Videos!!

Hello!! I know it has been a few days since the last post, but I have been working hard on a few videos! The first one is a music video to the song No Hay Dos Sin Tres, which was the theme song for the 2012 Euro Cup fútbol (soccer) tournament! It was huge in Spain, and of course, Spain won, so it was very exciting! Kelley, Elle, and I filmed ourselves dancing at various locations we visited, namely Ronda, Spain, Las Alpujarras hiking trip, and all of the cities on the 10 day adventure! Much of the footage actually came from our last night in Madrid in our hostel room!

This video is from Kelley and my walk to school every single day! We obviously sped it up, so you didn't have to sit and watch a 23 minute video! Also, for security purposes, the video starts about 3 or 4 minutes away from our apartment buildings! Sorry that it's a little bumpy!

Lessons Learned and Thoughts from Study Abroad

My time in Granada and later on the 10 day adventure really taught me a lot which I hope to carry with me in the future. In no particular order, here are some of the lessons I have learned.
1. Pack light, regardless of how long your trip is! Never again do I want to lug around a giant suitcase.
2. Spanish is really such a wonderful language. It is really fun to speak and just sounds so beautiful!
3. People are really the same anywhere, regardless of the language they speak or the country where they come from. We met some really nice locals and had experiences that totally mirrored people we know in the US or experiences we have had here. So cool!
4. Company is a lot more important than the destination. I am pretty sure that Kelley and Elle and I would have had a blast wherever we went, and it makes me look forward to future travel with family and friends!
5. Air conditioning is a huge luxury. So much of the world, including the developed world, lives without it, so it is silly to complain about the heat, and I will never do it again!
6. I think the US should have fewer cars and more bakeries or ice cream shops. :)
7. I kind of want to open an Eco Bed and Breakfast!
8. I think my travel style can't really handle fancy arrangements, or pricey hotels and restaurants. I don't need to stay in a nice place, and absolutely love eating cheap meals at the grocery store. I would rather spend my money visiting all of the cool places than cooped up in a fancy hotel.
9. It was amazing how quickly Carmen, my host mom, and I bonded, proving once again that family doesn't have to be biological!
10. We are spoiled in the US to only have to know one language. We consider it a huge asset for resumés, etc when we know a second language. In Europe, especially areas that are more touristy, even more basic, low-paying jobs are expected to know multiple languages, for people, like us, who visited Italy without knowing anything in Italian.
11. Language is so fascinating, and I seriously want to learn many more languages!
12. I can't wait to continue traveling worldwide with every chance I get!
13. I look forward to learning so much more about all of the places we have visited in a historical context.
14. Planning trips isn't as difficult as I thought prior to studying abroad!
15. My experience was awesome, but home is definitely where the heart is!

Scroll down if you have not yet had the chance to watch part 2 of the video with Rome and Madrid pictures!

10 Day Adventure Video Part 2!

Hello! I am officially writing this from home! And, here is the part 2 video of our 10 day adventure from Rome and Madrid! Enjoy!

10 Day Adventure Part 2

Unfortunately, Blogger was not letting me embed the video in the text, so all you have to do is click on the link!

Final Thoughts in Madrid

Hello wonderful people! I cannot believe that tonight is the last night I will spend in Spain! This summer has been absolutely amazing and crazy! I definitely think it has been life changing in many ways! And, after 8 weeks, 9 cities, 7,581 pictures, and too many miles to count later, I will be getting on a plane tomorrow to come back home! I am quite excited, although I have truly cherished every moment! My time in Granada was amazing with classes, Carmen, my friends and general living experiences, and the past 10 day adventure with Kelley and Elle has been out of this world!

So you may be wondering, what does this mean for your blog now that you are coming home? Well, let's be real... there is still a lot to post from the past 10 days! So, over the next few days, there will be 3 youtube videos, 10 posts from the 10 day adventure, and 2 more general reflective posts! So there will be much to read, as well as many pictures to share!  However, once I have blogged about every possible study abroad moment, I will be continuing my blog how it was before I left for Spain. For those of you who were not aware of my blog content prior to Spain, I blog about many of my interests, such as recipes, environmental info, quotes, info to promote positive body image and self-esteem, etc. And anything else I come across! So, I would definitely love it if you would like to keep reading, but definitely want to thank you for being a loyal reader this summer while I have been abroad! :)

On that note, have a wonderful evening, and I will be back in the US tomorrow!

