And then I realized I was an adult.

An 'adult'. Ick. Scary word. Me no like. 

Being an adult means being mature, and on top of things, and independent, and...and all the things that were the motivation behind me jetting off to leave the real world and hide for a year in Spain.

But I guess it didn't work, and that being adult isn't something you can put off, it just kind of creeps up on you when you least expect it. 

Like, right now for example. (Picture me singing this in a bragging tone) *na-na na na-na-na I don't have to be an adult I can live in Europe for a year and travel every weekend and get paid a lot of money to do hardly any work and keep on being care-free and immature na-na na na-na-na*

But despite this, I've matured more in these last 2 months than I ever expected I would. I successfully apartment-hunted in a 2nd language, set up a bank account, learned how to change a propane tank, and reached an understanding with my long-standing hatred for doing the dishes.

Anyway, that was all just a side-ramble. Here is what I originally intended to post:

So I realize that I graduated last May, I realize that I've been living in a foreign country for the last 2 months (successfully, might I add), and I thought I had realized that I am working at a school and not attending school. 

However. 

Tomorrow Eli and I are going on our first field trip with the school. Except, we are not the ones going on a field trip. The students are. So I guess that means we're....chaperoning? 

I was thinking about this about 5 minutes ago and my thought process literally went from "no school tomorrow we're going on a field trip!!!" to "oh my god I'm actually an adult now, I'm chaperoning a school field trip!" to "Oh my god I'm an adult. And an assistant teacher at that."

It was scary. 

But also gave me a giddy feeling. 

Remember when you were little and the teachers lounge was 'the teachers lounge', and even just catching a glimpse inside when you walked passed the open door was a special feeling? You had no idea what went on in there, it was such an unknown "grown-up" place. At least that's how I always felt.

And so now, every time I walk through the doors of the school, wave to my students and go through the doorway to the teacher's lounge, i gave the little kid in me a pat on the back. Good job, you finally got to see what was going on behind those doors. I guess being an adult isn't so bad after all.

Check it out, my 1st care package! Mac&cheese, peanut butter cups, my favorite healthy cookies, and circus balloon toys for some of my private classes! (And in the upper left corner is my brand-spankin-new residency card, which means that I officially live in Spain!!!)

Before you say it, yes, I know, that is not at all what a pressure cooker looks like. Oops. Just add this to the list of wrong definitions I've given my students so far this yea

I drew this for 3ESO when they asked me what 'scuba diving' meant, and of course it wasn't possible to explain using only hand gestures. Don't ask me why they needed to know what either of these were, but I'm pretty proud of my scuba man.

Jerez de la Frontera

Yesterday I got the chance to take a cheap day trip out of Algeciras and to go visit a co-worker in Jerez de la Frontera. I'd been to Jerez before, but I'd been by myself, tired, and totally uninterested in walking around getting lost for hours only to have to retrace my steps that night to find my hotel. So I didn't see much.

This time though, Pilar met Eli and I bright and early at 11am to start our walking tour of her city. We saw a church, the cathedral, the food market and main square, some really cute Flamenco shops, and also did a Bodega tour.

Side note: Pilar asked us what the difference was between a Bodega and a Wine Cellar. I couldn't answer because I started laughing as soon as I heard 'wine cellar'. Inside jokes are never as fun when you're the only one who gets it.

But just so you know, a wine cellar is always underground, and a bodega is always at ground level. Interesting!

So normally, for tours, I book them in advance and have time to get really super excited. But this time it was totally unplanned, we walked up to the ticket booth at 2, and bought tickets for the show at 2. No time to get really excited that we were going on a tour of Gonzalez Byass, the bodega that makes the famous Tío Pepe Sherry that is known throughout the world.

Nope, no time to get excited until about 10 minutes into the tour. When I got really excited. (Even though I hate wine.) I love visiting places that have special significance, like the largest/oldest/smallest/etc. places. So to be taking a wine tour in Jerez de la Frontera, the originator of Sherry wine and the only place in the world that it is produced, was pretty special. (Sherry is the English translation. It is called Jerez wine in Spain, just like the city it was created in, Jerez de la Frontera.)

They have a 150 barrels of wine, each with the flag of one 

of the countries that sells their wine. The USA flag is 

wayyy up at the top.

        

        

                           This was the room used by the founder to create and test wines. After he died 

nobody else worked in this room or touched it, and so it's stayed exactly the same

for over 100 years. 

