los útlimos días de granada

even though we all had finals this week on our last week here and some of us up until our last day here, we managed to have a fun last week. i can really say i have done absolutely everything i could have possibly wanted to do in granada. on my last night here i was even caught by erin and monica sprinting to get shwarma at 5:30 am cause i had to squeeze in my last one. looking back on my semester i can’t really wrap my head around the fact that its over.... and i’m currently sitting on my flight from london to boston about to arrive home in a few short hours. of course rachel, becca, kathryn, ella and i got together our last day in the park just as we had started our first days here and of course i was the one to be the crier. actually going to the airport i felt physically sick cause i just couldn’t believe it was all over.

i have been from the beaches in granada to skiing in the mountains, from hiking up trevenque to riverwalks, from oktoberfest to sensation white, from barcelona to sevilla, from ireland to italy, and even from europe to africa. i really could not have asked to accomplish more in my four short months here and i can only say that i am eternally grateful for the experience. i have my mom and dad to thank for all the help and support they gave me, and my host mom and dad lola and jesus for feeding me and not judging me for my horrible spanish. but one of the most important things that i am thankful for are my friends in granada that i got to share all of this with. i have met so many new friends and become better friends with others but i can’t picture myself with a better group of people surrounding me the whole way through. we have lost all social cues together which will be hard coming back to the US cause i think they are now the only people who don't think i'm a total weirdo but my fellow granadinos have brought out the best in me and i have had more fun and memories with them crammed into such a short time than ever, but i know these memories and friendships will last forever.

i know this is so corny and yes i am relishing in my last few legal drinks on the plane before i get to the US as i write this but really and truly this has been the most rewarding four months of my life. yes, i am probably still the most american person on the block as i started the semester, but i would like to think that everything i have seen and done this semester have taught me more than any textbook possibly could. personally i feel as though i have finally become the person i want to be and that is largely due to the people and places i was surrounded by. i am more understanding, less self centered, more observant, and more curious about new things than ever before. i have also come to appreciate every last detail of everything and every relationship i have and i am truly grateful for that. all the while learning un poco español!! 

the other most rewarding part for me was how genuinely cultural my experience was. i realized this most in my travels in the past 24 hours while sleeping overnight in the barcelona airport and connecting in london, i have heard some very shallow comments about only clubbing and partying everywhere they were and i really do believe i got more out of my experience than that. living with a family did definitely bring me back to a more stricter (and fattening) version of high school sometimes, but having that family as a resource to learn about spain and spanish culture is something i am so grateful for. also thanks to the people i was surrounded by there was always an effort to do more than just party. everyone i was here with wanted to really relish in the experience and do as much in granada as we could from hiking, to going to the arabic baths, to walking up to the mirador just to admire the alhambra. i don't really care how douchey this sounds right now just let me get inspirational.

it is really really hard for me to say goodbye to this semester but i think that i am coming back to the US as a better version of myself and extremely grateful for everything. also it definitely helps that i have going back to tulane to look forward to. there were many days where ella and i would just say “ugh i miss tulane. i miss new orleans” and yes i loved granada and everything that europe had to offer, but i am so lucky to have great family in boston and great friends in new orleans to go back to. i don’t really know how else to end this super sentimental and kind of lame post but by shout out 2 da grx now we sip champagne when we thirstaaaay. aka clearly jdr is definitely still an american girl.

como un jefe

for our last weekend in granada we wanted to be able to do something all together and what better way to bond than lock everyone up in a ski cabin for a night??? not only does granada have access to beaches, but in the winter snow capped mountains are also only an hour bus ride away. somehow we managed to throw together a ski trip where we rented skis thursday, got on a bus at 8 am and went skiing friday, and returned on saturday for literally the cheapest deal i have ever come across. 

we got there really early and it was a friday so we basically had the whole mountain to ourselves which was awesome. we had some experience skiiers and some not so experienced skiiers and then the two snowboarding bros who were troopers and made it out. this day easily goes down as one of my favorite days abroad. i forgot how much i missed and loved skiing until i got back on them but it had been a while. we all did one practice run together and then being the stupid idiots we are decided to experiment with the t bar at the top. first of all why is there a t bar at the top of the mountain that is for bunny slopes i dont get it?? getting on the t bar itself presented a major struggle from the get go. chelsea and i were the first to try and we attempted to sit and i got caught behind it trying to hold on and have it tug me and we just had to give up. then kathryn tried to go up with sam the snowboarder and once sam fell off, kathryn was next but her ski was still hanging on the t bar so it dragged her up backwards for a little until she shook it loose (this was one of my favorite falls of the day). harry fell off about 14 times trying to use the t bar and i don’t think becca ella and rachel had the same struggles the rest of us did..... until we got to the top. we accidentally got ourselves into a double black diamond situation that was literally straight down and all ice. needless to say it was ugly for everyone. but poor rachel had to be taken down by a ski instructor. even chelsea who literally was an olympic skiier said it was a really awful run. this was the break in our day where the weak separated from the strong (sorry becca and rach love you). 

pretty view from the top of the sierra, in the clouds

the rest of the day was very successful and ella chelsea kathryn and i formed a ski wolfpack which was pretty sweet cause even though kathryn and chelsea were way better (looking) than ella and i we held our ground. oh but other epic fall of the day.... we ventured over to a different gondola and our first ski lift we get on its a 4 person (perfect) but like chelsea and i were maybe a step behind so ella tried to wait but we caught up and since ella was on the end she got run over by the chairlift instead of making it onto the seat. the image that sticks in my head is kathryn and i managed to sit and you look down and ellas skis are everywhere and she is literally stuck under the chairlift. the guy is yelling at me and kathryn to get up but we were laughing way too hard to compose ourselves and it was a huge ordeal at poor ellas expense but it was one of the funniest things i’ve seen in my life.

sierra nevada wolfpack

that night we got back to the cabin which was a tiny little place with two bathrooms, a living room area, and two bedrooms each with two bunk beds. perfect for a little high school getaway party. no but actually it was so fun since none of us have apartments to just be able to force everyone to stay in one place and  hang out all night. we had a blast even though none of us showered or took out our braids from the day of skiing it was all good. actually harry showered because everyone told him he smelled bad but he can’t smell so he had no idea how gross the rest of us were, poor kid. also connor came up for the night to party (as well as a few others who didn’t ski) so that was awesome we took some st. rays pics and reminisced on how wrong st. rays was. realistically all of us were probably in bed by like 11 pm or so but it wouldn’t be a classic house party if someone didn’t cry, there wasn’t a biggie rap, we didn’t dance on tables and chairs and any raised surfaces and had a ruit tourney. the only casualty was a broken mirror and seven years bad luck so really it was a success. 

