The Rest of my 2011 in Pictures

I haven't posted in quite awhile, but I thought it'd be fun to throw together some pictures from the last couple months of 2011 as a little update.

Mom and Dad come to visit!

Dad, Mom, our friend Ruth, and me in Granada after seeing each other for the first time in months! It was such a happy moment and a wonderful beginning to a blissful week.

Dorothy, Ruth, Mom, Dad and me at lunch on our first full day in Granada.  We sat outside and drank sangría and ate tapas and bocadillos at a Spanish pace before our afternoon siesta. My parents were basically full-on Spanish by day three.

 

I turned 21 while my parents were here! Nothing could have been more wonderful for my birthday than getting to be with them, my housemates, and my friends together to celebrate it. Everyone sang happy birthday in English, then Spanish, then we all sang this Japanese song they sing at Benihana because it's a birthday tradition to go there in my family. I normally would've been hesitant to do so, but thanks in part to my mom's strong lemon drops I had no problem teaching everyone how to sing and clap along. Banzai!

 

This is Mom, Dad, and me at el Parque Retiro in Madrid. This was the end of their trip. It was so hard to say bye to them after getting to spend time with them all week. I'm so happy that they came here and will be forever thankful that we got to share this experience.

Our trip to The Netherlands to visit Tyler, Carter, and Alex

 

Tyler, Alex and Carter showed us around Utrecht, where they went to school last semester. It couldn't have been a cooler place! There were bikes everywhere, it was colorful, there were pedestrianized shopping streets, and it was overall very different from Spain and from home.

 

"When I walk into a church, I always get this instant....."

"Feeling of guilt?" -Carter 

 

"Whoa what's this flower on the back of this euro? Where's it from?"

"Oh it's Hawaii for SURE" -Carter

We passed by one Chinese buffet in Amsterdam, and Megan said "I think we should go to a place where you see Asian people eating inside so you know it's good," and instantly this place appeared. It was perfect

Amsterdam's Red Light District was a trip to see in real life! When we were walking through, Tyler and I walked past these blue-lit windows behind which are transgendered prostitutes. One of them saw us and called out "heyyyy, you want a little more?" and pulled up her skirt and proceeded to shake her junk at us through her underwear. We couldn't believe it! This guy walking behind us yelled "she's got a dick, that one!" 

 

Huge swans in the Red Light District

 

 Tyler, Carter, Megan and me out for our last night in Utrecht!

Italy

 Pasta with meatsauce in Rome - a dream realized! I wish my parents and Kirsten, my favorite pasta buddies, could've been there to appreciate it with me. Every single meal we ate in Italy, whether it was from a hole in the wall pizza place or a restaurant, was good. It was so much fun trying to think of everything that's Italian and putting it on our list of things to try at each next meal. Pizza, calzones, spaghetti, meatsauce, carbonara, pesto, ravioli, canolis, tiramisu, gelato, repeat! Apparently, to try meatballs you'd have to venture further south than we did.

Walking around the Colosseum at night! This is one of my favorite pictures and one of my favorite sights from our trip.

I was most looking forward to seeing the Pantheon in Rome! I remember sitting in Campbell Hall in Art History last year learning about it, thinking "I'm going to go there someday."

 There's the Pope performing his popely duties at St. Peter's Basilica, the largest cathedral in the world. The cathedral was spectacular. I think I'll have my gay wedding here someday. You're all invited.

"Do you think that when Michelangelo, right, was painting the Sixteenth Chapel, that he said, 'Hey, guys, you know, I did pretty good on the first 15 chapels,
but why don't you help me design this one?'"
"Okay, It's the Sistine Chapel, not the Sixteenth." -Brooke and Gary, The Breakup

 

Florence was beautiful and a lot smaller than Rome. Walking to the top of this mountain to watch the sunset was a highlight of our stay in Florence. Another highlight was going out with Lauren and Maddy in search of some nightlife, which lead us to an empty bar where we shared half a liter of red wine between the three of us. We're wild. We joke now about that quiet night in Florence being the wild night against which all others are compared. "I mean, we're not try'na get Florence crazy, but..."

