OKTOBERFEST

how do i even begin to describe this weekend............. you think that having two mardi gras under my belt i might have been at least mildly mentally and physically prepared for such a festival but no. nothing in the whole world could have prepared me for the shenanigans that were about to ensue the second we set foot in munich. on thursday, all the granadinos bussed to madrid where we stayed for the night before all of our early flights the next day. there are about 1,000 tulane kids in madrid so we all went our separate ways until catching them on the flip side in germany. ella and i stayed with jess and owen and went to bed early after a bit of catching up and whatnot.

we were ridiculously early for our flight the next day and chilled in the airport for a while. nicole and klausner were on our flight as well so it was nice to have a little crew there to wait with. we flew lufthansa and literally it was the best flight i've ever taken. it was only about 2 hours or so and i sat next to jess chatting it up about life the whole way but the best part was not only did we get a complimentary meal including chicken, pasta, bread, and cookies, we also got unlimited free drinks. so of course we started the german beer drinking as early as possible. after a delightful flight we got off the plane and it was immediately noticeable how fresh and clean the air was. it was still so hot in spain when we left it was so refreshing to have cooler weather. we went to the subway and also even when i was in madrid i was expecting some part about traveling on subways in foreign cities to be difficult but everything here is infinitely more efficient its silly how easy it was to navigate everything. so we were casually waiting at the subway stop for the next train when all of a sudden wheeler goes "jessie....." and by some freak chance miracle jessie who had landed an hour or so before us just happened to walk to the subway station at that exact moment. so convenient. and so we all went to our respective hotels to check in and shower and explore and then meet up with everyone later from there.

there were a ton of tulane kids at oktoberfest this weekend. i have no idea how it worked out like that but it was amazing. i hadn't seen most of them since may and it was just the craziest and most exciting thing to be with everyone in germany. a ton of people were staying at the wombat hostel so we walked over there hoping to find people which low and behold right when we walked in ran into a bunch of the madrid/prague kids. que suerte, no? seriously this whole weekend having zero communication with anyone has just made me realize everything always works out. anyway so we stayed for happy hour to hang out "just for a little"......we never left. everyone from tulane ended up coming to the wombat as well because they had a bar with a happy hour and it was just too much fun we all stayed there the whole night. going into this weekend i knew i was really there for oktoberfest and a tulane reunion so i was fine with how the weekend went in terms of exploring Germany. we walked home later in the night to rest up for a big day starting at 7 am.

the next morning we woke up super early, ate breakfast at the hotel, walked to the wombats and ran into a bunch of tulane kids on their way out. made it to oktoberfest and waited in all these random lines in dreary weather. at around 8:30 am we saw them shovel in the last big group of people that were in a line we were in before they moved us to a different one. that was the last big group of people they let into the hoftbrau haus for the rest of the day. so all of us continued to wait in a crowded line in the freezing rain for the next 5 hours. just to get an idea of how pleasant i was during this time, i was incredibly claustraphobic, a bit hungover, and feeling not so great. so at probably around 9 am or so.... i was the first person so barf at oktoberfest before any of the drinking even started (we were there the first day so the first keg wasn't even tapped til noon). great start to my weekend. so once we sat for a while, ate a bit and drank some water, we braced the completely overcrowded line again only to be yelled at in german (scariest language to be yelled at in). after about 2 hours like this klausner and i had a bit of a psychotic break and decided we would rather just get out of line find some of the boys we were with and try to drink outside. honestly timing is everything. we went to the bathroom and couldn't find the boys and i randomly ran into an australian man i had met earlier through some other tulane girls. he stopped me and was like do you wanna get in for 5 euros? (which i didnt pay) and we said hell. yes. klausner and i managed to grab segolene and rachel and the australian led us in with some workers he had paid off. i literally think that at that moment i felt euphoria. i was ready to give up on the day, completely soaked to the bone, so sick and upset, but once we finally got in it was 100% worth it. 

me being a wench during the first few hours of oktoberfest

completely delusional, soaking wet, and the happiest we've ever been, thanks australian!

after this we walked around the hoftbrau haus which was huge and totally overwhelming and it took everything in me to hold back legitimate tears of joy. we wandered around hoping to run into the tulane people who had been in there since 7 am and if not just finding a place to sit and have a beer when suddenly i feel a tap on my shoulder only to turn around and see brandon, from tulane also studying in granada with me, and i think this was the happiest i had ever been to see someone in my entire life. i latched onto him immediately and made him hold me until i had sufficiently soaked him from the residual rain i was drenched in. once brandon had led us to where all the tulane kids were i was ready to finally start the oktoberfest festivities. beers were 10 euros and let me tell you do you get a bang for your buck. i just found out to today that there was really 3.5 beers in each huge mug they gave you which explains why two of them were more than sufficient for me. i ordered two off the bat because i deserved it for being in the rain for that long. after about an hour everyone that we had been waiting outside with had managed to sneak in as well and we were all inside dry(ish) and having a grand ol' time. there was so much singing and dancing on tables (this was one of my favorite parts, spaniards are so uptight about being on surfaces you're not supposed to so to be able to dance on a table again was such a liberating feeling) and meeting new friends from places like norway and finland it was amazing. 