Back to the hating wine part. I dislike red wine, but can choke it down. I hate Sherry wine. I hate it's smell, I hate the taste, and I hate that everybody else likes it except me. I think it tastes just like how nail polish remover smells: horrendous. 

But I had a great time on the tour, except for the part where the guide passed around glasses of wine at different aging processes, and the part where we got to taste-test.

There was a room called the Rat's room, where hundreds of rats lived. The story says that when the Bodega first opened a worker found a mouse in the building. He was an animal lover and so instead of killing it he gave it a block of cheese and a small glass of wine. And so today, they continue to do that, each day leaving a block of cheese and a small glass of wine for the mice. (Not enough wine to get them drunk of course, just to make them happy.) 

After the wine tour we got tapas and met Pili's boyfriend, and another friend. And then we bought desserts and spent a 'Spanish amount of time' getting coffee and talking. It was such a great feeling to be speaking all in Spanish and hanging out with some locals. I finally feel like I'm starting to have a little life carved out for me here, and not like I'm on some semi-permanent vacation.

So all in all, great day trip, and we have invitations to come back whenever we want! (And next time, we already have plans to go to the zoo!)  

Pili and I in front of a really cool mural. (Doesn't it look like we're in Morocco?)

Sitting on the steps of the Cathedral.

The main square. There was a carousel set up and an outdoor cycling class! This picture makes it seem like it was quiet and relaxed, but this place was hoppin'!

I love orange trees :)

An Expat Thanksgiving

I hope every one had a great Thanksgiving!! I did, although it was definitely an Expat Thanksgiving. Not to be mistaken with an American Thanksgiving. (Or Canadian Thanksgiving, depending we're you're from.) There were lots of bilingual Spanglish conversations, jokes made in one language that where then translated into another so everybody could share in the laughter, and dishes and dishes of delicious traditional foods (with small Spanish twists.)

Yum!!

For example, until I was 3/4 done shopping for my apple crisp recipe I wanted to make, I didn't know that oatmeal doesn't exist in Spain. Luckily the worker at Día pointed me toward Muesli, which after I picked all of the banana chips out of, worked perfectly.
As for a second example, Eli and I bought a bag of rolls (because what is Thanksgiving without the rolls...) and then promptly forgot about them until we were cleaning up after dinner. Oops. Who does that? Seriously.

Delicious cranberry-apple crisp, made with Muesli instead of oatmeal & craisins instead of cranberries.

And now for the most prominent example of why this was definitely not an American Thanksgiving: Eli's roommate Fatima is Moroccan. And since she was going to be eating dinner with her, Eli wanted to first make sure that she would be able to eat everything we were making. Fatima said yes, she could eat chicken, but only ones that had been sacrificed to God before they were killed. So Thursday morning off they went to the Muslim Meat Market. (We had chicken instead of turkey cause it's cheaper and much easier to find.)

There were a few rough spots, such as when Eli's Chinese roommate told us, at 10pm, "Sorry but I have a test next Tuesday and you all need to leave now, sorry, but you need to leave". (Nevermind that it was Thursday and the test wasn't until Tuesday and tonight was ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT HOLIDAYS and we were definitely not going to leave the house before we'd eaten the food we had just spent 7 hours cooking...).

I'm cooking!! Okay, well actually baking, but still. This is a landmark moment for me.

Aside from that and a few people not showing up, it was really successful. I had an auxiliar from Arcos de la Frontera, Chelsea, couchsurfing for the night. Arcos is one of the 'pueblos blancos' that Andalucía is famous for. For those of you who haven't heard of couchsurfing you can check it out here. This was my first experience hosting someone, but it was definitely positive and I can't wait to do it again!

Arcos de la Frontera

Here are some highlights of the night.

Eli - *humming to music and casually cleaning one of the chickens in the sink* *then she gagged a little* "Ohhh, I am not mature enough for this!"
Me - "what happened?"
Eli - "I was pouring water in through the neck to clean it out and it came out through the butt. Not mature enough for that."

Me - * Trying to take a picture of the chickens to show how perfectly they had been cooked* "Ew, that looks gross. These chickens are not photogenic."
Chelsea - "Dead chickens usually aren't."
Me - "............Touché."

The 'unphotogenic' chickens

Cassidy was making deviled eggs and asked Eli if she thought there was enough salt in them. Eli said "You can always add more salt" without stopping to taste-test it first. Cassidy - "uhh...okay if you're sure." Result = like licking a salt block.