 Florence at dusk

Venice was such a unique place. The buildings and the gondolas on the channels were so picturesque, just like I'd imagined it. We wandered and wandered without ever having to stop and wait for cars to pass--one of the things that makes a city without streets so neat.

 Venice by night

Lauren, Maddy and I decided to take a midnight train from Venice back to Rome to catch our flight the following morning instead of taking the expensive morning train. Thanks to some lagging and poor timing, we missed the train had to wait at the station in the freezing cold (literally, I believe it was about 0 degrees celsius) for the 3:11 am train. Everything was locked at the station, and the sweethearts at The Best Western wouldn't let us sit in their warm, empty lobby in the middle of the night. It's fine. When the train finally came and we found a heated cabin to sleep in, we were all excited and appreciative beyond words. The circumstances themselves were less than ideal, but a bit of misery among good friends wasn't all that bad. It was one of my favorite nights of the trip.

Back in Granada

A Christmas market in Granada

 

I'd been so anxious for them to turn the Christmas lights on in Granada, and they finally did in early-mid December! It's funny to me that they put them up in November, waited so long to turn them on, and then kept turning them on for about two weeks into January.

 

Joey came and visited me for Christmas! December passed by like just another month, but it really felt like the Christmas season when he got here on Christmas Eve. Christmas wouldn't have been much without family, but it ended up being awesome. It was so great to catch up with Joey, pick up where we left off, and enjoy some good quality brother time. That's what this very different, very special Christmas was all about.

 

I never, ever, ever thought I'd see the day that my family didn't spend Christmas morning together around the tree in our livingroom. It's funny how things turn out! This Christmas was of course very different, but like I said, it was special in its own way. Thanks to Joey coming and thanks to Skype, it felt like we really were all together. We'll never forget the year we spent Christmas riding a bus through Spain, cooking our own chicken, and Skyping Mom, Dad and Dustin when their Christmas morning was our Christmas evening. After spending this Thanksgiving and Christmas away from home, I'll appreciate next year's holidays with my family that much more.

 

Joey and me walking around the Alhambra. It was enjoyable to show him the real points of interest around Granada, but even moreso to show him my apartment, where I go to school, and what life is like here.  Now most of my family will know what I'm talking about when for the rest of my life I don't shut up about how much I loved my year in Granada.

 For New Year's Eve, Felix, Sara, Lauren, Maddy, Tressa, and her boyfriend who was visiting came over to hang out before we headed down to a plaza nearby to eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight (one for good luck in each month of the coming year) and to watch fireworks. It was a really fun group and I'm glad we were all in town to ring in 2012 together!

Halloween Sprit, Ireland, and Other Ramblings

I'm really liking getting used to Granada and the people around here more and more. It's starting to feel like some kind of home. I was looking at my empty living room this morning before I left my apartment, and I just thought "damn... when I have to leave this place, it's going to mess me up!"

My favorite things about October are Halloween traditions like decorating, carving pumpkins, and watching Halloween movies. I'd made peace with the fact that things were going to be different this October because Spain's not as big on Halloween as is the US, but in the end my housemates, some other exchange students, some Californians and I decided not to let October pass without some Halloween spirit. We threw a potluck party with Halloween-themed treats and decorations. It ended up being so much fun thanks to everyone showing up and bringing baked goodies, snacks, and of course candy!

Festive and delicious!

Happy [week before] Halloween!

The following week, some friends (Megan, Alicia, and Jenny) and I took a trip to Ireland since we had some days off that connected to the weekend! Megan and I went to Cork, Dublin and Galway.

