Pocos Días

Well folks, I’m officially past the 2-week mark until I come home! I can’t believe it’s almost here already. I’m really excited to come home and see everyone again and have my whole wardrobe back. I’m trying my best to make the most of the time I have left in Spain before reality comes crashing back to my life in 11 short days.

This past weekend, we decided to take one more little getaway and hopped on a bus to a town near Granada called Almuñecar. It has lots of palm trees and beaches and was a perfect, relaxing two days. I went with three other friends from my program and we rented an apartment right near the beach. For only 12 euro for the night, we got our own apartment complete with a kitchen and a pool! We spent basically the whole day on Friday lying out at the beach and at night we got some delicious Mexican food. After dinner we walked along the beach and staring out at the water while a live saxophonist played. We talked a lot about how lucky we are and how fortunate we are to have this opportunity. All of us agree the feelings about the end of the semester are totally mixed; one minute we can’t wait to go home and see our family and friends again, another we think about how much we’ll miss just picking up and going to the beach for the weekend because we feel like it. It’s a really tough combination.

On Saturday we laid by the pool the whole day before we had to head back to Granada. Sunday was also spent outside enjoying Granada: the same group of four hiked for a few hours on some trails up in the mountains behind the Alhambra and had some unbelievable views of the surrounding mountains and the city from the top. It’s crazy that all of that beauty is within walkable distance from my apartment here!

After the hike, we did a little shopping in the Moroccan district where we each bought some Moroccan-style pants. They’re kind of ugly but the most comfortable things in the whole world-mine have elephants on them! We also did a bit of souvenir shopping for our families! After some afternoon gelato in the sun, we all Skyped our moms for Mother’s day. It was great to get to talk to my mom, but it’s hard not to be there for holidays like that. We caught up for awhile though, and I do get to see them in 11 days!

Until then, I’ve kept myself busy making lists of all the home-cooked foods I can’t wait to eat and all the American restaurants I can’t wait to visit when I get back to the States! I never knew how much I would miss Mexican food, Portillo’s or Panera. All my friends back home better be prepared to eat up with me when I get back!