Chelsea and I went to the store to get more wine. I grabbed 3 boxes of Don Simón vino tinto (red wine) and set them on the counter. The lady at the cash register pointed to the tinto part and said, in Spanish, "You know this is wine right?" Hahaha thank you for the clarification, 'cause I thought I was buying juice!

Eli - *a moment of dead silence at dinner and then Eli's voice* "We can make soup from the CARCASSES!"
Everybody else - "What?? That was creepy!"

Cassidy, Eli, Fatima

Showing off my delicious Thanksgiving-looking plate. 

And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'll end this post with things I am thankful for:

I am thankful that I've met such wonderful people in Spain. The people you meet can make or break your experience, and luckily I've made some great friends since I've been here!

Chelsea, Cassidy, me, Eli

I am thankful for Matt, the best boyfriend a girl could ask for (:

At a Brewers game last summer.

I'm thankful for my family. (Duh.) I love them, even though they drive me crazy sometimes.

Family Reunion Summer '11

And I am thankful that I am able to have this amazing experience of living in a foreign country for a year. I've only been here 2 months and already had more adventures than I thought I would, and I still have 6 months left!

Thanksgiving at school

Everything that my students know about Thanksgiving can be summed up in two statements:
"They eat lots of turkey" and "isn't the Super Bowl played on Thanksgiving?"

Ummmm...make that just one statement.

Thankfully when I asked them if they knew anything about the Mayflower and the history of Thanksgiving, they were a little more knowledgeable. One student explained how people came over on the Mayflower, met Indians who taught them how to eat, and then 1 year later the pilgrims gave a celebration to the Indians for helping them find food. (That's more or less verbatim, bad grammar included.)

Needless to say, I had a lot to teach them about our history and modern customs.
I think they understood my mini-lecture, or at least if they didn't, they were very convincing. I explained the history of the pilgrims, meeting the Indians, their first successful harvest, the 1st Thanksgiving, a 3 day celebration, and why turkey is the most important part of the meal. Then I went on to talk about Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and NFL football (I made sure to include the part where the undefeated Green Bay Packers are playing tomorrow, and by undefeated I mean they have a great shot at making the Super Bowl. Go Packers!!)
Then when I started to explain Black Friday, the teacher stopped me and said "is Black Friday about....a war?" Apparently she had thought that it was a day of remembrance for a terrible massacre or something........................................ No.

So that was 3 ESO. For 2 ESO I showed them how to make hand turkeys. They turned out awesome.

The 2 students who made this insisted that 
it was a 'new breed' since it was blue, green 
and white instead of red, orange and yellow.

In other news, here are some random updates from the past couple of weeks.

This is what I discovered as I explored the city a few weeks ago.

I love the mix of new and old found throughout Europe.

Here's me in my natural habitat, aka work.

Here's something I bet you didn't expect to see. Me petting a SHEEP.

There's a guy that lives across the street from the school who owns a sheep. Not a dog, a sheep. And he ties it up outside his house so it can people-watch. I purposely cut through his parking lot every morning hoping to catch a glimpse of this guy.

And here is proof that I actually am working, not just bumming around Europe for 8 months. 

I'm riiiiiiiiiiiiiich! Mwuah ha ha.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn

So I realize I am a little spoiled by living at this end of the country. If I ever happen to get sick of hearing Spanish/speaking Spanish/or eating Spanish, I can just hop on a bus and 40 minutes later I'm strolling down the streets of a UK colony.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. My roommate discovered last week that there is a movie theater in Gibraltar which meant...dum dum dum....that we could watch Twilight in English!!!!!!!

And despite the fact that she is one of the most Twilight-obsessed people I know, (love you Kristina!), I think she underestimated the rest of the Gibraltar's 12-15 year old girl population. We showed up to the theater at 5:15 to buy 4 tickets for a 6 o'clock showing. They were "sold out".
Surprise.
Kristina insisted that we would stand if we had to, and the lady at the counter magically came up with 4 seats, all in different corners of the theater. "We'll take it!" we said.

It was quite a different experience than watching it in the states.
For one, I had gotten stuck with the seat in the first row. Which made me a little nauseous just thinking about all the action scenes. But it turned out that their first row is approximately where our 10th row is, so I was juuuuust fine.
Secondly, there was quite the odd assortment of people that came. I saw a couple older gentlemen in suits, a group of guys my age without any girls (props to them), and lots of parents and kids. (From what I remember about the first 3 movies, it wasn't as much a family movie, there were more groups of friends and than kids with their parents. But I could be wrong.)