Cork was a really cool city. We stayed the first night in Cork with Alicia, who was visiting her friend, Tessa. Tessa's studying abroad at University College Cork (UCC), so we got to see her campus and meet a few of her friends. Cork, just like the rest of the places in Ireland that we got to see, was beautiful. Our first glance of Irish daylight was the view through Tessa's window, which was this intensely green lawn against a stone church and gray skies. That day, Tessa took us to the English Market in Cork, which was like an indoor farmer's market. It was full of bakeries, fruit stands, and little eateries. The food all looked so good! They had a lot of food that you'd more likely see in the US than Spain, so the food selection was really comforting for a change. We all decided on sausage and potatoes with sweet chili sauce for lunch, which was a good decision! My mouth still waters just thinking about that first Irish meal. Later that day, we went on to try Irish soda bread and Irish coffee, we walked around downtown Cork, and then Megan and I hopped on our bus to Dublin.

The English Market in Cork

Sausage, potatoes, onions and chili sauce - more delicious than this photo would suggest

I was tired from traveling and not getting much sleep the night before, but the scenery on the bus ride to Dublin was too good to miss! The countryside was just so strikingly green and beautiful. In every direction was green like I'd never seen. To our right were green fields, some sprinkled with cows or cute little sheep grazing. To the left were some hills and trees, all in shades of vibrant green.

Hard to get a good picture from the bus, but still cute!

I can't paint an accurate general picture of this trip without rambling on a about how much greenery we saw. Wherever there was a crack in the ground or even a wet roof, there'd be grass, moss, or a little plant. Even the trees had plants growing up their trunks. I guess everything is so green because it rains so much on the Emerald Isle! I didn't know that it rained so often in Ireland, but it all makes sense now.

Trinity College - some of the greenest grass I've ever seen

Dublin was marvelous. It was such a fun, happy place. Megan and I went on a walking tour of the city and saw Dublin Castle, Trinity College, Christchurch Cathedral, St. Stephen's Green, Temple Bar, and sites along the River Liffey. Going on a tour was great, because it gave us the chance to hear about the history of the sites we were looking instead of walking around aimlessly. Also in Dublin, we explored the busy pedestrianized street called Grafton Street, which was really fun and busy. We went in some cool pubs including Ireland's oldest, the Brazen Head, where we got to listen to some live Irish folk music. We checked out St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was impressive. We went to the Guinness Storehouse/factory and saw how Guinness beer is made. The views from the lounge at the top of the factory, where they give you your pint of Guinness, were great.

We love Dublin!

Grafton Street

Very Dublin-ey

Near Four Courts at sundown

The highlight of the trip for me was the night before Halloween. Megan and I went out to this Halloween party put on by our Hostel. It was alright; this pub where they held the party was festively decorated, people were in costume, and there was a salsa band of sorts. After a little bit, Megan and I left in search of something a little more exciting. We went to this place called the Dragon, one of Dublin's biggest gay clubs. It was SO much fun. It was dark, colorful, and loud. They didn't play a single song we recognized, which was odd, but it was nonetheless a blast. Megan and I danced for awhile, talked to a few nice Dubliners, people watched, and then headed out after an hour or two. 

Gaydar (noun): that which fails me time and time again in Europe

On our way back to our hostel, we passed this place called the George that was playing Rihanna's S&M. I instantly thought "WOW,  and where have we been we this whole time?" We thought our night was over, but we wanted to take a peek inside so we asked some people in line if there was a cover charge. A group of people told us that it was ten euros to get in. They asked us why we were hesitant, and said that we needed to come in. On the topic of clubs and music, they said "yeah, the Dragon is shit... here, you'll hear Britney, you'll hear Gaga, you'll hear Katy...." and obviously that's all I needed to hear. The George had me at S&M, but after talking to these friendly Dubliners, Megan was in too. We waited with these people and talked, but the 'queue' was too long so they gave up on the line. Our new friends said they were going back to one of their houses to just have a little party and that we could probably come if we wanted. "Julian, the Americans are coming!" was all it took, and we were in! We all cabbed it back to Julian's house and talked, learned about Dublin and heard these people's stories while we had some drinks. These guys were so friendly to take us in for no reason! It was a really interesting group of guys and girls. Julian, the guy whose house it was, was a tarot card reader. His walls were adorned with a few vampire paintings if I saw them correctly. At one point, the lights in his house flickered as we were all sitting around the table. He then shared with us that he had a ghost named Fred. I didn't hear, but Megan said that she asked him "so, is he a friendly ghost, or...?" and he responded "mmm... he pretty much just fucks with the lights" HA! Megan and I were really lucky to run into such friendly and welcoming people and have a priceless experience like that in Dublin. Thinking back on that night'll always make me smile!