I know I have posted a lot today, so if you want, be sure to scroll down to check out the youtube video about the first 6 days of the 10 day adventure!

Some leftover pics from Granada!

Hello!! I can't believe today was already day 9 of the 10 day adventure! We had a busy day of travel from Rome to Madrid, and then thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this evening! We have also been so lucky with all of our transportation.  I don't have any new posts to upload yet, but on today's airplane I did make a youtube music video from some of the photos from the trip, although the internet here has been a little slow.  So stay tuned!  In the meantime, here are a few photos from our final days in Granada!

On the last Thursday of classes, we had a bread lady party!  To my delight and Kelley's dismay, we somehow happened to be matching!

I will miss her!

Clockwise starting with bottom left-hand corner: torta de chocolate, kuña, pan con aceite y azucar, y una palmera.

My Spanish composition class! From left to right: Nerea (my teacher! she was the greatest), Steph, me, Bree, Dulce, and Alex.

Enrique Iglesias is on the left and my host mom's son Jorge is on the right.  If you have not yet read about this story of how Carmen knew the Iglesias family, I believe you can find it on my post titled "Málaga and Barcelona". In the picture below, Enrique is the one lying down with the hose.

This is the hot mess of my room the night when I was packing for the 10 day adventure. I believe this was at 2am... eww. Never again will I travel with so much stuff. However, everything fit in my one suitcase!

Pretty building on the walk home from the farewell dinner!

A picture of my friend Emily and I! She is super nice and we were actually in the same Spanish class last semester! 

 Kelley and I enjoying our favorite "galletas oreo" ice cream in Granada! I don't know why we keep matching, but I think this photo was from the last Tuesday in Granada.

One night there was a beautiful full moon, so Carmen's son Jorge called us and told us we should come over to see the view, since his apartment looks out over the mountains! It was a lot of fun!

I can't believe I am going to be home on Monday! Crazy crazy stuff! Besos y abrazos! A video is coming up real soon!

Málaga and Barcelona!!

Surprise... I didn't think I would have time to post but I do actually! Yesterday, while on the airplane, I was able to type up a lot of stuff! There are no pictures, but you get a very detailed account of final Granda details, and traveling to Barcelona! Spoiler alert: I am in love with Barcelona, and today (Saturday) was beyond epic! We literally went from 9am until midnight nonstop!!  The only downside of this post is that there are not yet pictures! I actually took 658 pictures... in one day! (I calculated, and that was almost a picture every minute!) That is a new record!! So enjoy, I know none of it actually involves Barcelona YET, but it will come!

Hello! Today (this is actually Friday) we began the 10 Day Adventure!  And while I said in my video blog post that I wasn’t really going to post much, I know realize it will be easy to keep up, since I am typing all of this up on the plane! It’s crazy to me that we haven’t even done anything yet, and I am still having so much fun! Kelley, Elle and I just planned out what we will do over the upcoming days in Barcelona and it will be so cool!

Last night we had our farewell dinner in Granada with our program, which consisted of some hot and cold appetizers, a vegetarian pasta dish for me, followed by a cheesecake sampler platter, with small pieces of original, berry, banana, and possibly a crème brulee or something flavored cheesecake! The dinner finished around midnight, and everyone was saying goodbye to each other. It was actually quite sad, and everyone was amazed by how fast the program had gone by. I was not expecting it, but I started crying when I was hugging and saying goodbye to Nerea (my composition teacher) and Miguel Angel (the resident director of the program).  (Side note: they are married and also the cutest couple ever!).  Then, Kelley, my friend Emily, and I started walking home!  We had some great conversation while we took the view in, although it was surreal that this was the last time we would see these sights, at least for a while.  I got home around 1am, and then it was time to pack! It took a little bit longer than expected, but I had packed everything by 3:30am and then wrote a thank you note/letter to Carmen. Then I went to bed, woke up at 7, and got ready for our bus!

