Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh

Ok, first off, I'm sorry for the terrible reference in the title of this post...!!! I just had to fit it in here somewhere :) Which means that last weekend, I went to Granada!

Granada is, like everything else in Spain, absolutely beautiful. But Granada has its own unique characteristics that make it very different from anything else I've seen. First of all, it's situated in this little valley in between all these awesome mountains, but it's actually warm there. It was a little strange to see snow-capped mountains but only need to wear a light jacket, but hey, I'm not complaining!! And, the entire town is built around this giant hill. The hill was sort of like a giant nature reserve/forest, which is really refreshing since I've been living in the concrete jungle for 4-ish months.

The things everyone's GOTTA see at Granada are the Alhambra and the Catedral/Capilla Real. We saw those and went shopping in the Arab quarter, and got tea too! :) But I'm getting ahead of myself, I have to talk about the Alhambra first!!

The Alhambra was built in the 14th century by the Moors and conquered by Ferdinand and Isabel in 1492 (yep, the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue!) So, not only is this place gorgeous, but it's rich with history, too. This was the place were Isabel told Columbus she would fund his expedition across the ocean...awesome. The level of detail in the palace is just insane, it's like almost every surface has intricately carved stone. Even the elaborate wooden ceilings are still intact, so that was really impressive too.

The gardens were even more impressive (although Sevilla is still my favorite, don't tell anyone.) There were hedges and so many roses, and amazing fountains and pools...I was in heaven. I mean, sitting under the shade on an ancient Moorish terrace, looking at the snow-capped mountains in the distance is probably as close as you can get to paradise for me.

By the way, if you were wondering, I haven't changed at all:
OH MY GOSH AND DO YOU WANT TO KNOW THE BEST PART? THERE WAS A BABY KITTEN THERE!! A BABY KITTEN!!!!! I'm sorry for shouting but IT WAS SO ADORABLE!!!!! IT MEOWED THE CUTEST LITTLE MEOW AND IT WAS SMALLER THAN THE PALM OF MY HAND and oh I have pictures of it:

So yes, my day was made, the Alhambra was amazing, and OH nerd alert! The fort at the Alhambra really seriously reminded me of this fortress in one of the Zelda games, and I felt really weird thinking that at the time. Actually that happens a lot here in Spain, like in Sevilla, I was in this garden and almost laughed out loud to myself because it reminded me so much of the castle gardens in Zelda 64. And yeah don't even get me started on the castles/churches! Ok nerd alert over, I promise.

The next day we visited the Cathedral and Royal Chapel, aka the place where THE Ferdinand and Isabel are buried. I even got to see their caskets...uhh yeah, that was a little weird. But the cathedral is just beautiful! For example:

Yeah, geez, they don't mess around when they build churches over here. The picture on the bottom is almost all solid gold, too.

I don't know if I can cram any more pictures into this post, oh man. I wish I could put all of them here because Granada was so beautiful and photogenic! I'm working on finding a website where I can just put all of my photos (I need to back them up anyway) so I'll put it on here when I figure that out, for anyone who's interested.

Anyway, I'm off to bed, and stay tuned for more! This week is the Festival of San Isidro, Madrid's patron saint, and it's pretty much a huge deal here. There's stuff going on all week, including the Madrid Symphony Orchestra playing a free concert in the park. Oh heck yes I'm in!

Besitos, miss you all!!

Ariel

(PS besito = little kisses :] )

I Miss My Trumpet!

Spain is awesome, but I definitely miss a few things from the good ol' USA. Here are some things I miss, in the order I miss them:

Andy: being 4270 miles apart isn't fun.

Friends and Family: same. 4270 miles sucks.

Music: my host family has a piano, but it's so out of tune that playing it is actually painful. I miss being in band a lot, probably because I've never gone this long without playing. The other day I saw a trumpet in a shop window and I seriously stood there staring at it for about 5 minutes before I snapped out of it. The university doesn't really have a concert band; they have an orchestra, but it conflicts with a lot of my classes. Man, I miss music.

Milk: the milk here is so weird. It's called UHT, which means Ultra-high-temperature processing. It also means that you don't have to refrigerate the milk before you open it. It always tastes really sweet and creamy, sort of like I'm drinking a creamer, but not. I miss my American pasteurized skim milk!

Buffalo Wild Wings: they don't exist in Spain and ohmygodIwishtheydid.

Pizza Hut: they don't really exist here either. They have pizza, but it's weird.

Pancakes: ohhh God, pancakes. They don't eat pancakes for breakfast, or in fact at all here. However, I have heard of a few restaurants in other parts of Madrid that sell pancakes...I'm gonna have to stop by.

Pets: oh yeah, plenty of people around here have pets. The thing is, I just can't touch them. It's the worst. If you see the fluffiest, cutest group of 3 Pomeranians on a walk, you just can't coo at them and pet them and hug and kiss them, because that's not what normal people do, ever.

Walmart: I just miss the convenience of it. You go in, you get everything you need, you leave. Here, everything is separated. The medicine is only sold in the pharmacies, the hair supplies are only sold in specialty stores or el Corte Ingles (too expensive,) and snacks are pretty much only sold in liquor shops.

That may actually be everything I miss, in a nutshell, at least. At the same time, though, there is so much of Spain that I love and will miss when I leave! Here's what I will miss from Spain, not necessarily in any order:

Lunch meat: I hate ham, but the ham here is delicious. The turkey is really good too.

Bread: people have bread with every meal here. I never have too much, but it's really good, and it's so charming to see people walking down the street with a long baguette tucked under an arm! :o)

Architecture: oh man, do I love the way things look here. Balconies, lofty windows, pretty facades...I wish buildings looked like this in the US!

The Metro: the subway here is really clean, fast, convenient, and affordable. What I will NOT miss is the pickpockets in the metro.

People: the people are so nice here. The other day, I ran into an elderly lady in the elevator who just struck up a friendly conversation with me! Even if my Spanish is terribly awkward, people are still so nice to me.

European friends: of course!

Sangria: enough said. Actually, I'm going to miss the drinking age here as well...it's going to be weird heading back to the USA and not being able to drink for like 6 months til I turn 21.

There's more of that too, but I'm not heading back yet! I've got about 4 months left here, and I intend to make the best of them!! :)

Luego!