A night we'll never forget! I'm yelling "get in the picture, ahhhh!" because I set the timer.

Our last stop before we headed home was Galway. Galway itself was a pretty small city, but it was definitely worth the stop. From there we were able to take a bus tour out to the Cliffs of Moher. Some fun cliff facts: the Cliffs of Moher are the third tallest cliffs in Ireland, with their highest point reaching 702 ft above the Atlantic Ocean. They've put a lot of money into making these cliffs a tourist attraction, so for that reason they're Ireland's most popular cliffs to visit. The countryside, the cows, the llamas, the sheep, the houses, and the water that we passed in the bus along the way, as well as the sublime views from the cliffs, made the trip out there totally worth it. It reminded Megan and me a lot of the cliffs at campus point in Santa Barbara, but just a gigantic green version. Going out to the cliffs was an awesome excursion, and after that I felt ready to head back home to catch up on school and stop spending so much money. The dollar-to-euro exchange rate is already no fun, and on top of that everything in all three cities we visited in Ireland costed more than things do here in Granada.  Staying in hostels and not doing anything too expensive made it overall not too bad. The trip was beyond worth it! I'd love to go back to Dublin and maybe some new cities up north someday.

¿Cómo te llamas?

Megan and me on top of this little tower called "O'brien's Tower" at the cliffs

There's the little tower!

The Cliffs of Moher

In non-Irish news, things in Granada are good. I noticed about a week before my trip, in the same week that the freezing weather began to grace us with its presence, that my Spanish is getting better! I say things more easily and speak without having to pause as much to ask how to say certain words, which feels awesome. Just the other day, I talked to this Irish lady at the airport in Málaga. She'd been working for a few years as an English teacher in Madrid, and she was going back to Ireland. We were speaking Spanish before we knew where each other was from, but after she said she was from Ireland I said something to her in English. She said "oh, you've got an American accent. You must've had an American teacher." WHA! She thought I was Spanish?! I got really excited that she thought I was Spanish and said "oh my gosh!" and made a tiny little scene in all of my excitement, making it clear to bystanders that I was American. I couldn't pass for a Spanish person in front of a real Spanish person, but that still felt really cool! Of course, I still have a long way to go and I say plenty of stupid little things all the time. Por ejemplo, I was trying to ask my housemates a couple weeks ago if they'd ever carved pumpkins. One of them responded before I was done struggling through my question with "mate, I don't know what the fuck you're trying to say! It sounds like you're asking me if I've ever put my face in a pumpkin." Haha, that's one I'll probably always remember.

That's about it for now. Happy November!

Esto es vivir

Since I last updated, I've moved out of El Colegio Mayor Isabel la Católica (residence hall) and into my apartment. It was a little bittersweet moving out of the colegio mayor where the group of us UC students spent the first month during Intensive Language Program. I'm thankful that we all had that first month together as part of the ILP. Without that month of getting used to Granada and meeting friends in the same boat, I think it would've been a little difficult to adjust to this new setting. But instead, all of us got to slowly adjust to everything and laugh together about our mistakes and difficulties in adjusting to life here. Filling out the post-course evaluation after finishing my final exam, I couldn't say enough about the ILP! As bitter as it is having to move away from my new friends, I was excited to move into my apartment, be forced to speak more Spanish, start university classes, and get to know my new housemates.

Bye room!

