breathtaking views of Granada!

view of Granada from the top of a mini-mountain. i think the sky looks cool here

flamenco in the cueva!

in front of the palace in Alhambra! okay but the palace is on the other side...

the details!!!

jardines

fishies!

i love all the green!

okay so that is the rest of Alhambra, besides the flamenco, so now i will just post some of Granada:

white town. by the way, i think this is the only paved road in town.

i picked out my house, that one on the right. i mean come on, it has a turquoise fence.

some caves in Sacramonte, the flamenco town. they showed exactly what it was like when people were living in them. they even had antique photos of the people using them.

view from the caves out into the town

yes, this was a college. isn't it 2010?
("school without racism")

diana sitting by the river in our last few hours. it was so hot.

barca is sad

last night was the final game before the championship for futbol and Barca played Inter Milan. they played them before and lost 3-1 so this time they had to win by 2 to make it into the championship.

i went to Sant Cugat to watch it with all Spaniards, so it was super intense. the kid's parents live in a mansion and they have a loft with a gigantic wide screen and they cooked so much food and we all sat there to watch it. i have to admit i was scared to say anything when i didn't understand what was happening, because i'm just a silly american! but it was fun to see everyone get so excited. futbol here is way way more extreme than american football. my roommate was saying that it's discussed and argued about and valued more than politics. she said last year, we were in the championship, and we won. and for the entire week of the championship, policemen had to be out in the main center of town, near La Rambla, because people were getting so drunk and trashing the place and wreaking havoc! they didn't even care that they were destroying the square, because they were in the spirit too, but they just had to keep an eye out to make sure no one got hurt.

i believe her. i went to class last night and my teacher walked in and was pacing around really fast and he was like, "i'm going to try to teach, but i'm really stressed okay? this is a big day!!!" i'm thinking maybe he had some money on the game, no? hehe. so anyway, we got out an hour early from class.

we got one goal in the second half. at the last 2 minutes we got another, which would have made it 2-0, but they didn't count it. they said someone touched the ball with their hand. tragedy! because in the end, we never got that second goal. even though the score was 1-0, we lost, and Milan gets to go to the championship.

at the end, the minute after, while the crowd went crazy and the Milan team was crying tears of joy on their knees, that was the quietest minute i've ever heard in Barcelona. it is so crazy to see people like this over a sport!

but it was really fun. i wish they would have made it because i would love to see the city with their team in the championship. although it sounds a little dangerous!

anyways, everyone was upset after that and now i think my teacher will change the plans of the course because he is like that. i feel bad for the team. they are like gods here!

anyways, i'm trying to post pictures from Granada and it won't let me! it used to let me upload from my documents on my computer, and now i don't have that option.... i will figure something out soon i hope!

GRANADA, my new love

okay Granada is by far one of the coolest cities. i am ranking it right up there with Barca, except it doesn't have a beach, so i think that makes it my second favorite city in the world. i have over 200 pictures, and i want to post them all here because they all look like postcards! but i will try to pick the best and maybe put them in a separate post.

so, the city:
first of all the weather was perfect, like 75*. so that might have helped tremendously. there was so much to see!

their streets are all stone, and all one way, and NO SIDEWALKS. it is hard enough to walk on pointy stones, but when cars are trying to whiz by you, it gets a little scary.

that said, the people are so much fun! they all want to be your friend, they all want to talk to you, and they are all so laid back. i thought barca was chill, but this place is like pleasantville, but not scary looking. the style is definitely relaxed, no suits and high heels here. and the hippies! they are everywhere. a lot of people without homes too, but they are all so happy. EVERYONE has a dog too. and all the hippies play their instruments in the street.

there are several districts that divide up the city. there's an arab district, a gypsy one, a flamenco one, and there's even a part that's totally devoted to tapas, which is called La Ruta de Tapas (the tapa route).

i think my favorite was the gypsy town. i've been called a hippie many times, so maybe i just fit in there. but the arab one was pretty cool too and they have all these Teterias (tea houses) where  people sit and drink tea and smoke hookah all afternoon. the whole part of each district revolves around the theme, the people, the food, the clothing, the decorations, etc.

of course we had to try the Ruta de Tapas. Granada is supposed to be known for it's tapas. if i haven't mentioned it, tapas are little appetizer dishes that are very popular in Spain. people go out and get a drink and eat three or four or six, however long they want to hang out.

but the cool part of Granada? when you order a drink, anywhere, even a coke or a juice, you get a complimentary tapa. so on the Ruta de Tapas, we would order a drink at each place, and that's all you pay for. and it's so much cheaper than Barcelona!! a drink could be less than 2 euros. some places had a drink and a tapa for 1 euro. they say they do it so people don't get drunk. i wish Barca gave out free tapas!