But don't worry, there were still plenty of 12 year olds clapping and oohing and aahing when Jacob took his shirt off.

Now I want to go see it here in Spain to see how much I can pick up!

In which I realize that pumpkin spice lattes aren't all that important.

I had a moment earlier, as I was googling the phrase "delicious thanksgiving plates" that I could use for my 2 ESO class on Monday, where I profoundly regretted my decision to move to a country with less-than-desirable cuisine. I have this regret about once a day, but it hit me a little harder when I realized I wouldn't be chowing down on all my favorite American foods next Thursday.

I know so many expats that love Spanish food, or if they don't love it at the beginning they fall in love with it pretty quickly. I'm still waiting for that to happen to me. *cross your fingers for me please!*
It's not that it's all bad, but it's kind of rough when you don't like jamón serrano or little sea creatures with antennas and eyes staring up at you.

However. I have noticed improvements. Remember this post? In which I attempted to maintain a face of composure while choking down jamón serrano because after 4 days in Spain living off ice cream and galletas, I was badly in need of actual nutrition? Well, since then I have successfully eaten many a ham sandwich. Not happily, mind you, but successfully.

My goals for this year, aside from those on my bucket list are to enjoy the following foods:
jamón serrano (I already like jamón ibérico, but since it's less common it would be to my advantage to also enjoy jamón serrano)
langostinos (prawns: this will definitely be the hardest one)


red wine (straight, without mixing it with Coke or Fanta limón first)
ensalada rusa (I'm not so sure I want to attempt this one, I'm sure not eating the bucket of mayonnaise it comes in is better for me anyway. But it is a popular tapa here so I feel like I should at least learn to appreciate it.)

Would you like some salad with that mayonnaise?

But then I remember that I'm in Spain and I can't be too sad. I might not be enjoying an all-American meal next week, but I'm most definitely going to enjoy my 1st Spanish-American Thanksgiving experience with some of the best expat friends I could ask for. So cheers to all the American expats, here in Spain or elsewhere in the world, here's to representing our American traditions abroad :)

Warning: cute picture

I was talking to a 2 ESO student (13 years old, 7th grade-ish) in class who didn't understand a question he was supposed to answer. After numerous failed attempts to explain it in English I figured it couldn't hurt to translate the question to Spanish and then have him explain it back to me in English.
Sounds fine right? But I never got past the translating-the-question part.

As soon as the question left my mouth his eyes got round and his jaw dropped an inch. "You speak Spanish....???" Umm...guilty! He couldn't wrap his head around that. Then he asked, "but you can't write Spanish right? And you can't read it?" No and no, I can do both. His jaw dropped farther. I was totally enjoying this moment, btw.

And then, as he dropped my favorite line of the day semester, his voice got lower, he leaned in close and whispered "...Does Carmen know you speak Spanish?" (Carmen is the history teacher I work with.) Kid, prepare to have your mind blown. She does indeed know this.

Then he excitedly asked me if I could ask Carmen if it was okay for me to speak Spanish all the time instead of English. I tried explaining to him that I was hired as an English assistant, not a Spanish assistant. He didn't like that. But he did make the effort to ask me all these questions in English. Bless his heart. And then as soon as the bell rang I let him switch back into Spanish.

[source]

Tarifa

On Saturday Eli, Eli's friend, and I made the trip to the Tarifa, the southernmost point of continental Europe. When we first drove through on the bus it didn't look like much, but that could be because we arrived during the middle of siesta. (Southern Spain in general doesn't really seem all that exciting during siesta.)

The city is at the very tip of Spain, which sticks out into the Mediterranean sea, completely unprotected. It is also the meeting point of the easterly and westerly winds that blow through the Strait of Gibraltar. Read: it is insanely windy. For this reason it is known as the Wind Capital of the World and is a favorite haunt for windsurfers and kitesurfers.

The windiest spot in the world? Quite possibly.

We were there in November so obviously all the tourists were gone and there wasn't a whole lot happening. Somehow though, we still managed to fall in love with the empty boardwalk and the main street, which was filled with little surf shops and Tex-Mex restaurants. It was so refreshing to see Roxy brand sweatshirts again, or just any sweatshirts for that matter. One of the things I've missed most since being here is cuddling up in sweatpants and a giant sweatshirt on a cold night. All I have here with me are yoga pants and a hoodless sweatshirt. It's such a shame.

