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!!