Spanish Flair

I spent 5 absolutely glooooorious days in Spain! I got back from Rome on April 9th at 2am and had to be back at the airport by noon that same day to catch another plane... unfortunately, that meant sleeping 3 hours and catching a bus at 8:40am, landing me at the airport at 10am... I made myself comfortable with a few magazines, though, so it wasn't all that bad. I was the only person on a nice, new bus to the airport so it was much better (and cheaper-- I had a day-ticket from the previous bus ride earlier that morning!) than having had someone drive me. The buses are just that reliable.

I HAD asked around if people would be willing to take me... I asked a bunch of people whom I'd helped in the past, a LOT, and I figured them taking me to the airport would be a small favor in exchange for all the bad grades I'd spared them of... apparently not. Some people even replied (these people I didn't know) that if I'd offer to clean their apartments naked, they may have considered taking me. What a bunch of losers. The others all had one excuse after another but, they might be seeing a change in their grades between this semester and last, as this little American is gonna be gone, a LOT. What better excuse to not do your homework for you (for free!) than that?

Anyway, I flew into Malaga. The flight was awful-- full and cramped, and a young, dirty-looking family with a sleeping child sat next to me, and the mother allowed her child's foot to rest in my lap for most of her nap. The child eventually woke up and screamed/cried several times before the 3 hours of hell came to an end. It took a long time to GET OFF the plane... Viktor picked me up and we eventually made it back, on quite a few buses, to Granada, where he is a hard-working exchange student who never stays out late and always does his homework in a timely manner. I had only slept barely 3 hours the night before but we went out anyway to meet some of his new exchange student friends at an Arabic teahouse of sorts. We didn't stay long, since I was really exhausted.

Thursday Viktor had to go to his Spanish class but that was okay because I was dead to the world till pretty late in the morning... we eventually left his well-kept and well-lit apartment to check out the town. In Granada tapas bars (tapas are like appetizers, small meals-like) with each drink order you get something to eat for FREEEE and as a college student I enjoy all things free, of course. I had the best sangria of my life, yum. We wandered around, saw some cats, and then I was ready to go home. Just kidding... but the cats were adorable, especially a pair of soft orange ones snuggling together in the grass by a creek... *sigh* Some Polish people were having a house party that evening so we went, too!

Friday, Viktor also had class until about noon. In the afternoon we went up the mountain to the Red Palace, Alhambra, which is the most visited site in all of Spain! We got our tickets for the next day. We visited the cathedral in the city which we both agreed was one of the most beautiful we'd ever seen! Later that evening we watched the new episode of the Office that aired the night before, had several good laughs. We also watched Ratatouille, also a cute movie.

Saturday was our day to visit the Alhambra! It was beautiful. The weather was finally clear (the first few days it hadn't been all that warm OR sunny...pretty much Germany weather this time of year) All the gardens there were almost overwhelming. I think I could have sat down on a bench for hours and been happy just doing nothing, just being there. We wandered through the Alhambra (see pics and video) and eventually got hungry so we left. I must mention that we also saw a few cats on the Alhambra. We ended up in a few tapas bars and I realized that I shouldn't order sangria every time because after three, I start feeling a taaaad tipsy, haha... but it was great nonetheless. One tapas bar we went to has cake, too, so on one day we went and had a piece of chocolate cake and cocoa.... yum! In the evening we watched "A Bee Movie" and I liked it a lot... I thought it was a bit unrealistic in some ways, obvious ways, and also clued me in on how important bees are! I didn't know that bees were that important! God is so smart!

Sunday we took a bus back to Malaga to visit the city and make it easier and less stressful to get to the airport for my flight back to Germany the next day. Malaga pretty much made my jaw drop to the floor... I did NOT need a jacket at all and I even put on sunscreen it was so sunny and clear outside. The city on the "Costa del Sol" was one of the most beautiful and clean cities I had ever seen! The water was so incredibly blue I felt like crying about it and the sky, blue as well, was just no match. We climbed and walked a lot all day and I found myself swearing that my butt BETTER reap the benefits of all those steep climbs we did in the Alcazaba and up to the fortress/castle Gibralfaro. The Gibralfaro fortress resembled the Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine in form and flair.

After climbing down the mountain, we had a picnic on the beach. It was a little cold, mostly windy, so almost as fast as I took my shoes off, I put them back on again, lol... it was a nice, clean beach. We walked back to our hostel, a quirky place but nice (VERY rude receptionist the next morning!!) and just chiiiiilllled. The next morning we visited the house where Picasso was born and saw some neat artifacts, like the dress he was baptized in. Then we visited the one-armed cathedral (google it or look at my pics to see why it's called that!) which was, in comparison to the beautiful cathedral we'd seen in Granada, a disappointment. We had a nice lunch in a nearby restaurant and eventually made our way back to the bus station to get back to the airport.

The flight home was very comfortable, there were two quiet, friendly, small-framed Spanish girls city next to me and although as usual, somebody's baby had to start screaming, the flight was ok. I read my same magazines again and improved my German :-) Back in Germany it was raining, gray, and freezing. I took the bus home and here I am, trying to get my little home back in order, homework done, laundry washed, etc. before my next trip (to Poland) on Tuesday.

Spain was FABULOUS and I get to go back in three weeks!!!

Cheers,
Caitlin