I have so many mixed feelings about this because I miss all the people I love at home.. along with my cats.. so I am ready to go back! haha BUT.. I absolutely love it here in Spain and my friends I have made here soooo I'm in no way ready to leave all at the same time. Ahhhh goodness.
I'm just trying to make the most of every single day and soak up as much as I possibly can :)
Sooo here we go!
When our program got back from Madrid I had 3 more classes.. and then our end of the level exam. Only 4 people from our class ended up passing... pheeew I was one of them! So that was nice to have over with.. and then we were on break!!
These were some of my friends in my class: left to right
Elita, Emma, me, Valentina, Kelsey, Holly
Semana Santa is a lot like what we consider Easter except they celebrate it here for an entire week with festivals and parades and all sorts of events all around town. I went to some of them and it was really cool to see their culture and faith displayed.
We were right by the TV cameras as you can see :)
The streets were packed with people celebrating Semana Santa.
We also don't have school so it serves as our Spring Break.
Brielle, Kelsey, Malissa, and I went to the Canary Islands for the first 5 days of Semana Santa... wait, what? haha yah I still can't believe it. The flight was actually really scary because it was entirely over ocean and the wind was bad so we had a lot of turbulence and then landing... oh my goodness.. we circled the island soo many times before we actually landed because the airport is right on the coastline.. it was nuts! Upon arrival we checked in to our awesome hotel! It was on top of a hill and kind of away from all of the tourism so that was nice. The hotel was all inclusive so we had awesome meals that were buffet style with all sorts of fruits, salad bar, pasta, pizza, Chinese, all kinds of food. It tasted no where near those types of foods that we have in America, but it was pretty darn close! The first day we layed out by the pool and read and just relaxed... it was great!!!
Ran down this path.. ocean side every morning :)
San Agustin Playa
It seems like I'm always on vacation.. but they are never relaxing ones because we are always rushing around trying to see everything and it's nuts but fun... so this was a nice change of pace.
Basically every day we spent time by the pool reading, going down the slide, and sitting in the hot tub.. stuffing our faces with free food and drink.. and doing activities that the hotel provided. The team of people who coordinate the activities are all around our age and it was really funny because they hardly ever have Americans come to their resort so they loved us and wanted us to hang out with them every night it was a blast. We played beach volleyball... it was us 4 girls vs 4 other people ... so they called the game "America vs The rest of the World" haha well, we won! ;) We also did aerobics in the pool and did yoga on the beach and played a bunch of really fun games that I can't begin to spell because they are from places like Holland and Germany. Most of the people at the resort were from those countries. Sooo there were kids screaming in other languages that I have never heard so that was pretty interesting. There was also entertainment at night such as shows and a club, we had a blast! Of course we played cards as well... and we stole a bunch of cheese cubes and crackers.. oh, and a salt shaker.. from the restaurant where we ate at every night. Haha I have no shame in it.. cus I mean we did pay for it after all... we just ignored the signs telling us no food allowed outside the restaurant and we maaaay have stuffed all of this (below) in my purse. Worth it! haha
Playing Africa and having a ball!
The weather was great.. we got tan.. and relaxed!! It was a great start to our Semana Santa Break :)
Gorgeous sunset on our last night.
Up next... Lagos, Portugal.
This is the most beautiful place I have ever witnessed.. the beaches and water were unreal. They were soooooo blue and the beaches are white and ah, it was just gorgeous!!
We had to leave Granada at 6am and then arrived in Sevilla 3 hours later to pick up more people who were also going on the trip with DiscoverGranada. Then... 3 more hours and we were there!!! It was a long bus ride but maaaan was it worth it! Our hotel we stayed at was RIGHT on the beach. It was so nice and the view... just flat out crazy.
After we arrived we went on a Sangria Sailboat Cruise. Awesome? Uhhh yes! We started out in a little boat for a tour around the cliffs. It was so much fun and our guides Benni and El were hilarious! I am so jealous of their job. The cliffs were beautiful and we saw a scuba diver! No whales or sharks tho :(
Our Granada crew! Anna Marie, Fatima, me, Malissa, Kelsey, Brielle, Genvieve
Me and El ...there was about to be a huuuuge wave haha
Scuba Steve!
