Life Now

It’s been over three months since I left Spain and I haven’t touched this blog. I feel bad for sort of leaving people who were following my posts out of nowhere, but it has been a weird transition back to my Tennessee life.

I spent my last month in Europe traveling around.
-I took a trip to Mallorca with my best friend, Sidney, which involved us renting a smart car, staying in a huge empty sheep-farming house and swimming in the most beautiful water I’ve ever seen.
-After Mallorca Sidney and I met up with our other best friend to go to Greece for 5 days. This trip involved missing out on our opportunity to visit the Parthenon because we forgot to change the time on our watches, eating an absurd amount of the most delicious food I’ve ever put in my mouth and soaking in as much of the welcoming, perfectly overbearing Greek culture as we could.
-From Greece I traveled had a very long day of travel starting at 4:00 AM and ending around 9:oo PM (Athens -> Geneva -> Barcelona -> Madrid -> longest metro ride ever -> longest 5 minute cab ride ever) to finally arrive in the arms of my family. I cried as I ran up the stairs carrying my luggage to the sound of my mom’s voice and was so, so, so happy to see them. We had the perfect two week tour de Spain and Portugal.

Then, I came home. After six months of living in my fantasy land where my meals were cooked for me, I walked past 800 year old buildings everyday and my biggest decision was to travel to Paris or Budapest for the weekend; it all ended. I had a miserable trip home with hours of delays and what was supposed to be a friend-filled homecoming changing into my trooper of a dad picking me up from the airport at 1 AM when he had work at 7:30 AM.

It was so great hugging my dogs, seeing my cousins and having a meal at my favorite mexican restaurant; including a margarita. One thing I did notice was that things change while you’re gone. I changed, my friends changed, Knoxville changed, my outlook on things changed. I’ve never been one to deal with this very well, which made the first month or so quite difficult. It was frustrating for me to talk to my friends from Spain asking them “How’s home?” with their responses being “SO great, the transition is a lot easier than I thought”, while I’m here questioning why I ever spent one second of my time abroad with homesickness.

I am working my way back into my life at home. I had a beautiful summer spent by the lake, hanging out with my best friends and rediscovering all of the treasures I bought abroad that I had packed away. I love fall in the south, I love going to football games at Neyland Stadium, I love how I can get in my car and get anything I need at any time of day or night.

I miss more than anything speaking Spanish all of the time, I miss my host mom and her ridiculous stories, I miss staying out until 8 in the morning,  I miss being disconnected from my cell phone and that being okay, I miss the set in stone Spanish culture, I miss my friends, I miss the simplicity of life in Spain.

I haven’t touched my journal yet, I think reading it will come with time. I do feel like I find things from abroad once a week; a receipt from my favorite tapas bar here, a charm from Morocco there. It’s sort of fun. I look at pictures from Spain and get nostalgic a lot.

I have an itch to discover… to travel and to keep discovering my independence that I was just getting a hold of while I was in Spain. On the other hand, I don’t want to leave my best friends again, I don’t want the lurking anxiety that something will happen to one of my loved ones back home while I’m away or the frustration that comes with the lack communication understanding.

It’s a hard, life changing, unexplainable, weird, incredible, difficult thing, study abroad is; especially if you’re there to do more than just live the Euro party lifestyle. I am so happy and feel so blessed to have had this experience and it won’t be my last time doing something of this magnitude. I love that I have this part of me that not everyone knows about, but I can bring up if I want to. Salamanca will always and forever be one of my homes and favorite places in the world.

It feels good to write here again, and I hope I can keep it up. Again, sorry for the lack of closure. I am still here for a resource for anyone looking to study abroad or has questions about my time abroad.

Saying goodbye to the Plaza Mayor.

As of Lately

Oh the dreaded final exams. Those started last Monday, but guess what? As of today I’m DONE! Woooooooooooooo I did it! I survived a semester of 4 classes with Spaniards taught about subjects I knew nothing about, in all Spanish! I passed all of my classes. Another Wooooooooooooooooo!!

At school at home we usually have a day or two of “study time” after classes end before finals start, where absolutely no exams are scheduled but here I ended classes May 17th and have study time since then. It was nice to actually pace myself for once.

