This weekend things shaped up and the sun was out and hot again! :)
Since Semana Santa, we started up class once again and have been hitting it hard with Spanish grammar and conversation.. my Spanish is really great now so I'm very very happy about that. My teacher even called me a nerd "ser un empollón" soo I mean I'll take that as a compliment I guess since they know I work hard.
Service Learning is almost wrapped up.. I only have one more week of it so that is nuts! The lady I have been visiting in the hospital finally got to go home after spending 4 months there so I was so happy for her and her family.. she is such a wonderful woman and I'm going to miss chatting with her a lot! So the next time I go I will have a new patient to chat with.
Huerta has been great as well! I love dancing and interacting with the residents and Maria.. the director.. is the most wonderful woman! She seriously has to be an angel to do that job and to be so cheerful and helpful all of the time.. I really admire her and her courage. She has taken a bunch of pictures of us but I always forget my camera when I go so I'll try to remember next time so you can have some faces with these names :)
Anyway.. I've been in Granada! YES I did not travel for once haha It's been nice to just relax and enjoy Granada... it's so beautiful and I really really am enjoying myself here. I've been busy planning for momma's trip here and for summer things such as class.. jobs.. and then Central stuff.. back to reality. humm :( I'm really excited though because I got hired as an Admissions Ambassador at Central next year! I had a skype interview with 4 women who work in the office and apparently things went well :)
Basically my role is to give tours, eat lunch with the families, and work in the office doing things such as hand outs and fliers and such for prospective students; I'm so stoaked! I think I'll really like this job.. along with SOS and the job in the ER this summer :) ..and maybe Millpond but good golly that's a lot.
So besides class.. Kelsey's friends who are studying in Prauge came the first week we were back from Portugal. It was so fun to hang out with them and show them around Granada. They were a blast! We went for a tapas run which was fun because we don't always do that since we are here all the time.. so it was fun to go out in Granada again!
THEN the next week I got a great surprise during class on Friday! Elizabeth was here!!! ahhh
She is my best friend from Central and is studying in Wales.. she and 2 other gals and a guy also from Central came to visit us for the weekend and they surprised me during class! I think I may have shrieked and almost tripped over my own feet running down the stairs to see her. Basically we had the biggest hug ever and she started crying haha it was so great to see her! Needless to say the last hour of class I didn't have a clue what went on.
Kelsey, Chris, and I went to the park for a bit to hang out after class and then met up with the Central crew up in the Alhambra :)
Garcia Lorca in the spring time
This is the park I run in every day :)
ahhh!
Even the kitty was loving the sunshine
After that we got a tapas and then got ready for the evening because Kelsey and I had to go to Olive Oil tasting on Friday night. WHICH WAS AWESOME!!
There are so many ways to eat olive oil.. it's not just for cooking!
We went to this reeeeally cute little "hole in the wall" kind of place with half of our program and Jose where this older man and his daughter run an olive oil tasting place. We all sat down and he explained to us where the olive oil came from and how it was made and all sorts of interesting facts it was really neat to hear about! and while this was happening... his daughter was serving us. I literally think I ate 3 loaves of bread haha .... but seriously. We tried a bunch of different oils from all over Spain with bread, potatoes, avocado, cheese, tomato, lettuce (oh this was so good it was lemon flavor with basil ahh yum), and then to top it off at the end we had a chocolate ice cream drizzled in orange olive oil... I know what you're thinking.. but it was DELICIOUS. I advise everyone and anyone to try an olive oil tasting some time :)
The olive oil man :)
This orange mix was a ton of spicy veggies, yum!
Chocolate ice cream with orange drizzle. ohhmyyyumm
On Saturday I woke up and met Elizabeth bright and early to do some shopping! Granada has stores on stores on stores so we got down to business and get some really cute summer things :) Then we had lunch and met up with Brielle for a walk along the river which is gorgeous! There were a ton of weddings on Saturday so we saw all sorts of cute fancy people along the river. It was nice to relax and enjoy the sunshine in Granada and see all the beautiful sites again.
Alhambra with the Central kids :)
Chris, me, Justine, Regean, Elizabeth, Ricky, Blair, Patsy, and Emma
Tapas!