we went to the flamenco district and saw a flamenco show inside a cave! the whole place was so oldschool, no english, all locals, and all the dancers and musicians were from Granada. it was really authentic and really cool to see. but the bad part was we got ripped off because we heard other people talking about the price and we paid almost double! i'm kind of upset, i mean, Diana is Colombian so she looks Spanish! how did they catch us?!

the funny thing was how the people there wanted to differentiate themselves from the Catalans. when we said we were from Barcelona, they would give us a look like, oh nooo. and they would tell us to pack up our stuff and move to Granada. "it's so much nicer here! it's beautiful, easier to get around, etc..." and a few tapa bars we would ask for patata bravas, which are really popular in barcelona, but they would give us dirty looks and ask why we would ask for that here. they have their own Andalusian style of patatas. Andalusia is the "county," and patatas are potatoes.

the coolest part, and where i took the most pictures, was in Alhambra. it's a separate town on top of the mountain that you have to pay extra to get in! it's supposedly visited more than the Eiffel Tower. but i'm sorry to admit i've never heard of it! inside it has palaces, gardens, views you wouldn't believe, and the prettiest architecture. we spent the entire day there.

we also had a tapas bar-hopping tour the first night of our stay in our hostel. it was so much fun! we got to see some of the little places no one knows about, and we met so many people and made so many friends. one girl from Paris is moving to Granada and she told me and Diana we could come to Granada in the summer and stay with her.

so that is that and if i think of more i will write it. i will post some pictures now because i am dying to share!!!

is it possible to take a vacation from a vacation?

well tomorrow i am off to Granada and i'm pretty excited because i didn't know if i would make it! i'm sure you've heard on the news what's been happening over here but i'm going to write about it anyway so i can remember later...

okay so there's this volcano in Iceland that just erupted for the first time in the past 200+ years. the ash is pretty much everywhere around Europe. i've even seen it on our beach. it's even making me come down with a cold :(

but all the airports have basically shut down. they said it's worse than the 9/11 attacks in the US. it's been over a week and the airports are just starting to get going again. England and Germany were really bad, with people literally sleeping on cots in the airport. hotels tripled their prices the day it happened. and cruise lines are full now! it's madness. tons of kids from school were stuck in frankfurt or amsterdam or milan because of it, and our classes were so empty.

but anyway, Granada is not too far and it is full on go time so we are ready to go! well, in my mind i am, i still have to pack though. BUT the good thing is the weather is perfect so i will be able to pack light! it's not near a beach but we are bringing our bathing suits anyway and maybe we'll just lay out in a park or something ;) (i'm going with Diana by the way)

i'm pretty excited because Granada is known for it's "younger crowd" and tons of study abroad kids go there too. there should be a lot to do there. plus i think on saturday night we're going to try and catch a flamenco show. i mean, come on, a legit real life flamenco dance show in Spain? how awesome. and there's a world-famous club there that Diana wants to go to, so we probably will but i really don't care and have no idea why it's so good.

the weather here is finally perfect! i've been to the beach this week and it was so nice i couldn't believe it. it's been too long! but i think the warm and sun is here to stay. it's almost may!!!

i also booked my flight to Prague. June 10-15. it was super cheap, like 60 euros. Marta is verrry excited to have me and already has things planned to take me too! after that i will probably be broke as a joke so i don't think i will be taking any more trips. but i'm not gonna lie, i've just been looking at flights now, and Italy has some very very low prices in June also......................... i'll get back to you on that.

the days are winding down

did i mention i booked my flight home? it's for july 14. i know that's kind of random, but i checked every date from the middle of june until the end of july. it was either july 14 or july 21. from june until july 14 they are in the thousands! i thought i wouldn't be able to afford it home. i'd have to buy a head scarf and sit on the streets with a piece of cardboard saying i have family in uganda that i can't afford to feed, with a wrinkled picture of them to top it off...

(i have no sympathy for those women because on the next street over there's another with the same exact sign and picture)

so anyways, i have less than three months here, but the good times are still raging! spring semester is way way different from fall. i think if i only came here for spring it'd be different. i also think since i was like the only american in the fall it was super weird. but now over half the classes are american and they are all friends so they don't experience as much. maybe that's just my opinion though. but i'm glad i came here early and had to figure things out for myself and got to make friends with the spanish kids first. is that selfish? haha. i don't mean that i'm glad i got to do everything first, like i'm not bragging, i just mean i'm glad i didn't have 150 other americans (or many other study abroad kids) to lean on the whole way. they are all inseparable, and i feel like it's a different experience that way.