Another difference between school in the USA and school in Spain is that if you fail the first exam you have a chance to take a different version of the exam about 3 weeks after the first one. Pretty sweet, huh? NOTE: this is only for students who are in special programs like mine that are in normal university classes, most study abroad programs aren’t like this.

I had four exams and one 7 page paper to write all within the last week and it’s so nice to be done. I did have one brain fart and thought my Contemporary Political Ideas exam was on Monday the 4th, but it ended up being on Friday the 1st. Thanks to my friend, Andre, I didn’t miss the exam and managed to study enough to pass with flying colors.

So what now? I don’t leave for the states until July 1st and have lots of adventures between now and three weeks from now. On Saturday I fly out to Mallorca, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea with my best friend, Sidney, for a relaxing beach/hiking vacation . Next Sidney and I meet up with our other best friend who will be studying in Rome for the summer to go to Greece for 5 days! Naturally we convinced her to come to Europe early so we could travel together. I’ll tell you “we could be like the girls in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants!!!!!!!” and your friend can’t say no to coming to Greece. After that I meet my mom, dad and (newly graduated from high school) brother in Madrid for a whirlwind trip around Spain and Portugal.

The weather is perfect in Salamanca now. Hot, breezy and lots of sun. There has been an extreme influx of American students studying for a month of so… today I swear I heard more English than Spanish on the streets. Weird.

I’m getting so excited to go back to Knoxville, Tennessee. Not a homesickness excited, but a man I live in the coolest place at in the states and I can’t wait to take advantage of every coffee shop, hiking trail, music venue and bar (21 yeah yeah yeah!) and spend some Q.T. with my friends and family.

As for tonight, I’m going to celebrate being done with school by watching Coming to America– preparing myself for reverse culture shock, right?– and hit the hay early. I leave you with my view as I polished off my studying this afternoon. Life is too good.

Don’t Be a Guiri

Spain Lily: all black.

But what is a guiri??, you say. A guiri is exactly what every study abroad student strives not to be. A guiri is slang Spaniards use for foreigners that stick out like a sore thumb. You may be called a guiri for the way you dress, carry yourself, talk, act, etc.

So, how does an American going abroad avoid being a guiri? Here’s some tips that I’ve come up with while being in Spain that help me blend as much as possible. Do note that all European countries are different and although I’ve been to a few others Spain is the only other that I’ve lived in.

• Dress the part. Spaniards are always dressed nicely. School, work, on a walk with friends, at bars, everywhere. This means no Nike shorts and sorority or fraternity t-shirts, no tennis shoes and no frumpy sweatshirts. This is a lot different from the USA, especially when it comes to dressing for school. During the first month while I was here I skyped with my long time friend, Taylor, and he said “Whoa, you actually look like a girl.” What a sweetheart. But it’s true! Trade in the chacos for cute sandals and Uggs for leather boots, Northface jacket for a pea coat and you’ll be set!
• Don’t go out with huge groups of Americans. The more Americans you’re with the more intimidating you’ll be. Would you go up to a pack of 15 Italians walking around your home campus to chat it up? Probably not. Being in big groups also gives off an impression that you don’t need or want other friends.
• Speak minimal English. This is a hard one. At least speak it quietly. There’s nothing more frustrating to be walking in the Plaza Mayor and overhearing the American girl practically yelling about her skype conversation with her ex-boyfriend. Keep it down, you sound annoying and ignorant to your host country’s language.
• Black is always in. This goes along with dressing the part. Also, everyone looks good in black; take advantage of it.
• Don’t eat on the streets. I was confused the first time I walked down the street to school with an apple and water bottle in my hand and got looks up and down. This is something that Spaniards just don’t do. Eat at home or at a restaurant.
• No backpacks. This one kills me, but Spaniards, especially Spanish women do not wear backpacks to class. Instead they may have a stylish leather saddle bag to put their books in or just hold them in their hands.
• Know the schedule. In Spain the schedules are a lot different than in the USA, a good rule of thumb is that everything happens later and for longer. You don’t eat lunch until 2:00 PM and dinner until 8:30 PM at the earliest– sometimes I see people still out eating with their families at 11:30 or 12:00 at night! Spaniards also don’t go out until later. When I go out with friends we don’t meet up until midnight and it’s not uncommon to stay out until 7:00 AM.
• Don’t smile at strangers. This for me was the hardest when I first arrived in Spain. In the South we smile and wave at everyone we pass by on the street. Here, if you’re female and smile at a male stranger you’re giving off an invitation for shenanigans you probably don’t want to happen. It’s better to keep your eyes forward and a straight face on.

