Just Madrid

First off, I fixed the problem with the comments. Now everyone can leave a little something for me to read. Sorry about that everybody.
Now down to the post. This might be the longest post yet and I know what you are all thinking, thats not possible. Well, just wait. I went to the two biggest cities in Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, and I have a lot of stuff to talk about.
My entire program went to Madrid, all eighty of us, and we went nuts once we got there. After finishing our intensive language course, we were ready for some fun. We got there and did some serious sight seeing. Our first stop was the Royal Palace or the Palacio Real and it amazing. Whats crazy is that they still use a lot of the rooms that we saw whenever the King meets with important people. Did anyone else know that Spain still had a King and Queen? It was definitely a surprise for me to hear that.


After the palace, we went to the Prado Museum which is the best classical art museum in Spain, and it might be second only to the Louvre in Paris. I saw Goya, El Greco, Velasquez, and tons of other artists. There were so many that I forgot who was who. I really loved Goya and Velasquez. Goya's later works were really dark and twisted and Velasquez' most famous painting "Las Meninas" or the Maids of Honor was awe inspiring from up close. I think that my favorite paintings from this museum were Velasquez' "Las Meninas" and Goya's "The Dog".


After the Prado we went to Hard Rock Cafe for a long awaited burger. It was delicious. I don't think I have ever had such a good american burger. Satisfied with our huge meal, we walked to another museum, the Reina Sofia. This was a more modern museum with tons of work from Dali, Picasso, Miro, and tons of other modern artists. Looking at all these paintings was exhausting, especially when you are looking at surreal painting that don't make any sense. I think my brain was fried by the end of the day. Seeing Picasso's "Guernica" from less than five feet away was awesome, even though it was a insanely confusing painting. Dali's stuff was even weirder but really fun to look at at the same time. They had all kinds of other artists there and so many cool things to look at.


The next day we took a bus to two towns outside of Madrid. I don't remember the first town's name but it had an enormous monastary. There were dozens of chapels inside of this building with hundreds of rooms. The building was shaped like a grill because the patron saint was martyred by being cooked alive on a grill. Pretty intense. It was strange seeing grills all over the building. Anyway, our tour was just of one side of the giant square and it lasted for a few hours. At this monastary, they royal family is buried in tombs deep beneath the main chapel. It was a little creepy walking down there. Besides the kings and queens, there were places for the rest of the royal family in different parts of the building. Don Juan, the ladies' man, was buried here as well. You can see him below.



After the monastary, we drove to Segovia. It was a beautiful, picturesque european city. There were two huge sites to see. The first was an enormous aqueduct that ran right through the city. The other was a castle that Walt Disney claimed to have inspired Sleeping beauty. Both of these were so incredible to see but by this time I think I was a little toured out. I have some amazing picture though.
Well, I was going to try and put both Madrid and Barcelona on this post but I cannot write anymore. I will try and get my barcelona post up soon. Hope you enjoyed this one. Leave a comment!

Partying and Hiking

This last weekend, or fin de semana as the spaniards would say, I did two really exciting things. On friday I went to a discoteca which is THE thing to do in Spain. Everyone who's young and restless gets their groove on at one of the many discotecas. In Granada there are three to choose from. We chose the Mae West, which if any of you are old american movie buffs will know that she was a famous actress.

Before we got our groove on, we decided to hit up the local Irish pub. Since the discoteca is located in a mall, we walked around the indoor mall and stopped by a pub for a refreshing Guinness. Being in the mall at midnight and going to a bar was a really strange experience. After our beer, we started dancing and were on the dance floor for at least four hours. I didn't get home until five in the morning. I was exhausted but it was ridiculously fun.

Saturday was spent recovering from friday, so that day was pretty much a waste but on Sunday we went on a epic hike through the mountains above the Alhambra. There was some snow still on the ground from our recent storms which was exciting, at least for us californians. Everyone from the east coast thought we were crazy for jumping up and down over a few spots of snow.

The views from the hike were amazing and the first half was a pleasant stroll through the hills. The second half got a little more interesting. We walked towards a cliff and watched as our guides started skipping down an enormous hill. THey just expected us to skip down after us which we eventually had to do. After manuevering down some trails we were horrified to watch our guides discuss which was the safest route. SHouldn't they know before we got there? Every path was muddy and slippery and kids were falling left and right. Finally we made it to the bottom and got some burger king. Hmmm...burger king.

The Albaicin

As you can probably tell by the posts so far, most of the interesting stuff in Granada has to do with the Arabic history. The Albaicin is the oldest part of Granada. On a hillside with a beautiful view of the Alhambra, the Albaicin is an amazing neighborhood of white houses called Carmens. This entire area is protected and any remodel has to follow the certain style and form of the other houses. Its pretty wild. The streets are cobblestone and some of the roads are barely five feet wide. Luckily we had a guide because it would be too easy to get lost in this neighborhood for hours.