That night Kelsey, Brielle, Elizabeth, and I went out to eat at our favorite tapas bar Borraja and then went to the Mexican Restaurant because.. well who doesn't love Mexican food? Plus, Jose told us that they have the best margs in all of Spain.. and prolly the world.. which I would have to agree! Me Kels and Elizabeth all had a strawberry marg and ate tacos and chips and guac.. YUM! It will be weird to go back to the states where I can't just order a marg or a Tinto de Verano whenever I want. haha After eating we went and got churros con chocolate for freee! The owner must have thought we were cute or something cus he told us it was on the house and to enjoy our night, score! :)
Reunited with Elizabeth in Granada!
Strawberry Margs
El Camborio!
Night view of the Alhambra
Dancing with Liasor and Christine :)
Then we hiked up the Sacramonte to see the Alhambra at night.. so pretty! and then went to El Camborio to dance the night away! It was such a fun day and I had a blast with Elizabeth and my Granada girls :) We mesh so well! Elizabeth and the rest of the crew had to leave bright and early Sunday morning so I said my goodbyes with lots of hugs!
Sunday morning I had to get up early again to meet my Intercambio group to go hiking! We again hiked up the Sacramonte.. but a different part that I have ever seen.. I didn't even know it existed actually! It's always fun to hang out with Helena and great practice for my Spanish :)
Intercambio Group!
Griffen, Rob, me, Helena, and Gen
These flowers smelled sooo good! Kind of like lilacs.
Peaking between the branches is the town of Granada :))
Great day with our group in the Sacramonte!
On our way back home there were all sorts of parades and parties and dancing going on in the street. Not really sure why it was all happening buuuut there is always something going on in this city!
Mickey and Minnie were even there! haha
Monday after class Kelsey and I went to the park and layed out/kind of studied for our exam on Thursday haha and it was blazing hot! It was great! The park is so beautiful and there are so many people out and about now that the weather is nice. It's funny too because there are more and more tourists here everyday so the streets are full of French or German or Dutch and sometimes English.. and I have noticed myself thinking .."Goodness there are so many tourists here and they are so annoying not knowing where they are going and what they are doing.." When in fact I am kind of a tourist myself! That just goes to show that I feel at home here now :) Monday night we had a Flamenco Concert with our program at one of the theaters in the Alhambra. It was sooo sweet! It was intense and the dancers were amazing. There was a band that could sing like none other.. a woman dancer who could move her feet faster than the speed of sound.. and then three men dancers who were just incredibly talented. Flamenco slightly reminds me of Native American music.. but I suggest you youtube it or something cus it was really neat and the environment in the theatre was a blast! Of course, we were not allowed to take pictures but I have ones of my friends and me before the show started.
Las chicas @ Flamenco
Tuesday was a busy day! I had class from 9-1pm ...free breakfast at the CLM where we have class so that was fun! Fruit.. tea.. and hot chocolate! Then after class we went and talked with Veronica, she is back from the States!!! ahh it was so great to see her she is so spunky! Then we had our Granada Seminar class at 2:30pm because wine tasting was during it's regular time at 8pm ..then Kels and I went to the park for a bit.. and then we had to go to our Phonetics class at 7pm and then after that we had wine tasting!! We went to a cute little place that two men owned and we sat outside while they served us 4 different types of wine (3 red and 1 white) and of course tapas! It was such a fun time :))
CLM! This is the outside of where we study our lives away.. kind of.
and this is the inside!
Brielle, Anna Marie, Kelsey, me, Katie, and Veronica!
Love her so much!!
The three amigas:)
Nick and Zach lookin' snazzy for wine tasting.
One of the white wine samples.
TAPAS! This one was a fried garlic bread.. type thing. So yummy! Granada is great like that.. with every drink you get, you also get a free tapa. :)
One of the red wines we tried.. it tasted like a burnt log. Really.
Wednesday was a busy day too! Again we had class and the a meeting with Veronica about.. wrapping things up, Whaaaaat?? So So Strange to be saying that. She wrote us a long letter that she read out loud that was soooo touching. She cried about 4 times while reading it haha it was adorable. She loves us a lot and bought us all a rose saying that it symbolized 44 pieces of her heart leaving for the states in just a few short weeks. Ohhh man it was so precious and ..well it's going to be very hard to leave Veronica and Spain. I love it here!
Also... MOM is currently on a plane to SPAIN! soooo I cannot study worth a darn for my final exam tomorrow. We have all sorts of plans that I will blog about later :) Pray for safe travels for her and a great time for us when she is here! ahhhh :) :)
Adios!
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