There you have it, some of my tips on how to avoid being picked out as a foreigner. Remember, the more Spanish you appear the better service you’ll get, the more patient locals will be with you and the more likely you’ll be to make Spanish friends!

Barcelona With My Best Friend

This past weekend was one that I had been looking forward to for a very long time; I got to go to Barcelona to visit my absolute best friend in the whole wide world!! Sidney goes to school at Georgia Tech and is doing a 3 month summer program through her university in Barcelona.

Yes, we’ve known each other for a while. Note the braces.

After the usual long day of travel with Ryan Air (bus to Madrid -> flight to Girona (a city an hour outside of Barcelona) -> bus to Barcelona) I was finally with the girl who has been my best friend since our pre-teen years. Giggling, squealing and tears were included in our reunion, naturally. She showed me around her small, but very functional apartment and introduced me to her friends who are also on her program. We explored around the town by night a bit but mostly just enjoyed each other’s presence.

Reunited and it feels so good!

Friday Sidney had class, so I got to sleep in. I bought a metro pass and explored the town a little bit, heading down La Rambla, a street where there are lots of vendors for things like flowers, post cards and Barcelona nick-nacks and also street performers.

La Rambla filled with people around 4:30 PM.

Once out of class, we met back up and hit the super market. As most of you know, I’ve been fed 3 meals a day by my host mom for the past almost 5 months. I love this, but I also love and miss cooking very much. Also vegetables. We cooked up some veggie fajitas accompanied by black beans and guacamole. At last!!

Veggies sizzling, wild rice boiling and beans. Yum.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to see the sights. Having only been in Spain about a week, Sidney hadn’t seen any of the “touristy” stuff yet. We went to La Sagrada Familia, which is Antonio Gaudí’s incredible work in progress of a cathedral. It is a project that was started in 1882 and is projected to be finished in 2020. Getting off the metro stop and seeing this famous building was breathtaking. I had a feeling much similar to when I saw Michelangelo’s David in Florence. Mostly just uttering a whole lot of “wow”s. Sidney and I took our time making our way all around the building, but decided against waiting in a 1 hour+ line and paying the 12 euros to enter.

Sidney and me in front of La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous cathedral.

Next on the list was Parc Güell, which is a plot of land that was origionally intended to be a housing development but is now a “municipal garden”. Gaudí’s house is located in the park along with the one other house that made it in before the project was called off.

Excited to be in Parc Güell

Much of the park’s structures were designed by Gaudí, so as you can imagine it’s a very funky place to spend some time! Sidney and I walked up to the top of the park where you can see all of Barcelona and the Mediteranean Sea.

We spent a total of about two hours exploring around, enjoying the nice weather and deciding who spoke English so we could ask them to get a picture of us together.

This is illegal. Whoops.

We made sure we got our tourist picture with the dragon at the bottom of the park, which was taken by a nice woman from Kentucky! Of course she gave us a little grief for being from Tennessee, gotta love those southern football rivalries!

The famous dragon at the bottom of Parc Güell

Saturday night was spent hanging out like old times, minus the fact that we were in Spain; TOGETHER, sharing study abroad stories, getting educated on good new music from the USA, skyping with Sidney’s mom and doing avocado face masks. Sunday morning rolled around too soon, I didn’t want to leave but duty calls- studying for finals- and I’ll be back with Sidney soon. I’m so happy I got to spend the weekend in this incredible with my best friend, what a lucky kid I am!

Why Choose ISA?

If any of you have interest in study abroad I can tell you one thing– start planning early!! There are so many different ways to go about it and it’s less scary if you start at least a full semester before you go abroad to start looking into programs.