Eli reunited with Mexico. Kind of.

We found the beach (not hard when you're surrounded on 3 sides by the sea), walked through the old town, and checked out some of the surf shops. We also ran into two of our fellow teachers, one who lives in Tarifa and the other who...goes there to get drunk on the weekends I think. It was an interesting little run-in. "Estoy enfadado contigo" ("I am mad at you"). Umm...okay....nice to see you too?

Some things to keep in mind if you're thinking about visiting: 

Don't underestimate the wind. When the wind would whip up especially hard it took a little effort to keep moving forward. We had gone with grand ideas of sitting on the beach and having a picnic lunch...we quickly realized that wasn't going to happen.....

Leaning into the wind.

Also, DON'T FORGET SUNGLASSES. It is ridiculously bright, especially on the beach. Afterall, it is on the Costa de Luz (:

Don't let the clouds decieve you. My eyes hurt from how bright it was.

All in all it was a short trip, only a couple of hours, but long enough for us to decide that come springtime, every weekend will be spent at this beach town. 

So beautiful.

Eli and I

I wonder if there is anything special about frog statues spitting water? There's a fountain like this in Algeciras too.

Just chillin' at the end of the world :)

Ember and Eli being artsy :)

Such talent!

Kids these days...

While in class today when the students were being particularly loud and I was trying to talk, I heard someone quietly mutter "please shut up". Then I looked over to the first row to see 2 of the boys looking at each other as if trying to figure out if what they had said was correct.
It was, although usually when you tell someone to shut up you're not trying to be polite about it...

Then when I walked into the 3A classroom I got accosted by two students who had been so indignant and surprised yesterday to learn that I had never tried peach juice, that they had brought me a juice box today so I could try it. Awwwwwwww :)
(It's delicious by the way.)

In the history class that I help out with for the 2A students, I mostly just stand up at the board  while they read an article out loud, and write down words from English to Spanish that they are unsure about. It's a fun hour....
Anyway, they are never shy to point out when I spell a word wrong in Spanish. They start smiling and laughing and try to catch my attention to tell me that 'boto' is actually spelled 'voto' or that 'compaña' is actually 'compana'. I've already got 2 or 3 kids that I'll look at if I'm not sure, hoping to get a smile and head bob to show that I'm right.

And then after class they all swarm around and try to talk to me at the same time. One boy told me that his two other friends are 'pesado', which I didn't understand. The teacher translated that as heavy....which led me to explain that in America if you call someone heavy you are calling them fat. The 2 friends looked surprised, but the boy just smiled and nodded like that was exactly what he meant.
(Background info: one of the boys was slightly larger, but the other was as thin as a stick. So I'm sure that can't be how he meant it...)

Don't mind me, I'm just venting..

SO FIRST I get back to the U.S. just months before Spain wins the World Cup.

THEN I leave for Spain right as the Green Bay Packers (aka defending Super Bowl champs) decide to have an epic season and go 8-0 so far.

AND FINALLY my reason for staying Europe is over in the beginning of June, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London don't start until the end of July.

Goddammitwhycan'tIjustbeintherightplaceattherighttimeforonce. Please and thank you.

Jimmy Kimmel Challenge

Blog overload lately, I know I know. But this video will make up for it!

Observations.

• Does the boy at 2:00 look slightly cross-eyed to you? 
• If my kid ever behaves like that, they can be damn sure I actually will eat all their Halloween candy, just to spite their behavior.
• "Daaaaad you're UGLY!" Wow, such strong words from such a sweet looking little girl..
• And as for the brothers at the end of the clip, I can only hope I have such great kids in the future. "2 + 2 is......5!" "No...but good job, you were soo close." Aww :)

The place where I give my private classes.

I give private classes 3 days a week at the bottom of a giant hill.

At the top of this giant hill is Punta Europa, the major shopping mall in Algeciras. It has Bershka, Stradivarius, Lefties, and basically all of my favorite stores. And Primark: Europe's version of a Walmart. (They don't sell food, only clothes, accessories and bedding type stuff, but they are equally cheap and as unethically run as Walmart...)

Just in front of this shopping mall is an heladería (ice cream shop) that sells ice cream that basically has the consistency of a giant cup of flavored, frozen cool whip.
So. Frickin. Good.

Can anybody see the problem that this potentially causes? I'm trying to save my money and my diet, not throw it out the window.

