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.