I chose a third party program called International Studies Abroad, or ISA for short, because my study abroad coordinator at Tennessee told me it’s a great program and not too expensive in the grand scheme of things. ISA has lots of different programs; intensive one month language courses, a full year abroad, semester abroad and even more programs within the programs. It’s confusing but once you start looking into it it gets easier, I promise!

So why choose ISA to travel abroad with? Here’s some reasons why I think I have the best third party program:

• The best directors around. Bea, Carmen, Sofía, Rodrigo, Roberto and María- you are all awesome!! You’ve helped me with my Spanish and turned out be great friends. I’ve got 24 hour emergency numbers for all of them and know they’re here for anything I need.
• Excursions. I’ve traveled to Madrid, Toledo, El Escorial, Segovia, Sevilla, Granada and Lisbon, Portugal for ISA and it’s all included in my program! We stay at amazing hotels (I’m talking slippers in the closet and delicious buffet breakfasts) and go on guided tours of all the important places. The only thing we have to pay for once on our trips are lunches and dinner plus any spending money. I also went to Morocco with ISA, this was a trip you had to pay extra for but it was so nice going and not having to plan a thing!
• Coordinators in the USA. I’m pretty sure I had Lindsey Wineholt on my speed dial the two months before I came to Spain and I’ve never even met her. The two Salamanca coordinators in Austin, Texas were so very helpful!
• Visas. If you’re studying abroad longer than 3 months in Spain you’re required to get a student visa. The Spain consulate that I was zoned for was in Houston, Texas. Mind you I live in Knoxville, Tennessee– not exactly close. ISA gave us the option of paying $100 and they would get it done for us. Since a plane ticket would already be well over $100 for me and I would’ve had to miss school of course I took up their offer! What a deal, and so much less of a hassle for me.
• Getting immersed in the culture. All programs are different, I had a friend studying through his home university in France and the point of him studying abroad was to have “a gateway to Europe”. He traveled all over, but didn’t learn the language and had his classes in English. I think one of ISA’s goals is to completely show you the culture of your host country is like. If you live in a homestay it’s 90% sure that your host family won’t speak any English, your classes will be in the language of the host country (if you choose this), ISA offers tours around your city and we even got a free cooking class to learn how to make traditional Spanish foods like paella, gazpacho and tortilla española.
• The office. ISA has a centrally located office in Salamanca (two, actually!) that’s open from 10 AM – 8 PM Monday – Thursday and 10 AM- 6 PM on Friday. In the office you can chat with the directors, enjoy the free wifi or have a place to study.
• Activities!! ISA is constantly keeping us busy with optional activities. Ever Friday we alternate between playing fútbol (soccer) and beach volleyball as a group. They’ve bought us tickets to go to the movies, we get free tickets to local museums for whenever we’d like to go, we had a cooking class and sometimes ISA shows a movie in the office and provides popcorn and peanut butter. Yum! Every week we’re also e-mailed a “cultural agenda” with things going on in Salamanca. Every ISA student also has the opportunity to volunteer in Salamanca. I teach English every Wednesday for two hours at a local elementary school, something that ISA coordinated for me. Teaching English is the most common volunteer activity, but you can also work with groups like the Red Cross or work with the elderly!

As you can see, I think ISA is the clear study abroad program! I’ve had a blast getting to know the directors and can thank them for my involvement in Salamanca. I think I’ve definitely gotten my moneys worth with this program and would recommend it to anyone thinking of studying abroad. Also, they’ve got programs all over the world, not just Spain! If you’ve got any questions about ISA or Salamanca please feel free to shoot me an e-mail at ladler@utk.edu. Here’s the link to ISA’s webpage where you can find different countries to study in and a program that’s just right for you! http://www.studiesabroad.com/

I Will Try To Understand

Today and tomorrow are filled with goodbyes. I’m not going home to the states until July 1st and have lots of fun trips planned between now and then, but some of my closest friends are heading out Friday morning as their programs have come to an end. I leave for Barcelona tomorrow afternoon making tomorrow the last time I’ll see them for a while.