the best and the worst decision i've ever made all in one

at 3 oclock they kick everyone out of the tables because they're reserved for important people apparently. so as the scary german beer maids and security guards were rushing us out somehow a group of us decided no way are we leaving this place to go back in the rain we waited too long outside for that. so we just walked around and dodged all the scary germans and hid in the middle of the tent and in the bathrooms until everything died down. we found a place to stand at the tables without benches and continued the festivities. ella and i befriended one of the beer maids and bonded over waiting tables of course. these ladies could carry like 10 of these huge mugs at once and my hands were sore just from holding one. once we decided to find everyone and leave it was nice outside again. we went back to the wombats cause that was a safe meeting point and here and there found people coming in and out of the place. at this point we were all feeling pretty splendid and i think i must have had about 6 h2h's with different people about life and family and boyfriends and whatever seemed meaningful at the time. it was lovely did a lot of unnecessary but pretty hysterical catching up. 

as it started to get later i realized i couldn't get in contact with anyone cause my iphone didn't work and i didn't have my spanish phone. we had lost jessie and ella so katie and i tried to find them. we found ella in someone elses wombats room and went to the other wombats room looking for jessie. couldn't find her so instead just decided to try and rally everyone to have a night and go back out in munich. once i had put forth all this effort and got a bunch of people to follow me we braced the city of munich expecting something grand. almost nothing was open or nearby and finally just resorted to shawarma. went back to the wombats and had somehow lost katie but once again found brandon who was apparently my guardian angel this weekend. went back to his room with all his friends and luckily the people katie had been with came back there too. we somehow got convinced to stay there at the wombats instead of walking home so late. i "slept" on the tile floor on daniel's vest for a few hours and woke up at 6 am when someone was leaving for the airport, simultaneously katie woke up and we knew we had to get back to our hotel. we walked back at the crack of dawn and it was actually a lovely walk. when we got back jessie and ella were both there and we were all just too excited to be together again. we all showered (so necessary) and ate breakfast and made our way back to oktoberfest.

on sunday, we just walked right into hoftbrau haus at 9 am not even a problem or wait or anything. we were like this has to be a joke... we walked around hoping to run into everyone and i spotted a boston hat from across the room. it was noah and everyone, once again have no idea how all of these things worked out so perfectly this weekend. so the festivities continued. we were about half the people short from the day before but for those who were still there we made it the best time ever. started the day off right with a beer and a plate of mac n cheese, which i say with the utmost certainty was the best mac n cheese i have ever had in my entire life, props germany. we made friends with the australian girls sitting next to us on one side and played some games with them and then made friends with the scariest looking old german men on the other side of us who ended up being friendly and sharing their sausage with us. then i noticed what seemed like a whole crowd of important soldiers on a balcony above and managed to get one of their attention. he threw me a rose and a glove and i asked how we could get up their. he pointed us in the right direction and katie and i ran upstairs to hang with these german men. they ended up being some sort of riflers union that had marched in the parade earlier. all of our tulane friends came up to join us. it was hilarious interacting with these guys they were so merry and hilarious and giving us all their pins and letting us eat their food it was great. eventually everyone wanted to move on so we left but when katie and i made our way back up there later we socialized again and it was then that i realized more than half of them didn't speak a word of english. how authentically german of us to be hanging with them!

katie and i taking some selfies with the german dudes

fun souvenirs from german dudes

we met up with everyone else on the lawn behind the hoftbrau haus and just laid around and snapped pictures of passed out people and frolicked around in the grass. we were all the happiest people in the entire world and we literally just sat around and giggled for what seemed like a few hours. after a little bit of this we decided to go on some rides. we went on one that i had spotted from the lawn really far away. it swung all the way up in the air and upside down and back down again. it was the best ride in the whole place cause from the top you could see all of oktoberfest and munich and still got the enjoyment and rush of a really fun, fast ride. from there we decided to explore a few other tents where i was mistaken for a german person and yelled at in german which was interesting. in the other tents if you weren't wearing a dirndl or a lederhosen you were completely out of place so we just ended going back to the hoftbrau haus. somehow everyone got split up again and it was just me and katie playing with little kids outside of bumper cars. after a little while when the parents were probably sufficiently creeped out by us we decided to head back to the hotel because it was getting dark and late anyway. of course on the way we made a stop at mcdonald's where i managed to drop my entire tray, get laughed at, pick it all back up, and proceed to eat it. we made it safely back to the hotel probably around 10 pm. actually i made that up i definitely had no concept of time the entire weekend, but it was on the earlier side.

the happiest people to ever live

so getting up the next morning at 6 am and making it to the munich airport all on my own was one of my prouder moments but i was very sad to say goodbye to the weekend. so to sum up oktoberfest it was probably one of, if not the best, weekend of my life. we had so much fun, so much beer, so many heart to hearts, so much good food, and all around just an amazing time spent with so many amazing people. it was probably my most expensive trip but it was worth every last penny and then some. everything worked out no matter how wrong things could have gone we were all safe and all were where we needed to be at all time. we all managed to always find each other and had such a blast. this will most certainly go down as my craziest trip but i knew going into it that this was what oktoberfest was for. i promise that my other trips will be filled with more cultured experiences, but as for german culture, i don't think i could have done anything more german. and let me tell you, we killed it in germany. could not have asked for a better weekend and definitely a successful first trip! next up: lagos, portugal!

the goonies

so this week we have decided to remain active with our hiking maven, kathryn bacher, always keeping us on the go. yesterday we took another short, cheap bus ride to monachil which is a mountain town right outside granada and did a much smaller scale, much less strenuous hike after class. this time we went with more people which was great cause it was such an easy hike there were no complaints ever. the hike itself was a very defined path for the most part and kathryn had detailed directions for us as well. we wandered off the beaten path, if you will, a few times only to discover scenes straight out of the goonies. we we're climbing through caves with water falls, scaling rocks, and waiting for creatures to pop out. we made it to the top of one of the caves and found a free flowing waterfall which had it been nicer out would have been ideal for swimming.

