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