I was thinking how strange this whole experience is… I mean we get thrown into a city in a country we’re unfamiliar with, know no one and are forced to make friends with these people who before too long are torn away and placed in their respective states. I know, pooooor me- but actually it’s not all easy!

How are there only two of us left now from “The Madrid Five”

Anyways, I was thinking about this strange phenomenon that is studying abroad and how not ready I am to say goodbye as this song, Either Way, by one of my favorite bands, Wilco, came on my iTunes shuffle. The lyrics are as followed:

Maybe the sun will shine today
The clouds will blow awayMaybe I won’t feel so afraid
I will try to understand
Either way

Maybe you still love me
Maybe you don’t
Either you will or you won’t
Maybe you just need some time alone
I will try to understand
Everything has its plan
Either way
I’m gonna stay
Right for you

Maybe the sun will shine today
The clouds will roll away
Maybe I won’t be so afraid
I will understand everything has its plan
Either way

So nice job iTunes on your song timing. Just what I needed to hear. I realized it’s alright! I’m going to see these people again if I put the effort into it! Life keeps on going and we just need to make the most out of it and work with it. I probably should’ve realized this about 3 months ago, but hey- better late than never, right?

Ashley and Blakely. Thankfully Blakely extended her flight until June 1st.

Later today I took a walk with one of my closest friends here, Kelsey, and we talked about potential times we could meet up. She’s never been to Tennessee, so why not visit me? There are super cheap flights from Knoxville to Denver, so I can go there during my spring break next year. There’s also talk of an ISA Salamanca reunion in New York City for new years 2013.

My friend Kelsey and I dressed up

I can’t wait to see what the future holds for my relationships with these people. It’s sad saying goodbye, but as Wilco says “I will try to understand everything has its plan”. Hopefully the plan is for lots of visits from friends.

The sassiest of friends, Mark.

I am so lucky to have met you all and know that if you’re ever in Knoxville you have a place to stay with me! Good luck to all of you in your future adventures and remember, it’s not “adios” it’s “hasta luego”.

What will my nights out be like without Kelsey and Somer?

Wilco’s song, Either Way, posted in a youtube below. Have yourself a listen, you won’t be disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otz5V3RnG1Q

A 21st Birthday Abroad

I’ve known for a long time that I’d be turning the big 2-1 while abroad. I wasn’t really sure what to expect for my birthday this year but I did know how different it would be turning 21 in Europe versus in America. In Spain the drinking age is 18, but I haven’t been carded once while abroad in a bar, discoteca, or buying wine for a picnic at the grocery store– TOTALLY different from the USA. I had an incredible birthday filled with love from all of my friends and family, here’s a little bit how it went:

May 8th 11:00 PM- I need to go to bed now so that I can wake up and it be my birthday!!! Note: this would never, never happen in the states. I would’ve waited up until midnight so that I could go to a bar and show off my fancy new 21 year old self.

May 9th 9:00 AM- Woke up as a 21 year old! My roommate, Alexa, had cut out stars from newspaper and put them all over our room and left a birthday note on our mirror. I fixed myself breakfast and headed to class.

May 9th 11:00 AM- Go to class as I normally would, not expecting anyone to give me birthday wishes since everyone in my Wednesday classes are foreign and don’t really know me. To my surprise one of my few Spanish friends had remembered it was my birthday! She said “Happy birthday, Lily! Don’t think that I would’ve forgotten.”

May 9th 2:00 PM- Homemade paella for lunch and pudding for desert, also a very cute coinpurse and necklace all from Clemen. She knows me too well.

May 9th 3:30-5:30 PM- Go to my school where I volunteer each week. Two of my classrooms sang me happy birthday in English, what a proud teacher I am 🙂

May 9th 6:30 PM- Get a much needed haircut. My friends Somer and Kelsey met me at the hair salon with a birthday hat and a traditional Salamanca pastry topped with candles. I have great friends.

Birthday treat from Somer and Kelsey!

May 9th rest of the day- Relax, make a few phone calls home, pick up a sweet package my mom had sent me for my birthday, open a few cards I got from family, watch The Devil Wears Prada in my bed and call it a night.