goonies cave

after that we set out again on the right path where kathryn led us to a bridge with the instructions "no more than 4 persons allowed on bridge at a time." crossing this bridge was not for the cowardly because though it seemed quite secure to both sides it was a wooden plank bridge out of a movie that shook with every step and if you looked over the edge you could only imagine falling 500 yards to death into a rocky gorge. great image right? so for once ever kathryn was scared of this adventure and i walked the plank first (as fast as i possibly could). once we got across we kept going alongside the river through caves/woods/mountains etc. 

walking the plank, it wouldnt be so bad if this thing collapsed

once we had followed the beaten path for what seemed like too long we decided to scale the side of the mountain following adam up to the top of a cliff. this reminded me of our hike at trevenque but instead of the slippery gravel it was actually solid rocks which was nice. it was pretty steep though and we weren't totally sure of a way down. luckily once we got up there we discovered a nice little path up and down. of course, we went up higher. i realized that my fear is not of heights, but of cliffs and edges and especially watching other people teeter on them. the girls walked out to a ledge to take a picture but i was increasingly nervous about kathryn falling off the side that it drove me to the point of tears. it seems like i'm that high maintenance wench but really i'm just concerned someones gonna fall of the side. christ i don't even like it when little kids hang over the balconies at shopping malls, try being 300 yards over the side of a rocky cliff. 

i was smiling for this photo until i looked over the edge. sheer terror

once we had had enough of the cliff adventures we decided to continue on our hike. we hit a patch that was mostly uphill when we thought we were supposed to be going back which was discouraging for a little bit but hiking maven got us where we needed to go. we picked fresh fruit the whole way too, getting to eat grapes and blackberries and figs (which are delicious btw nothing like a fig newton which are gross and what i was expecting). all around lovely afternoon.

fresh fig straight from the tree (ignore small thumb)

today ella and i have packed for oktoberfest and attempted to budget out our spending for the rest of the semester. this sounds psycho but i have a document with all my flight/trip information that i have added the price of the flights, housing, tickets or whatever i spent on the trip and now have gone through and budgeted a certain amount of money i'm allowing myself to spend on every trip (which will hopefully be an overestimate) alas trying to stay on top of things organizationally and financially cause god knows how poor i'll be by the end of this. manana madrid! viernes alemania! Dieses Wochenende werde ich genug Bier für vier große Männer trinken!! (translate.google.com)

4 girls vs. wild

this weekend was a purely granada weekend. on friday, after a very relaxing day the girls went out for tapas at this very local highly recommended place called bodega espadafor. we were the only blondes and non locals in the place but it was cool cause the owner was the one running the whole place with just a bartender and we talked to him for a bit which was really interesting. after that, since i was still not feeling too hot we went home knowing we had a long day at the beach again the next day. this beach day was much smaller scale than last week. we went to La Herradura which is also part of Almunecar but is a little more secluded and supposedly "high end." it was really nice there and definitely more quiet but i didn't feel extra special being there. we went with much less people and instead of trying to cram in a million activities we just swam and laid out and hung out and it was really nice. everyone came back with a mild sunburn but nothing feels better than a good nights sleep after a beautiful day in the sun and ocean.

La Herradura

ella and i had every intention of watching newsroom when we got back but passed out before we even let the show load (btw highly recommend watching this show it is making me less of an ignorant american than being in europe is). we went to bed early because we had another early day of activities ahead of us. today we woke up at 8 am to catch a 9 am bus to go hiking in the Sierra Nevada. When you look on most tourist websites about Granada it will say it is perfectly nuzzled in between the mountains and the beach making it great for all time of year. so, we had a very Granada weekend taking advantage of the best of both worlds. ella, kathryn, rachel and i went for this hike hoping that we were going to actually make it to where we wanted. ella, kathryn, and rachel had all apparently done thorough research on this hike so i was just their clueless friend that tagged along but it was probably better that way, for me at least. they guided me and i just followed so no complaints there.

we got dropped off at the bus stop at the edge of the sierra nevada somewhere around 10 am. we had to walk a ways to figure out exactly where we were going and at the beginning i was pretty nervous cause they kept saying oh we haven't gotten to the trail yet blah blah and i was like but we've been walking for 40 minutes...... anyway, as far as my hiking days are concerned my experience pretty much ranges from the dunes at white crest in wellfleet to the fells in medford. though i do love a good climb around the fells, this was that on crack. in total we hiked for 5 hours about 16 km, half of which was uphill and not like slight incline like grabbing on to rocks for support and everyone around us had equipment and we were scaling the side of a mountain winging it. 

so as i said before, i'm sick. pretty hearty cough and infected sinuses, so all this dryness and exercise did not feel great at first but once i got over the uphill battles i recovered pretty quickly. but, in the first mile that was uphill i warned everyone about how i was probably going to be breathing pretty heavily but like i was panting. this made me nervous cause i knew we had a long ways to go. luckily we made our first stop pretty quickly so ella could make her mark on the sierra nevada. we all went to the bathroom au natural once on this journey up and down the sierra nevada and it was a pretty glorious feeling if i do say so myself. 4 sorority girls roughin' it, who woulda thunk? 

