Prueba de Nivel

Sunday was very uneventful, I slept in, studied, and took a nap. Good news was we had two of my favorite meals! Javier and Beatriz make potatoes with ham and eggs for lunch, YUMM! And then we had chicken noodle soup for dinner, I was in heaven.

Monday I studied for my placement test in the morning; I met some friends at Cafe Futbol to review, and of course got a crape with strawberries, chocolate, and whipped cream! I had my placement test (prueba de nivel) at 4; it was extremely long. There was an auditory comprehension section, a writing section, a grammer section, and an oral section. The hardest was probably the auditory part because it was very fast and hard to hear. Nevertheless, the test itself wasn't too bad. It was very long so I got very antsy and couldn't focus towards the end, but otherwise I think it went ok. Nicole and I went shopping after the exam to reward ourselves and give our minds a break. I bought a couple shirts.

At the movies!

Tuesday I went shopping again and bought a pair of shoes. When I got back to the house, Beatriz's sister and mom were over, so I talked to them for a while; they are very nice. After lunch I skyped Paul, it was really nice to talk to him. I met up with a few friends at 7 to see Silver Lining Playbook in Spanish, aka "El lado bueno de las cosas". The weird thing about the theater was that the seats were assigned, so each seat was labeled by row and seat number, and you had to sit in the corresponding seat. It was very strange, but luckily our seats were in the middle of the theater. I had to look up a summary before going so I knew what was going on. It was kinda tricky to understand, but I got the general concepts. I wish I had seen the movie in English first though, I heard it was fantastic and I feel like I missed a lot of meaning. Oh well. Nicole and I hung out and had a girls night in the room, I'm really glad I'm not here alone.

Nerja, Spain - Beach in January!

Views from the bus

Today the group took a 90 minute bus ride down to the Mediterranean to a small coastal town called Nerja. We left at 9:30, so I took a nice nap all the way to the beach. I woke up from time to time, and the views were fantastic! There were mountains on one side, and beach on the other, it was beautiful.

We first went to El Castillo de San Miguel, a  castle in Almunecar, Spain up on a hill which had great views of the beach, and a lot of cool architecture. Afterward, we went to Las Cuevas de Nerja (Caves of Nerja) which was a huge cave with cool rock formations on the sides and ceilings. The pictures don't do it justice, it was truly amazing, I don't know how nature could've done that! For lunch we ate at a buffet at the caves; there was soooo much food. Granted, it wasn't the best tasting food, but it was definitely plentiful. The servers gave you what you pointed to, however instead of just giving you a little to try, they loaded up the plates. I had way to much food and obviously didn't even make a dent in eating it.

El Castillo de San Miguel 

El Castillo

Me and Olivia

Views from El Castillo

It was a little windy, but still beautiful

Caves in Nerja

The pictures don't do them justice

My Buffet Lunch

After lunch we put on our bathing suits and headed to the BEACH! Yes, the beach in January. It was 26 degrees Celsius, or 78.8 degrees Fahrenheit!! It was a beautiful day for the beach, plentiful sun, just warm enough but not humid, and hardly anyone was around! I dipped my feet in the water, it was a bit chilly. I spent most of my time venturing around in the caves along the shore, it was awesome! The rocks hurt my feet but the views were worth the pain!  

Little house built into the cave on the beach

It only took us a few tries to get this picture...

I went into the Mediterranean!

I got strawberry gelato in the town, it was delicious! I was so upset when it was gone, I could've eaten the entire tub of it!

Yumm, Gelato!

Finally it was time to go, so we hopped on the bus and drove back to Granada. It wasn't quite as warm when we got back, but probably a lot warmer than back at home in Boxford.

I spent the night playing a singing game on playstation with Ana and Nicole. It was High School Musical themed in English, so obviously we dominated. Ana laughed so much when Nicole and I battled each other. It was a fun night!

Think Javier would notice if I bought a puppy?

Today was the first day since being here that I had nothing planned! I slept in till 1, a dream come true. Hopefully now that I caught up on some sleep my body will be able to get used to the time change. Also, I finally snagged a picture of my puppy (the one from the pet store window across the window from our apartment). He is a golden lab, and probably one of the cutest little things in the world. The picture doesn't do him justice, but I'll be taking more!