The night before I moved into my apartment, my monitor, Ignacio, invited a group of us to his summer house at the beach in Almuñecar, about an hour and a half bus ride from Granada. I was a little hesitant because I had to get ready to move out the next day and blah, blah, blah--NOT the right attitude to have! Anyways, a group of four of us decided to grab a bus to Almuñecar after our final exams were over. That decision culminated in one of my favorite nights in Spain so far! I couldn't believe this house when we pulled up. It had four levels and a patio with a pool overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Madre mía. One of our monitor's friends said to us, "you're all really lucky to know Nacho. He's really generous, as you can see." I very much agree! We all hung out on the patio, swam, listened to music, sang, dance and talked late into the night. I loved speaking Spanish with all of them. The times we get to spend with Spanish people, when it's sink-or-swim in terms of speaking Spanish because we can't use English as a crutch, are so helpful! As I was swimming in this pool overlooking the sunset on the Mediterranean, I thought about the fact that I'm here to really learn how to speak Spanish, and it hit me how cool it is that having experiences like that is how you do do it! Studying abroad is the best invention ever.

Great, super-friendly group of people at our monitor's party!

The next morning, a few of us woke up before the sun to catch a bus back to Granada. The bus took a detour over a mountain which gave us awesome views. I don't know if I've ever seen a better sunrise. I took out my camera, and sure enough I hadn't brought a memory card. I feel like this whole 18-hour experience was like one of those times you see dinosaurs or aliens on a field trip and forget to bring your camera, know what I mean? There is, however, one picture online of that weekend (above)! I really don't like it of me because my eyes are closed, but it's great for the memories.

Later that day, I said goodbye to the residence hall and moved into my apartment. I felt a little homesick/colegio mayor-sick and out of place for about an hour, but my housemates were really friendly from the very beginning. It didn't take long before this place started feeling like home. I feel really lucky to have ended up with these three people. I live with a Spanish guy, a Swiss girl, and an English girl. They're all so intelligent and speak a handful of languages, and they're all great cooks! I like it that way--I think that living with people who are better than me in so many ways will teach me a lot. We're actually all really different from each other, but the dynamic is so much fun when we hang out. Come to think of it, that's how my house was last year too. It's funny to think of how different the six of us were, and I loved it.

After moving in to our respective apartments, everyone from the UC program got together for this farewell cocktail party. It was such a blast! They had all the h'ordeuvres we could eat, and all the beer and wine we wanted. We all stood around and chatted with each other and with our professors from the program. I had a nice conversation with our grammar professor. I told him that I put a phrase to use that he taught us in class: "esto es vivir," which means "this is living." After that, he said to me "no sabemos si hay otra vida. Entonces, hay que vivir esta vida muy fuerte," or "we don't know if there's another life, so we have to live this one really well." I feel like that philosophy fills the air here in Granada. I really liked the sound of that, and I think that's a great piece of advice.

Food from the Farewell Cocktail Party

Megan, Me, Kelsey, and Sara at the farewell party

Something about being here makes me want to do things I never thought I would. If someone tells me here that I need to try something, it's just so convincing and I need to oblige! Lately, I think of every new thing I do as a new acquired experience that I'll always get to keep! I can't turn many of those down. If you know me, you probably know that I've always had a groundless aversion to seafood. It's all in my mind, but something about the smell, the look, and the idea of seafood has always been unappetizing to me. At the party with my monitor, I tried arroz negro, which is a black-colored rice dish with shrimp and other seafood in it. It gets its black color from squid ink. Believe it or not, it tasted good! The following day, I tried caviar at our farewell cocktail party. It tasted like a familiar smell, which I think is the smell of fishing bait. Then the other day, I went out for tapas with my housemates and I bit off half of a little silver fried fish. I'm out of control. I like this brave new seafood-eating me! It probably sounds stupid, but I think the people who've known me for a long time would be proud, haha.

Tomorrow's the first day of week three of classes. I'm taking two Spanish literature classes, a linguistics class, and a class called Psychology of Learning. I can understand the majority of what my professors say, but some of it gets by me before I can write it down or process it. In a nutshell, it's going well and I'm keeping my head above water. I imagine that as my spanish skills improve, my classes will only become more manageable. So far, so good!