Our guide took us to the first monastary(i think thats what its called) and we bought some of the leftover communion bread from the nuns. It was really interesting how the nuns are not allowed to see anyone. We had to knock on the door and ask for the bread through a wooden turn-table. THey put the bread on it and spun it around so we could grab it and then we in turn put money on for them. The bread was the thin wafer stuff and it was pretty blah. I'm not sure why we were all excited about it in the first place. Well, thats about it for my Albaicin trip. Its more of a "you had to be there" experience. Hopefully the pictures will help. Oh, one more cool fact, the Albaicin is THE place to live in Spain. Thought that was cool to know. Talk to you later.

The Alhambra

Oops! After all that I forgot to talk about my trip to the Alhambra. It was amazing. The Alhambra is an old Arabic fortress on top of the hill in Granada. Since it was capture by the christians, they built a giant palace in the middle of it. It was never fully finished so a lot of the statues are missing. Its a strange mix because there are old arabic watchtowers next to a renaisance style palace which are across from the Arabic palaces. The renaisance style was to have the outside be decorated ornately but the arabic style is to have the inside look amazing. You wouldn't know how nice the arabic palaces were unless you went inside. I'm trying to figure out how to share my pics but until then. Try to imagine it using the vivid description that I gave you.

My First Week

Hey everyone! Since everyone and their mom has been asking me about Spain, I've only been able to give out minimal information. Basically all I have said is that its awesome. You might have gotten one of those answers but worry no more. Now you will be able to read all you can about my trip, probably more than you ever wanted to know.
I'll start from the beginning. My flight flew into Madrid where we were able to relax and sleep in a glorious bed for the first time in what felt like days. On my flight were more than of all the kids in the program so I had already started to make some friends. We wandered the streets of Madrid and saw some interesting stuff. Most of us were too tired to do anything crazy so we just crashed in the hotel at around midnight. That's early for spaniards.
After a five hour bus ride, we arrived in Granada. We were all terrified to meet our senoras. They informed us at the last minute that in Spain, you don't shake hands, you do the cheek kiss. This only amplified my fear. When they called my name I went to my senora and gave her a half shake kiss combo. It was awkward. Her name was Pepita and she took me and my other american roommate back to her apartment. My roommate speaks pretty good spanish so they talked as I struggled to understand what they were saying. Lets just say it took me a while to understand the spanish accents. Pepita also has the most difficult accent I have heard yet. My senor is named Gabriel and he is really nice. They have three boys who are all in their thirties. I also have an Italian roommate who is studying to be a lawyer. His name is Giovanni and he is really great. He leaves to go back to Italy this weekend and I am pretty bummed. He added a lot of fun to the house. Plus he was easy to understand.
Besides my homestay, i have been going to class five days a week for four hours each day. This is our intensive language course. Our teachers are all really nice but they act like they don't speak a word of english. I don't believe them because I think its all a ploy to make us learn. So sneaky. Class is at 8:30 in the morning and it has been almost impossible to get up each day. The spanish don't go to bed before one usually so I barely get any sleep. But the best part of the day is the siesta. From 2 to 5, almost everyone in spain stops working and goes home to eat and relax. Stores close, the streets are almost empty, and the city stops for a few hours each day. This is when I get my much needed beauty rest. I wish they had this in the US.
One thing that I am still undecided on is the spanish food. Some days our food is amazing. Lentil soup, paella, tortillas, and other goodies are so tasty. But occasionally there comes the food that I can't stand. Hard boiled eggs doused in far too much mayonaise, pizza with tuna on it, whole shrimp or fish complete with eyes, legs, scales, and whatever else comes naturally. These days I tend to stick to bread. Also, the spanish have an obsession with ham. Everywhere I go, ham is in at least 90% of the food. Not sure how I feel about that. I love ham but I might overdose on it.
The nightlife in Spain is crazy. Tapas bars are open until around 1 and you can go any day of the week with your friends to have a beer or wine and eat some free food. Its awesome cause when you buy a drink you get a little plate of tapas or appetizers. Each round you buy, the better the tapas are. Usually we just get one and the walk around but they have been good overall. Besides the tapas bars, there are discotecas. These dance clubs don't start until two in the morning and go until at least four or five. I haven't had the stamina to go to one of these yet but I will. I need to get my dance on.
Well, this has been long enough. Kudos to whoever made it this far. I will be sure to post a bunch of pictures and keep everyone updated on my crazy time in Granada. Hasta luego!