It was a lazy afternoon in the house, I hung around in my pjs and watched Once Upon A Time on my laptop. At 7 Javier took Nicole and I out to look at shoes, and then went on a walk around the city. We had to meet Beatriz at the library where she was studying for one of her law classes, so we grabbed drinks at a cafe nearby and then visited the library and met her school friends.

We then went on a walk to get little Beatriz at a friends, and then to pick Ana up at a birthday party at her friends apartment. Their family had two American girls living with them, one from Chicago and one from North Carolina. They were both very nice.

Our family took us out for tapas; I got a drink called Agua-something, which is basically sprite without carbonation. So, it's the best invention ever! We got little wraps (with turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayo) and french fries for our tapa, which were very good. Our second tapa was a different type of wrap with peppers, onions, and chicken. After tapas Javier took us to a sandwich shop and bought us bocadillos for dinner, which are little subs. I got one called a "perrito" which looked like little sausages in tomato sauce, it was very good.

I spent the night on the couch watching a spanish movie, I have a busy day tomorrow.

El Albacin

Wednesday:

Today the group met up at Cafe Futbol to discuss prospective trips. It was very chaotic, yet we got a lot accomplished. So, my goal for trips are:

1. Italy (Rome and Venice)

2. Barcelona, Spain to meet Chris!!

3. Lagos, Portugal for a beach getaway

4. Paragliding in the Sierra Nevadas!!

We will see how much everything is going to cost, but I am very excited to at least get to travel a bit while I'm here.

Nicole and I went walking around in the stores this afternoon and bought snacks at a bakery near our house. I got a sugar covered lemon donut which was very yummy.

I went out for tapas at Bella y Bestia, a restaurant that apparently has very good sangria. It comes with a bunch of fruit in it, it's cute.

Thursday:

Today our group went on a tour of El Albacin, a neighborhood in Granada. The tour was suppose to be 2 hours, but lasted 3 because our tour guide (and professor) loves to talk a lot. She did however tell some pretty interesting stories, and the views along the walk were beautiful. The roads were uphill and very rocky, not to mention there was dog poop everywhere, so the walking was rough. But definitely worth the views! We visited a building that used to be a dorm for the University of Granada, and now houses faculty; the views from the building were beautiful, nothing like the views out of my UNH dorm window. We then went up to a lookout point that had the BEST views of the Alhambra with the Sierra Nevadas in the background; I was blown away.

Court House, Plaza Nueva

View from the old dorm, I wish that was outside my window!

Beautiful

Probably my favorite picture so far!

Alhambra and Sierra Nevadas

A house we passed during our walk...Hakuna Matata

I ate a ton of fruit when I got back from the walk, I was super hungry. Lola was over and she had brought chocolates so I ate a couple of those too! I ate dinner and passed out on the couch, early bedtime for me, I'm exhausted.

Feliz Cumpleanos Beatriz!

Today is Beatriz's 13th birthday! Nicole and I bought her a pair of earrings and a necklace, both of which I think are adorable! We also made her a card when we got home from class this afternoon, and for only having a blue and black pen I think it came out pretty good. We gave her the present after lunch, she loved them! (Yay!!). She was very thankful!

I hung out at the house for the afternoon, spending most of my time Skyping with Paul and then Mommy! Javier's sister, Estella, and her boyfriend came over for dinner to celebrate Beatriz's birthday (she made a cake too!!) We ate in the living room at the warm table, since it's bigger, so it was nice and warm for the entire meal. We had octopus, cheese, chorizo, and salad for tapas (I did not eat the octopus!), and then had fish and potatoes for dinner, which was very good. We had cake for dinner, which was like a dry chocolate cake with powdered sugar on top and then marshmallows around it. Estella told Nicole and I about when she watched a movie, and they cooked marshmallows on a fire. She was astonished by this, and Nicole and I explained to her that it's very good. I told my mom, she when she visits she's going to bring gram crackers and American marshmallows so we can show them the deliciousness of s'mores.

Feliz Cumpleanos!

13! Woohh!!

After everyone left, I helped Beatriz study for her English test. We reviewed her vocab, and Ana made fun of me for saying certain words funny. Meanwhile, Javier finally fixed our shower so that it stays on the wall, so now we dont have to hold the shower head the whole time!!