Saying goodbye to Carmen was very difficult, since she has been so great and we were so close. I was actually happy we parted ways in the morning rather than later in the day, since we cried four times while I was getting my things together. Also, there were soo many hugs and lots of kisses on the cheeks. She kept having to wipe off her lipstick.  Carmen walked with me to the bus stop, where we met up with Kelley and Pepe. When the bus came, there were lots of hugs and final goodbyes. I really hope Carmen is okay, since she kept saying that she will miss me so much, and needed to make lots of plans this weekend with Jorge or her friends so she doesn’t have to be home alone. Such a wonderful woman!

Kelley and I took the bus to the main bus station in Granada, and met up with Elle! We took a bus to Málaga, which is a city along the southern coast of Spain. They have the largest airport in the Andalucia region, and therefore the cheapest flights!  We got to the airport quite early, but then got checked in and went through security! Everyone was very nice! Then we waited some more and boarded our flight!  Smooth travels so far on our way to Barcelona!  Some fun stories from the trip so far included us sitting on the floor by this giant pillar to have a picnic lunch, and using the scale to see how heavy our bags were. It was hilarious since Kelley went first and chose the English option, which told her that her bag weighed three stones and 7 pounds! None of us had ever even heard of stones before, so she weighed it again in Spanish to get kilograms!  And, none of us were over the limit! To prepare, we had put more stuff in our backpacks, carried a purse with us, and personally, I was wearing 6 shirts (well, 4 of them were tank tops), jeans, and sneakers! It was quite fun!

Epic side note about Málaga: When Carmen was younger and Jorge was just a baby, the family would spend summers in Málaga, and their next door neighbors happened to be the Iglesias family. Yes, as in Enrique and Julio Iglesias, who is just a little older than Jorge.  She showed me photos of Jorge and Enrique playing by the pool!  Also, Enrique’s father, Julio, was famous and well known in Spain at this time, which is even more cool that they were able to live next door.

Adios!!

I'm leaving Granada tomorrow... :(

Hello!  Two posts in one day!! Woot! If you want to read about the past weekend first, click here! I honestly don't know where the past six weeks of my life went, and that everything is already winding down. Today is already my last day here, and I unfortunately don't have enough time to write down all of the wonderful things that have happened! So, I will do a video blog for the first time!

I hope it works!! You guys are the best!!

An Epic Weekend With Carmen

While there were sad parts, there were many beautiful moments this past weekend. While many of my friends in the program went to Paris or Morocco, I decided I wanted to spend my last weekend of the program in Granada with Carmen, which was such a good decision looking back, and the two of us really bonded.

On Friday, I slept in and did some homework and other things in the morning while Carmen was at work. We had a lovely lunch, and ran some errands in the afternoon!  In the evening after I found out about Katie, Carmen was extremely comforting and offered lots of hugs, kisses, and support!

Saturday was wonderful. In the morning we met up with Jorge, Carmen's son, for breakfast, and they took me to the Alhambra Palace hotel, where we ate breakfast.  They have absolutely gorgeous, panoramic views of Granada, so it was really magical.  There was also something about the open air, being high up, and looking over the city that was very healing.  I am very much a reflective person, so I enjoyed looking out over where I have lived for the past 6 weeks.  It was so cool to know where things were, sort of like I was looking at a satellite map of the city.

 You can see my house from here!! But really, you can. I couldn't tell you which building though. :)

This is where we ate breakfast!

Then, we visited a beautiful nearby park and walked around for a while!  There were more gorgeous views! It was also awesome since this weekend the temperature cooled down, so it was very pleasant!

 This is the bridge I cross every day to go to class!

After exploring, we headed back near our home and got tapas and hung out a little bit before Johanna, Jorge's girlfriend, met up with us for lunch! They took me to a vegetarian restaurant, which was so nice of them! And it was quite delish! We also all got dessert, and I had a yummy piece chocolate cake! We definitely had some interesting conversation. For example, vegetarianism is not at all common in Spain, since they LOVE their meat, and Jorge and Johanna had never tried tofu or vegetarian burgers!

 Jorge and Carmen!

Raices means "roots" in Spanish

The rest of Saturday was very relaxing, and then in the evening, Carmen and I went shopping! It was a lot of fun, especially since "rebajas" have started.  Las rebajas are basically like Black Friday every day for the month of July. Nearly every store puts at least about half of the store (sometimes the whole store) on clearance, usually between 30 and 70% off! It's crazy!! We went shopping again on Sunday, so I will be coming home with a few dresses and skirts! 