cozy little cabin party

we were all so damn sore the next day but managed to get out of the cabin and even made it out that night. although once we got home to return our skis of course it was during spanish siesta where the store is closed for 4 hours in the middle of the day, classic spain. so we waited in a cafe like a bunch of delusional idiots and ate food until we could go home and nap and rally for one last weekend night in granada before finals. 

day after, not showered, same hairdos, and looking successful as hell

a fat girl's heaven

the only word to describe italy is delicious. yes it is certainly one of the most culturally rich cities in all the world and has truly amazing cities, sites, art, and history........ but the food is like......... mind blowing. yeah okay i know you really can’t go wrong with pasta most of the time i know this because i myself can even boil pasta but i swear to god every meal was life changing. i think i am just gonna go through every day and detail what i ate and then go back and talk about the cultural stuff we did.

rome, day 1, wednesday dec 5, ella’s 21st bday

lunch: ella and i do halfsies on a broccoli and spinach pizza and a vegetable pizza at a local place near kelly’s apt

dinner: dar poeta. this. will. change. your life. i think if i had to rate our meals this goes down as my favorite. we each got a pizza which was like small/medium individual sized and i would literally make love to the pizza i ate. it was called the lucia de foro (i think) and it had two different cheeses, pepperoncini, spicy salami, and tomato sauce. it was one of the first spicy things i’ve eaten in a while and this pizza was quite literally making me sweat. but it was awesome. then for desert we ordered by just about everyone in the world’s recommendation: the nutella and ricotta calzone. that sounds really weird but it was easily the best dessert i have ever had in my life. this whole thing seems like a hyperbole but it is NOT. i was in heaven. i was the only person to eat all of my food basically licking my plate clean. if that’s wrong then i don’t wanna be right.

rome, day 2, thursday dec 6

lunch: ristorante alla rampa, it was a cute little place near the spanish steps. we were all so hungry and delusional from being at the vatican all morning that this meal was very rewarding. i didn’t get anything special just some tortellini with alfredo sauce but even something this simple was 1 million times better in italy. i was a satisfied girl. other notable choices to come from this meal were becca’s veal stuffed pasta and ella’s bowtie pasta with a cream sauce that had a hint of pear flavor.

dinner: trattoria de something i also forget this name i suck. it was in tratsevere by ella’s friends recommendation. i once again didn’t go to crazy but made a really great choice with the spaghetti carbonara. i effing love carbonara pasta i was stuffing my face. unfortunately i had had like 15 pieces of bread waiting for my meal to come out but i was determined to finish it. i only had a few bites left when kelly decided to tell me how carbonara is made. i won’t share cause i lost my appetite afterwards but still..... my fave

florence, day 3, friday dec 7

lunch: after getting really lost trying to find our hotel we were once again delusional when we got to lunch. we ate at this sandwich place called salumeria verdi's and i got the bufala sandwich that consisted of bufala mozzerella, spicy salami, hot sauce, and turkey pressed on a panini. i could have probably eaten 14 of these sandwiches they were so good.

dinner: trattoria de anita. ella and i also went halfsies at this place and it was genius. we split two different truffle plates, one being a spaghetti with a white truffle sauce and the other being tortellini in a red truffle sauce with sausage. both were actually to die for. later on when i would burp i would relish in the tastes of these pastas because they were so good. also this meal ella and rachel taught me how to eat like a real human and not scarf down my food. apparently its 18 chews per bite and 23 for meats. who knew? now ive been trying to think about it and i don’t eat myself into an uncomfortable oblivion. i’m so mature now!!!!

florence, day 4, saturday dec 8

lunch: trattoria de 4 leones. this place was really swanky and i liked it. it was kinda tucked away behind the ponte vecchio but so worth deff up there on my favorites. here i ordered the tuscan soup which is kinda like a softer and smoother, more flavorful version of stuffing. actually to die for. 

dinner: ella and i went on a solo mission to gusta pizza. everyone raves about this place. we once again got a spicy pizza with the spicy salami (not as good as dar poeta) and then we got a pesto and mozzerella pizza which was bomb. the best part of gusta pizza was 1. the cute waiter and 2. the dough on the pizza was so light and fluffy and delicious i could have eaten it plain. 

florence/rome, day 5, sunday dec 9

lunch (florence): antica sosta. a healthy thing for a change! although none of my meals made me feel too full or sick in anyway, i hadn’t had vegetables in a very long time. ella and i split a massive salad with turkey, tomato, pesto, mozzerella. it was definitely a refreshing change of pace and got my digestive system moving again which was nice. tmi idc.

dinner (rome): random little place near the bus station cause we couldn’t find any of the recommendations. wasn’t the best and didn’t help the waiter was a weirdo but i got penne alla vodka which i hadn’t had yet and definitely enjoyed and then ella got lasagna which was really really good and i had some food envy

in between all of this i ate 12 scoops of different gelato flavors most of which i don’t remember the names of but some notable flavors:

kiwi 

yogurt

whiskey and cinnamon

nutella and marscapone

chocolate mousse

hazelnut

stracciatella

carmel creme

and many more in between.......

okay well now that i’ve detailed every meal i ate which is the most important part obviously i’ll get to the cultural aspect of italy. the first day we got there ella and i walked around in the freezing cold and rain (we literally bring rain wherever we go) and saw the colosseum, the forum, and went and made a wish in the trevi fountain for ella’s bday. the next day we woke up early to get to the vatican where we were able to see all the vatican museum and then the sistine chapel. most of this time was spent imitating statues and me being the token catholic explaining all the stories i knew about the catholic religion and the vatican (which sadly was heavily based on conspiracy theories i had gotten from angels and demons. robert langdon is real ok?). we then re did all the stuff we did the day before with becca rachel and kathryn and also went to the pantheon and spanish steps. things got really weird at the spanish steps after we had eaten i won’t give all the details but kathryn deff tinkled a little bit on ella’s head. for some reason i was not expecting much from rome because i had heard it was too much of a city/dirty/etc but i was honestly so impressed. i loved the city so much and there was so much interesting history to see there i was really blown away.