plus, spring semester is ALWAYS faster than fall, even at home. maybe because of spring break? i don't really know. but i know that one semester here would not give me enough time to soak everything up! especially with traveling to all the other places. i am actually used to the way things are around here, and when i go back to the states i feel that i will have a hard time adjusting again! it's mostly just the simple things, like when you greet someone you give them two kisses on the cheek instead of shaking their hand. or the siesta in the middle of the day when you can do whatever you want, and sundays are the days off for everyone. or how you can walk down the street and pick any one person out and go up and start a conversation, and it's normal, and you will most likely end up meeting them at a cafe one day again. or getting together with your friends at 11pm to cook a huge feast and drink cava and it goes on for hours and hours. the differences are endless!

monday night was a friend from UCF's birthday, 21! so we had to go out of course. we went to this place called Otto Zutz which is right across the street from me! how perfect. it's one of my favorite places. not a lot of tourists, and really good music. some nights they play like 90's rock and it's awesome haha. but monday was so much fun because we met about 30 kids from school and we took over! it's always more fun when you know more people.

yesterday i had a presentation in marketing plan and that is really my favorite class. the teacher is the best. he always says, "i know this might be boring, but..." and he tries so hard to make it more interesting. i like it when a teacher is really passionate because they really make the class better. i actually want to go! the presentation was easy, and he always compliments us and tells us what we did right and wrong. he talks with us about the spanish economy and differences between "us and them." and how businesses are run differently. and then he says, well it's getting nice out here in barcelona, the beach is right there, i completely understand if you "can't make it to class" one day because you are stuck at the beach.
i mean, really?? is this real life?

i have another presentation tonight but i'm dreading it because i hate the teacher! okay hate is a very strong word, but i really don't like that class. he belittles us everyday and all the other presentations that have been made have just been torn apart. but i guess if no one can please him then i shouldn't feel too bad if he tears me apart too! but the presentation is a group so atleast i don't have to go by myself :)

yesterday was a barca game and it's getting to the end so competition is fierce! they played milan and lost 3-1, so everyone is in a huff about it. we ended class early last night so everyone could go watch. but they still have a chance to make it to the finals! i really really hope they do because i want to see what this city is like with their beloved futbol team in the finals. last night i was walking to a friend's apartment and the whole way there i would hear random shouts and screams and glasses clinking because the game had just started. i love it.

MUENCHEN

munich was a blast. julia is the best host and i miss her so much. i convinced her to come to barcelona in june before i leave!

we saw the city the first couple days and it was pretty cool. i feel like the people there aren't as open as here in barca, so it was a little different. the waiters at the restaurant also weren't so friendly and at several of the restaurants we had to ask multiple times for service. but the FOOD WAS AMAZING! haha of course, it is always amazing. but very different too.

we had a "traditional breakfast" which consisted of: white sausages with sweet mustard to dip in, massive soft pretzels, and a liter beer mixed with sprite. that is a normal breakfast. sausage for breakfast? but it was tasty. we ate a lot of pizza too which was everywhere. we also went to a few biergartens (beer gardens) and they have these soft pretzels with the best cream cheese you will ever taste! the biergartens are fun because they are always full and you just have to squeeze into any table and you will make friends with everyone else at the table.

the "downtown" part of the city didn't seem as big as i thought it would be. it was very very busy though. the shopping is also really expensive, so i didn't get much. but i had to get a souvenir! i got a little purse and a top. plus i stole a glass from the biergarten, now i can have a liter of whatever i want at home ;)

during the days we went to a ton of parks and gardens, i love the green there! there's more than here and the gardens are all beautiful. they have a lot of rivers too. we went to the Nymphenburg Castle which was so big and so pretty. the backyard took us an hour to get all the way to the end. the garden was so big you had to pay extra just to get in. and he had a greenhouse with a room for like every country.

 with a moat and everything!

we also went to the oldest part of munich, and it was super quiet but really really pretty. the whole city of munich was so colorful which was my favorite part. they will have a lavender building next to an orange next to a teal colored one. we rode bikes around there so it was nice. the weather was actually really nice the whole time i was there, and not cold!

we also went to her school and walked around and inside it looked like a museum! so old and so pretty. the architecture there is beautiful. we even went to the Dachau concentration camp. it was the first one and also the one they based all the others off of. it was really really interesting. we talk about the camps every year in school but i feel like i learned more just from that one day visiting it. we were there for about three hours. it brought me back down to earth.

this is why europeans are so smart! they can go everywhere so easily and physically see everything and learn everything first-hand.

we went to an 80's party that was julia's boyfriend's cousin's birthday, got that? it was so fun though! i just borrowed some of her clothes. all the people were super friendly though so it was nice and they all loved speaking english to me.

i didn't miss anything at school so it was perfect! nothing to worry about. and now i am running out of money so i think prague will be my last trip. i still have granada next weekend too!