Also on Sunday, we visited the Museo de Bellas Artes since there was a Sorolla exhibit, which is one of Carmen's favorite painters! Once again, we were up by the Alhambra in the Palacio of Carlos V, since the museum is on the second floor.

 You can see the stage from the concert on Thursday!

 The outside of the Palace, you definitely don't expect there to be a circle inside!

We weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum, but here is an example of Sorolla's work.

After the museum, she suggested that we get ice cream, so we went to Los Italianos again, and this time I tried chocolate y frambuesa, which is raspberry! YUM! We got home and had lunch, and then later she made crepes! They were so delish, and we had them with chocolate, the maple syrup I brought her, strawberry marmalade, and more ice cream. Definitely not my proudest day on the nutrition front.  I am sure there is a lot I am missing about the rest of the weekend, but basically it was so much fun to spend so much time with Carmen! 

Also, one more story from Monday that was so nice! Kelley was in Morocco this weekend, and so we weren't in contact at all, but when I came home from my Monday morning class, she was sitting on the steps of my building and was there to comfort and support me following Katie's death! She even gave me hugs and then we ate leftover crepes. So, I was very appreciative. :)

Whew, that was long!! Love you all soo much! Thanks for reading!

University of Granada and Orchestra Concert!

Hello! I was amazed that this past weekend was my final weekend in Granada already. I guess I will kind of address the past 4-5 days, since the days were sort of similar.  Also, I want to thank so many of you for your wonderful support following Katie's death (if you want to read the post click here.) The skyping, emailing, blog comments, and the hugs were very much appreciated! I am very lucky to know you guys and have such supportive, wonderful people in my life!  I am doing a little better with the situation, although it still makes me sad when I think about Katie, so I try not to dwell on it too much. Anyway, this post should be more uplifting and positive, so here we go!

This past Thursday, I had regular class as usual, but I visited the University of Granada with Kelley and Jennifer! It was a little bit of a hike, but it was a lot of fun! We definitely did not see all of the buildings,  but the ones we did see were very pretty.

On Thursday night, my señora Carmen and I were both very excited because I had bought us tickets to see the Granada City Orchestra!  Both of us, but especially Carmen, love classical music, so it was very fun to take part in the Granada Festival that occurs every summer. It was in the Palacio de Carlos V, and was by the Alhambra Palace. It was a marvelous place for a concert, and the two of us had a blast! Also, I love how when I told Carmen that the tickets said cameras weren't allowed, she showed me a secret pocket in her purse to put it in!

 Prior to the concert, I took lots of pictures!

 It's kind of hard to see the moon, but it was beautiful!

Carmen and I! She is so beautiful!

 This picture is from inside the palace! It was such a gorgeous place for the concert. Also, fun fact. After the first piece, all of a sudden lots of people started standing up and going on a hunt for empty seats that are farther in front, which is apparently common practice in Spain! We ended up moving up two seats!  The concert was absolutely wonderful!

 After the concert ended (around midnight), we looked out at the landscape and the Alhambra, which was glowing with the lights... so beautiful! We took a minibus back to the main part of Granada, and passed by Carmen's favorite ice cream place! She said (in Spanish of course): "we should get ice cream, shouldn't we?" and of course I would never disagree! We got home about 1:30am, and went to bed! It was an outstanding day! Also, Carmen kept saying it was the best gift ever, which was very sweet of her!

In other (completely unrelated) news, here is a video from the Plaza del Toros in Ronda.  It is incredibly short and the actresses are my two favorite students in Granada with me, Kelley and Elle! If this clip is any indication of our maturity level, etc, we are going to have a BLAST on the 10 day adventure!! (Also, I realize I keep referring to the 10 day adventure or 5 city tour but haven't explained it. So, when our program ends in 2 days (ahhhhhhh!) we will be traveling for 10 days in Barcelona, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Madrid, in that order, with two days in each place! I think it will be gloriously exhausting and possibly the best 10 days of my life!)  Anyway, thank you for being wonderful!! Besos y abrazos!