trevi fountain. the only normal photo we took in italy

imitating some hideous fountain outside the pantheon, we did a pretty good job amirite?

religious tapestry in the vatican museum.... WOW

on friday morning we made way to florence by train which was long and scenic. ella and i had been reading up on a florence and even watched a documentary on the medici family so we were pretty excited to head to the heart of the renaissance. florence was much smaller but for some reason much easier to get lost in. we got so lost looking for our hotel we had to get a cab. our hotel sidenote was so cheap and so so so lovely for what it was. it was in a great area and when the 4 of us stayed there we had a HUGE room like ballroom with its own shower in it. they had awesome breakfasts and great location we liked it so much ella and i stayed another night. after we got to the hotel we got lunch and gelato and then decided we would go to the uffizi gallery to check out some major renaissance art. it started raining, naturally. and we got really really lost. does this sound familiar to like basically every place i’ve been in europe? anyway it was brutally freezing and raining and could have been a situation where we hated each other and got so mad but instead we were laughing about the whole thing and making rap songs to entertain ourselves. we made it the uffizi looking like bloody hell but it had some really amazing stuff including the birth of venus by titian which revolutionized renaissance art. we went home since it was dark and we were freezing to shower and warm up. we had a nice relaxing ladies night over a good dinner and wine.

our ballroom of a hotel room. worth the hour lost trek to find it

on saturday we saw the other major sites in florence including the duomo, michelangelo’s tomb and the medici palace. we also went to this lovely little christmas market and did some fun shopping there. then we headed over to the ponte vecchio to check out some really expensive jewelry we couldn’t afford. later that day we met up with kathryn and her colgate friends that are studying in florence at the piazza de michelangelo. this piazza had an amazing view of the whole city so naturally everyone had to get photos in front of it. since i dont really know how to take a serious photo by myself ella proceeded to document my awkward middle school imitations overlooking the piazza. i am a class act. we went back pretty early cause we were chilled to the bone once again and had to warm up. becca and rachel left that night and ella and i went out with kathryn’s friend and i even got to meet up with natalie’s sister lucy who is studying in florence for a drink.

ponte vecchio being tourists

how uncomfortable does this photo make you?

sunday morning ella and i woke up and went to mass at the duomo. please alert all my irish catholic relatives that i went to church in europe and in one of the most important churches too. i am the best catholic of all time. minor detail is that we left early. but its a cool story right?? ella and i did some more wandering and some shopping for lola and jesus for the rest of our day. we had to leave around 3 to get a train back to rome where we had to then get a bus to sleep in the rome airport overnight. this was the second time i have had to sleep in the airport on my trip abroad and unfortunately not my last. ella and i got all comfortable in a bunk bed situation (ella on the floor underneath the chairs and me on the chairs) until the people kicked us out and made us go to this freezing cold terminal where we got zero sleep, froze our butts off, and just were generally very uncomfortable. oh and also my glasses fell off in my sleep and in an attempt to find them when i woke up i snapped them in half. so that was good traveling around blind for the rest of the trip! we then took a 6 am ryanair flight back, a metro to the bus station, a 5 hour bus ride from madrid, and a city bus to our homestay and we were finally home and made it in time for our 6 pm classes. i would say we are just about pros at this kind of stuff now.

ella and i bunkin' up at the rome airport. luxurious lives we lead huh?

so italy was a major cultural experience and one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen. when i am rich and successful and have so much free time to travel (aka never) i want to go back to tuscany and do a wine tour and rent a car to drive around the country side because there is so much more to the country. but lets all get real...... the food made the trip and as it was our last trip abroad i would say that we quite literally left our travels with a good taste in our mouth (how punny am i????)

guests on guests on guests

the last two weeks of november were spent happily in granada entertaining lots of friends. it is always awesome when guests come cause it makes us do so much more. on thanksgiving week, willa came all the way from south africa because we are just that special. she was done with her program in south africa and decided to do a mini eurotrip that included six lovely days in granada. willa got here on tuesday and naturally the thanksgiving festivities started wednesday celebrating blackout wednesday as if we were in america (we didn’t actually black out mom and dad. well some of us). sabrina was there as well visiting dash and we all had a night together. willa stayed at a hotel near ella and i’s apartment so naturally we moved in with willa for six days which meant after nights like this all of us waking up in one queen sized bed very confused. most of the time someone ended up on the floor. 

thursday was thanksgiving so naturally i was an american all day and gave myself the right to miss all my classes cause no americans have classes on thanksgiving and thats that. willa and i woke up with ella who decided to be unamerican and go to class and willa and i went to the granada cathedral. i had never been and it was certainly as beautiful as everyone says it is. then we had a thanksgiving dinner/lunch with our program which was great. obviously it didn’t come close to american thanksgiving but at least they gave us some semblance of a turkey and some really bomb mashed potatoes (of course other sides consisted of weird fish bread and jamon). after that a siesta was in order and we did some serious work on homeland season 1 episodes. that night we took willa to the botellon to show her what its all about. it wasn’t that crowded or crazy but a nice night nonetheless that ended up with me hanging with some weird spanish dudes and a russian guy named islaf who told me his life story which to give you an idea included juvi. never a dull moment or a lack of people with weird haircuts in granada.

the next day we went to the arabic baths bright and early in the morning with willa and kathryn. this could possibly go down as one of my favorite things i did in granada. for less than 25 euros we got an hour in the arabic baths as well as a massage. i’ve never gotten a massage before and needless to say i was in heaven. the baths included a cold bath, a warm bath, and a hot bath that you could swim in as you please and there were places to sit and drink tea as well. they also had an awesome steam room that was to die for. walking back from the arabic baths we were all borderline zombies since it was still really early and we were wet and scary looking. afterwards we relaxed with some more homeland in willas hotel room. that night we went out for tapas at om kahl sum our favorite moroccan tapas place that has these cheese ball egg roll type things that i would eat every day for the rest of my life if i could. we wound up at living and having hotflashes and getting weird and discussing willa’s potential business plans for her new restaurant chain “salad effort”............... these ideas then led us to a chino where i bought 4 euros worth of gummies and ate them all. you get the idea.

