Granada (It's ok, It's Flexhold)

Hola TODOS!

Well, its been DIAS since my last entry, and I've been pretty darn busy. Hmm...where to begin.  Well, school i guess is schoool.  My classes are pretty cool, however I forgot that i had to like work tho, so that's really starting to get to me.  Wed night, I found myself with the grupo at our fav haunt- 100 Cervecerias, the 1 euro bar.  Thurs I stayed in, to prepare for the big weekend in Granada...however that didn't go over so well, as I stayed up muy tarde packing and such.  Friday began the epica granada adventure.  I'll leave everyone with this; ERASMUS (international student org) SUCKS AT PLANNING TRIPS AND AT GENERAL COMPETENCY.  

Friday:

The bus ride there was great, except for when we realized that instead of the hotel we were supposedly staying at, we were actually in a HOSTEL (and an icky one at that) and we ended up being in a room a 7 (we all knew each other, THANK GOD), and our other group members were in the 10 person room and in another hostel (because they didnt think to book the same one? idiotas).  However, all was not lost, because we made friends with 3 really cool Italians, 2 of whom only spoke spanish and italian (and boy were their accents hysterical).  Friday, when we got there, and after we realized the full horrificness of our hostel crisis, we did a psuedo walking tour around the city (passing by all the impt things, like Ferdinand and Isabella's graves, with the briefest of intros, like 'here's an impt monument, now lets go'), but we did get a good feel for the city, which was lucky, considering what was soon to come.   However, we did see a bunch of pretty churches, and had our first real encounter with the Gitanos (gypsies) who accost you with Rosemary and curse you when u walk past. Creepy.  My friend katie actually got grabbed and shit. Crazy. 

We realized quite quickly that none of the ppl who planned our trip knew where they were going or what they were doing. No one. at all. it was in a word- asinine.

However, i dont wanna give anyone the wrong idea. I loved Granada and had a shit ton of fun :)...it was just a tad disorganized.  For the rest of Friday, we had some free time to explore more, and we ate at this AMAZING Arab Restaurant called Kasbah.  It was the most amazing thing i've ever eaten abroad.  Tucked into one of the narrow side streets in the Arab quarter of the city, its a rather hole in the wall place, but its BEAUTIFULLY decorated on the inside.  I ordered Pastella de Pollo, which was like a pastry thing filled with chicken, almonds, and onions with cinnamon on top.  Even our sangria had cinnamon in it!  However, since i was so hungey, i ordered a kebap too ;).  Then, we went on this nighttime tour of the old Muslim neighborhoods, in which our busdriver, Pepe, drove us halfway up the Mountain (oh i totes forgot to mention that Granada- yea in like IN in mts, however, there were a shit ton of palm trees, talk about confusion lol) and then we schlepped through really old streets to get a really awesome view of La Alhambra at night. Beautiful. Then, we went to an authentic flamenco show, by real gitanos, in what Ryan called "The Flamenco Speakeasy" because it was like a white washed stone room that was super long and like built into the side of a mt.  We got free sangria at that too, which made my life.  After that, the buses dropped us off in the middle of the city, we all walked to a bar, stayed for a bit, and then tried to find our way home.  However, one the of trip leaders, who supposedly knew the way, was actually really lost, so Ryan and I took charge and navigated us halfway across the city back to our hostel, which may i remind u all was in an ALLEY.  When we got back, he pulled me aside and thanked me for getting us home.  My response: I'm from NY, it's what I do. 

Saturday:

We went to La Alambra pretty early, and it was SO awesome.  About the only thing on the trip that was well planned, probs bc some really awesome Arab woman was our guide and she really knew her stuff.  Check out the pics when i put them up. It's literally like paradise up there.  However, we got left at the famous fountains near the end of the tour, and were yelled at bc apparently it was our fault.  Stupid Erasmus.  After that, we WALKED back to the city, down a cobble stoned path that was hundreds of years old (aka worn) and down hill (and those of u who were in Rome know how well i do on cobblestones).  After that, we broke apart again, went back to Kasbah, bought wine for the night and food for the next day, and proceeded back to the hostel for our wine party.  Two bottles later, we were all really happy, Ryan had given EVERYONE a makeover, Jilly did my hair, and we met the italians for an amazing night.  The first discoteca we went to was Teatro, which was really awesome, and mommy found herself a hot spaniard...and after a few dances promptly dropped him...mommy knows best ;).  Then we went to this club, Mae West, which we had VIP passes for, so we took a glass elevator up to the top, and got 2 free drinks...so when 430 in the am rolled around, we all decided to peace.  Me katie and Sara really had to pee, so we left first.  It was on this walk back that i realized that heels on cobblestone even streets SUCKED. Sara peed in an alley, and we ended up back home.  My poor feet.  Mommy (clearly my new nickname) waited up for Jilly to come home, bc she didnt have a key. and then we all spelt for 4 hours. because check out was 1030am. ugh.

Sunday:

Wine gives me headaches, but last night was totes worth it.  Best Valentines day to date. however, everything was closed bc it was sun, and our bus back wasnt till 4pm.  So we sat on a bench in front of Corte Ingles for an hour, bought bread and pastries at the bakery down the street, and returned to our bench.  Really funny.  We then went souvenir shopping in the Arab district, where i bought my name written in Arabic on pretty paper on the street for a euro fifty. The guy was really nice, and we chatted for a while about Marrakech, where he was from.  Then, after running into some of our friends from Cali, we went back to the hostel, check emails, and went to the plaza to wait for the bus, which was an hour late.  Also, the ride back was horrific, and i swore we were offroading. But whateves.  To end an even longer way, when i got home at 11pm, my host mom was still gone and left me no food, so i had 2 frozen spring rolls, vanilla pudding, and a kinder sorpresa huevo and called it a night.  

In summation, epic trip.  My bday is monday, and i'm like whooooooa.  This weekend, im going to Segovia and Salamanca to celebrate.  And i got word that the skanky and fran are funding my flight to Paris as a 21st bday prez. SO EXCITED.

Hasta Luegoooooooo