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!!
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