saturday we took a bus to the alpujarras which are these beautiful mountain towns in the sierra nevada. you can hike between them and it takes a while but has some unbelievable views. we obviously love our hikes but hiking maven kathryn left the planning to ella so we got lost for a little bit but it all worked out and we certainly got to take it a lot of scenery. this hike was not as strenuous as trevenque but we certainly worked up a sweat while trying to chase some goats and fall down hills and climb in the mud but it was mostly about how pretty the walk was and how interesting the little towns were. we ended up at camborio at night cause duh had to show willa camborio which ended in some really hilarious promo photos and us just being really weird (awesome). 

alpujarras in the sierra nevada

so many activities with willa!

europeans really love us

willa’s last day we got shwarma for breakfast because in a way, she’s always talking shwarma. and we were hungover and it just felt right ok? and then we did a little tour of the alhambra sans paying to get the tour we kinda jipped willa out of that one sorry but 14 euros is just silly. we gave her all the history and chilled and watched stray cats run around. saying goodbye to willa after such an awesome week was very sad but it also made me realize how soon our trip was ending. basically this week was my inspiration to make sure i didn’t miss out on anything else while i was in the grx.

the next weekend we had more visitors, harry had friends on thursday and owen and brett came from madrid on friday. basically this weekend ella and i just broed out pretty hardcore. we took owen and brett to om kahl sum as well and then to living and campus, a pretty standard granada disco night. the next morning we woke up to do a hike with all the boys which none of us were physically and mentally prepared for after a night out. luckily the bus never came so we avoided the 16 km hike and instead went to mercadona and got some snacks and walked down the river. even the granada boys had never walked up the river so it was just a pretty pleasant and chill day. that night in the freezing cold we trekked all the way over to sam harry and dash’s neck of the woods and revisited our beloved plaza de toros. rueben from the first night wasn’t there so it was not the same. after a quick stop at the swanky bar/club d’cuardros next door, the night ended with us standing in the freezing cold and instead of manning up and walking literally making it one block before having to hail cabs. 

after all that....... its december. literally have no idea where time went and the next weekend we were going to italy. ella and i booked italy on august 31, it was a our first trip we booked. and all of a sudden we were leaving tuesday of that week to go. our weeks spent with guests made us really take advantage of the short time we had left in granada and gracias a dios for that cause the end came up too quickly. next trip: italia! ciao bella!!

i bless the rains down in AFRICA

in my mind toto and shakira were playing 24/7 this past weekend in morocco. though it certainly was not by any stretch of the imagination typical africa, it was just the refreshing break i needed in my abroad experience. i swear if i had to look at another church i was gonna throw up (just kidding god). morocco is a traditionally arabic country and is the most different place i have ever traveled to in my life (or rather my semester abroad lets get real i didn't go anywhere before this). i was obsessed from the get-go. friday was a pretty long day of travel that included a 7:30 am wake up call, 4 hour bus ride, and 40 minute ferry (actually it took 40 minutes by ferry to get from spain to africa....wut?) we got there and the sun was shining and we were a happy crew. we ate lunch at a women's home as a group which consisted of couscous, steamed veggies, and chicken...... as did every single meal we ate this weekend. i would probably be okay with never eating couscous again. we got a little tour of tangiers with our guide who was with us all weekend and was the man, had a really awesome hat. friday is apparently the sunday of islamic culture so he had on a nice little outfit and was just plain killin' it. he explained to us how he is of the sunni  (sp?) branch of islam and how he teaches his children that his religion is about loving his family, pursuing an education, and being happy. i really don't know much about islamic culture, but all stereotypes that i had of it from america were certainly broken this weekend. after our little walking tour we got to ride camels on the beach at sunset. realistically it was like at a town fair where they walk the 3 yr olds around in a circle on ponies but regardless it was beautiful and very fun. kind of sad cause some of the camels were upset but it was still pretty damn cool.

my gf ella and i holding hands and riding camels

after our camel ride we headed to tetouan where we were staying for the weekend in a nice hotel. alcohol is banned in arabic culture so there was nothing to do at night but chill in nice hotel bedrooms and watch homeland, i was not complaining thats for sure. the next day we woke up and got on the bus to head to chefchaoun (i am definitely butchering the names of these cities). this day probably goes down as one of my favorite days abroad. we started with a little walking tour (these walking tours literally just consisted of us walking around it was actually nice to not be bombarded with useless facts). we also met some of the moroccan kids that were going to host us for lunch that day. they were all around 16-18 years old and some of the friendliest, most accomplished, and interesting kids i had ever met. and they really like the blonde americans. basically all of them spoke upwards of 3 languages and one 16 year old girl i met who started learning english 2 years ago and is fluent, also is fluent in arabic and french, proficient in spanish, and is teaching herself japanese and korean. i've been taking spanish for about 7 years now and i'm still not even fluent in that. for lunch we split up into groups to go to these moroccan kids houses and eat lunch with their families (more couscous).

just us and our pals

so kathryn, dash, and i were all in a group with a 17 year old girl named naziha. i apologize for how corny this is going to come off via blog but she really was one of the most inspiring people i have ever met. we walked all the way to her house talking to her and she was just so excited to have us visit with her family. her english was amazing and we kept complimenting her on it and she was like "i LOVE speaking english i speak it every day because i love it so much" and i thought imagine if i loved spanish that much how good i would be at it. we later learned that her dad died last year but when we walked into the house you would think nothing was wrong. the rest of the family (mother, aunt, brother) spoke no english at all so we needed naziha around to break the language barrier cause the only thing we could say was "thank you". naziha kept saying how much she loved her mom and how cute she is and how her and her younger brother are her moms world. it was the most adorable thing ever, they were just so happy. she also had us write a little message, and inspirational quote, and our addresses in a notebook so we could keep in touch. when we went to leave the mom told us we were beautiful and she wants us to come back and marry her 8 year old son. i went to go give the mom and the aunt hugs goodbye and in morocco they do the double kiss a little differently than in spain and i messed up a little bit........ and kissed the mom on the lips............. only me. we all laughed and it was funny but i was like oops thats deff not cool in your culture my bad! we then proceeded to walk back to meet the group in the pouring rain and naziha gave me, who had a rain jacket, her umbrella. because she loves walking in the rain because she thinks its romantic. her attitude did not cease to be positive for even 3 seconds it was unreal. she also then proceeded to serenade us with some adele  "set fire to the rain" and i was like seriously i need to be you you are so happy.

