn't be upset. It was then time for dinner and we were all expecting some american foods! But of course we should not have because we did not get it. I am not really sure what we ate. Hence the picture below. But it brought a lot of laughs with friends....And then we started a new tradition of Bar hopping after. I guess someone saw my grammar teacher out. So really, it wasn't weird at all. Friday I went and saw New moon. The twilight saga sensation. Loved it. Yes there is a movie here with english movies. It is a nice break for us all. And last night was great! We took a metro out to the edge of sevilla and met with an Intercambio named Jose. He took us to a Sevillan house party. Parties in spain are very different than parties in the US. Mainly because they have snacks and food and tons of different drinks to share. It was a fun atmosphere and we all stayed up talking Spanish with these locals until 6 am. They said our Spanish was really good, and that made me feel confident.
Internet to slow to download pictures so see Facebook album
Now I had a 2 day week and then I leave for my last big trip of the semester! London and Dublin! It is 7 girls going and we are very excited! It will be a nice 6 day break. Then we return to review week and finals! Everything is flying by now, and I am starting to become sad. But I am enjoying everyday to its fullest! =) now it is time for homework!
Happy Holiday Season everyone!
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