Flower Power- La Alhambra

Generalife Jardines - La Alhambra

Hippies and La Alhambra

We finally got to see La Alhambra! As someone who has been dragged through museums and churches since I was little, I truly am appreciating the beauty of everything while here. La Alhambra is absolutely huge but each area, as well as the views of the city, were all different and unique. I always wonder what it would have been like back when it was bumpin and people inhabited this monstrosity. Was it a giant spa during the day and club at night? If only they were able to entertain me with those details...

Unfortunately these pictures do not to the architecture nor the architects justice. Thanks camera circa 2000

The architecture is so pristine and perfect; I cannot imagine the hard work it took to carve out every pattern into that clay so meticulously, whether it was upside down or sideways...

Oh and this was all without Adderall- hard to believe I know

And the gardens- ooohhhhh the gardens were spectacular! Also known as the Generalifes, are at the end of the tour and we were fortunate enough to arrive at sunset which made for a perfect ending to a wonderful day, and a perfect beginning to the weekend...

Don't worry there's another series of flower power - La Alhambra style coming your way. Yes I know you cannot wait either!

A huge event here is botellon, which is essentially an enormous pregame/tailgate for essentially the bars and discotecs to come. A little sketchy due to the fact that it takes place behind a shopping center and anyone is allowed to join in as long as you bring your own booze or have money to pay up. We had fun though and managed to cap off the night with schwarma...yet again...

The hippy culture here is contagious and it's definitely an awesome experience when you finally take the plunge; my plunge being, I bought a pair of these arab hippie pants where the inseam is below my knees- I'll try to take a picture of them soon. My friends and I also went to a Mujeres de Mediterraneo (Women of the Mediterranean) concert where we saw Chambao (think hippie pants, shaved head, and arabian music) perform. Now all I have to do is get something pierced, grows some dreds and I'll be part of the group! I've attached a Chambao music video so you can get a little taste of the fun... (click fun to watch)

Chambao!

Not much else is new - the heladeria's are going to close in about a week- time to eat as much ice cream as I can!!

Flower Power- Nerja

I think my mother instilled in me, a great deal of appreciation for flowers. The flowers here are spectacular! Fun fact: Frigiliana (the place where I took these pictures" is famous for their perfectly white houses and beautification. Here is a small preview with more to come!

Pictures from Nerja

Let's Go Take a Bath...

My friend Tyler and I ventured over to the Arab baths last weekend and it was TOTALLY worth it!

The arab baths go way back in Spain, and they look as though they have not changed since the time they were created. Unfortunately, I could not bring a camera with me.

After getting into my bathing suit and receiving my numbers for my massage, Tyler and I headed to the 8 baths the spa has to offer: 7 hot and 1 cold.

The room was dark and relatively open; it felt like a maze, trying to figure out which pool was the hottest. Once we found our favorite one we hung out and laughed hysterically; we felt like little kids in a library. I think we managed to ruin the ambiance since we were the only 2 people there not trying to have a rendezvous in the tub.

We were the first to get our massages and they were wonderful. It was a little odd at first since the masseuse deemed it necessary to give me a wedgie and then pull my suit down completely; oh well when in Spain...

Regardless, it was only 35 euro for a 30 minute massage and 1 1/2 hrs in the baths. This also included tea and showers; oh and the "ambiance". There's a two for one special coming up soon; I think I'll make my reservation now...

Onto Nerja!

Nerja!

My ability to keep up with my blog is getting a bit harder each day. I guess that's a good thing but I want to tell everyone about my adventures!

This past weekend we traveled to Nerja, a costal city filled with amazing beaches (unfortunately no cliffs) and the worlds best paella. We were most definitely on vacation, rather than an educational excursion, but I was not about to complain. Everyone in the city was from the UK or somewhere near it, and it was a bit refreshing knowing everyone around you was struggling with the languages as well; still there was no English channels to be found besides BBC (Home Alone was even in Spanish) so we all became huge fans of the Spanish Basketball and futbol team.

We also went to La Cueva de Nerja (a cave) which was absolutely amazing. The cave was the size of a small stadium and looked like a drip castle on the inside. Water is even still dripping from the rocks. Unfortunately it's another one of those things that a description will only go so far...