My self-control and I will need to have a little chat.

Thank god I give my lessons at the bottom of the hill, and not the top. Hopefully not wanting to climb it will be MOTIVATION enough!

Thunderstorms.

Today was supposed to be my productive day, I was going to make the trek to El Corte Inglés and buy...well actually now I forgot what I was going to buy. But if I was planning to go all the way to Corte then I know it was important. And I should probably try to figure it out.

Anyways. I was going to be productive. And I was going to go food shopping (which at this point is really super necessary since I had the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner yesterday...) and I was going to clean my room, and plan some lesson plans. What a fun way to spend a Friday, right?

INSTEAD.

I am listening to it downpour outside, watching the lightening and feeling the thunder shake the walls of my apartment building. I swear the weather here is bipolar. First it was just windy and rainy, then it was sunny and warm, and then it was windy, freezing and hailing. (That was all within a 20 minute time period.) And now it's just back to being the kind of thunderstorm that gives you cozy thoughts of cuddling up in front of a fire with a good book.

Too bad I have neither a warm fire nor a good book. Only a sheet, tiny fleece blanket from a Chino, and my computer. Which will have to work.

Oh, and now it's sunny again.

Update: I just made friends with my 30 year old roommate. Not that we haven't been on friendly terms before, but I tend to be a bit anti-social when I'm home. Rainy Day Success.

Martians come from Mars and my daddy was abducted by aliens.

What? Those are two things that I learned while in chemistry class with the 2nd years. Here are some other things that happened today.

• I taught my 2nd years the difference between 'space shuttle', 'space station' and 'space ship', and why you probably shouldn't say that you saw a space ship in the sky. How we started discussing this in the middle of a chemistry class I'm really not sure, but it was definitely more relevant to the students than knowing how to convert centimeters to kilometers...
• The teacher told me that the dad of one her students a few years ago had said he was ABDUCTED BY ALIENS. The whole time she was telling me this story (in broken English) I thought she was confusing her words, and wasn't actually trying to say that. Nope. True Story.

• Then in the 3rd level class I thought that a girl told me I had a 'very beautiful collar bone'.........................................................She actually said a spanish word that meant necklace, so don't ask me how I automatically translated that to mean collar bone. I said awkwardly, wow thank you no one has ever said that before, and walked away feeling a little weirded out. Of course 2 seconds later I realized that I was the weird one and that she had just commented on my necklace. More moments like this are sure to follow when I have to get up at 7:30 each morning and rely on 2 cups of coffee just to get me through the morning....STAY TUNED!

• Then I was asked why American rap songs say 'for ya' instead of of 'for you'. I explained that it's kind of the same thing as here in Spain, when people drop the s or just drop the entire end of a word, like ha luego, má o meno, gracia. Americans like to say as few syllables and spend as little time pronouncing the individual words, kind of like Spaniards do when they smoosh all their words together. She understood that. 

• I also fessed up to the 3rd years that I can speak and understand Spanish perfectly well. I tried the whole playing dumb thing for a month, but I could only take so long of them asking me why I didn't speak Spanish and saying "but Eli speaks so well!" before I had to come clean. All the kids that I told looked excited, like I had told them a special secret of some kind. 

• And then I fell completely in love with my 3 kids that I teach for an hour a week. I feel like a thief charging 25euro to "teach" them for an hour, when i would happily do it for free. But hey, I'm not gonna complain :)

A 10-page-long summary post, I'm sorry. But happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!! Last Friday I over-packed a gigantic duffel bag full of clothes and set off for Granada with Eli, Kristina, Christine and Xabi. It was soo nice to get out of Algeciras for a couple days, and especially to go back to Granada, aka my favorite city ever.

Friday night I was sick...yeah...lame. So while I curled up and slept for 10 hours, the rest of the group went to a discoteca VIP style, and came stumbling back at 7am. Needless to say, I wasn't very thrilled about missing that.

So then Saturday, while the other 4 slept until 3pm, I met Kaitlin at the bus stop!! (My roommate from the last 2 years in college.) I showed her around Granada for a bit and introduced her to the wonderfulness that is Granada's free tapas.
Saturday night was spent botellóning at the house, wearing ridiculous wolf masks, and watching Xabi's friend Curro wear a Rick James wig and rock out to "Rain over me" by Pitbull. We were all pretty drunk...and I "dressed up" as a cat! Meaning I bought a 1euro headband with cat ears from a chino, and wore a black dress.
Our goal for the night was to have a "REMIX" moment...

