New friends in familiar places

Days after Monica and I met our new friend Nils, he met up with us in Granada! (If you are already lost on what I am talking about, I will direct you to the Ireland post...and if you wish to save a couple of minutes, scroll to when I begin talking about Cork) (photos are coming soon, I swear!)
On his holidays, he was planning on traveling through Spain as it were. So, before he met up with his travel buddy, he camped in Granada for a couple of nights. We took him to tapas and brought him to the mirador up in the Albayzin. The mirador is one the best spots, if not the best and most famous spot, to see La Alhambra.The famous photos from this mirador look somewhat like:

The next exciting event of Granada was the bullfight.

At first, I was hesitant about going, but once there, the feeling of the crowd is contagious. I don't think I will go to another one, but I am glad I went to a real Spanish bullfight. The whole experience, though, made me really philosophical about life and death. I mean the point of the fight is to kill the bull, but watching it right there makes you realize that the line between life and death is a fine one.

Soon to be posted, my vacation in Barcelona with Amanda. 

To leave you all, here is a photo that shows the coming Spring Granada!

Whiskey in the Jar

The explanation for the Ireland post: song by the famous Irish group which I saw in Cork. Enjoy!
Other good songs: Tell Me Ma, The Jug of Punch, The Spanish Lady, and Some Say the Devil is Dead.

Whiskey in the Jar

DISCLAIMER: Photos will be up soon...and this is the longest post yet, so grab some coffee...

I just got back from IRELAND! Now I can cross it off my bucket list. I traveled with my friend Monica who is also studying with me in Granada.
We first flew into Dublin. There, we visiting the Book of Kells in Trinity College (incredibly old manuscript containing the four gospels). We arrived just at closing time, but the man at the entrance let us in for free. After that, we were feeling pretty good because our pockets hadn't lost any weight, yet. That night we signed up for a pub crawl (my first as a 21 year old). For all those academics that who doubt that drinking and education can be mixed, let me just tell you to never question the Irish. Monica and I joined a literary pub crawl. It took us to four famous bars in Dublin and on the way the two men leading the crawl performed monologues and skits from books by famous Irish authors. Many of these authors studied in Trinity. you may recognize James Joyce (he wrote Ulysses) or Oscar Wilde (who interestingly enough has visited Leadville, Colorado) and even Bram Stoker (Dracula, which comes from the Irish Gaelic words "Droch Ula" which means "bad blood"). That night we and a German girl we met on the crawl went to a famous area called Temple Bar. We, then, ran into an American girl and an Australian girl staying in our hostel and all hung out. The next day we visited the Guinness Brewery. It was a great experience but I have to say (I have waited until I was out of the Ireland) that I don't really like Guinness beer. I was too afraid of offending the Irish. We then walked around for a bit before taking a bus to Galway.
At first in Galway, I was a little skeptical. We were tired from traveling and we still didn't feel fulling immersed into Irish culture. So after we freshened up at our hostel, we did a bit of self-guided walking tour. The wind nearly froze me (like my father, I hate cold wind) but the tour was a fun way to get our bearings in Galway. We then ate burgers (the first in months) at a restaurant and proceeded to look for authentic Irish music. That night however we only found bands that did contemporary covers...so we went to bed. The next morning we got up early and took a ferry to Aran Islands. Wow, so beautiful. Originally the islands were just large pieces of limestone but farmers mixed sand and seaweed and placed in on top of the rocks and GRASS GREW. Now it a lovely tourist destination. ALSO, the movie with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, Leap Year, was shot there. On the return ferry we met an American girl who has a really interesting travel history that includes the Netherlands, South Africa and Ireland. She has lived in Ireland for the last four years. She gave us suggestions for food and fun. That night we ate delicious fish and chips. We also met new friends: Quin from Canada, Phil from Colorado (represent!) and his friend Rachel. Phil and Rebecca both go to Colombia University and Rachel knows the Pensack's (from home in CO). Small world. All together we went to what is called a "silent disco." This entails that everyone wears headphones. There are two DJ's and two stations on the headphones. You can switch between the two music stations depending upon music preference. THEN if you want to have a normal conversation with someone, instead of losing vocal chords while yelling, you just take off the headphones and talk. IT WAS GREAT. I just laughed about the concept the whole time but also enjoyed it a lot. I am so going to try to bring in to UP's campus next year!
So the next morning we caught a bus to Cork (in the south). We arrived in Cork rather tired, so we rested for a bit. Two other people were already taking naps in our hostel room. We all coincidentally woke up at the same time. Turns out these two people became our closest friends during our Irish adventures. One is named Nils and he is from Germany, the other is named Amanda, she is originally from France. Both speak great English (among other languages). We decided to do a self-guided walking tour with them. On the way, we met another American exchange student named Ren. We later ran into her when we were sitting down for some drinks, for which she joined us. We cooked pizzas and eggs in the hostel kitchen. Then we went to a bar in which we had been told that a famous Irish band was playing. This band, the Kilkennys, only plays a couple of free shows a year and we were fortunate enough to see them! Ren, the student, met us there and we all enjoyed good ol' Irish tunes.
The next morning Monica and I headed to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone. Who knew that it was such a task to do so? You have to lay on your back and lean really far to kiss it, upside down. All of this happens at the top off the castle, hundreds of feet above ground with only steel bars and a handy, dandy Irish man holding you preventing you from falling. Good thing they placed steel bars below it, or else there would be many casualties. All this for a rock...it is supposed to give the kisser eloquence while speaking. I will let you know if it works. :) We then walked around the gardens, one of which was a poison garden. In this garden grew many poisonous plants--like Foxgloves, Hellebore, Common Box, Wormwood, Hemlock--all indicated by a sign with crossbones and an explanation underneath. Harry Potter was mentioned many times in the signs (think of Mandrakes). After the castle we returned to get some food at the English Market with our friends Nils and Amanda. The fresh baked bread, hummus and sun-dried tomatoes readied us for a long journey home. After a flight, a taxi and a run to the bus, we made it back to Granada safely.
Overall, it was a fabulously successful and wonderful trip.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....there was SEVILLA

