Adventures Abroad: Ronda, Spain

Selfie!! Look at the valley!

Sunday I went on a trip to Ronda through the Centro de Lenguas. All the kids from my UNH group, along with kids from Fordham University in New York went on the two and a half hour bus ride to the beautiful town of Ronda. I had heard many many great things about the town, so I was extremely excited to go!

It was raining when we got to Ronda, but it didn't stop us from doing anything. Umbrellas in hand, we walked to the cliffs of the town, which were unbelievable. The whole town was so high up in comparison to the valley. We then went to the Plaza de Toros to see where the bull fights take place in Ronda. It's not the season yet, so it's more of a museum than anything, and you can walk around the arena which was cool. We saw where they keep the bulls before the fights. Usually, there are 6 bulls involved in each show, which I was unaware of. I always thought it was one bull per show.

One of the bridges, absolutely stunning!

Breathtaking, I can't even imagine how that was made!

Entrance to the Plaza del Toros

The bullfighting ring

After our tour, Mari Carmen, our usual tour guide gave us three hours of free time to wander and do whatever we wanted. Everyone from UNH decided to go hiking down the cliffs which was the best thing I've ever decided to do! Ronda is known for its three bridges (these massive stone bridges built to span the cliffs. They're super cool from up top, but being able to see them from below was even cooler. I was able to walk under the bridge and go exploring, and the pictures were amazing. At this point the sun had come back out, so it made for the perfect day.

Everyone wanted to go to a cafe for the rest of their time in Ronda, but I decided to wander around on my own looking at the different shops. I ended up in a leather shop talking to the owner for quite a while, and bought a pocket book after he gave me a deal on it. I was very happy with my purchase.

Finally my three hours of free time were up and everyone met back at the church, our meeting spot to catch the bus back to Granada. When we got there, all the kids from Fordham were drunk of their bums, stumbling to walk and talking without sensors. It was awful, and I felt so bad for our director Mari Carmen, who was alone in taking 40 kids on a school trip. I finally put the pieces together and realized it was St. Patrick's Day, so all the kids from that university went to an Irish pub to drink during their three hours of free time. Definitely a great way to pass the time in a once in a lifetime city. But hey, who's judging.

The bus ride was miserable; it included two girls throwing up because their were drunk, and one girl peeing herself for the same reason. Attractive, right? The bus was disgusting, and thankfully I had headphones and I just took a nap. But it was horrifying and depressing. Plus, all the kids were acting like they were the best things in the world, meanwhile all of us from UNH were calmly sitting in the back either studying for midterms, listening to music, or sleeping, all while trying to ignore the chaos at the front of the bus. Our director was very displeased and I felt so bad for her. We all blew her kisses as we left the bus.

Nevertheless, it was a great experience and I'm so thankful I got to go. It is probably one of the prettiest towns I have been to in Spain thus far, and the nature was awesome! Now I just have to hope my allergies don't act up!

Monday I had two midterm exams. I studied a little but the exams were very easy, much easier than any midterm exam at UNH. So for that, I am thankful. I have one more tomorrow but I'm not very worried about it either. The city is also preparing for Semana Santa, which is very exciting!! There are bleachers set up along some of the streets in preparation for the religious processions that will take place. It is geting me very very excited!

I can't believe I'm missing out on this every day. Miss you bro!

Oh, and before I forget, I had a wonderful three hour Skype date with Chris on Saturday! Clearly we had a lot to catch up on, including making faces at each other...

I also came across these pictures from when Mom was here in Spain. They're from the day Mom went to the Alhambra and then we went out for tapas for lunch and picked up Ana at school. I miss you Mom!