It's been fun meeting people in class! People are very approachable here. I like to strike up conversation with people, and it's usually only after one question from me that someone asks "¿de dónde eres? (where are you from?)" because of my accent, and there's usually a lot to talk about from there. I've made a few really nice friends in class. I met a girl named María in the hall because we were both a little lost, and she told me within a minute of meeting her that she loves to talk. Me too! She's been teaching me useful Spanish phrases during breaks between classes, ranging from the everyday to the vulgar.

Mierda. My lamp just fell off my desk and the bulb shattered everywhere.

In insignificant news, I've started watching Friends en Español. It's great because I usually know exactly what they're saying in English, so I can see how they've translated certain phrases into Spanish. Some of them don't quite translate, and they end up needing to say something with a different meaning. Just when I thought that watching hours and hours of friends earlier in life was a waste of time, all that Friends knowledge is helping me learn Spanish. It's all coming full circle!

Alright, I'm off to go do Sunday stuff: study and relax!

Cada vez más, me encanta Granada

Tomorrow marks four weeks since I left for Granada. At the same time as the four weeks have gone really fast, it feels like I’ve been here for so much longer. Like I said in an earlier post, it amazes me how many places and people I’ve come to know in such a short amount of time. It’s strange to think that as recent as four weeks ago, I didn’t know a single one of these people to whom I’ve come to feel really close.

A group of us hanging out in my room before heading out to El Camborio, a discoteca up in the hills of the Sacromonte with a view of the Alhambra!

The end of the coming week will mark the end of the “Intensive Language Program,” which means that the other UC kids and I will have our final exams in the classes we’ve been taking, we’ll be moving out into our respective pisos, and we’ll be starting real university classes next week. I have mixed emotions about all of this! Each week of this month was better than the previous, and I’ve come to feel so comfortable here. Going to class, eating every meal, and spending the weekends with these other students has made me feel more and more attached to everyone. It’s been so much fun having these friends just a door or two away! As much as I’ll miss that, it’s pretty cool that we’ll all have friends throughout the city when we move out. This month flew by, but I guess now’s the time to take the next step and further immerse ourselves into la vida española.

While there’ll be a lot to miss about this month, I’m ecstatic about the apartment that I get to move into! Until about a week ago, everyone in our program had been running around town looking at piso after piso. There are flyers with phone numbers posted virtually everywhere you look throughout the city that say “busco compañer@ de piso…” looking for students to share apartments with. Shared apartments here generally come furnished, rooms aren’t shared, and rent is considerably cheaper than it is in most of the UC towns that we all hail from. Anyways, I think the piso hunting is over for most, if not all, people in the program.

There’s a street in this city that I liked from the beginning, and there’s one part of it in particular that I really like. One day, when our group was on a guided tour of one part of the city, I was struck by this really pleasant area and asked my monitor if it was a good area in terms of practicality, safety, proximity to things, etc. He said that it was a good area to live, but that pisos in the area tended to be expensive. A few days later, after I had looked at some places that would have been okay (though a little dark and smelly) my monitor sent me a message on Facebook saying that he found a place really close to where I’d mentioned I liked, and that he set up an appointment to see the place. I went and saw it, and it blew everything else I’d seen out of the water! If I wanted the place, I had to decide fast so the real estate agent wouldn’t show it to someone else. Excited and flustered, I paced around what would be my room unsure of what to do… my monitor said to me in English “Luc, just fucking get it!” and continued to tell me in the elevator on the way down how dumb I’d be if I didn’t jump on it. Anyways, I paid the real estate agent the next day, and now I get to live in one of the coolest pisos I’ve ever seen! I put down a deposit and paid the first month’s rent, so I’m stuck there until July… will that even be enough time?! I’ve met and been able to talk a little with each of my piso-mates, and they all seem like they’re going to be really fun people to live with. I’m very much looking forward to getting to know them.