we kept trekking on not exactly sure if we were gonna make it to trevenque which was our destined mountaintop we were headed for. kathryn being the spanish social butterfly she is stopped every other person we encountered on our trek to ask if we were going the right way. luckily these two mountain bikers pointed us in the direction of the right peak. from down below i was like okay no way we're actually making it to that peak that can't be the right one its so high and steep and small. it was the right one. after another hour and a half or so hiking uphill we reached the incredibly steep part. we stopped and let rachel make her mark on the sierra nevada before we ventured up what seemed like a 90 degree angle.in reality it was probably 75 degree angle but seriously pretty damn steep in the hot desert sun.  i put my ipod on an "eye of the tiger" genius playlist to set the mood so we kept on roughin' it.

we made it up the gravel hills and to a rock with a patch of shade. we decided to sit down and eat our bocadillos and regroup from there. from that point it looked impossible to actually get up to the peak of trevenque. it was so steep and we thought we must need equipment to do it cause it looked like it was all rock. we finished our lunches and were content with going back down, except kathryn. she just haaaaaad to go to the top. so one of my biggest fears is watching other people do really dumb, dangerous stuff and watching kathryn rockclimb the side of the sierra nevada actually came close to inducing vomit for me. just in time a shirtless spanish man with ski poles comes rushing on down the side of trevenque and kathryn asked if we could get to the top. he said yes, but definitely not by scaling the rocks like she was trying to do. he pointed us in the direction of a path and we made our way up. this part may have seriously been an 87 degree angle on gravel/sand. made for a pretty interesting trek in my nike free's with no traction. 

so we kept going, rachel and i lagging a little further behind than before. finally after what seemed like an hour trying to climb 25 feet we made it to the top of trevenque! the view climbing up was amazing to begin with but our view from the peak made it totally worth it. we sat up there for a while listening to  tunes by the likes of cat stevens, fleetwood mac, bob dylan, etc. it was one of the more accomplished feelings i've ever had in my life. we were all so dirty and sweaty and disgusting and it was one of those dirty feelings you know you worked hard for so it felt awesome and worth it. after about another 45 minutes of picture taking, sayings like "we're so lucky", music, relaxing, and good conversation a random old spanish man busted up our little party so we figured that was our cue. after kathryn dismissed herself and made her mark on the sierra nevada, we took his picture for him and we were on our way. 

see that peak at the verrrryyyyyy top? thats trevenque and somehow we made it there

going down made me a lot more nervous than going up. once we were up there and expressing this concern ella threw in her carpe diem two cents saying "if we don't make it down, at least we made it up!" so we were prepared to take that one to the grave with us. at first the old spanish man led us the wrong way and we were heading down a really steep cliffside with one slip you would fall into your imminent deserty, rocky, miserable death. after a few minor freak outs on my part we turned around and went in the direction we came from. i'm sure they wanted to kill me at the time but whatever ladies you have your lives now. the way down was slippery, dirty, dangerous, a little painful, but pretty awesome. i felt pretty badass trying to scale my way around the rocks and find a way down without falling. every time we took a step it reminded me of that scene from lion king before the stampede where those rocks shake a little bit and make that ominous noise. it was freaky but kinda cool. we finally made it to flat trail land and walked on this trail most of the way down. this trail was on the side of the mountain and had awesome views of the rest of the sierra nevada on the way down. lucky for this trail i made my mark on the sierra nevada on the way back. you're welcome sierra nevada, now you won't forget the 4 girls that trekked your great peaks, as the saying goes "take only memories, leave only dirty tissues" .......right guys? 

our view on the way down, finally some flat land

once we were at the bottom we were all pretty delusional and tired. we stopped for water and fruit and then made our trek back to the bus stop. we were early and we waited there in the middle of the street cause there was no well marked stop. unfortunately for the family whose house we were in front of, our dirtiness, exhaustion, and mild dehydration got to our heads while we belted the lyrics to michael buble songs until the bus came. it was such a quick bus ride back and round trip was 3.20 euros. we had an unbelievable day for almost nothing. the day was totally priceless but for how easy it was/close it is i almost can't believe it. what was even better than the day itself was the shower i took after. only kidding but the shower was prime. so thats the story of my super active Granada weekend. as the real saying goes "take only memories, leave only footprints" and that we did. unbelievable soreness in the butt/leg region ensues tomorrow. hasta luego

la enfermedad y algunos pensamientos

so it's official. i am quite ill here in espana. i tried to deny it for a few days but today i woke up and can't even really swallow. lola has been taking care of me for the most part always asking how i'm doing but i'm not really sure how to express to her how sick i really feel and if i should go to the doctor or not. so.....instead of trying to explain, i'm waiting it out. it will be hard not always having someone cooking for me, and cleaning for me, and doing my laundry when i get back but its times like these where i want my real mom to tell me what to do and charlie to cuddle with on my couch. on top of this, it doesn't help that when lola cooks for us, she cooks SO much. the food is awesome and i love eating it, but the lbs are packing on fast and my stomach/intestines aren't feeling too hot and i don't like not having the control over what i want and don't want to eat. and when we don't eat everything or not enough for the spanish standards they're all like up in our grills with "no quieres mas pan, por que no???" ... because its not normal to have four pieces of french bread, a massive meal with god knows what in it (seriously i never know what i'm eating) and sides without wanting to vom lola! beggars can't be choosers though, and they take very good care of us. hopefully i fit into my clothes by the end of this month. 