me, kathryn, and our homegurl naziha

afterwards we did a little shopping and then parted ways with our moroccan friends. luckily they friended us all on facebook so no worries. still waiting for some of the selfies i took with some of them to surface. that night we ate in tetouan (more couscous) and the girl that had been helping with the guide and meals etc all weekend duaa, ate at our table with us. she continued to impress us by telling us she got into columbia, bu, and nyu. her dad gave her the choice to either go to study at columbia or buy her a beach house in morocco. she opted for the beach house, what a boss. she's 18 and was telling us how she has known her boyfriend since she was 5 and will probably marry him. pretty crazy. we then proceeded to watch some belly dancers and some guy who i wish i had a picture of but ill do my best to describe him and do him justice.... no teeth, hole in crotch of whatever costume he was wearing, little moroccan man dancing around with a plate of fire on his head. weirdest but funniest thing ever. he could contort his arm in ways i am still not sure are humanly possible. we walked back through the streets of tetouan which reminds me i forgot to mention morocco's stray cat problem. it was basically my only qualm with the country. i thought new orleans was bad but literally whenever you turned a corner there was a dirty flea infested creeping cat and i kept having flashbacks to that recurring nightmare i have about the cat in a hoodie with rabies that follows me to monroe and attacks me. ugh so gross.

we got back to the hotel and had another relaxing night. enjoyed a little bit of moroccan hash, because lets be real when in morocco you have to. and then had a great night sleep. the next day we had a mini walking tour of tetouan and got to go to an apothecary where they basically advertised for moroccan argan oil, rose cream, moroccan tea, etc etc. and then sold it after. it was nice we got to try everything and it only got awkward when kathryn asked for a free massage and then when the man said she didn't have to pay the 3 euros and to follow him in the middle of the presentation things got really awkward and they started talking about her in arabic. i had the misfortune of sitting next to her during this time and the other guy thought it was me who asked and kathryn dragged me into it so she wouldn't feel as awkward. there was some mention of getting naked in the attic upstairs in front of the entire crowd including our program director so you can only imagine how my awkward self handled this one (how many times can i express that this exchange was awkward?) we then spent the rest of the day traveling back to granada which was really really long. and on the ferry i swear to god it almost capsized it was scary but pretty exhilarating. until people started throwing up.

all in all a great trip and now i have a morocco stamp officially proving i've been to africa making that 3 continents i have traveled to. getting there. it was unbelievable weekend that was such a great breath of fresh air i could not have asked for anything better. and this week we have so many visitors!!! sabrina is here from tulane and willa is coming from south africa before she heads home. we're going to see them tonight and i might cry tears of joy. it will be so great to have some pieces of home here for thanksgiving. lots of activities this weeks so i'm sure i'll have something to say about it. وداعا !!!

the mid-semester breakdown

it's that time of year again. the part of the semester where i hit my breaking point with all my classes. i hit the hump this weekend after registering for next semesters classes and i could only ask myself, what the hell am i doing here? i can't say i'm getting much out of any of my classes, my spanish is only semi improving, i have no desire to do any work for any of them, so what's the point? it made the whole weekend very frustrating for me when it literally would take me an hour to write one sentence in spanish. luckily i felt reassured when i talked to others from tulane here on my program, who by some weird coincidence, had these similar feelings this same weekend as well.

this was the first weekend since september i had been in granada. i have been so lucky to see all ends of europe even just in the past month, but this weekend was one to relax and reflect on my time here. i realize that the enchantment of spain has worn off a bit as their "no pasa nada" attitude is starting to effect my work ethic, which is fine here, but will be a huge reality check come next semester. i wouldn't say this weekend i was homesick but rather i finally came to appreciate all the great and convenient things about home that i miss. for example, my own schedule not based around meals being made for me, making my own food, a phone, doing my own laundry, not having everything shut down on a sunday, a library, the english language. the simple things.

luckily on saturday, ella, rachel, and i went for a walk around the city (it was one of the first days in a long time here without rain, of course it has rained more this semester in southern spain than ever before). we walked up to the mirador de san nicolas that has a breathtaking view of the alhambra and sat there until sunset. it reminded me why i really do love spain and reminded me there was much more to my experience than my dumb classes. we really did have a lovely weekend in granada that included visitors, free bottles of champagne, the gym, absynth shots, sleeping in, the albaicin, and even fried rice. i was a happy girl. now that i have overcome the mid-semester breakdown, i have found i need to space out my work in a way that what very little i have doesn't stress me out or frustrate me. like i'll do one assignment and then watch an episode of 30 rock, fair trade right? alas my time abroad will enchant me yet again this weekend, as i travel to a whole different continent: AFRICA! adios europea, off to morocco!

all we did was laugh

another big weekend for a tulane reunion. my favorite. after 18 hours of travel including sleeping in the airport alone with no phone or anything, i was able to embrace jessie, chase, and segolene on the other side at copenhagen central station. you think more would be in english cause who the hell speaks danish but no. alas by jessie's directions i managed to get there in one piece. on friday we saw most touristy sites and met up with other tulane kids. i didn't go home in between any of this so i just carried around my backpack for the whole afternoon like a dweeb. 

okay actually instead of recounting my whole weekend by detail.... to sum it up, we were with tulane kids all weekend enjoying each others company at places like christiana, penthouse, and of course sensation white. all i can say is we did a lot of laughing, not a lot of eating, some snuggling, a mix of sweating too much and freezing our asses off, and way too much dancing. saturday we all managed to find each other at sensation white (yes everyone was actually dressed head to toe in white) and spent the whole night having the time of our lives. we were all so happy to be there and so happy to be with each other. i never considered myself one for a rave, but spent with so many people i love to be with, i had the greatest time ever. to give you an idea of what sensation was like watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HbAF7Zry3s&feature=relmfu

and now... a week to rest here in Granada. after 5 straight weekends of traveling this is pretty necessary. reflections to come soon.

how my weekend went from best to worst in 24 hours

***disclaimer this has no pictures sorry everyone***

this past weekend I went to Sevilla and Córdoba, Spain with my program. Kathryn and I went early on Thursday night and stayed with her friend Charlotte cause on Friday morning we went SKYDIVING. Sevilla is ranked in the top ten places in the world to skydive and also has the highest skydiving point in all of Europe. The forecast said rain and we were a little nervous but when we left the house Friday morning and it was sunny we were even more nervous. We got to the drop zone at 10 am and signed all out paperwork and got our debriefing and instructions on the jump. We put on the really flattering and attractive jumpsuits and we're just about ready to poop our pants, when they made an announcement about a weather hold. The next four hours were spent watching it pour rain, making friends with some australian and british guys who were jumping by themselves, befriending the people we were jumping with, and watching some jersey shore in spanish. As we started to give up all hope, the weather seemed to clear but yet no announcements were made. So we asked if we were going to be able to and how long they would wait until they told us to go home, to which the answer was when it gets dark. Then in 15 minutes time they made an announcement that we were going to fly, we got all strapped up, I nervous laughed a lot, and we got on the plane. Really wasted no time.