Corte Ingles

Nothing too special happened today, I went to class, learned about Ser vs. Estar for the 47th time, and came home for lunch. The highlight of my day was definitely skyping Paul during siesta time!

I went shopping at the Corte Ingles, a huge store with everything from groceries, to electronics, to clothes and shoes. Basically, it's a Macy's + Walmart + Market Basket. The basement floor is all groceries and drug store things, the second is all the perfumes, handbags, and watches, the third is clothes and electronics, and the fourth and fifth and sixth are all clothes and shoes. I could spend days there.

So I guess I lied when I said nothing special happened today. Nicole and I shopped around for a little bit, each picking up a sweater. We then ventured down to the first floor by the doors to wait for our friends Amy and Olivia to arrive. While browsing the watches to pass the time (no pun intended) a worker came over to us and started saying something in Spanish, then proceeded to show us that if we went out the door, the alarm would go off. We kept saying No Nooo we aren't leaving with the stuff, but we just gave up and went back upstairs. Then, after returning to the area where we had picked up the sweaters, the worker there kept asking me to try it on, then kept telling me not to venture too far. Well, turns out you can't leave each little section of the store without paying, which would explain why no one carried around clothes. From what I gathered, each little section is like a separate store without walls, so you can't actually leave without paying. Who would've known.

So as if Nicole and I weren't confused enough, I saw two shirts that I liked in a department so I decided to try them on. When I came out, there was a security guy standing watching me, so I proceeded to put my unwanted items back and walked away. While doing this, he searched my dressing room to make sure I hadn't taken anything. Nicole and I were so paranoid that everyone was watching us (which they were, we got so many stares and I have no idea why) that we decided to leave. Of course, on the way out the same security man was standing at the door watching us go through the security scanners. I have never been so proud to walk through one without it going off. I don't plan on going back there any time soon, despite the awesomeness of it all.

Nicole and I decided to walk to our new favorite store in Granada, called Sfera. It's like a Forever 21 but in Europe. I got a few things, so that was exciting.

We had take out pizza for dinner. We got a cheese and a ham pizza; I really liked the ham pizza, but apparently the plain cheese one actually had blue cheese on it as well, so that was pretty gross. I stuck to the ham after experiencing that.

Well, so much for an uneventful day. There's always a story to tell in Granada!

Sacromonte

We finally got our schedule of events for this semester, so now I can start planning my weekend trips!! There's so many places to go, it's going to be hard to choose.

It was a lazy morning, aside from looking at potential travel destinations I went on a walk with Javier and Ana at the canal near our house.

After lunch Nicole and I met our group at Plaza Nueva for our excursion to Sacromonte, a religious site high up in the hills. Everyone in the group was under the impression that we would be hiking up, however our teacher didn't want to walk so she paid for us to go up in taxis. That was fine with me, it would've been quite the hike. The views at the top were spectacular and would be worth the hike on a nice day!

Sacromonte (note: the storm is coming!)

Alhambra 

The inside of Sacramonte was cool as well. There was a church and a lot of old documents and paintings. Pictures were prohibited but we were allowed to take photos in the courtyards. Our guide gave us a 45 minute talk about the history of Sacramonte, however it was in Spanish and I was way to cold to pay attention (it was cold and rainy, and we were outside). Therefore, I don't really know what it's significance is exactly, but it was very pretty.

Courtyard at Sacromonte 

After our tour we took the scenic walk back into the city, about a 35 minute walk downhill. The views were spectacular and definitely worth the walk in the cold rain! We on the same road as Camborio (the discoteca I went to a few nights ago) so there were fantastic views of the Alhambra.

It got a little chilly on the walk back...

Stunning!

This was a house on the walk home, covered in flower pots. Pretty cool, eh?

What a wonderful walk back, I would hike up again when it gets nicer out

The neighborhood we passed while walking back to the center of Granada

It was a lazy night at the house, I kept warm under the blankets in the living room and watched The Proposal in Spanish on tv with the family. It was great, for once I actually knew what was going on because I had seen it so many times already!! Tomorrow is Monday, that means class again, so hopefully I fall asleep quickly!