so this week i've had a lot of pensive moments like "what am i doing here?" "what will i get out of this?" "what kind of person do i want to be here" and "what do i want to be like when i get back?" really deep stuff, i know i'm basically a philosopher. i keep trying to take myself more seriously because i am always comparing myself to others. other people who have made more spanish friends, or other people who go out every night, or others who are hanging out with different people, or other people who have the money to do/travel more. but the truth is, when i try to take myself too seriously, i get really stressed out and disappointed in all the things i haven't done yet. i'm slowly starting to learn the art of being content with myself not having to do everything. fomo, or otherwise known in the DSM as "fear of missing out" (jk not classified as a real phobia/anxiety disorder yet, but it will be once i'm a licensed psychologist), has always been my reason to do most things. i never want to miss what other people are doing, or i want to do things that i hear about other people doing. its always a comparison that i've realized is impossible to keep up with. so especially now that i'm sick, i need to try and rest up and let some things pass. i am so lucky to be here and be able to travel and see so many different parts of the world i just need to focus on making the best out of my own experience without being afraid to be more on the mature side than is usually to my liking.

this is a really lame post that i'm sure many people will think a bit less of me for but thats okay, i'm figuring it all out here. hopefully i'll come back and people will think of me like that oh so inspirational b.o.b. lyric "great head on her shoulder, she must have studied abroad"..... but she's still deep down same old silly jill. only wishful thinking i can be tre cool. ella and i have added to our list of "reglas para sobrevivir en espana" or "rules to survive in spain" things like only eat one piece of bread at a meal, avoid bars with covers, all the life essentials obviously. so things are turning around here for us and we're very much getting into the swing (aka trying to maintain some kind of shape and stop spending money). coming up this weekend we have the playa again, this time we'll be going to nerja, and then sunday we plan on doing a 7 hour hike in the sierra nevada with kathryn. i'm hoping the fresh air and sun and exercise will cure my sore little throat but we shall see. next week i will be starting to volunteer with Granabip which is a center for people with more extreme cases of bipolar disorder, essentially i'll be be talking a lot in spanish with these people and helping with activities that keep them happy. and a week from today we'll be with the crazy germans in Munich for oktoberfest! gotta get better and make a full recovery cause get ready people its bound to be a post with a lot of shenanigans.

vamos a la playa

wow i've been waiting to say that so literally my whole life. so its been a lazy sunday but we had a fabulous fin de semana here in espana. thursday, like i said, we went to karaoke. i won't lie it was incredibly disappointing. nothing like little tokyo and packed with american students that weren't as passionate about the mic as i was so we left. friday, class. moved into a new level and it was fine. the teacher for the 2nd half of the class had us watch "el orfanato" or "the orphange" by guillerme de toro. if you're ever looking to watch a horrifying movie that will give you nightmares for months but entertain you for two hours and don't mind subtitles then watch it. i saw it in high school in ms. diez's spanish culture class and i watched it over the course of like 3 weeks so the nightmares were very drawn out, but this was just one fell swoop and i already knew what to expect so i didn't scream or cry out loud in class so that was good. still deff having nightmares though.

friday we went to brandon and adam's pool and i learned how to play texas hold em. very valuable life skill. then later we all went to el botellon and made it there before midnight for kathryns spanish birthday. we met up with the boys there who had brought some spanish friends that they knew through their spanish madre. of course i immediately interjected myself into this friendship cause it was people i could trust and i love socializing with normal spaniards. i made friends with the girls which at first i thought had to be like 18/19 years old. nope. 16. but i was all about it. it was kinda funny cause you could tell some of them had crushes on the boys but obviously in the states the age difference between a 20 year old and a 16 year old is really weird. but they all seem so much older here its weird. so ella and i made besties with these girls and it was nice cause i miss my little sisters and i pretended i was partying with their spanish alter egos. they showed us where to go to the bathroom and introduced us to all their little friends. one of their friends was born in 1996 so thats when i decided i should probs stop being a pedophile but we exchanged numbers with the ninas and we're fb friends now so we're all gonna go shopping sometime.

ella and i with our new amigas rosa and soledad

after the botellon we went to camborio and i shared a cab with kathryn and mary and watched as kathryn stole the cab drivers walkie talkie and harass other cab drivers. she almost had one convinced to come to camborio with us. camborio was great but so much more crowded than the first time we went. unfortunately thats how most clubs in granada are gonna be now that all the students are getting back. we walked home with sam at 5:30 am and took a quick siesta, can't really call it a nights sleep, cause we woke up at 8:15 to catch a 10 am bus ride to the playa. ella and i got up ate some breakfast like zombies and packed our bags with our lunches lola made us and then tried calling/texting kathryn so we could all get the bus to the big bus station. once kathryn hadnt answered after the 15th call, we decided to walk over to her homestay and see what was up. luckily the door was open and we asked the janitor which apartment encarma (sp?) kathryns madre was. we rang her and she told us she couldnt get kathryn out of bed so we should come up and wake her up. encarma reminded me of some old ominous lady out of a horror movie but she was very nice about letting us come in and get kathryn. kathryn was a little confused but got ready in 60 seconds for a 10 hour beach day. pretty impressive.

we got on the bus with everyone at 10 and the trip to the beach was so easy just about an hour. once we got there i was in that phase of my hangover where i really wanted greasy food, and what was next to the bus station in almunecar? none other but a good old fashioned mcdonalds. so i finally had my psychotic break with fast food and caved. we waited outside for 20 minutes for it to open and everyone else got like maybe a side of fries, or an apple, or an ice cream. i got a bic mac because that just made the most sense at the time. who doesnt wanna eat a medium big mac combo and then go prance around on the beach in a bikini??? normally at mickey d's i go for the double quarter pounder but apparently they dont have that in spain so believe it or not this was my first big mac ever. only fitting that it was in spain i suppose. so i annihilated this burger and then we hit the beach.