Thank you Momma!!

Also– just to let you all know my birthday was (in my opinion) the best weather we had had to that day in Salamanca.

The next day I had four friends from home coming to visit! I picked them up at the bus stop and got them settled into their hostel. We got tapas on Calle Van Dyke, which is a street in Salamanca completely devoted to tapas bars; you go from bar to bar and get a tapa and a small draft beer or glass of wine at each one– so fun! After this we met up with about 15 of my closest friends and hung out in the park until it was time to go out.

Thursday night I had a proper birthday celebration complete with tiara and a sash my friend Blakely let me borrow that read “It’s my birthday 21” on one side and “Dame un beso” on the back (give me a kiss!). I had a great time showing my friends around Salamanca and sharing our spectacular nightlife off.

My friend Jessica and me being the 21 year old birthday queens. Her birthday was a few days before mine.

I did have to say goodbye to a few of my closest friends that were studying here because their program had ended and their train to Madrid left at 6:00 AM. Thankfully they decided to do the right thing and stay out until their train left. Our middle of the night kebap stop was quite teary, but I know I’ll see them all again.

A very sad moment in the kebap shop.

 

One of my oldest friends and roommate back home, Nora, was able to stay the whole weekend before she jetted back to France where she has been studying. That was one of the greatest presents of all. Spending a long time with one of my best friends that I hadn’t seen in 5 months. Thanks for making the trip, Noragomi!!!

Nora and me hanging out in the park!

I had an excellent birthday and am so thankful for all of you wonderful people who helped me celebrate, sent me a card, wrote me and e-mail or wished me happy birthday via facebook. I am so lucky to know all of you!

Blakely and me.

Happy Mother’s Day!

This post goes out to my mom. Not my Spanish mom that I’m constantly raving about, but my reaaaaal momma, Karin Adler. I wish I could’ve been in Tennessee for mother’s day with you this year, it’s always so nice to share the time around my birthday with you for mother’s day. Hopefully the boys did something nice (I texted both of them as a reminder that it was, in fact, mother’s day).

Mother’s Day 2010

I love you so much, Momma and I miss you to pieces. You’ve been the kindest to send me so many letters and packages… I love getting things with your pretty handwriting on it. I’m currently eating one of the mini-reeses that you sent me just to remind myself of you. Or because they’re delicious. Or both!

A sweet care package I got for Easter from Momma

Thank you for always being so comforting and supportive of me and my decisions. Also, thanks for giving Dodger the loving he needs while I’m away. I can’t wait to show you Spain, I have a feeling you’re going to love it. 34 days and I get to give you a big old hug!

UT game this fall

How I’m Beating the Urge to Miss Home

I went through my down in the dumps I miss home phase and I’m over it. I mean, I’m only here for 58 more days! I’ve been here for 121…. 58 is nothing compared to 121 and there’s still so much more I can do! I’ve made the decision try my hardest to not get home sick. How?

1. I have a count down/count up on my phone for how many days until I go home versus how many I’ve been here. That is now on the third screen on my phone instead of the main screen that I look at the most. Now I’m not constantly thinking ‘how many more days until I go home?” just enjoying it.

2. Keep myself away from negativity and people with negative attitudes. This experience is incredible and I’m so lucky to be doing this… why waste it with talking to people about how much I can’t wait to eat mexican food at home or sleep in my own bed. Ham and sharing a tiny room with someone are all part of it.

3. Get out of bed and outside. I can watch movies when I’m home, I can’t walk across a Roman bridge built in the thirteenth century back home.

4. I will see my family and friends so soon! I’ve got some of my closest friends visiting me next weekend for my birthday, I’m going to Barcelona to visit my best friend in 13 days, I’m going to Greece with my two best friends in about a month and my family comes right after that!

5. Write more in my journal. Putting my thoughts down on paper. Why does this help? Not sure, but it does.

6. Discover more about Salamanca that I love. Today I went to a museum about the Spanish Civil War and it was really interesting! Get to know my home here instead of thinking of all the things I miss from home.

7. Realizing that in a year from now this will all just be a dream. Live. It. Up. My friend Kelsey told me the other night “Life’s too short to be sad.” She’s so right. I need to live in the moment! Knoxville will be waiting for me with open arms come July 1st.