What happened next there are really no words for. It took us about 10 minutes (maybe less i was too busy freaking out and laughing my ass off) to get up to the 15,000 ft point. Also sidenote, I was afraid of heights until this point. I was the last one to jump and I saw Kathryn jump before me, told her I loved her, and her I love you response was the scariest thing I've ever seen, like she really thought it was the last time she was going to say I love you to anyone ever. Then it was my turn, I dropped all my weight and was hanging out the side of the plane only with Pablo holding me in and all he said was, "Hope you're ready!" and that was that.

It was then a solid minute of free fall which was single handedly the most amazing feeling I have ever experienced. Pablo did a nice little 360 view and point out Sevilla while we were falling 120 mph. Then he opened the parachute and I expected some sort of whiplash but there was none. He let me play with the parachute for a little just dicking around in the sky like it was no big thing and we even went through a cloud and that was pretty cool. By the time we got down I wanted to go right back up. I kept hugging Pablo I was so happy and he was probably like get off me rubia but whatever I was the happiest girl alive. Already thinking about the next time I can go. The Australian man then gave us a ride home back to Sevilla and we were unsure of what to do next. So when Kathryn and I got food I naturally thought the next best step would be a tequila shot in celebration. She thought otherwise but it was a good way to commemorate the coolest thing we had ever done.

the next day we packed up our stuff and left it at the hotel where CEA would be meeting us. Then we went to meet the at the Reales Alcazares for a tour. We waited for a half hour at the wrong entrance and they went in without us and we had to pay to get in. Unfortunate but worth it to see them and also reunite with everyone. We then continued to get a tour of the Cathedral which is the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world and went 30 something stories up the the top called the Giralda with a nice 360 view of Sevilla for miles. Afterwards we went back to the food festival with some people and later met back up with CEA at Plaza de España. We hung out there, walked around, admired it, took some pictures, and then decided we would rent a 6 person bike contraption (3 rows, 2 to each, with Rachel in the middle and a basket on the front) I drove first and put my bag in the basket in the front. Everyone proceeded to put their bags on top of mine, sit in the basket, do chinese fire drills in the middle of the park, etc. It was actually so much fun until we went to return the bicycle and I realized my bag was gone. Somewhere on this 6 person bike ride it had fallen out. So there went my life essentially... my iphone, my spanish phone, my wallet with 40 euros, my debit card, my school ID, my bus card, my passport card (not to be confused with my passport phew still have that). So naturally I was pretty upset cause for some reason I always lose really important things when I'm actually not doing something stupid (i'm classifying stupid as like drunk and out at a bar, the 6 person bike was not that stupid). There are no photos from this weekend either because all my photos were on my iphone so sorry for the verbose blog post with no pics errybody.

I went to the police station with Jorge and Rachel and filed a report and that was all I could do. Called my mom and had her cancel the card (sorry mom for scaring the crap out of you). And all I could do was move on with the night. We pregamed in the boys room and were just about ready to go and Dash was taking his last chug. He rolled back on the bed with 40 in hand and legs in the air and I thinking this would be an innocent funny practical joke gave his legs a little push, but of course, at the exact second I gave a push he was bouncing to come back up. Smacked his tooth on the 40 and chipped off a quarter of his front tooth. I was responsible for him looking like a hillbilly. He was naturally very upset and I was just on the verge of a mental breakdown, cause all I could think was why me??? Ella made everyone leave Dash alone and head out without us, took me back to our room cause she saw I was on the verge of tears, screamed into pillows with me, let me cry and then gave me her St.Christopher medal because she said it was obvious not I needed the good luck more than she did. I was still convinced to go out and make the best of it and Ella picked up the bill for me for the night. She really killed it out there keeping me a moderately sane person for the rest of the weekend. I managed to have fun and make the best of it.

Next day we went to Cordoba and saw the Mezquita/Cathedral. It was really cool and I had learned about it in class so I thought it was one of the coolest buildings I had been in in Spain. Unfortunately, almost all of us were miserably hungover and dash was missing part of his tooth so we weren't all the most enjoyable people to be around. We did enjoy a fabulous lunch though and then headed back to Granada. Yesterday Dash got his tooth fixed at the dentist and I'm excited to see it when I see him in class today. At least one thing got resolved! This weekend I go to Copenhagen to reunite with some Tulanians very near and dear to my heart. I'll be traveling with no debit card, no way of getting money and no phone! safe... Ella said she is going to give me one of her debit cards in case of emergency and she gave me her ipod touch (actually she has been my guardian angel it is not a joke) but alas it is also the first time i'll be traveling alone and the first flight i'll be taking without ella so i'm a little nervous and a bit sad. But! it's sensation white and i'm not really one for a rave or anything but i'm so excited to see everyone i don't care and also this looks pretty damn cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E96BskqZHeE (this is amsterdam but whatever all those northern european countries are really cold and kinda the same) i'll post in here next week so you know I made it back alive!

everyone reading this on the east coast, my thoughts and prayers are with you during Sandy! stay safe, stay dry, and drink wine!! love you all

p.s. i love you... ella & jill's... and brandon's romantic getaway in ireland

how do i even start to explain my trip to ireland.... well, before leaving on thursday morning, i watched p.s. i love you and cried myself to sleep wishing that hilary swank was the one that died in the movie and gerard butler was my irish husband. the next morning we woke up bright and early to get to the malaga airport for our ryanair flight to dublin. this was our first flight on ryanair and quite literally the rocky road to dublin (refer to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMw7lwxRImI). the view coming into dublin was indicative of how beautiful the country of ireland was going to be. everything, and i mean everything, was green. we were like giddy school children getting off the plane and were even more excited to get our passports stamped! usually since its travel within the european union they don't stamp your passport but i got an ireland stamp! so excited, plus the guys doing the stamping were already the friendliest people in the whole world so we were elated.

