Have you ever seen something or met someone or done
something in your life that you knew was going to change things forever?
Whether it is good or bad, that feeling is incredibly liberating and scary.
Yesterday was the best day in Granada so far, hands down. I know I will
probably have a lot of other unbelievable days in the next 5 months or so, but
I have to get this one down while it’s still fresh.
Yesterday started out as one of those days where it was
cloudy, was supposed to rain, I had to pack two sack lunches and was planning
to leave the house at 9 am and not return till almost 10 pm...extremely busy
and exhausting.
It turns out that every exhausting minute of it was so worth
it. It ended up being a beautiful and warm, sunny day-perfect for walking.
After our morning meeting where we received information about our Morocco
exchange program next week, we set out for a long hike up very steep alleys and
streets to El Albaycín. I’ve seen some beautiful buildings and landscapes in my
life and I didn’t think anything I saw would top the scenery in Ireland, but
the view from El Albaycín was completely breathtaking. Our guide, Aurelio, gave
us lots of information about the history of the city on our way up there and we
stopped to visit Arab Baths on the way as well. We were all out of breath and
exhausted but when we got to the top and saw the view of the Sierra Navadas, La
Alhambra, and the view overlooking the city of Granada we all just stopped in
our tracks. I snapped a lot of pictures, so I’ll put some up here so you can
all semi-appreciate the beauty that is Granada. I was literally taken aback by
the beauty of the mountains, the buildings, the landscape, everything.
We hiked back down in order to go to class (but only after
stopping at an amazing gelato restaurant to counteract the calories burnt while
hiking uphill). After class, my group had to stay at the CLM again for an
activity called “intercambios” and I was NOT looking forward to it. I wanted to
go home, eat, and fall into bed after all that walking and hiking.
Once again, I was completely wrong. Let me explain
“intercambios” before I rant about how amazing it was. We do several
intercambios activities throughout the semester and today was the first. We are
split into groups of 4 American students and we are joined by one Spanish
student from the University of Granada who is learning English. We normally
will speak for half the time in Spanish and half in English and we get to do
different activities with them like going to the Arab tea houses or visiting
the University. Yesterday, for the first activity, we met in our groups (which
are the same all semester) and had to introduce ourselves and just talk for a
while. Our Spanish student is named Eva, and she is my new best friend.
It was a little awkward at first, but she wasn’t too
difficult to understand, and after being in the classroom for a bit, we all
went out for tapas together! Eva and I have a lot in common, and she was
telling me all the best bars and discotecas in Granada. I’m so excited to have
made my first real Spanish friend, and to have more “intercambios” this
semester!
Hasta luego, mis amigos xoxo
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