Another week gone by...

Wow I can't believe how fast this semester is going. I'm already in my 11th week here!! I only have four and a half more weeks of classes after this week! So crazy!

Well, last week there was quite a bit of stuff going on here. First on Monday, we had our last night of cooking class. Kind of sad, it was always a lot of fun, not to mention good food! :) Then on Tuesday night we celebrated the elections here by having an all night party in IES (our program building). We all brought homework, food, blankets, and pjs and watched the elections streamed live and projected it on a big screen. It was pretty fun and exciting to be watching it all from Spain! At times the situation/conversations got a little tense and heated for me haha...but it was very interesting to sit and observe it all. :) I was really glad that we had the chance to stay updated on what was going on even though we are so far away and the time difference is so great. After it was all over, we found some chairs in classrooms and attempted to sleep for a few hours before waking up for class :) Wednesday night I spent sleeping and doing more homework haha I was a little tired. Sadly, I got sick anyways :( But I also had a visit for my art class. And we went to the Generalife. Its part of the Alhambra, a summer home for all the rulers of Granada. It had lots of beautiful gardens and buildings. It was really cold though so we had to bundle up and tried to stay warm :)

Thursday I went to the University of Granada library...well one of their many libraries I should say. I started researching for yet another paper I am writing. But it was actually fairly fun! It felt so great to be back on a campus again! And in a library :) There were so many books and huge huge stacks, it smelled great too. Anyways, we stayed there for about four hours and I got a lot done! ...Came home, and did more homework haha. Friday I had a visit for one of my classes and we went to the summer home of Frederico Garcia Lorca. He is a famous poet from Granada (the whole class is about him). Honestly, kind of a let down haha but oh well. After that I went back to the library for another four hours...again I got a lot done and I'm slowly making progress on a lot of stuff.

Saturday we got up really early for our last IES trip. This time we went to Jerez and Cadiz. We went to Jerez first and watched a horse show! haha so funny and cool at the same time. Parts of it I had no idea why it was supposed to be so cool, but it was all done with the traditional Spanish style and flair. My favorite part was when they let lots of "wild" horses come running in with "caballeros" following them! After that we toured a winery. Apparently it is known through out the world for their great wine, Tio Pepe. It was so pretty though and it was a great day, lots of sun and warm! After that we took the bus again to Cadiz. Once we got there we had the rest of the night free. So Megan, Lauren, Alex, and I wandered the city...went to look at the beach, ate amazing seafood, had some dessert, and then went back to the hotel to relax.

On Sunday morning we got up early to take full advantage of the free continental breakfast :) They always have great breakfast at our hotels so we eat our fair share and then sneak some into our purses for dinner too haha. Afterward our program director took us to the beach and we walked around the city of Cadiz some more. It was soo beautiful!!! Again it was a perfect day! We walked along the ocean, through gardens, and even got to take off our shoes on the beach for a little bit :) Sadly, it was time to leave and get back on the bus to head back to Granada. We drove for several hours and then stopped one more time for lunch and at a national park. At the park we took a little hike for a few hours through these amazing huge rocks!! It was soo beautiful! There were mountains on every side and we just messed around and climbed all these different rock formations. It was such a fun afternoon!

Well, now that we are back in Granada things are back to normal....classes, homework, and sleep :) But I'm really excited for this weekend because I'm leaving on Friday to go to Paris to meet my friend Amy Kamps(Heather's sister)!!!!! I can't wait :) So, I will leave on Friday morning and then get back really really late on Monday night/Tuesday morning. So, I think this is all for now, but I will write you and tell you all about the weekend in Paris!

Lots and lots of Spanish love!! :)
Me