So now you all know how I’m going to win my battle with the evil homesickness! If you catch me on facebook ‘liking’ pictures from my freshman year of me and friends at a football game feel free to send me a message and say “GET OFF OF FACEBOOK AND GO DO SOMETHING SPANISH!”

Also, big news!! I got into the Elementary Education program at my school, University of Tennessee!! I had a skype interview about a month back and have been really nervous waiting to hear back. This means I am officially part of the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences and will have a place as an student teacher intern the 2013-2014 school year in Knox County. Go me. 

Enjoying the fantastic nightlife at one of my favorite bars, Paniagua

The cathedral in MY city!

Hanging by the river with friends braiding hair. Photo by Kelsey Guziak

Granada: Falling in Love With Tile, Again

Two weekends ago (whoops, a little past due on this one) I went to Granada with my ISA program. Granada is a city in the south of Spain, in Andalucia. It was a decently long bus ride down to Granada, but lucky for me I had Clemen’s famous tortilla de pata bocadillo, good tunes and good friends to make the trip go by a little faster.

We arrived in Granada and met up with my roommate’s friend from school who is studying there. He took us to two different tapas places. Fun fact- in Granda bars and restaurants are required to give you a tapa with your drink. We drank a few cañas (small glasses of draft beer) and ate a delicious variety of tapas.

Later that night ISA took us to a flamenco show. This was so cool and way more interesting than I expected. Flamenco consists of at least three people: one dancer, one singer and one guitar player. Flamenco originated in Andalucia by the gitanos, or gypsies. The dance was mesmerizing… women and men took turns of about 7 minutes each dancing in sharp movements, clapping their hands and keeping a beat with their feet by stomping on the ground. I hope I can see another show before I leave Spain (hint hint Mom and Dad…)

Flamanco show

Flamanco show

The next day we enjoyed a delicious breakfast. One of the many great things about my study abroad program, ISA, is that they always put us up in really nice hotels and we always have really really nice breakfasts. We boarded the bus to visit La Alhambra. La Alhambra is one of Granada’s main attractions, it was actually its own city inside of Granada where the Arabic kings lived. We had a very friendly tour guide who spoke Spanish very clearly and answered any questions we had. We toured the gardens (!!!) which I absolutely loved. It was a beautiful sunny day and the views were unbeatable. Our guide told us that many people have their wedding pictures taken in the gardens.

View of Granada from the gardens

Yours truly with La Alhambra in the back

Next we toured the actual palace. Super, super cool. If I’ve learned anything about myself while abroad it’s that I am much more a fan of castles than churches. There was tons of Arabic influence, hurray for a little bit of diversity in Spain! Most importantly Arabic influence = an abundance of tile = a very happy Lily. I don’t know what it is, but when I was in Lisboa, Morocco and now Granada I always love the tile. I’m hoping that when I someday have my own house I can decorate with an influence of what I’ve liked most about this whole experience.

My love affair with tile.

La Alhambra

Later that day I got fro-yo with friends, took a nap and skyped with my family. The Madrid vs. Barcelona fútbol (soccer) game was on at the bar in our hotel so I always knew when someone scored because our elegant, classy hotel suddenly erupted in cheers. Saturday night my friend, Sarah, told us she had a friend that is from Granada that studied in her hometown during high school that was willing to show us around if we wanted. Chance to have dinner and converse with locals, uh yes please! He and his girlfriend took us to one of their favorite tapas places where we ate mini crepes, mini hamburgers and other goodies.

My girlfriends and I got back to the hotel and soaked up the opportunity of being able to stay in the same place. It’s fun just hanging out, giggling and sharing stories on the bed. Something that we normally can’t do because we all live in homestays and aren’t allowed to have friends over. It reminded me a lot of my high school rowing days when we would take trips to away regattas and hardly sleep the nights before our races.

Sunday morning we all piled back onto the bus and headed back for Salamanca. I slept most of the way, thank you Dramamine. Although I was really homesick this weekend I had a great time in sunny Granada and hope to go back some day.