Nothing feels as good as being in the Mediterranean feels. I wish I could take a bit of it home to share with everyone! What I did happen to snag though was some of the amazing rocks from the beach. They are all perfectly smooth and round and nothing like I have ever seen in Long Island.

We went to a restaurant at the beach called El Ayo, which apparently belongs to a famous Spanish chef; the paella most certainly reflects his skills in the kitchen. The Spanish cook their shrimp whole and you basically have to open it like a lobster. Of course when I attempted to do this it exploded all over me. As Fatima said, I got a free souvenir from Nerja.

It's Fashion Week in NYC and although I wouldn't be there even if I was home, I'm dressing this week in honor of it. No I don't have the designer clothes to match those of the runway, however, I feel if you look good, you feel good!

On that note, I am attempting to make a promise to myself to ease up on the pastries. Carmen of course brought me ice cream in bed during my siesta. She's an angel and devil's advocate all at once. I think I'm really starting to bond with Carmen and Alejandra. Carmen helps me with my homework and shows me all of her old pictures, while Alejandra and I talk about Sex and the City and she shows me her belly dancing costumes and dances. They've made me feel so welcome in their home and I cannot wait to find the perfect way to repay them (aside from being a complete angel)

Not much else is new; I am going to be truly disappointed when this tan goes away. It'll be the last hope for the endless summer...

Maybe If We Walk WHILE Eating...

Meghan and I have come across a new form of working out, as well as a new incentive to workout. We now run to the Heladerias and Pastelerias (Ice Cream shops and Pastry shops) and take uphill walks around the city to work off the tasty treats. Now I am not certain as to whether or not the walking is fully negating all the sweets but I will be sure to let you know in about a week.

Alberto, Carmen's grandson is a frequent visitor to the house. He is 6 and loves Pokemon more than anything. Me being the Pokemon enthusiast when I was little, knew a great deal about them, so we now color and draw Charizard and Pikachu together. I think I have a new best friend. When I told him my brother would give him some pokemon cards when he visited, he nearly cried.

Tomorrow, Tyler, Meghan and I want to try the Moorish baths. I'll keep everyone updated on my findings!

New Goal:

Don't spend money...

GERANAMOOOOO

Try everything once...

So despite a serious lack of sleep on Friday night, my group rallied and headed to Salobreña, a beach on the Mediterranean. There is no sand, just tiny tiny little black rocks which gave a nice pedicure as well as a second degree burn on my feet. The beach was beautiful, and towards the later half of the day we walked over to a cliff that stood in the center of the entire beach. At its highest point (about 75 feet?) lots of kids were sitting up there tanning, hanging out and what not. All of a sudden, a boy jumps; Meaghan and I begin to scream, and all Tyler can say is "what a dumb shit". But suddenly, the idea settled in and we wondered if we could take the plunge as well. Obviously not ready to end our lives (we all agreed we had too much to lose) we found a small ledge on the cliff, about 20 ft. up. Once we saw someone else jump, and live long enough to swim to shore, we decided it was safe. One by one we dove into the Mediterranean and agreed we needed to keep trying to jump from higher points (ingenious - my mother is probably shaking her head at this point). Eventually we found our way to a 30 ft. jump and everyone begins jumping including some new Columbian friends. I was last to go and I almost peed my pants when I saw the drop. I began to quiver and tried to bail out. My flip flops were already in the water and so were my friends, screaming and encouraging me to hurry up; as well as Sarah who was trying to take a picture of me. All of a sudden I hear a ton of people screaming and cheering; I look out and there is a boat filled with about 20 people cheering me on to jump. Well now I cannot disappoint! I jump, screaming the whole way down and it was totally worth it. Always try something once, especially if someone has taken the plunge already...and they didn't die because of it.

A funny side story:

Our friend Blair invited some other kids to come to the beach with us, where their goal seemed to be "let's see how drunk we can get". If there was ever a human definition for dumb and hypocritical, its smoking and drinking massive beers on the beach, only to leave the cans there for someone else to pick up. We walked up with two of the said kids onto the cliff, and they thought it would be a great idea to be drunk and jump off one of the highest ledges on the cliff (one of the girls- we'll call her "V" said "you know normally, I'm terrified of heights, but for some reason not here". This should be a good enough indication of the BAC level and the events that were about to occur). As we watched from afar, V put her beer and cigarette down and climbed to the ledge; once again all Tyler could say was "what a dumb bitch". We proceeded to laugh, and contemplate what we would have to do, if her body never floated to the top of the water.

