So I have had a pretty busy week/weekend in Granada. I have had a few inquiries about daily life here in Spain, so I will start with that before talking about my adventures (but when I think about it, every single day is an adventure!)
First, THE FOOD! It is all delicious! I keep forgetting to take any pictures of it, but there is always meat of some kind, soup, lots of fish, bread, etc. Our host mom makes something different almost every single day! I have no idea how she has that many recipes. But here are the basic food groups in Spain (if you ever visit you will discover them very quickly)
1. Bread 2. Olive Oil 3. Fish 4. Wine 5. Ham 6. Cheese 7. Ham 8. Ham 9. Cheese 10. Ham 11. Ham 12. Cheese 13. Ham 14. Cheese 15. Ham & Cheese
(Not to mention they have an endless number of delicious pastries that I just can't stop eating)
Second, you may not think so, but I actually do go to classes! SURPRISE! I'm taking La historia de España, La historia de arte en España, Literatura española, Cultura de paz, and one other course with our professor from UNH (I don't really know what to call that one) But so far they have all been pretty easy. Interesting, but easy...I guess they don't really cover as much content when you are trying to learn everything in a different language. I'm not complaining though because just living in Spain is enough of a learning experience. I also have an intercambio partner named Cristina. She is 25 and trying to learn English, so when we meet up she speaks only in English and I speak only in Spanish. It is actually really fun and I learn a lot this way!
As for daily activities, we usually walk into the center of the city hang out, grab a coffee, or sometimes shop. We also like to go lay in Federico García Lorca park because the weather is so nice. Every Thursday we play fútbol, and most days between classes we go the the same cafe. I love the walk into the city/to school. It is beautiful and always makes be appreciate how lucky I am to have an opportunity like this! Here are some photos of outside of my building to try and show you what my part of Granada is like:
This is outside of my apartment...note all of the clothes hanging out the window: that is exactly how half of my clean clothes ended up covered in bird poop -__-
This is right as you walk out the door of our apartment building. Across the street is a cute little cafe that Victoria and I like to go to. Where we live it is mostly apartments we have to walk a bit to get to the busy part of town.
Okay, so now that I have gotten all of that out of the way, let me tell you about the fabulous weekend I had in Granada!
On Saturday I went PARAGLIDING in the Sierra Nevadas...a once in a lifetime experience! If I had to describe it, it was like we were just blowing away with the wind! The only scary part: running off the side of a mountain with a man who didn't speak English and said "we just need to wait for the right amount of wind...oh wait..GO!" So much fun however! We did all kinds of tricks in the air which made it even better... here is a video of all of us who went...pretty cool.
So after that, we felt like we needed to relax a bit so we went to the Arab Baths in Granada. It was so relaxing and an amazing experience because they are just like they were thousands of years ago! They were the same thing as the Arab Baths in Ronda that we walked around as ruins! It was dimly light, Arab music was playing, and the sound of running water was everywhere. There was a cold pool, a hot pool, and a warm pool. When you were in the main pool (the warm one) there were literally columns surrounding you. There was a tea area and massage area as well. It was the first time in my life that I had ever been to anything like a spa and this was just 10 times more amazing because it was like I was living in history! I wish you all could have experienced it because I cannot possible do it justice by description and we were not allowed to take pictures. Later that day we went to a Granada fútbol game! It was so much fun because the crowd was so into it and cheered (or yelled) at every moment. I think I learned the majority of my Spanish swear words that day... unfortunately they lost to Valencia, but I am so glad I got to experience it! Here are a few photos of the stadium:
Yay Granada!
A great show of support to start off the game!
The field once it got dark!
So many people!
Oh! I almost forgot...the weekend before this one was Día de Andalucía (well Monday and Tuesday were) But for those days we didn't have class or anything so we spent it wandering around Granada. Victoria and I went to the Parque de las ciencias, saw an anarchist demonstration in the centro, and walked to the Albaicín at night to see the Alhambra! Más fotos para su entretenimiento:
The butterfly house in the science park!
lost in the labyrinth??
The cool water sculptures!
So many children everywhere since admission was free for Día de Andalucía. It was really cool that the whole park was outside.
Protests in Granada...with drumming, singing, and dancing
Protests outside of the city hall
Center of the city at night!
Statue dedicated to Los Reyes Catolicos
This is my walk to school...there was a film festival in Granada so it was turned into a red carpet...So much fun!
The Alhambra at night...
So I think that pretty much covers everything! This weekend I'm heading to Sevilla and Córdoba so I am sure I will have more to share with you all after that! Hasta luego.
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