we took the bus to the generator hostel where we were staying, conveniently located next door to the jameson distillery. so this is where my rant about bus2alps comes in, i'll keep it brief. so we did a bus2alps trip because it seemed reasonable to get hostel, tours of dublin and galway, guinness tour, and entrance to cliffs of moher included and it was for the most part a deal. but the second day in the generator, which was an abnormally nice hostel, they overbooked us and we had to move to the only place in dublin that had 56 beds available. you can imagine it wasn't ideal. that part was fine, the guides were nice and i won't complain about their problem solving skills, however, the whole thing was in general something we could have done better on our own. also, these tours are for people who have not the slightest idea what it means to be an adult and rely on bus2alps to hold their hands as they travel around europe. it was fine for one trip, but we actually met people who had done every trip they had taken with bus2alps. to give you an idea, when the hostels were changed there were a select few girls who cried and called their dads to book a hotel for them. i wish i was kidding. so in general, don't book them if you have the slightest clue how to take care of yourself. and that's the meanest thing i'll say about my entire trip abroad because i'm compensating for being mad at myself for not doing better research. moving on!

so we got settled in very quickly and were out the door within a half hour. we headed out to the temple bar area and basically went bar hopping searching for live music and friendly irishmen. there was no shortage of either. the irishmen were so friendly that i even got proposed to just walking by one of them at the first pub we walked into. i said yes, duh. we went to a variety of places including the temple bar itself where we met some random irish guys that ella proceeded to let write on her stomach "i <3 ... (insert graphic image here)" you get the idea. they were just great. or as they say in ireland, they were grand. it was also awesome, but not very surprising, the amount of names i recognized from people at home. i also assumed the alter ego of Jillian Kilpatrick for the weekend which was a hit with the locals. Kilpatrick is my mom's maiden name and for even some of my closest friends it might come as a shock that my real full name is Jillian and you've just never ever heard me refer to myself like so before. Sorry deRosas side of family, but it only seemed fitting for this one weekend to ditch our ounce of latin heritage and go with our real roots. So, Jillian Eileen Kilpatrick from Boston traipsed around dublin the rest of the night pretending to remember all of deirdre goulding's school of irish dance reels and jigs and really feeling quite at home. after lots of different bars, beers, locals, and music we decided to head home around 1ish knowing we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

 this was necessary because the cars were going the wrong way, miracle i didn't get hit by one

 the river liffey, dublin

live music at gogarty's playing my new favorite song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az56T76krgc

the next morning we woke up for our walking tour of dublin. i'm not really one for walking around like herded cattle in big groups of tourists but our tour guide was just the coolest irishman ever and was so passionate about irish history and all the sites that i was basically a dog on his pant leg. we went everywhere from city hall, to dublin castle, to christ church cathedral, to the project theatre where bono got his start, to trinity college, to st. stephen's green, to the natural history museum, to o'connell st, to the ha'penny bridge and many more that i'm forgetting. the city is so small that a walking tour was so easy and enjoyable, not to mention we lucked out the whole weekend with the weather, not one drop of rain. after the tour brandon, ella, and i split from the group and walked down grafton st a bit which is a great shopping area, and then got food at this awesome organic place. we all had their irish beef stew with mashed potatoes, i was actually IN HEAVEN. it was made with guinness and i love potatoes in every form it was just to die for. 

the ha'penny bridge, cause it used to cost half a pence to cross it. those clever irish

speaking of guinness, after our lunch we met back up with the group, found out about the hostels, moved hostels by cab paid for by bus2alps and then cabbed to our tour at the guinness storehouse. the guinness storehouse was a staple to our time in dublin, we drank a hefty amount of guinness cause when in ireland do as the irish do. so guinness was actually created before the united states in 1750 by arthur guinness because there was no fresh drinking water in ireland and whiskey and gin etc were too harsh so he created guinness for people to live off of. hence, the drinking culture in ireland, it's actually a crucial part of their history believe it or not. we toured every floor, enjoyed our free sample(s) (oops were we supposed to take one?.... we took three), learned about the making, the history, the advertising, etc and then headed to the top floor for our free guinness at the gravity bar. did you know it takes 119.5 seconds to pour a perfect draft guinness? for those of you who have had to do it before you know what a pain in the ass it is to pour one but after watching them do it at the gravity bar (and every bar i ordered a guinness at) i think i can take my talents to the orleans inn this summer. the gravity bar had an unreal view of all of dublin and we enjoyed our guinnesses as well as ran into our friend sarah from tulane! such a small world.

my first beer ever

guinness mustaches...yum

after guinness we went back to the hostel to get ready to go out. no time wasted. we grabbed a burger for dinner before....which was also unreal ugh the beef in ireland was just to die for and being a carnivore like myself i was yearning for some good ol' fashioned homegrown MEAT. afterwards we headed to a pub crawl with the rest of the bus2alps crew. honestly we would have gone on a different one but our really awesome tour guide from that morning said he was going to be there so we were like we must go he is the man. he wasn't there. and then we found out that his tours and these pub crawls were run by the same company, oh the deception! never thought such a jolly irishman would lie to me like so but i guess its the business. so we had to endure the somewhat painful company of the other bus2alps tourists during this pub crawl. we went to some cool places including one of the bars bono owns but once we finally got to the fourth bar that had the live music (what i was looking for the whole time) we decided to ditch and stay at this place once everyone left for the next place. it was here that we ran into some french canadians who had some irish friends that convinced us to follow them to another pub. motto to following random strangers this weekend: why not? we weren't going to get taken in ireland so we jumped on every opportunity to hang with locals. we met these guys' irish friends, one of them legitimately being mitchell from modern family's straight and incredibly drunk and hilarious twin, and followed them to this super swanky club called hogan's. it was too swanky for me but ella said it reminded her of LA, not a club but not a pub just a very swanky bar. we met all of their friends and i could have just let them talk to me for hours cause i like listening to their accents but once we realized the ratio of girls to guys we figured we should probably ditch the situation as it was getting late anyway and we had to be up at 7 am.