playa puerta del mar, almunecar, espana

words can't even really describe how much i needed this beach day. the water was so blue and perfect and it was the absolute perfect weather i was the happiest girl in the whole world. the weird thing about almunecar is that its got mostly small stones instead of sand but it was so enjoyable nonetheless. ella kathryn and i did some exploring, climbed up a monument, swam around these huge rock/cave like things. i could have stayed in the water forever. although our long swim around the rocks was a little terrifying it was awesome. after that we went back and joined the group and decided we wanted to rent these little paddle boat things that had a slide on them. to quote my favorite line from the incredibles "it was TOTALLY WICKED." but actually it was definitely for children but we each paid 3 euros and got to take this thing out on the water and use the slide and jump off of it and everything and it was so fun. we were the granada yacht club for an hour and swam from each others paddle boats and i think all of us had a smile plastered on our face the whole time.

paddle boat contraption. note awesome slide.

after this the day was filled with naps and chats and more exploring of the beach. ella becca kathryn and i went to the other beach nearby and swam out to the dock over there and relaxed for a bit as well. then we napped some more then ella rachel and i walked back up to the statue and took a few pictures of the amazing view. it was just such a great day in great company. we all got to relax and enjoy ourselves in one of the most beautiful places i've ever been (big deal coming from a beach snob like me) but this was the mediterranean so i guess nlb can't even really be held to the same standard. at the end of the day we all went to eat at a little restaurant right on the beach. everyone wanted fish so we went there....... ella and i hate fish. after both of us have grown up on the beach our whole lives, we just aren't fans. but everyone else was doing it and said it was good so we tried it and we split a filet of cod. it was really fresh and everything but.... i still hate fish. i dry heaved the entire time and could only stomach two bites. ella managed to put it down but i just ate the side of fries and vegetables and bread. adding to my really healthy diet of the day.

view from the monument of san cristobal... yes this was real life

The group of us took the 9 oclock bus back and it was the kind of bus ride i feel asleep on and never wanted to end. i had every intention of going out for tapas or something when i got back, but got to my bed and passed out immediately. a whole day in the sun will do that to you. today i woke up pretty early and did some homework and have been trying to plan trips. things that i'm planning as of now: skydiving when we go to portugal with the program, road race in mallorca, and a trip to my home country of ireland. now after we eat lunch, we're gonna go on a little hike to the sierra nevada cause we need to get out the house. after that we're gonna go to paddy's and catch some good ol' american football. pats and the saints are playing at the same time but paddy told me he'd definitely put the pats game on for me so we're good. another week of school oncoming so probably nothing to interesting but i'll update soon amigos.

snap back to reality (this is for you and mom and dad)

hola hombres. so i havent updated this in a while because this week was the first week of classes and it was quite a reality check. so first we had the placement test on monday which we were all kinda nervous for but had no idea what to expect (thanks tulane for the heads up) so ella and i woke up late and almost missed the test but we ran there and made it. i have no idea why we keep sleeping through our alarms but ella just bought and old school alarm with bells that probably wakes up people in Madrid when it goes off. anyway so we took the test and none of us placed where we should have to it was such a process this week switching classes and everything.

so because of this process, ella and i both had minor mental breakdowns. so this first month we're taking intensive language classes and it was pretty obvious from the beginning we should have been in higher levels but whatever. then we had to start planning for the rest of the semester on top of all this stress with the levels of this intensive class. so starting in october we have to take one language class (which counts for nothing at tulane, thanks again tu for making this such an easy process! not.), one class at the centro para lenguas modernas and two classes at the university of granada (with a spanish professor and spanish students........................). so trying to organize this schedule so that it would fit all together timewise, we would get credit for the classes, and maybe by some chance it would be something we were interested in was actually a nightmare. we've talked about it with each other so much over here i feel like i keep repeating myself but the whole process was so so annoying. 

so after a week of classes for 4 hours every day, probably a million emails, some tears, one anxiety attack, and a visit to the CEA office with everyone we have all finally figured everything out. I'll be in level 6 for this month and once i take the test october 1st I'll be in level 7 which places me perfectly into the Advanced Hispanic Studies program which i need to get credit back at tulane. Then i'm taking modern history and flamenco and music of andalucia at the university of granada. these classes will be with spaniards and other international students so that will be really interesting and a great way to learn the language. they'll be like american classes in spanish though so they'll be really effing hard but i'm trying to befriend a spaniard that will tutor me (do my hw for me). then my CLM class will be history of spanish film. now that its all settled I am definitely excited it was just the worst process ever and i never thought i would have to worry about class this much. So now CEA is setting us up with tutors and spanish students who are trying to learn english so we can all practice together before the test at the end of this month. sooooo abroad classes......not as much of a joke as i was hoping but whatever if i dont come back fluent just shoot me.

so after some destressing and a couple hugs from our program directors in the CEA office, we came home and ate and took a mini siesta. Then ella, kathryn, and i cleared our minds by running up the rio gentil which is a river that runs down the west side of Granada with fresh free flowing water form the sierra nevada. We didn't run very far but we got to a point where you could get in the water and it was so refreshing and clean it was glorious. on our way back we explored the outdoor gym that runs along the river but the only thing we understood was the monkey bars. we act like little ninas every chance we get but its always so fun i love it