Anyway, V is ready to jump and then realizes her sunglasses are on her head. She takes them off, looks at them, then proceeds to put them back on her head as though they were invincible to the 50 ft cliff she was about to leap from. Thankfully, she survived (I can only imagine we would have gotten in trouble for not stopping her, and encouraging her to jump). When she emerged from the water, someone asked, "V, where are your sunglasses?" to which she replied in a southern accent "oh they must be in the mar (a stellar version of Spanglish)". I think it was one of those things you had to be there for in order to laugh; but we have never come across someone who was so carefree as to think it was an ingenious idea to cliff dive drunk with sunglasses. I guess if you're going to take the plunge, do it when the opportunity presents itself?

Por Mi Familia - Os Echo de Menos Todos Los

"Eyes are open, the day is new.

Nothing thats been still has to be true.

The choice is yours where you go from here,

embrace love and give up fear"

This week, on my spanish blog for one of my classes I have to explain, in my opinion what a journey is. I think I'm finally able to understand that although I'm homesick, it's time to take in Granada for all it's worth, and stop hiding in bed trying to find all my favorite American shows on TV ( which I cannot find any).

Finally taking your advice, family - Miss and love you

Come se dice "The Machine Ate my Card?"

Yes my nightmare became reality today when I attempted to withdraw money out of an atm. I put in my debit card and tried to withdraw money; sounds pretty standard yes?. Well it asked me for an 8 digit number which I didn't have (it's the Euro version of a pin number) and when I pressed cancel, the card wouldn't come out. Not only did I lose my card but I had to be the sketchy american who sat by the ATM until I could come in contact with someone who could speak English. When I freak out, the ability to speak Spanish isn' the first thing that comes to mind- then again, it doesn't really come to me when I'm relaxed, which explains why I am in a lower proficiency class than everyone else...

Anyway my Profe informed me that the machine sucks the cards in, in order to prevent someone from stealing them. That being said, the bank will also probably shred the card to further prevent someone making a false claim for it. Hmmm so a million miles away from home with 15 euro and the inability to speak the countries language. I think it's time to copyright this bad boy and make a movie. Perhaps Liam Neeson will come to the rescue? Better yet my dad since he claims he has all the same skills sans a machete.

In addition I almost just put face wash on my toothbrush. Time to get a grip

I attempted to go for a run today around the park and near my apartment; by the end I was quite exhausted and was certain I had run a lot. What I thought was a marathon turned out to be less than 2 miles. I am truly losing it in every sense of the word.

I completely forgot to mention (typical) yesterday how we walked around the city. We saw a beautiful monastery, the major church, and some other cool places that I can't seem to remember the name of. Or I simply don't know what their names on because I can't understand my teacher when he talks. Either way...

Here are some pictures from that tour- I loved everything I saw, just wish I could better describe them:

Picture 1: The University of Medicine. According to Fatima, if you can manage to make the patient's leg kick, you can get a medical degree.

Picture 2: The Monastery

Picture 3: Las Augustinas Church

Picture 4: Graffiti / my love for Nike Dunks

Oh and there are lots more pictures on my facebook! check them out if you can!

Things Are Looking Up

Picture 1: Meaghan, Myself, our 65 year old dancing machine, and another guy who was trying to get in on the action. He's just a wannabe

Picture 2: All the girls from the Bucknell group @ Granada 10

It turns out that Julia, the other exchange student is really helpful when I cannot speak to my host mother. Despite the fact that my host mother favors talking to her rather than me (rightfully so- I wouldn't want to talk to me either when I'm this incompetent), she helps me a great deal. Unfortunately she's only here for two weeks- what a tease.

I finally had the nerve to mention to my host mother that I cannot eat this much fried food. Last night we were served a chicken and potato tortilla which is like a fried pancake. When I didn't eat much of it she asked "no quieres? ( you don't like?) " in which I replied that my stomach was very sensitive to fried food. Hopefully she understood me, with my abilities you never know.

