life in spain/ granada

Alhambra beauty- en los jardines
On top of the Alhambra Alcazaba... Granada's beautiful mountains and city.

More Alhambra, where royalty lounged and concubines waited...In our funky hippie hostel....luckily we got a "girls only" room. These pics dont do it justice.

As time has gone by things have been added to my schedule and I am officially BUSY.

I started working with an organization called “Solidarios”. They are an NGO and have several sectors of volunteer work. I had a couple meetings to become a volunteer and now I will be serving in a street ministry on Tuesdays with some Sevillan students from the university. (These meetings, in Spanish of course, are a little intense to understand) It has been awesome meeting other students Españoles and getting ready to go out to our “routes”. It isn’t a Christian thing but its cool because the whole point is to be friends with the street people. We have a list of the people and where they sleep and why they are on the street and its very organized. We will just be bringing coffee and cookies and hanging out with them. I am excited to see what happens with it…

The hardest thing about being here is the language. Although I have a solid group of amazing Americans to hang out with I am trying to really branch out as much as possible to speak Spanish constantly. Its hard though. When I am with my Spanish friends I feel like a 2^nd grader trying to communicate deeper thoughts with very small vocabulary. Some people are understanding and some arent. My senora is not very patient with my roomate who is still learning how to communicate… at least I have that down, it makes it easier. Obviously compared to before I cam I am speaking really well and learning tons of new stuff everyday but its is still hard, I lack so much. That is why I shall come back this summer and live here :- D

So yeah my week is filled with school, studying (like really studying everyday because I have never been so challenged academically), bible study, serving with Solidarios, Flamenco classes, going out with friends and taking weekend trips…

Last weekend we took a trip to Granada. Its weird to think about how I didn’t know anything about Spain before I came here and now I feel so used to hearing the names of all these places nearby and stuff. So I will try to explain as if I was reading this from the US.

Granada is where the Alhambra is, this is a palace the muslums built before they were kicked out of spain with the spanish- christian conquest. So this palace is known to be an incredible place with tons of history and is just an increible piece of art. We have been learning all about the art style and stuff in my class so going there was surreal, being in that palace and seeing it firsthand totally amazed me. Besides seeing the amazing Alhambra my time in Granada was excellent. We spent a lot of time waling the streets, enjoying the markets and the hippie-feel of the city. We went to an Arabian-type place for dinner and a tetoria, tea place, to chill. The tetorias are sooo cool. Decorated with tapetry hanging and great lighting with candles and huka and just all around very cool. I got come amazing arabian tea and enjoyed good conversation amoung friends.

The hostel we stayed in was awesome, my first hostel and the next one will have a lot to live up to. It was funny sharing a bathroom with a bunch of guys and girls that I didn’t know and sleeping with random people in the room, but definitely a good experience..and a quite hilarious night. I don’t know what else to tell about the weekend, we walked through old Moorish neighborhoods and through crazy beautiful cobblestone streets that zig zagged up the mountain range surrounding the city. If you are ever in Spain I suggest going to Granada, it has been my faviorite palce so far… I am hoping to go back and do some hiking sometime. I think I annoyed the people I was with because everything we did I was freaking out “I LOVE this!” haha.

…This weekend we are going to see where Christopher Columbus left from Spain and see replicas of the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria and then spend the day on the beach…im excited!