In more recent news, I swam in the Mediterranean Sea last week! Last Thursday was a holiday in Granada, so a small group of us decided to go down south to Nerja, which is a beach town that’s just about a two-hour bus ride away. The bus ride was actually a highlight of the trip. The beginning involved all of us talking about the vastness of the universe, the fact that the sun will one day engulf earth when it becomes a red giant, the limits of human perception and understanding of the universe, and so much more! I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that since the night before when Alicia, one of my friends here, started talking to me about how cool her Astronomy class was. I could go on and on about this (which I did the night before our trip in an impromptu journal entry because my mind couldn’t slow down until I let it all out), but I’ll get back to the point of this paragraph! Anyways, I took in the scenery for the rest of the trip to Nerja. Keeping in mind “this is not Southern California” made the scenery so interesting. The mountains and lakes on the way, as well as the little towns we passed, were really pretty. Even trivial things like shopping centers and billboards are interesting here, because everything here is brand new to me! Anyways, Nerja was beautiful. The water was super-turquoise where it was shallow and the weather was perfect! I’m so glad we got to go while it’s still warm here. One interesting thing about beaches in Spain—women can go topless! Seeing women walk around topless is striking for about ten seconds, and then it’s just normal. I was feeling adventurous, so I decided to go topless as well. Who knows when I’ll be back in Spain again, right? I think everyone had a lot of fun in Nerja. Our lunch was good and cheap, the beach was beautiful, and swimming was fun. It was a wonderful way to spend a day off!

Taking Nerja by storm! Not pictured: Megan, who took the picture

So, any time I go to get food or gelato, I like to try something new to build my repertoire of flavors and meals. I always ask people at restaurants “¿cuál es mejor?” or “cúal es mejor, tortilla española o el bocadillo de cerdo?” or “which one of these is better?” Waiters always look at me like that’s a stupid question! Most of them shrug and quickly answer with “¡depende en tu gusto!” or “it depends on your taste!” In Nerja, I asked our waiter at lunch which was the better of two meals I was on the fence about. He said in Spanish “that’s like asking you, ‘who do you like better, her or her?’” and pointed to two of my friends. I don’t know why so few people are receptive to that question! I only ask because I want to know what’s good here. I’d be limiting myself if I only ever ordered what I know is good!

The day after our trip to Nerja, we went on a tour of the Alhambra Palace and the adjoined Generalife gardens. The Alhambra is the Arab palace here in Granada, which was the last Muslim settlement in Spain before the Catholic king and queen conquered it in 1492. The palace is massive, and its walls are intricately decorated with Muslim phrases in Arabic. The whole thing is beautiful and quite a sight to see! The Alhambra’s the biggest tourist attraction in Spain, and I believe one of the biggest in Europe. We were lucky enough to have a guided tour as part of our program here for the first month. I had the same guide as I had for the tour of the Cathedral here in Granada. She was a great guide in that she was really knowledgeable about everything we saw, and she spoke clearly so we’d be able to understand her Spanish. The palace itself was incredible, but I think my favorite part was the fact that it offered such an awesome view of the city below! We learned on our tour that the palace was designed in such a way that made all of the surrounding area visible so it could be defended.

Amazing views from up top!

A courtyard of the Alhambra

A view of the Generalife gardens, the Alhambra, and the city of Granada below

             

As I mentioned before, even the most trivial things are fun and stimulating here because everything is new.  For example, I thought I’d reached a point in my young adulthood where I no longer found Spongebob to be entertaining. Now that I’ve been watching episodes of Spongebob in Spanish (Bob Esponja) for the first time, I find it  to be as cute and as entertaining as ever! I was laughing out loud to myself yesterday watching that episode where Bob Esponja and Patricio go door-to-door selling chocolate.

            Coming up on a month of being here, I can say with assurance that I’m very glad that I've ended up in this city. I’ve met some great people and seen some great places already, and I’m hopeful and pretty convinced that this has been just a taste of great things on the horizon!