Last night was our first night out on the town as a group which was quite exciting! See pictures above! Although it was Tuesday we managed to make it fun. We first went to the bar Hannigan and Son which is owned by an Australian and his wife. When we arrived and they said "hello" all of our faces lit up like kids on Christmas morning. It was so weird having someone speak to us in English; we felt like we were home. Next we went to a discoteca (club) called Granada 10. We arrived at about 1:30 assuming the place would be packed and awesome, but to our surprised, when we walked in, there was only a handful of americans on the dance floor who were MUCH too drunk given the time of night. By 3:30 though (yes 3:30, when normal spanish students start their night) there was a ton of people and we had a great time. Meaghan managed to make the DJ fall in love with her and she and I had a wonderful dance party with a 65 year old man (don't worry he was the only man above 24 in the club). He simply just wanted to dance and we joined it. This was the first night I went to bed without being incredibly homesick.

The adjustment is still rough but once I get into a better routine and am able to sleep at an appropriate hour (I woke up at 12 in the after noon today - but it was the first time I got more than 4 hours of sleep), hopefully things will get easier.

I tried to run for the first time today! Woohoo. My efforts were slightly pathetic given I haven't run in weeks, but hopefully I was able to burn some of this fried food off. Surprisingly there are a decent amount of runners here. My one problem here is that I couldnt fit a lot of running clothes in my suitcase, so I'm going to have to recycle them before I wash them (I know so gross). This should be interesting...

Uh oh I hear the frying pan...got to go!

"Estar Gordo es Estar Feliz"

"To be Fat is to be Happy"

It astounds me that people in Spain are not heavier. Despite the fact that everyone walks (or drives a vespa), the food is unreal. Pastelerias (pastry and chocolate shops) are on every corner and tapas (small plates of food) are free with drinks. (Alcohol and free food?? Could it GET any better??) Last night my host mother served me 1. fried ham and cheese, sans bread 2. a spanish version of mozzarella sticks 3.french fries 4.and then some fruit and tomatoes. I just don't understand... I am in the process of finding a polite way to tell my mother my stomach can't handle all of that fried food (although my bowels were a little less blocked up after...TMI I know)

Today another girl moved into the house, Julia. She is from Italy but speaks some English. It turns out her sister went to Rutgers - WOOT WOOT. Today at the table she said to me "no podimos hablar en ingles" which means "we can't speak English". Awesome. So now there are 2 languages in the house which I cannot speak, AND this girl has a leg up in the competition. My host family is bound to like her more, simply because she can speak Spanish better. Julia tried to tell me I can speak really well, we all know I can speak Spanish as well as a two year old.

On that note, I took my spanish proficiency test today to see which spanish class I belong in. As per usual everyone did better than me and I'm in the intermediate class while everyone else is in the advanced. (This is what I get for using freetranslations.com for all those years). I think one boy may be in my class though; god I hope I'm not alone.

The jet lag and sleep issues are still...well issues. I sleep about 4 hours a night but I think that may be something I inherited (;) thanks Dad). A restless mind will never rest.

Also the city-wide rebajas (sale) has come to an end :( we got here 2 days before it ended, but I managed to snag a few nice things from Zara in time! Picture racks and racks of clothing for only 6 euros...

My group (Bucknell students) did a small bar hop the other night. Knowing what to order is still an issue for us; I tried to order a gin and tonic and the barista looked at me thinking (O jeeze not another American). But I did feel like I was home with a nice G &T. Needless to say we found other, more foreign-friendly bars. Trivia: did you know they don't tip here?? No one gets any extra money! Not taxi drivers or waitresses! Nadie!

Lastly, our group, along with Profe McKinney and Fatima, went to a teteria today. A teteria is a hookah bar where you can order all different kinds of flavored tobacco to smoke out of these huge hookah pipes; these teterias are very popular in the Arab district of the city. Of course I was wondering why our teacher and director were taking us to smoke, but I didn't ask questions. When we got there, sadly, they stayed professional and we had tea, fresh squeezed juice, and free crepes! No one can go hungry in this city if one enjoys alcohol or hookah.

I checked out the hotel my family wants to stay at; let me just say, if they're staying there, they had better make room for one more (or two if I continue to eat all this unbelievable food)

My short term goals for here are as follows:

-learn to speak spanish

-join a gym

-stay away from the pastry shops

I'll let you know if I accomplish them haha

Hasta Luego!

Another View of La Alhambra

La Alhambra from El Mirador de San Nicolas