Granada

This past weekend we went to Granada and it was amazing! It felt great to get out of the city. We stayed at this little hotel in a cute plaza in the center of the old city. We toured this beautiful Cathedral and then La Alhambra, a humongous palace towering over the city. It rained all weekend but it didn't stop us from exploring. It was so green and lush there.

One thing that was awesome, with every drink that you order in every bar in Granada you get a free tapas! So every time we went out for a drink we got a little snack. It was fun for dinner, kinda like free apps. I tried so much seafood there: mussels, calamari, crawfish, shrimp, all of it was amaaaazing. I definitely want to make it back there.

Granada also has really interesting history. The moors had heavy influence so there's much Arabic design around the city. The trinkets there were unique too. I bought a mosaic mirror, some mosaic tile plates, and some handmade leather shoes with some really elaborate beading on it! I will post pictures on here soon.

I hope my mom makes it back here... She would love the plates here they're very beautiful.

This coming weekend my friends and I are going to Madrid, then the weekend after is my birthday in Barcelona, then the weekend after mirza comes, then we're going to Austria, then my friends and I to Berlin, then my family comes! Time is flying by.

Barca games and BBQs

Hola! So sorry I haven't posted in a while! Day to day has become less adventure and more regular life. School's been good, spanish is improving, and I'm meeting some locals! Weather is finally cooling off which is nice, and I'm getting around the city a lot easier. Today was a big soccer game against Barca and Real Madrid, big rivals. Yessenia and I went to our friend, Jorge's friends house and they had a small bbq and we watched the game. There were just 6 of us, and the owner of the house lives all the way north out of the city almost and it's so beautiful. It's lush with green trees and plants and it's actually quiet! It's very peaceful out there and over looks the city because it's higher up. We had bbq'd mushrooms, zuchini, peppers, biiiig shrimp, chicken, pork, and beef strips! It was an awesome feast. The people we met were all very fun. They live in Barcelona, but come from everywhere. The owner of the house is Nigerian, the woman is Caribbean but grew up in Holland, and the other guy was Serbian I think. Jorge is Spanish and is from Galicia. He brought this amazing wine that comes from Galicia. All in all it was a fun night.

We also went to Park Guell today. It's a beautiful, lush green park filled with Gaudi's work. There was this romantic electric guitar player playing in one of the hidden green park areas, which was very nice. It also had a beautiful view of the city.