Friday, March 18th, 2011
After a few chill days in Granada, it was time for my amazing weekend to begin! Friday, I went with a small group of CEGRI students and our program directors to Cordoba for the day. We had tons of places to go and see today. We visited several of the famous buildings around town, such as the Arab baths, the cathedral, the mosque, and more. In between our tours, we had a 2-hour break to have lunch and check out more of the city. Lunch was fun because we traded food like we were back in the 4th grade. I got the tuna sandwhich! Afterwards, we had our minds set on finding the plaza de toros, or something like that. It took a while to navigate around the windy streets, but eventually we found it. It was a gigantic plaza with cute restaurants all around. It would have been nice to see this plaza back in its prime. While walking back to meet the group after our break, Jeanette, Mckenna, and I got a bit lost. On the plus side, we discovered remnants of Roman ruins. After a pit stop at the ice cream place, we met back up with the group to see the mezquita. All day it was super hot and sunny, so by the time it was 5 o’clock, I was definitely ready to head home to Granada. Friday night was the Festival de la Primavera, or in other words: Botellon. This happens once a year and all of the youth of Granada go to a plaza to drink and celebrate outside. I’m glad I did not attend this because I heard there were no bathrooms…and no bathrooms plus a ton of drunkards? Yup, you can probably imagine the aftermath.
Saturday, March 19th, 2011
Early morning; alarm went off at 7 a.m. in order to catch the bus to the Granada bus station. Fail. I ended up having to pay for a taxi that cost 5 euro more than the bus. Oh well. Totally worth it because I got to go to beautiful NERJA, Spain! We arrived around 11 a.m. and checked into our fabulous 3 person private room for only 11 euro! Score! It was perfect and cheap. After getting a bit lost on our way to the beach, we finally found our way to a private beach where nearly 15 more chicas from CEGRI were sun bathing. For the rest of the day, we chilled, snacked and had lunch, and tomar-ed el sol for the whole day. I got a little bit sun-kissed, but it was to be expected. I even used 50 SPF! Later that night after an amazingly long and warm shower, we met up with 10 or so chicas for Mexican food. It was quite the awful service experience, especially since the restaurant was empty, super cold, and the menu prices were soooo high! I got a burrito (except it should have been on the children’s menu, it was so small) and I paid 13 euro. Yikes! Still yummy though. Early bed time tonight after viewing the incredibly full moon on the beach. Is this real life?
Sunday, March 20th, 2011
Mckenna and I decided to hit the beach early and the rest of the girls headed for the world famous caves of Nerja. I decided not to go because they were an hour walk away and cost too much money. The two of us met up with Breanne, a girl from the program who had her parents and sister with her. It was really nice to actually talk to an American family, which sounds strange, but it was comforting. I think Breanne’s family ended up having a really nice time at the beach. Around noon, Mckenna and I met up with the rest of the girls at a different private beach to have our lunch (which we purchased super cheap from the Mercadona, yes!) For the rest of the day, we again tomar-ed el sol and hung out. We played a little cards and later ended up doing some adventurous exploring. I also enjoyed walking alongside the water looking for shells and seaglass. I took some home as a souvenir. Around 5:30, the whole group decided to get ready and head back to the bus station, but not before having an awesome ice cream cone overlooking the Mediterranean Sea! Looovvveeed Nerja and I highly recommend it to anyone.
Our beautiful view as we enjoyed some helado.
"Vamos a la playa! ( A mi me gusta baila!)"
Monday, March 21st, 2011
Strange day: here goes: Today is my 21st birthday. I always imagined my golden birthday being something epic, like partying it up in Vegas, etc. etc. This is how it went: I woke up to my senora forgetting my birthday completely and her saying I don’t understand any Spanish at all and basically that I’m dumb. I regressed to my room and cried. I always hate having a birthday actually. The day took a strange turn during my break with Rachel. I was feeling kinda low and was looking forward to just chilling with her for a while. As an awesome surprise she gave me a pair of amazing dangling earrings! I can’t wait to wear them out all the time J. Within only a few seconds of receiving this present, I was crying again! This time, it was out of happiness and I hugged and thanked Rachel. I think I was so emotional because it really is hard being away from my family and twin sister. It was the first time in my life that I wasn't at home with everyone to celebrate mi cumpleanos. The gift from Rachel was such a nice gesture and I love the earrings so much!
Back to school, I had an art fieldtrip outside to visit some cathedrals. Along the way, a bird pooped on my tan leather jacket and it was green caca! I almost cried here, but felt that 3 times in one day (on my birthday) would have been too excessive. In order to cheer myself up, I treated myself to some candy, but only had 35 cents. I explained this to the owner and he said to take a little and then he would weigh it. Turns out, it was 65 cents worth, but he basically told me that it was a gift from him to me. I walked out of there with a smile and headed home. After quickly getting ready, I told my senora I was going out for my birthday. She felt terribly that she had forgotten and she gave me a kiss on each cheek. I met up with the girls at school and went to dinner at this amazing American food place where I got a huge hamburger and plenty of French fries (with mayo). The girls were all so nice when they each chipped in and paid for my dinner. :) Love you girls! We went out for one drink and tapas after, but decided to call it an early night. When I get back to the states, I will definitely party round 2 American style.
My first sip of beer. :)
Tapas at Bella y la Bestia con mis amigos!
Naughty Bird!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to celebrating your 21st birthday with you and Melissa soon.
Love,
Dad