While I'm Abroad...: Granada (February 18-19)

I know that I haven't written in here for awhile now... and realize that it's time for an update! :) Last weekend, we went to Granada; a city almost parallel to Sevilla, but more east. We left early Friday morning (8:45) and stopped at an interesting National Park, "el Torcal de Antequer", which had strange formations of rocks that looked like pancakes stacked on top of eachother.

We walked around for about an hour and then headed back on our way to Granada.

Granada Day 1

We arrived in Granada by about 3pm and had a free afternoon until a group dinner in the hotel at 8pm. A group of about 15 girls decided that we would use this free time to visit a Roman Bath in the city, as recommended by our resident directors. It was 30 euros to get a 15 minute massage and be able to use the baths and steam room for an hour and a half. Visiting the baths was very unique and relaxing; I wish I had the money to go all the time! The massage was great, but too short! The girl asked me what intensity I wanted and if there was a particular area I needed (I said mostly my shoulders, since there are always knots in them). There were 3 different types of baths: the cold one (it was FREEZING. I literally stood in it for a minute and couldn't gain the strength to make myself get in any deeper), the warm one (this one was a big pool of water that was basically a warm, not hot, bath water... it was deep enough to stand in and be completely covered with water) and finally there was the hot one (a very shallow "pool" that you could sit or lie in. this one was very relaxing). I also enjoyed the steam room a lot; while I have been in steam rooms in the U.S, this one was much cleaner and you could see where you were going, etc. On top of all these areas of the baths, they also offered free tea, which was delicious :) I think it might have been peppermint.

After the Roman Baths, a couple of girls and I decided to go for some tea at a Teteria... I ended up getting coffee, you know, the usual choice for me (haha) but it was still really good. They have lots of "teterias" in Granada, where they serve varied types of 'exotic' teas... I'm pretty sure they're natural too. Anyways, while the other girls tried the tea (and I tried some of theirs.. they were really good), I got a coffee that was made with ginger, cinnamon and cloves. It was delicious! (I haven't really had flavored coffee while in Europe, so it was a bit of a change. The teteria also offered hookah, which is what most of the people in there were actually doing... none of us wanted to do that though haha.

Later that night, we met for a delicious dinner buffet at the hotel and then all went to see a flamenco show. The show was interesting, and we were also given a free drink, so that was a plus haha. I'm not sure if I can really explain the show efficiently, but I will try my best... your best bet is to go see one some day if you have the chance! (You can often see a show for free at a bar in the city or something also.) Anyways, there were two different groups of dancers/singers/people that kept the beat or "taps". Out of the two groups, the second one was definitely better, and you could tell that they were enjoying what they were doing.

She was a decent dancer, but all the other women were much better.

This is the one guy from the first group... he was such a cocky dancer and thought he was SOOOO hot.

Another girl from the first group, she was better than the other one.

Maybe he was trying to be seductive, but he kept holding up his vest throughout the songs... why is that supposed to be attractive? He still has another shirt on anyways! Haha.

While the first group of dancers didn't have any particular "purpose" for dancing, the second group was done like a "story" through dancing...

These two were in love (and he was an AMAZING dancer)

...but their mothers/families won't allow them to be together...

These two played the mothers (I think.. haha)

She had the coolest looking dress!

That was really cool when he spun the cape around... He also had a cane that he used as a prop throughout some of the dances.

Or maybe she was her mother?

After awhile, they were finally allowed to be together and got married.

after the "wedding", they started bringing up people to dance... but because I had a camera and kept taking pictures, they stayed away :)

This was unfortunately the best picture I got of Amit... he looked ridiculous up there, it was hilarious!

Kate was actually one of the first ones pulled up!

After the flamenco show, we ended up going to and "old people bar" (there was absolutely no one young in that bar... but I reasoned that it was already pretty late and there was no point in trying to meet people we'd never see again, especially when we planned on waking up early the next day). A few girls got some wine/beer and we headed back to the hotel (a 10 minute walk uphill!).

Day 2-- February 19th

On this day, Kepa had organized a "walking tour" of the city, which only about 10 other girls (if that..) and I had the urge (?) to make ourselves get up early enough to get ready and have breakfast (the buffet offered at the hotel... probably the best breakfast I've had since I've been in Spain! SO delicious!) and meet Kepa by 9. It may sound like a decent time, but because most of us had little sleep the night before the trip and again the night before the tour, it was rough! We walked around, saw the cathedral (they're all just starting to blend in to me, to be honest, though... after awhile they all look the same, have the same stuff inside... they're still beautiful, but it gets old), some original roman baths and we stopped by a few other places on the way so that Kepa could explain their purpose/origination, etc. During the tour, a girl in our group, Amy, had to go to the bathroom really badly. At every stop she would ask "Kepa, seriously, will there be any bathrooms soon?!" but he kept saying she could ask if she wanted... After awhile I ended up needing to go too. Kepa suggested that we try going into the modern art museum right next to the cathedral (since it was free entry) and meet them inside... well, this would have been simple if we could find the entrance! We literally walked around the whole building, looking for a door. It had so many large windows and we began trying to push them open! When we got to the original side of the building that we started looking, a street musician asked us "Are you trying to get inside?" and we told him "YES!" He helpfully pointed out to us that the entrance was 3 windows down. Then, when we got inside, it was also a job to find the bathrooms as well... they were on the 2nd floor, which to us would mean the 3rd floor since they call the ground floor "Floor 0". Thankfully, we remembered this and after turning many corners, we came across the women's bathroom. But, when we got inside, there was a metal door (with no handles)... we tried pushing it and when it wouldn't open we became very frustrated. Amy decided after a little bit of discussing what we would do, and a women told us it was occupied. After a couple minutes, she came out, didn't flush the toilet or wipe her hands. Amy also said that she found a piece of gum in the toilet. That was probably the strangest experience in a bathroom that I've had.

After the tour was over, Kepa treated us for churros con chocolate! We then headed back to the hotel to pack up and head off to La Alhambra... to have a 4 hour tour! It was pretty long, but until the very end, it didn't seem too bad. It was beautiful inside, like a city within a city. After waling throughout La Alhambra, we were able to grab a quick lunch and were back on the bus to Sevilla (where my friend Randi and I talked about our plans to visit Germany, Switzerland and Italy after the program is over... still not sure if this is all going to happen, but will keep you updated!).