September 7-10

Wow! So I have a few days to review :) Well, Saturday we went to the national park called Cabo de Gato. It was amazing!! We hiked for 10 miles right along the coast. Our tour guide was really bad haha and we stopped listening to him pretty fast :) Everytime he stoped to start talking, we took the opportunity to view the scenery even more haha. For the first several miles it was on a road and it was somewhat steep but fairly easy. The last part was crazy! haha We climbed two mountains! and then continued along the beaches, weaving in and out under these huge cliffs! I can't even explain how beautiful and breathtaking it was!! We would climb the mountain and stand at the top for a while and look...you could see tons of other mountains behind you and then on the other side it was ocean as far as you could see. It was amazing!! I couldn't stop thinking about how incredible it is that God simply breathed this into existence! So, yeah soo pretty....and hard core at the same time haha. We weren't really prepared for such an intense hike but it was amazing and I'm so glad we did it! It is one of those things that I will never forget :) After that we went to a small town on the Sea and ate at an Italian restaurant. They kept bringing out all this food! It was amazing haha. Between four people we ate two pizzas AND a dish of pasta. haha....needless to say we weren't hungry when we left...but we still found room for ice cream when we got back to Granada :) haha.

On Sunday I was finally able to sleep in!! I started getting a cold on Saturday because I'm not sleeping enough. So, it was really great that I could try and fight it with a great night's sleep. Sunday was spent reading out on the balcony, resting, putting up pictures :), and of course another siesta. It was the perfect way to end the busy first week. Then of course I went out with friends for dinner/tapas.

On Monday it was the same old same. Class all morning, lunch, siesta, and then going out with friends at night. We also had a walk through another part of Granada. It’s called Sacramonte. It’s just a neighborhood that has a lot of caves that people live in. I think it’s really old too. But yeah, now a lot of gypsies live in the caves. It was pretty cool...another great and beautiful long walk through the city. But I must admit, the caves are not my favorite part of the city :) haha....anyways after that we had dinner. We learned some great lessons last night at dinner :) haha Four of us ( Lauren, Megan, Alex, and I) went out for tapas. We went to a plaza that is really expensive...but we didn't know it at the time. So we ended up paying a lot for drinks and then the food was sooooo small!! haha We didn't really want the drinks, we just wanted the free food that comes with them haha. So, of course we had ice cream to fill us up. The ice cream is quickly becoming a tradition with us :). But I heard tonight that all the ice cream shops close either in the middle of September or at the end....not sure...but either way, we need to take advantage of them while they are here!!! haha Anyways, we had lots of fun last night, filled with lots of laughter :)

Today, it was the same thing. Except instead of going out for tapas, a group of us decided it would be cheaper to buy our own food and have a picnic! So we went to a plaza near the river Genil and had our dinner. It was so much fun :) I had my first experience buying groceries in Spain....not that exciting haha same as the states. But I was secretly still excited haha :) So yeah we sat and ate and talked for a few hours and then....of course we have to keep up with our tradition....more ice cream!! Tonight I tried one of the flavors or types that is very typical or special to Granada. It was really good!! After that we sat in another plaza and talked some more :)

The last few days have been great :) Lots of fun stuff happening and I think I'm starting to get into a routine which is good. I'm pretty excited because tomorrow we don't have to be at class until 10 instead of 9....big deal....we are all excited haha :)

Well, I'm calling it a night! Sleep well everyone...even though its only 6 pm there haha...oh well

Love you all!
me

ps..I'm sitting out on the balcony with my laptop and writing :) It's so pretty I love it out here :)