the next day we headed out to the cliffs of moher bright and early. it was still dark when we got on the bus, which was some sort of luxury mercedes benz bus (not too shabby bus2alps i'll give you that one cause its in the name). the seats on this thing put me right to sleep and when i woke up the sun was rising over the irish countryside and i don't care how corny it is but it was one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen. until we got to the cliffs. the cliffs of moher are in county clare and at their highest reach something like 750 ft. they were also in the running for the seven wonders of the world. put the cliffs in portugal to shame. they were absolutely breathtaking and although ella's camera snapped a lot of great shots, no photo can really do the view justice. we of course snapped touristy pictures from every angle and wandered up and down the edges of the cliffs for 2 hours. it was actually pretty mind blowing because they had a dedication to those who had lost their lives at the cliffs of moher, which initially i thought was suicides, but actually probably commemorated people who had just fallen off the side as well because if you aren't careful it's definitely possible. sorry kind of a grave thought. anyway! gorgeous views and so many stereotypical abroad shots taken. this was probably my favorite part of the whole trip, it was to die for and everyone needs to go in their lifetime.

everything is so damn GREEN

yes everyone, ella and i are dating and only take pics with each other

this shot was so candid!!!!

after the cliffs of moher, we headed out to galway. the ride to galway was all through these tiny winding backroads in the country side which had some more amazing views but was incredibly bumpy and i was pretty sure i was gonna toss my cookies at one point cause i felt so carsick. also at one point we had to stop cause a heard of sheep trotted by our bus. no joke. how irish is that? i loved galway from the second we set foot in it. we got a walking tour of this city as well from this very old irishman who was something like 7th generation galwegian named Liam. the city was tiny and we saw all of its points of interest in an hour walking, but if i had to compare it i think that galway would be the granada of ireland. more small town with a hint of city feel to it with a lot of students and culture. after the tour we had time to wander around so we sat down for lunch and ate more amazing food. this time i had quiche lorraine and butternut squash... yum. and of course we headed to shop st for some dessert where i had actually the most amazing hot chocolate and slice of carrot cake in my life. i'm starting to realize half of this entry is about how much i enjoyed the food.... major #fatgirlprobz oh well. there was also some sort of musical parade going on where this marching band played songs ranging from irish songs to the scooby doo theme song to grease lightning while two people on huge stilts walked around them in weird costumes giving people high fives. it was definitely entertaining. also, thomas dillon the original maker of the claddagh ring started this symbol and selling this ring in galway. i've been given two claddagh rings in my lifetime and both times they haven't fit my fat fingers so i figured while in galway it only seemed right to finally invest in a genuine one. the rest of the day was spent wandering around galway up the river and people watching. we headed back to dublin around 6 for our last night there.

OG claddagh

after the bus ride back i was a little delusional cause the bus was 1000 degrees for some reason but after some motivation we were back out the door by 9:30 to head out to some different places. we stopped at the porter house for some specially brewed beers and some live music. after a beer there we headed down to camden st per recommendation but realized it was more of a local club scene which wasn't what we were looking for. we started walking back towards temple bar when we decided to walk down this random back road that seemed kind of crowded. then we saw a sign for live music so we walked into this bar called the stag's head. we went downstairs expecting bathrooms and happened upon some of the best live music we saw all weekend. it was a very authentic place filled with irish locals, but of course you can't just walk into these places without realizing how small this world really is. ella and i were mocking ourselves for being so american in this very irish place when the guy behind us asked us where in the states we were from. he happened to be from atlantic city near where ella has a summer house and knew a bunch of her friends from brigantine. smallest world ever. this kids mom was from ireland and they were all there on family vacation so we got to hang with their whole family and they were the merriest clan ever the mom was loving dancing with us and we had a blast with all of them.

the next morning we woke up early to get a full last day wandering dublin. what better way to start your day then a good glass of whiskey? we headed to the jameson distillery for a 10 am tour because that just seemed like the most healthy choice. the jameson distillery is actually the old jameson distillery, they now distill their whiskey in cork and this was more of a done up museum like tour but nonetheless still really cool. jameson is hands down the best whiskey out there and as i learned on sunday its because they distill their whiskey three times and age it five years in three different kinds of casks and then marry it all together so that's where it gets its smoother kind of vanilla like taste. at the end ella got to do the honors of being a certified whiskey taster (which our tour guide had to put out a disclaimer at the beginning to all americans: this is not a shot contest... embarrassing). so we tasted jameson compared to jack daniel's (once distilled whiskey) and johnnie walker black (twice distilled scotch). jameson wins again. i got a complimentary whiskey ginger and savored it til the very last drop.

GOOD MORNING WORLD!!!

a balanced part of today's breakfast

turn that chandelier upside down... my christmas tree next year

after jameson we were feeling a little silly but walked around the rest of the day. we saw st. patrick's cathedral and went into the bank pub which was rated national bar of the year in 2009 and i can see why it was absolutely gorgeous. but we went in there because our tour guide from the first day told us they had an exact replica of the book of kells that they even change the page every day like they do at trinity and it doesn't cost 12 euros to see. how sneaky are we? after we sat down for a burger at bobo's which seemed to me to be the irish boston burger company. they had so many choices. i obviously went for the emancipator which was complete with onion rings, bacon, etc... i practically made love to this burger it was so good. okay last time i talk about the food i ate. anyway before heading back to the hostel to grab our stuff and head to the airport we went to a bar near jameson that seemed to be a sort of whole in the wall called cobblestone. they had live music but it was very mellow and enjoyable sunday afternoon in a bar kinda setting if you catch my drift. we enjoyed one last guinness before hitting the road. only seemed appropriate to fill out stomachs with jameson, guinness, and a burger before heading out, right?

YUM

so we sadly parted ways with ireland. i have already started researching grad programs in dublin because i am actually obsessed and want to move back. i am so glad i got to visit but i know it would have been tOo convenient for me to study abroad there. i am certainly enjoying the challenge of being in spain and it is perfect for me for this semester, but ireland is where i can see myself living for the rest of my life. still waiting to find my gerry, ya know?  this weekend i head out with my program to some local spanish cities, sevilla and cordoba. i'm leaving earlier than my program with kathryn because we are going SKYDIVING! sevilla is ranked in the top 10 places in the world to go skydiving actually and it was pretty reasonably priced as well (of course if you don't buy the completely overpriced photos+DVD package). it's something i have always wanted to do, and i'm actually pretty scared of heights.... so if i don't pee my pants it will be a success. if i write another post you'll know i've survived!! as they say in ireland, sláinte!