rio gentil with a view of the sierra nevada

So tonight is karaoke night at this Irish bar (run by a Spanish man?) called Hannigans. For those of you who have been lucky enough to see me perform on the stage of Little Tokyo you know how amazing I am at karaoke. its like not a big deal but my voice is like a combination of fergie and jesus. I think i will probably redeem myself from the land ho this summer and perform "like a virgin" by none other than madonna. I'll get in on video for the romanians because i did bail out of that duet with ionut way back in july. needless to say its the perfect thing for all of us after this week heading into friday. we also have big plans for the weekend. its kathryns birthday (september 8 same day as you dad!) and we're going to take a bus to the beach for the day. much needed. So basically after this week, we realized even more how much tulane sucks organizationally and we've adopted the saying that they use all the time "no pasa nada" which basically means "don't worry" or "its nothing". it all works out and now we're finding great ways to relax and explore so now that everythings organized its only getting better from here. i'll keep you posted on karaoke and our beach excursions

adios guapas hasta luego

fotos

for all artsy cool pictures that make us look super trendy, refer to ella's blog:

http://whereisdove.blogspot.com.es/

la albayzin

this is my third post today but i want to keep this updated as much as possible. only when i do things as cool as go to the albayzin. today was a very lazy sunday for the most part. by the time ella and i motivated to get out of the house it was 4:30. we met up with kathryn and walked to the park, el parque garcia lorca, thats right behind our house. this was in the middle of siesta, and was on a sunday so literally the streets were empty and the park was even emptier. we walked around for a bit but had every intention of playing in the park, first stop zipline. we used the zipline and some trampolines. we also played on this awesome see saw it was the most fun see saw i've ever been on. it was good we went during siesta and no one was there cause i'm sure people would have felt uncomfortable watching three 20 year old girls run around a parque like niñas. it was a lovely afternoon and so much fun.

after we had our tour of the albayzin. the albayzin is the old arabic neighborhood which is all up on a hill in Granada. it has all cobblestone streets and is super intricate. we went to the top called the mirador de san nicholas which overlooks the entire city and has the mots breathtaking view of the Alhambra. we gazed for a bit and took pictures and played with begonia's, our program directors, four year old daughter carolina (still in little kid mode) then headed to a teteria, or a tea house. this place had such an arabic feel it was very cool. we all sat on couches and ordered tea and lemonade which was all freshly made right there. they also gave us these sweet bread treats that were delicious and if you wanted you could smoke hookah there too. it was a relaxing place that on a night we aren't going to the discotecas or anything we could go there and enjoy tea and hookah and good company. 

decoration in the albayzin

afterwards we walked home and realized its super close to where we live. i guess really everything in this city is super close like the most we walk is maybe 20 minutes at the very most. alas, it was cool because there are a ton of nice little stores and places to eat around there its certainly a place where we'll take visitors. ella and i came home and ate dinner here (we both ate fish and didnt vomit on our madre!! so exciting) cause we needed to relax cause tomorrow we have our placement exam at 8:30 am which i don't exactly feel prepared for but we'll see. really want it to be over with and get classes started and get a routine going. ella and i are also going to start running cause we plan on running a 10k in mallorca in october! this will probably be my last trip that i book. its sad because there is so much more i want to see but i know i'll come back some day. now the honeymoon phase here is ending and all of us are getting into a real life swing of things here. these blog posts will probably become less frequent and more about the trips i take. in these first five days i've done most of the tourist Granada things so i think from now on my life here is going to be very smooth (hopefully) and i'm excited for the full immersion and eventually becoming a cultured american and not feeling like an insecure tourist traveling in a group of 30 all the time. we shall see ay? more shenanigans, and definitely pictures, to come. adios mis amores

la comida china

oh my god we just had chinese food for lunch are you kidding me this is the best day of my life. its like carmen knew it was mi favorita and yo necesito la comida china despues de una noche tarde. it was no panda express but im one happy americana right now. im gonna be 400 lbs when i get back so prepare yourselves. bye.

La Alhambra y los noches tardes

hola hombres. its almost 2 in the afternoon aqui and we got back sometime around 7 am this morning so this is gonna be the weirdest blog post ever. my brain isn't all there right now. ( also disclaimer my blog wont let me post my most recent photos so annoying but when it figures it out ill post muchos fotos) so I left off the other day just talking about the first days in Granada, since then we've gotten our bearings a bit more. On Friday night after our dumb tours, Ella Kathryn (shes our new friend from colgate look at us tulanians branching out) and I walked around and explored the city a bit. we saw a huge protest on capitalism through the centro it was crazy. people were waving  che and soviet union flags and they were shouting all this crazy stuff and cops had to stand outside of zara and stuff it was insane. We found the river and just decided to hang out there for a little. It was cool and when I looked at the clock it was 8:30 which was unbelievable, it looked like it was maybe 6 pm. It stays light out so late its amazing. we eventually made our way back to our casas and showered and everything just to go out for tapas. we knew we had to wake up for the Alhambra and I was not trying to be hungover for that. so we went to tapas at this place called Poe because i had gotten a recommendation from somebody that works in admissions to go there and it was fantastic. the guy who owns it is the british guy named matthew and he runs the bar while his wife makes the tapas. it was really small and quaint and eventually taken over by cea kids. the tapas were the best ive had so far in granada. matthew moved here 10 years ago and opened the place 9 years ago and has been living off of word of mouth publicity. its truly amazing how one can just up and leave their home and start a whole new life somewhere else without a worry in the world. we also met paddy who is the owner of paddys pub in granada. he's an old irish guy who when i introduced myself as jill, not only was he one of the only people thats been able to pronounce it but he called me jillian. I showed him the list i had of top places in Granada someone gave me and the top two are poe and paddys. he has a similar story to matthew, he's traveled all around the world opening bars his whole life. he's in granada now running this paddys but he closed his bar down on friday cause he wanted to go out and get drunk, what a guy. he was so cool and he remembers everyone he meets. some girl walked in to poe and was like paddy remember me i met you five years ago! and he did. what a cool life.