Las fotos de una boda (Wedding photos)

"La media naranja" ("Half of the Orange" equivalent to someone's other half or soul mate)

Plaza de Espana

Plaza de Espana

We visited Sevilla! It is another town/city in Andalusia. Wow, I loved our two days there. We mainly relaxed and hung out. Nothing really crazy. We visited ruins of an old Amphitheater that once held Gladiator games. Walked through an old palace. The best part, however, was the Plaza de Espana. It was Queen Amidala's palace in Star Wars Attack of the Clones...so basically I traveled not to Sevilla but really to Naboo...ok the nerd in me is getting out of hand. Back to Spain, it was a really good trip. That night was the "biggest moon in 20 some years" and though it was beautiful, I have seen bigger when at Red Rock as the moon rises over the Denver skyline. My dad once explained the science of it, but now I forget. (Sorry Dad). Anyways, Sevilla was a hit! This was my favorite photo:

Looks photo-shopped but WE WERE REALLY THERE

 When we got back we took mid-terms. It is still hard to motivate to study when all I want to do is get out there and see Spain.
So recent random news: I will be living in Portland this summer! I am so excited, however the only down side is that two of my friends were going to visit me in Colorado to see a Colorado summer. So instead perhaps we will hold of on a Colorado summer and they will see a Colorado winter.
Tonight, I meeting up with Mandi DeVos, a good friend from Colorado. She is in Granada! How funny when things like that happen. So I am off to have tapas and catch-up time with her.
Tomorrow I am off to Ireland!! Cannot wait to post a blog about that.
Hope you are all well.

Hasta la próxima vez

Ah, Santander.

 A couple weeks ago, the infectious travel-bug hit me and so I bought a ticket to visit a good friend of mine, Michelle, in the north of Spain. Last week I spent a total of 4 days in Santander exploring the city, enjoying the beaches and, of course, catching up with a friend. Her blog entry does my trip justice, so I am sharing it with you!

Michelle's Blog

Enjoy! More updates to come. My program is going to Sevilla tomorrow.

Hasta la proxima vez.

Madrid, Segovia, Toledo OH MY!

I forgot to add on the last post that I am teaching English Monday mornings to Spanish kids.
I am also taking a cooking class Wednesdays. So far we have cooked Paella and Tortilla Española (potatoes and eggs). YUM! I cannot wait to make some of my own in the States.
My NEXT piece of very exciting news is that I got RA (residence assistant) for next year's staff in Fields! I am so excited!