View of Lagos
Our cruise!
WHY of course we did the Bernie!
Toba! ...does he not look just like Russell Brand??
Kelsey and I with our fav guides El and Benni!!
Malissa and I on da buuuus!
That night we went to eat at NahNahBah... which is one of the top 50 burger places in the WORLD. I'd have to agree, best burger I have ever eaten. I don't know if that's because I haven't eaten a real burger made of cow in what feels like forever or not.. but besides the point.. it was delicious!!
holy YUM.
Brielle, me, and Kels!
Chompin' on the Toucan Burger! sooo delish!
After eating DiscoverGranada took us to a club called StevieRays where we all got in for free and danced the night away with locals and other people from the trip..... SOOO much fun!!
The next day we started out by eating breakfast.. cereal! I never thought I would appreciate a little variety with cereal until being in Spain. ha After eating we drove out to Ponta da Piedade to check out the cliffs. See for yourself! :)
Reppin' for Central College :)
After climbing all over the cliffs and taking in the view we headed out to Meia Praia Beach for the day. We spent the entire day playing football, AMERICAN football for once! and beach volleyball and hanging out.. it was so much fun! Our guides were great! After being fried, dried, and layed to the side from being in the sun all day (the weather was perfect!) we went back to the hotel to shower and change and then....
We had a bus excursion to Cabo Sao Vicente aka End of the World to watch Sunset!!
HELLOOOOO AWESOME. Man, the sunset was the most incredible one I have or probly will ever see.
BENNI :)
EL :)
Dancing at the end of the world... ah!
The sunset!!
Once the sunset, we went out to eat at a restaurant called Casa Rosa which also had really great food. We met a couple guys there who were from South Carolina and they tagged along with us to the hang out spot for the night called Joe's Garage. Yet again, another fun night with friends!
For our last day in Lagos we spent the day on the Dona Ana beach next to our hotel on the Algarve Coast. It was a beautiful sunny day and a perfect way to end our trip. Honestly, I think this trip was my favorite so far to date. I had an absolute blast with my friends from Granada, our guides, and the new friends we made from Sevilla. In fact, I loved it in Lagos so much.... that I'm going back! With MOMMA!!! Two more weeks and she comes to Spain.. needless to say I am beyond excited!! :D
Brielle, Anna Marie, me, Kelsey, and Genvieve
Absolutely loving life.
The beach!! Byebye Lagos, Portugal.
Upon returning to Granada..... I was again having mixed emotions because I was so happy to be back "home" but I have noticed a couple things I'm struggling with. We have French host sisters who are 14 years old aaaaall of the time. They come and go every 4 or 5 days. They are always loud and immature.. it's just that time of life.. and then when they are here it means we share one bathroom for 8 people, 7 of them being girls. Needless to say, it's a pain. Annnd we had to start school up again. :( I shouldn't complain because basically it's like I'm on vacation with a side of school... but I'm getting a bit tired of only learning Spanish and having to speak it all the time. Our program director said that is normal sooo hopefully I'll get over that soon. ALSO I'm trying not to count down the days til this is over because I want to enjoy it while I'm here... because I will never ever be able to have an experience like this again in my life. I love my host parents a lot and I will certainly miss them a bunch!! Just one of the struggles I have recognized that has been going on with myself and others in the program at this point in the semester. ha
Life back at home sounds exciting!! I'm beyond bummed I missed Easter with my family because our holidays are always a blast and I love you guys so much! & I missed Grandma's buns! .....and Heather and Adam's little girl Grace is here!!! Cannot wait to meet her, she looks like a cutie-pie!! <3
Also... I'm SO PROUD of Ross as he signed with Oklahoma to wrestle. :) He's going to be far away from me in Pella but I know he is going to love it there and have a wonderful growing experience himself.
We're all growing up! ahhhh
Hope all is well with everyone... see you in ONE month!
Hasta Luego!!
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