Los ultimos dias...

Well, I have now been home for a week and a half, so I guess I should write one final, summation post about my Spanish adventures! I tried writing this post the last day that I was in Granada, but I got super sad, so I had to stop. And since then, I've just been lazy, I guess :)

The last few weeks in Granada were crazy--a balancing act of trying to cram in everything I wanted to do and see with studying and exams. I think the best way to summarize this time would be a list (even though I'm never brief, but I'll try)

1. On my "last weekend out" with my friends, we hit the Chupiteria, where I earned enough shot tokens to get a t-shirt! Unfortunately, they were out of tshirts that night, but I didn't mind. We also went to the Mirador de San Nicolas (gorgeous nighttime views of the Alhambra) and, for one last time, el Camborio. Even though I didn't mean to stay out late, I was out until 6! It was crazy, but SO much fun!
2. Later on in that weekend, I had my (our) flamenco performance! We had a rehearsal on Saturday, and then on Sunday we all gathered at a nearby youth center to perform for our entire program (basically). As always, I got nervous, but it was super fun to show off what we had learned! I felt so accomplished, because as most of you know, I can't dance to save my life. Even my host mother was there--it was awesome!
3. The next week was finals--on Monday I had my two toughest: Poli and Econ. I had studied really hard for both, so here's hoping they went well!
4. On Tuesday, I didn't have any finals, so I went to the Alhambra in the morning to see the Palacio Carlos V. They had a cool exhibit on Washington Irving (who stayed at the Alhambra and wrote a collection of stories about it). I also wandered around the woods surrounding the Alhambra complex--it was so peaceful and beautiful! Definitely one of the best experiences of the semester
5. On Wednesday, we had the inevitably awful conclusion of our internship seminar (which concluded with our professor ONCE AGAIN reminding us that our attitudes sucked). But afterwards, I went out for tapas with Kaitlyn and Madeline, the two girls I worked with at UIM. It was such a nice conclusion to the whole internship process!
6. On Friday, we had our end of term dinner, which was SO bittersweet. I almost cried when the program directors gave us little magnets that said "IES Granada" on a ceramic sign that looks just like all the street signs in Granada. There was also an amazing photo slideshow which really summed up the experience and showed me just how far we've all come. And of course, we had to say goodbye to our professors, which was almost heartbreaking.
   
7. Even though it was raining cats and dogs, we made our way to Hannigans and sat for a while, just talking and enjoying each other's company. Still heartbreaking because some of the girls I wasn't going to see again :(
8. The next day, after lots of packing, we all got together for one last tapas night. It was such a nice end to everything, but again, so completely heartbreaking
9. And then...it was time to leave. The next morning, after saying goodbye to Keely (that was terrible), eating breakfast, and getting to the bus station, I met Madeline and Caroline and we got on the bus to Malaga
10. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express near the Malaga airport, but caught the bus to the centro and shopped (well, browsed, really) and admired Malaga's amazing Christmas decorations. We got stiffed by the cabbie on the way back to the hotel, but at that point, we just didn't care
11. And then my amazing journey home began: at 3:45 in the morning, we got up, packed up, and went to the airport. Luckily my bags were underweight (well, actually, exactly the weight limit, so I was literally praying the whole time I was in line to check in). Got to Madrid on time, navigated between terminals, checked in and then...waited. My flight was delayed an hour, but I got to Newark and then I just ran. I barely made my Newark-Houston flight, but luckily I found the Houston-Austin gate right next door to the arrival gate of my previous flight. And, just like that, at 11 pm on December 21st, I walked back through the door of my house and my Spanish adventure was over.

Being back home has been crazy. I was really jetlagged for the first couple of days, but since then my Mom and I have just been hanging out and having a good time. I got my guacamole that I'd been craving for months, as well as Thundercloud Subs and tons of other Austin wonderfulness. I miss Spain and talk about it constantly, but I still think that the experience is too recent for me to write any meaningful retrospectives on the experience.

Just in case anyone needed a final reminder as to why I loved studying abroad, here's something I stumbled upon in my wanderings near the Alhambra:

Consider the following: this gate (it's the Puerta de Bib Rambla, just in case you were wondering) was constructed, used, and probably to some degree abandoned 200 years BEFORE the first European colony in North America was founded.

Anyways, thanks for reading about my semester abroad! Hopefully I'll be making another long trip somewhere at some point in the near future, so I might repurpose this blog for that. Hasta luego everyone! It's been so much fun.

Reason number 7892798749 (approximately) why I love Spain

The Alpujarras:


They are mountains (part of the Sierra Nevadas) which are literally right next to Granada. My host mom has a house there, so we spent part of the weekend just relaxing in the sun on her patio (did I mention I have another 5 day weekend? Thanks Constitution Day and Día de la Concepción Inmaculada!). We stayed in the village of Bubion, one of three "white towns" which are lined up through a river gorge. When viewed from the road, you can see all of them in a row! But I was sleeping on the way up, so I missed that. It was a quiet weekend, we saw 2 out of the 3 towns and watched movies. No internet, so I actually was a little productive and did some work. Cool thing at the house: this table which has a heater underneath it! The house was pretty cold, so at night we would all sit at the table and our feet/legs would be super warm.

Unfortunately, and probably due to global warming, there's a severe drought in the mountains. It's only snowed once there, and there was no rain in the fall, so instead of being green, the hills were brown and dead looking. But still gorgeous! From my host mom's patio, you could see the ocean! We had the afternoon sun, but as soon as the sun went behind another mountain, the temperature would drop like 10 degrees, so we would go inside. It was a really nice break from being in Granada and doing homework. Except now that's what I have to do. Just 3 days of classes, a weekend, 5 days of exams, packing, and then I'm home! Sadly, it would appear that I actually picked a difficult study abroad program which not only has me doing a paper for every class BUT ALSO an exam. Some of the exams are cumulative. So guess who's not really going to get out much the next 13 days? But that's OK because I'm sure I'll find little bits of time to get in those last vital moments of sightseeing....
On the way home, we passed a wind farm. I think Don Quixote would get decapitated if he tried to tilt at these...