So as for my Spanish adventures, we recently returned from a 5 day trip to Madrid, Segovia and Toledo.
In Madrid, we went Salsa dancing. I have a friend in my program who teaches salsa dancing (Cuban style) in the States so she was a life saver when I realized that I, like my fabulous mother, have two left feet...in truth it was more of a reminder than realization. (Dad knows how many times I've stepped on his feet or tried to lead).

pretty sunset in Madrid

We also ate churros at a famous restaurant called San Gines.
Just to give you an idea:

While in Madrid, we visited the famous arts museums: Prado,Reina Sofia and a group of us visited the house of Sorolla. Unfortunately, I couldn't take photos in the Prado and had to find some of the Sorolla online, however though I do not have photographic proof, I actually visited these places! :) These are a couple of my favorites:

La entrada (the entrance) of Reina Sofia

Dali

Goya

Miro

Dibujo por Picasso (sketch by Picasso)

Headlines from 9/11

more headlines...

 This last one was really interesting to visit. It brought up a lot of memories from September 11th, like where I was, who I was with and what I thought. This room was filled with framed newspaper headlines from all around the world. I saw so many different languages, but all of the headlines reflected the same message. This exhibit represent a bit of continuity, unity about our world that people often forget. It was pretty cool and impacting.

Sorolla

This was my favorite Sorolla piece. I just love how many colors he uses in the water and even the skin and hair of the boy. It's pretty amazing. The other thing about Sorolla's house was that on display were his old paints and paint brushes. Those were the tools with which he made masterpieces.

Though I could go on forever about art, I think for your (the reader's) sake, I will move on...
While in Madrid we visited two other cities: Segovia and Toledo.

Segovia is famous for its old, Roman aqueduct in the city. It was really cool to see. While on our way to Segovia, the clouds gave us a little gift of snow. So it was a little cold in Segovia. For lunch, I ate with my professor from the States and two other friends of mine in a little restaurant (of which my professor knew). The owner is famous for winning an award in 2002 for having a "nose of gold" (Nariz de oro). I think that means he can smell wine really well. So we were talking about it at the table and my professor asked the waiter about it. The waiter, instead of responding, just pointed and said, "well, he is right over there." So we met the 2002 Nariz de oro! It was pretty great.

Yours truly in front of a view of Toledo

In Toledo, we had just a whole bunch of free time. So I visited various art pieces by El Greco (couldn't take photos, sorry), a church that was a mosque which allowed us to walk underneath to see the original structural foundation from back in the day, and the cathedral. The cathedral in Toledo is by far my favorite in Spain. It was beautiful.

Lastly, yesterday I spent 6 hours in the Sierra Nevadas! I was the best decision ever because I had been missing nature so much. Here are some of the best photos:

The gorgeous view!

snow!

Add caption

This week I am flying to visit my high school friend Michelle in Santander!

Sending lots of love,
Hasta la proxima vez

La primera semana de las clases

So, classes began last Monday.

I am taking 5 classes. They include:
Grammer
Production of Writing and Speaking
Spanish Culture
Latin American Culture and Civilization
Spanish Literature and Cinema

I like them a lot. I feel like I am learning a lot. What is interesting, something I am continually learning about myself, is that the more I learn about Latin America, the more I wish I were there. Don't get me wrong, Spain has wonderful qualities, but there is something that draws me to Central and South America. I am still trying to figure out what exactly. 

I also have painted a little.
DISCLAIMER: It's not done yet... but I'd thought you'd like to see the process. 

Acrylic on canvas, 5X5" each, "La Alhambra" with an attempted Fauvist twist.

 Classes are going well. We had a very busy week and next week we have our first exam! YIKES. So this weekend, I think the plan is to hang out tonight but then commit to studying for the rest of the weekend!
Also, next week I find out if I get RA or not! So I am just waiting. Good thing I have other distractions (like tests) so that I don't spend too much time anxiously waiting!

 I am always surprised about how small the world actually is...a boy in my program, named AJ goes to school with Lewis...and knows him (Lewy this is your shout-out so enjoy it while it lasts). There is another boy from Steamboat here in Granada during the same semester! I haven't seen him yet, but will probably run into him sometime or another. Another girl in my program is in the same sorority at her school in WA with a girl that I grew up with in CO. Everyone is tied together or maybe the same people continually run within the same circles.

 

¡Tengáis un buen fin de semana!