I had been a little bit more drunk than I thought...since a lot of the details of that night are fuzzy. I do remember discussing how much I looked like Anne Hathaway from the Princess Diaries, which led the 3 spaniards to excitedly calling me "Princesa de Sorpresa!" which means Surprise Princess. When we said bye Sunday they all said "Adios Princesa de Sorpresa!" 

On Sunday, everyone left except for me and Kaitlin. Xabi offered to give us a ride to our hostel so we didn't have to walk a mile with our bags. Which was super nice of him. Except there 6 people and only 5 seats in the car. So somehow, I, the tallest person of the group, wound up laying across everybody's legs with my coat over my face in case a cop happened to drive by. And then when we all piled out of the car we were at a red light and there was a car behind us. Yup, driver staring at us with a strange face, that just happened. 

Kaitlin and I totally lucked out and got a room at the Oasis Backpacker's Hostel, which is right off Calle Elvira. Which means its right in the middle of the Arab markets, and at the bottom of Albaicín. Best location ever. We spent the evening hiking up to La Alhambra and hanging out at an Irish Pub with Shannon & Petya, 2 of the girls I studied abroad with, and a couple other Granada auxiliars. 

Then Monday morning we woke up bright&early at 5:30am to hike up to la Alhambra yet again to wait in line for tickets. It was freezing cold and there were already about 100 people ahead of us in line when we got there. But good thing we got there when we did....Although there were 450 tickets available for the day and we were 100thish in line, we got 2 of the last 10 tickets available for the whole day. 

What?? How does that work??

After we got the tickets I spent the better half of the walk down the hill cursing out the Spanish culture and people. But I digress.

Apparently, as the announcer decided to tell all of us that had been so patiently freezing our asses off for the last hour and a half, there was a bank of ATM's by the gift store where you could buy the tickets with your credit card. That prompted a rush of about 100 people to go stand in line, but since we were pretty close to the front we were reassured that we would get our first choice tickets.

Then over the next 45 minutes, we watched the line at the ATM speed on through and our line move nowhere. The little bell would ding and the announcer would repeat in Spanish, English, French and German that there were now only ( ) tickets available for the morning and ( ) available for the afternoon. At 8:50am, we finally pocketed our tickets and turned to leave and heard the bell ding for the last time. "The patronato of la Alhambra and General Life would like to inform you that all the tickets for the day are sold out." 

Can I just ask whatthefuck is the point of lining up at 6:30, or in some cases, camping out the night before just to be first in line, if YOU CAN JUST BUY YOUR TICKET FROM AN ATM RIGHT AWAY? Why is this not general knowledge? *Silent Scream* Please forgive my rant, but I have never been that upset with Spaniards. Uggalksjdfaoiefj.

ANYWAY! 3rd times a charm I guess, because the 3rd time we made the hike up to La Alhambra, we finally got in. It was worth it. It was so totally worth it, even though it was my 3rd time touring it. It never gets old.

And if you're still reading this, props to you, because this is one of the those 10 page long summary blogs that I promised to try to never post. Oops. It's gotta happen once I guess.

Monday night Kaitlin and I dressed up as "gypsies". Meaning we bought gypsy pants and a jangly gypsy belt from the arab market. We went to Hannigan's Irish Pub with the rest of the Americans in Granada and watched Petya, Shannon and Liz win first place in the trivia contest. Their prize was entering their names to win 26million euro, which....I'm assuming means they won lottery tickets? Really not sure though...
After drinking there for a bit and getting flaming shots, we made an epic hike through the Albaícin and Sacromonte to find El Camborio, a discoteca with incredible views of La Alhambra. It was a sort of closure for my study abroad experience, since I always heard stories from people who went there but I never actually made the hike myself.

After El Camborio we ate the most delicious schwarma I've ever had. It was from a Pakistani Schwarma place, where they actually grill the chicken and then add fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions and delicious sauce. I can't even describe how amazing it was, so if you're ever in Granada make you sure you find it! It's on Calle Elvira!

And then Tuesday I spent hungover and tired since I only got 5 hours of sleep and had to check out of the hostel by 11am. We explored some more of the Albaicín and ate Ice Cream and went shopping. And then I spent 5 1/2 hours on the bus to get back to Algeciras.

Overall, a fantastic weekend! I will update this blog soon with pictures to make it interesting!