a brief update on my life

Okay, this is going to be a very brief update on my life because well time is of the essence and I really don’t have that much of it. I’m typing this while I’m waiting for breakfast to be made, so I can then go to class, come home and finish getting ready for spring break and leave.

Spring break, have I told you about that yet? Well some of you probably know already and for those who don’t:

I have an eleven day break. I’m leaving today, Thursday for London. I’m in London until Saturday when I go to Dublin, Ireland. From Dublin, I head to Cork on Sunday and I’m going to stay there until Monday night. On Tuesday I’m going to Killarney, and on Wednesday back to Dublin. Then on Thursday I’m going to Amsterdam via Brussels and a train, and on Friday I’m coming back to Belgium and staying in Brugge until Sunday, at which point I will hopefully go sleep in an airport in Charleroi, Belgium to catch my early morning flight back to Madrid so I can take a bus home to Granada. It is going to be a very busy time. I might send postcards.

Also, important: I have posted links to pictures on the entries about Sierra Nevada and Rhonda. And possibly Toledo. I don’t remember. The rest of the pictures will probabely come up after spring break.

Okay so after Madrid, we had a weekend free in Granada, and I went hiking in Guejar with Angela (the girl from the Sierra Nevada), and her friend from Madrid whose name I do not remember. It was rainy and foggy, but still really pretty. It reminded me of being in a fairy tale. We went hiking in the morning, but as the rain got worse we headed back into town and stayed and talked at a café until the bus came at five.

That week I went to the Abadia del Sacromente with CLM and I met some other people who hung with again the following weekend. It was interesting to learn about. The Abadia del Sacromente is an old monastery I think. Actually I have no idea. But our guide talked about the history of the region and these iron tablets that were found to list similiarities between Islam and Christianity. We also learned some more about the gitanas (Spanish gypsies).

Then that Sunday, I went to the beach in Alumuncar. I went wading in the Mediterrean Sea, which was blue and pretty. We also saw this cross thing, which was fun, and I climbed into a small cave and someone said I looked like the Virgin Mary because of the way the sunlight was shining down. Afterwards when my friends were off getting food and sangria I wandered around this rocky intertidal zone/ buff thing. I was barefoot. My feet hurt a lot the next day. I also climbed a bit of the rocky buff thing before I remember I was afraid of falling. And then it thunderstormed. But a good day in all. Oh and in the morning bus ride, there was a really drunk dude who was hilarious and got pictures with all of us, and hopefully found his way home. He was from Russia, met his friend he was staying with in China, and missed his stop, and I don’t think spoke a word of Spanish (we were all a bit concerned for him, but he helped start the day in the right direction- we laughed a lot).
Okay, then it was studying for finals time, and making a presentation on the bullfighting. Bullfighting is not a good sport. Strike me as an idiot, but I didn’t have an real idea of what went into bullfighting, and I don’t really agree with the sport on terms of animal cruelty and unnessary killing. But it was an interesting presentation, I talked about the participants and the clothing.

Then it was finals for the first session. I think it went well. I stayed up til 4am the night before studying, and did not go out and celebrate st. patrick’s day at the irish pub. By the way, you can tell the Americans in Granada by those who wear green on March 17th.

Then last Thursday (the day of my finals), that night I went on a tour of the bosque de la Alhambra. It was cool, we learned about bugs that were killing trees and how they were trying to get rid of them. In the end they had to cut the trees down (pesticides didn’t work). We also saw a really cool view of the city and learned about how the muslims (I think) used to shoot at people as they entered the Alhambra (they have a very tricky entrance with multiple turns). Also, our guide tried to get someone to get a plant, and then said the plant was poisonous. It was kinda funny, kinda like “she almost ate that…”

Okay then I went to Barcelona. Barcelona was awesome. I met up with Grace, Eliza, and Grace’s friend Diana. I’m going to give you a list of the things I did in Barcelona because I have to some things before I leave for spring break. I might write more later, I might not, you can always ask me questions or see my photos.

-went to Las Ramblas. The first part of las ramblas is people doing tricks / street performers, the second part is people selling birds and rabbits. The third is flowers, the fourth is artists
-went to Joan Miro museum
-Picasso Museum
-barcelona national art museum (it was cool)
-saw Sagrada Familia (the unfinished church)
-saw two Gaudi casas (don’t remember the names right now)
-got a tour of the gothic portion of the city
-ate mexi-terrean food (mezclad/ mix of meditterean and Mexican- it was interesting and good)
-Parque Guell (was awesome)
-walked around a lot
-saw the ocean
-went up a tower thing and saw a view of the city

All right, I love you all, and have a nice day. I’m going to go travel and live out of a backpack for 11 days. Have a good Easter!

~Love Liz