Granada!

I'm sitting in the plaza by my house on a Sunday afternoon enjoying what should have been a rainy, miserable day. So much for the whole "it doesn't rain in sevilla" business cause I have learned that it does rain, and somewhat often in February. (i'm hoping March will be more dry). I'm lucky though, we missed most of the rain because our program took us to Granada for two days, one night. Granada is an amazing city. I somewhat wish I had researched Granada as well as Sevilla- I could have definitely seen myself studying there. It is similar to Sevilla, in the sence that it has a strong Arab, Mediterranean feeling to the city- small winding streets, moorish/mudejar architecture, ect. Granada was much smaller than Sevilla. It had this very unique university feeling- lots of young, cool students. We stayed a very nice hotel with all of our meals at a buffet (you can't beat free, buffet-style eating). The first day we arrived we took a tour around the Arab quarter. The area is called Albacin. It is all small winding streets filled with "Carmens," which are very nice, large houses from the Muslim kingdom of Granada. Apparently now-a-days, these Carmens are very expensive and a huge status symbol. After our tour we were given free time to explore the city. We walked around the streets, sat in cafes, and of course, enjoyed some delicious helado (ice cream). We went into a leather good store and a woman asked if we needed help and when we told her no she responded "OK, let me know" in perfect American English. We sat in her store with her for 30 minutes talking. Now 32, she was a student in Granada while in college. She went home to finish up college, sold all her possessions (or what couldn't fit in her allowed two suitcases) and moved to Granada. She has been there for 8 years and can't imagine moving home. She comes home to Chicago for 1 or 2 months a year. It was really interesting talking to her and learning about her move. She gave us some good advice- learn as much about our city as possible, most importantly the language- she said, don't hang around with too many Americans; be daring and approach other Spanish students and make friends. It will help our Spanish more than anything else. Pretty cool girl.

Anyways, we returned to the hotel for our siesta, enjoyed another large buffet dinner, and went out on the town. It was a fun night, but the bet part was the end. We found a pizza place, right next to a falafel restaurant- it was pretty perfect. The next day we were given free time in the morning. We walked to the Arab quarter to a street known for it's authentic Moroccan feel. There are lots of teterias (tea houses) and street vendors. we sat down for some arab tea and then realized we had to rush back in order to make the bus to take us to el alhambra. this was the best part of the trip- El Alhambra is amazing- it's a huge compound that ws originally used as the Muslim palace during the reign of the Muslim kingdom. Then after the reconquest- it was used for the Christian Kingdom and the personal palace of Charles V. It is immense and beautiful. I think (not sure) that it is one of the 7 man-made wonders of the world. After the tour we got back on the bus to head home to Sevilla. I was exhausted but couldn't sleep so I finished my book "Water for Elephants"- it was so good, I couldn't put it down.

Today has been pretty boring. Stephanie's parents are in town, I'm without a book, and soon my computer will die so I won't even be able to write you all. I think it's time for a new battery, or one that lasts me more than 30 minutes.

Just now many Sevillano men have begun practicing for Semana Santa. Semana Santa is a week-long festival in Sevilla (or really all over Spain). It's the week of Good Friday- Gabe will be here for the first weekend. Anyway, these men dress up and carry these huge metal structures on their shoulders. It's pretty strange but I'm very excited for the real thing. Apparently it is a religious week but here it is more of just a huge party all over the city. Bars and restaurants are open all day and night and everyone is in the streets partying. It's gonna be cool and it's gonna be here soon than I can imagine. Here's the line up:

On Tuesday night I am taking the overnight bus to Madrid to catch our flight to Geneva. From geneva we are going to Interlaken for two nights, back to Geneva for two nights and then back to Madrid early Sunday morning.

The following Thursday I am going to Prague for the weekend. I am very excited- this is one of those places on my list that I had to get to- I really wanted to go when I had a long weekend so that I could take the train to Poland but flights to Prague are really expensive and we found a great rate for hotel/flights/transportation for the same price as a one-way plane ticket! Crazy, huh?

The following weekend Gabe and Lexi are coming to Sevilla. I have school off the whole week and I'm thinking about taking the bus to Madrid for the next weekend. I'm going to be EXHAUSTED!

After all of that it will be March 23 and half way through with the trip! How insane?? Ok, well my computer is dying and I want to make sure this gets posted. I'll post some pictures later.