we got to try on dirndls! pictures were forbidden but we were sneaky

never a moment to spare

i'm sorry to say tomorrow i will be leaving for a week and will not be able to write for that long! well, okay i'm not that sorry, but i hope you forgive me :) but i'm going to munich! my really good friend jule (we call her julia in the states) lives right in the city and goes to school. she has the time off though so it's perfect. she said she will take me to all her favorite places and already has things planned out. i can't wait! germany will be very very different i know. everyone there speaks english though so it will be lucky for me! i'm so excited to see her, and she can't wait either! i know i say this about everything but she said i will fall in love with the city. i'm sure i'll have a lot to say when i get back!

also, i wanted to post this to show you that our hostel in mallorca was right on the beach, and this is the view we got:

yes, i'm bragging, but it was a beautiful sunset!

mallorca was just the beginning

so after we got back from mallorca i had to show my sister the ropes of barca! it was a jam-packed week. tuesday we went to see everything around here, all the sites and monuments and the beach, etc. etc. we walked SO far i don't know how we made it. across the entire city. it was fun though.

the next day we decided to hop on a train and go to Sitges. it's a quaint little town on the water, known for having a lot of gays. so the shopping was really cool and different and the town was really pretty. it had a nice beach and a really pretty cathedral right on the water.

we walked up and down the beach and shopped and ate, the usual. me and jame called this trip the "jame and lisa eat and drink in barcelona" trip! ha

so the next day we didn't have plans but we woke up and looked up some more trains and decided to go to Figueres. it's north of here, and it's the city that Dali was born in. he built this huge mansion and now it is his museum and this guy is insane! he actually was influenced by Gaudi, and makes reference to him a lot. he also had a lot of paintings, sculptures, etc. of this woman named Gala who was married and they had an affair and then got married together. i took a million pictures but here are some of the coolest:

he had so many things like that with dolls heads inside of things and arms twisted all over and just crazy things poking into their bodies. i just wonder what went through his mind...

like, really?? those things behind her are chicken bodies or roosters or something.

so then we just went home from there and ate out and went to some bars. we found some really really cool bars while she was here. awesome atmospheres and the set-up was just really different in all of them. and the drinks were great! all different kinds, things i've never heard of.

we even went to Obama bar! it had live music and they were really good, it was fun

friday we walked around here and saw some more things and did a little shopping. jame had to get her fix of souvenirs! we also went to La Pedrera which is a house Gaudi built nad it was so awesome inside. by the way, i know, my adjectives are getting redundant, there aren't enough to go around! but anyways, La Pedrera showed a ton of house decoration designs that Gaudi made and it also described how and why he made them, and where his inspirations came from. crazy stuff! he didn't just think up wacky designs, he had a process for everything. every house was made for the sun to hit it in the right places, for the windows to be the perfect size, shape, etc., everything he designed had a use.

saturday we went to a city called Tarragona, south of here. and it has super old roman ruins. it was really cool! you had to pay to get into everything but you could see them from outside so we just settled on taking pictures from there.

pretty cool, right on the water

last night we went to one of my favorite restaurants and then one of my favorite bars and it was such a good last night! we did so much, i can't believe how fast it went, but i'm so glad i got to travel outside of barcelona too. and Dali was epic, i will never forget that!

where do i begin!

sorry for the hiatus, but sissy was here and we had no time to sit down!

i'll start with mallorca. we left early saturday morning and we had beautiful weather, our hostel was right on the beach! we went with my friend diana also, but none of us had any idea about what to do there, not even towns or monuments to see. but we got there early and went to eat and then went into the main town. there were a lot more people out and more things to see with a cathedral and fountains and just really pretty landscaping.

mallorca is very very different. there are TONS of germans there, tons of german food, everyone speaks spanish, german and english. crazy!  and it is also super cheap there, my cheapest trip yet! but the stores don't really have a schedule. things open really late and it seems like they close really early. i guess that's the island life. you can do whatever you want. the people are extremely nice and welcoming, i really liked it there. the water was beautiful, but the mountains! oh my i want to move there when i am old and gray and live on the side of the mountain and watch the water and the sailboats go by:

the second day we went to this town called Soller. that's pictured above. it's on the beach and lots of mountains and we climbed up to the top of one and there's a huge lighthouse and restaurant up there. it's beautiful! you look out and you can only see water, and you know that Spain is right there across! but you can't see anything. Soller is definitely one of the cutest towns i've ever been to.

so the second day we spent in the mountains and the third day we went to las cuevas del drach. they were these super giant caves really far down and there was so much water and awesome stalagmites/-tites!

we went down to the deepest part and they have a place to sit and there's a big lake and they have these boats come out with lights on them and violin players playing!! and they were really really good. it was beautiful. they just ride around and play for you. and when they were done we hopped in a boat and they took us to the end. we weren't supposed to take pictures so i only got a few of the caves.

so that was pretty much our trip. we ate at one restaurant both nights because the first time we went they loved us and gave us free things :) they were really cool. everyone that ate in there knew them and it was like they were all friends. what a life!