so ella and i went home early, which was like maybe a little past 3 am which is absurd that thats early. we woke up this time for the Alhambra!! snaps for ella and jill. we then went on a walking tour which literally took 3 hours. the Alhambra is a huge fortress in granada that now symbolizes the power struggle between the christians and the muslims for power in spain. its the #1 tourist attraction in spain and on average 8,000 people visit it a day. i definitely know why because the place is truly amazing. some of the views and the details would make me stop dead in my tracks and just have my jaw drop. its so beautiful. an englishman gave us our tour and we had to wear these funny tape recorder looking things and he would speak into a microphone and we could hear it in our headphones. it was pretty dorky and really touristy but necessary. by the end of it i was really tired and my legs were killing me but it was worth it. then ella and i ate at home and siesta-ed for muchas horas. after that Adam and Brandon's host family was having a pool party for adam's birthday so we made our way over to the rich side of town.

the view from the generalife at the Alhambra

when we got to their house everyone was already there and in the pool. they have the most amazing set up its not even really fair. their padre is from the netherlands and speaks fluent english and spanish so he can teach them, their madre is so fun and such a sweetheart and they have siblings one who takes them out hector and one who is just adorable aida. I was chatting it up in spanish with aida all day, shes 14 and way cooler than me. i miss having little sisters around so it was cool to hang with her. ella and i decided we're gonna give aida and her 10 yr old cousin estella our clothes we cant fit to bring back as hand me downs. they were so cute and loved us two cause they dont have older sisters. it was awesome that their family let us all go and swim there. they also had cake and everything. the padre was playing the eagles and phil collins and all this great old school american music i loved it. i loved even more that he was wearing boston red sox sandals and he brought out a patriots superbowl dvd and told adam and brandon they had to watch it. of course this was the appropriate time to bask in my boston townie-ness and relish in the glory of boston sports teams with this padre. everyone else left and the madre told us to stay for dinner. we kinda wanted to shower but she was very insistent on having us and it would have been rude not to stay so ella and i stayed and hung out with all of them. dinner was amazing. a bunch of little dishes eaten at 10:30 pm like empanadas, cheese, ham, and bread. it was so so so good. we left around midnight and loved them so much we have to go back. it was also awesome cause you could tell they were obviously very wealthy and didn't have to take american students in a homestay but they did it cause they genuinely enjoy it and want to bring us into the culture.

ella and i made our way back and realized everything happens for a reason because when we were walking back we happened upon this parade through the centro that had fireworks and a huge religious float that everyone was silent when it was moving into a building and then once the float was in the building they had a marching band play and all these people with all this religious garb march around. we had absolutely no idea what it was for but it was so cool and pretty quaint for a religious celebration ella and i were thinking how lucky we were we left at that time and got to see it happen. then we kept on our way walking home and walked by paddys and it was empty so we just decided to go see paddy and hang out for a little. we chatted he remembered us it will be cool to be friends with him cause he'll play all our football games for us. he's the friendliest bartender ive met and its cool cause he treats us like adults even though he must be older than my dad. he told us helpful things though he said its our body language that makes us american and what that means is our smile. he said americans smile everywhere they go and it gives off the impression that you're being overly friendly which is not good. ella and i both won best smile in high school though so i guess we'll just have to hold our own on that one. finally we made it home and were ready and showered to go out at 1 am (wtf is that timing i dont even know)

we met up with everyone at el botellon which is basically this dumpy park everyone drinks and pregames at before the discotecas. obviously we used this as our opportunity to meet spanish friends. all of us we're just walking up to people and talking to them. it helps our spanish a lot. we actually decided the more we drink the better our spanish is so we have to pregame our tests (jk mom and dad). everyone at el botellon told us to go to mae west so we went back there and it was a lot different than wednesday. so. effing. crowded. overwhelming but really fun. of course we kept trying to get on stage with the paid professional dancers they had and the bouncers were not having it. they hate us americanas but whatever. we left at 7 am and ella and i got in our first fight as a married couple. i thought i knew where i was going (i didnt at all) and kept trying to tell ella we were supposed to be going one way (complete wrong direction from our house) but im so stubborn i wouldnt listen to her. she had to grab my hand and drag me while i pouted cause i was pissed i was wrong (im a toddler). we got home and woke up at like 1ish and now its 3. we havent done anything. we're gonna eat and then go mingle with the weirdos that lurk around during siesta when no ones out. perfect time to play with the zipline in the park that all the ninos were hogging the other day. then tonight our program has a tour of the albaycin which is the old arab quarter. the oldest and most intricate part of town. we walked through it a little bit after the alhambra and its really amazing (get used to me overusing that word but its actually the only way to describe it). i'm really excited to see it and we get to go to some tea houses it will be great. the culture in granada is so rich with so many different backgrounds its really unique to spain and also the rest of the world. all the stereotypes of spain are here, siestas, flamencos, the food, the people, but also they have such a history in so many different cultures. they have roots and actually still have neighborhoods dominantly christian, muslim, and jewish. the city itself is also so small and manageable we walk everywhere and feel like locals already. honestly describing it in words in this blog doesn't do it justice at all. ella and i just keep saying we can't believe how lucky we are. we've always lived in big cities and its just amazing to be in a place thats genuinely spanish and not intimidatingly large. anyway i wont keep rambling about granada cause ill bore your pants off but come visit us and we'll take you to the alhambra and you'll never want to leave.

hasta luego hombrecitos