Intercambio

At Centro de Lenguas Modernas they offer an intercambio (exchange with a student learning your native language/ native to the language you are learning). As much as I'm surrounded by it, its too easy to speak English with everyone in my program. So I decided to sign up for this. So last Thursday I met up with a Granada local named Amalia. She was really friendly and we ended up talking for way longer than I ever expected. I hope to continue doing this because its also great insight into the life of other Granadians. She's in her 30's and its amazing the different life experiences that we've had so far, it makes me thankful for the opportunities I have had to go off to college and now travel to different parts of the world. Life could be so different!

On Friday we had a tour of La Alhambra. La Alhambra is a palace built in the 14th century in muslim style. Its is enormous and amazing. I really enjoyed this because I have been learning a lot about it in my art history class and I finally got to see all that I had been hearing about! Parts of it are altered (made boring) or destroyed by the Christians that came later, but it unbelievable the rooms and parts that are still are intact. There is incredible detail wherever you look and even better views.

This weekend we went for a trip to Nerja beach. I can't tell you how excited I was to be back by the beach... if there's one thing I miss here its escaping to the beach whenever I want. I couldn't wait to relax in the (slightly cooler) sun and just SWIM! The beaches were beautiful, clear BLUE water that was refreshingly cool. We hung out there for a while until we have a delicious lunch of paella con marisco y pollo. It was pretty good... but not nearly as great as what Elba (my mom here) can make! That afternoon when I returned I had probably one of my biggest learning experiences since Ive been here. I knew Id be sharing a hotel room with 3 other girls, but I didn't expect to walk into a room with 4 little twin sized beds crammed together (almost wall to wall). Hey, I guess its like a slumber party that I always dreamed of as a little girl? Anyways, after a long day at the beach I just wanted to shower... but none of the lights worked. There were prolly about 10 switches that I walked around flipping on and off, NOT A ONE WORKED. So I ventured downstairs to the front desk to solve my problem.  I tried to politely explain in spanish that my lights didn't work, and needless to say the attendant wasn't very helpful. Eventually when my roomates returned they new the trick... aparently in Spain (and other parts of Europe) you have to put your key into this box to turn on the electricty, to cut down on wasting it... WELP atleast someone knew!

Sunday we left Nerja beach to visit Herradura beach. On the way we stopped in a little town called Frigiliana that wraps up a hill. It was really cute (apparently they filmed the smirfs there?) and had some awesome views...

That afternoon at Herradura we had a delicious lunch of Pescado Rosado, calamaris, pollo y migas (which is kinda like a cuscus/ stuffing/ grain thing, but tasty!). Later we had the opportunity to kayak and ride on a catamaran. Both were a lot of fun, but boy was I exhausted after this weekend!

Yesterday we had a free day, which I spent studying for my "midterm" for art history that I had today. I still managed to make it out to a trivia night with a few friends, (only things I could help with were about Spice Girls and The Backstreet Boys ha). Anyway, I had my first test today at CLM... I think it went pretty well (hoping for an A!). Tonight is friends bday, so all the girls are going for sushi and then to a discoteca. Maybe if im up for it I might even catch the All Star Game (2AM here), but if not...

GO NATIONAL LEAGUE!