Este fin de semana

This weekend, I will be going to Cádiz, Spain to explore the area and enjoy my break before my semester classes start. I will be leaving tomorrow morning and returning to Granada on Monday night.

In other news, I took my intensive course final exam today. I´m not quite sure what the actual grade I received on the exam, but I passed the class and am moving on to level 8, which is the "Superior" learner level, or the equivalent to being between an Advanced-Middle and Advanced-High learner.

When I return, I shall write about my new adventure!

La corrida de toros

Yesterday, I attended a traditional Spanish bullfight in the Plaza de Toros in Granada. I was anxious for seeing this after someone had described what would happen, and everything described did occur.

For the sake of not subjecting all of you to the horror of bullfighting, I did not actually take any pictures of the actual bullfight.

You may notice that there is not a lot of people in the stands. There are a few reasons on why this is. First, it is starting to become autumn, and for that many people would prefer to go to a bullfight during the summer. Also, the art of bullfighting is being lost among the more recent generations of Spain. A lot of people call for its prohibition, and naturally you would not go to an event such as this if you do not stand for what is happening. Finally, the matadors (or toreros) that we saw were still young, and essentially it is almost like watching a Minor League Baseball game. For that, you still get a sense of the sport, but for a much more reasonable price.

The actual fight itself is less than pleasant. For me, it was pretty sad and traumatizing. I felt terrible seeing the bulls being tortured and eventually killed, but I took this as solely an informative event of the Spanish culture and nothing more.

On a lighter note, the streets have been full of people celebrating a festival in honor of the "La Virgen de las Angustias". From what I know, there is a procession tonight with people carrying the statue of her, and I walked back to my apartment against everyone who was walking towards the Basilica. Also, this is a time where families come together to celebrate, even when they live somewhere outside of Granada.

For more United States-Spain comparisons, I have taken pictures of two things that I bought today.

Made in Barcelona, but clearly uses an English title. Do we have this same product in the United States?

The same as Diet Coke, but they use "light". Again, it may be universal to use English (I've been told that many Europeans want to learn English).

This week, I have my final exam for my intensive course (Thursday and Friday), so I will be studying all this week for that. I begin my other classes on October 6, so I have a few days in between as a break. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with myself, but there is always something to do here. 

Portugal: Una tierra bonita, un idioma muy distinto

Hello everyone! This past weekend I ventured to the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula to Lagos, Portugal. To begin, let me just comment that this town had to be one of the most beautiful places I have been to yet, as you will see in the pictures to follow. The climate was very similar to what I remember San Diego, California to be when I went on vacation with my mom there during my junior year of high school. The weather was perfect: no humidity, light breezes, and very warm.

When we arrived, I was able to get on a two hour boat cruise, and we were situated not far of the coast. I did not take a picture of the boat, but it was a large sailboat that held approximately thirty people. We were allowed to jump off the boat and swim in the water, which was a little bit chilly at first but it eventually got warmer. The water was VERY clear, and you could see all the little fishes swimming below you in the water. Also, they provided us with a tour of the grottos of Lagos, which are small, picturesque caves formed in cliffs found on the shore.

A view from the boat of the cliffs.

After the cruise, my friends and I were bused back to the hotel, which was situated next to one of the best beaches that I have ever visited. It is called "Praia Dona Ana", and it is surrounded by cliffs and even has its own cliff in the water from which you can jump! I was adventurous again, and jumped from it two times (It was only about 10 feet).

That night, we headed to the city center in hopes of having a spectacular dinner, and Lagos did not disappoint. We dined at a restaurant named "El Pescador", where I had a plate of excellent grilled pork, french fries, and vegetables. When we were finished, the guide for the travel group we were with announced that it was her birthday and paid for everyone's meal! I was very excited and thankful for such a wonderful gesture. 

On Saturday, we woke up early with a fun-filled day in front of us. The first part of the day, we went to Ponta da Piedade to check out the cliffs. Again, I was in awe of the serene expanse that was laid in front of us. Here are a few pictures:

As rewarding it was to see this area, to get down to sea level, there were several sets of staircases that we had to climb back up when we were finished. Here is one of many of those delightful staircases. On the positive side, I did get my exercise in for the day!

After that, we headed to Meia Praia, which is an expansive, natural beach. We spent about five hours there, and during that time, I managed to avoid getting a sunburn! However, there were a few unfortunate ones in my group that did have the luck I did.

Meia Praia. Praia means beach in Portuguese, which is similar to the Spanish word (playa).

During the afternoon, we went to a restaurant located on the beach called Bahia. There, I tried the salmon sandwich and loved it!

Yummy! It had capers, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, salmon, and a cream cheese spread for a condiment.

One thing that I had learned about Portugal, at least that was common in Lagos, was that there's a sauce called Piri-Piri, and you add it to different kinds of fish to enhance the flavor. This sounds as if it is a good idea, but it had to be one of the hottest sauces I have ever experienced! That is a huge statement coming from me since I am not one to shy away from hot sauce.

One dash of this will send you to drink all the water in the world!

We returned to the hotel after the beach and prepared to watch the sunset at Cape St. Vincent, which was once believed to be the end of the world before America was discovered! When we arrived, we were immediately struck by high wind gusts and beautiful scenery of ocean cliffs with waves crashing into them. 

My friend, Macy, enjoying the spectacular views.

The lighthouse

Many, many tourists!

The sun was almost down at this point.

Seeing the sun disappear gave me goosebumps, especially when everyone cheered. It made me realize that there are such beautiful things in life that we take for granted every day, and that if we just stopped and enjoyed life more for the little things, our lives would be just even more enjoyable.

We then headed back to Lagos for dinner once again, and this time we were able to go to a world-renown restaurant called the Nah Nah Bah. The name may seem strange, but the cuisine was casual and contained the best burger I have ever had. It is called the "Toucan Burger" and this is how the restaurant described it: "Bigger and better than ever with tasty home seasoned grilled beef patty, pineapple, tomato, onion, lettuce, bacon, Swiss cheese, and tomato relish". It made me nervous to see pineapple and bacon paired, but I forgot about the unique combination as soon as I took my first bite. I forgot to mention that this burger is rated as one of the top 50 burgers in the WORLD! I am definitely fortunate to have experienced this. 

That night and the next day, I was able to explore the center of Lagos, and it was such a cute village. The only significant event was Macy and I were able to try this restaurant on Sunday afternoon, in which I am unable to remember the official name of it, but it is called "the Blue Door" by the locals. The food was absolutely delicious, and was well worth the one hour wait in line. During our wait, we talked to these two Portuguese women from Lisbon, and they were very friendly and funny. The strange thing about this encounter was that they spoke English very well, but knew very little Spanish. I found this to be common for the people who worked and lived in Portugal, and after some research I learned that Portuguese-Spanish relations are civil, yet not as friendly as one would hope for sharing borders. 

Below are the remainder of the photos that I took.

Our hotel room with my gigantic water (1.5 liters) in the background.

Kickboxing in the middle of the market

Igreja Santa Maria. This is one of the two still functioning Catholic churches in Lagos. Igreja means church, and the word in Spanish is la iglesia (Can you see the similarity but how it is different at the same time?)

Mercado de Escravos: The Slave Market building. It is was one of the first in Europe. This was such a depressing place to see because I thought about how many people were subjected to the inhumanity of slavery. However, it is important for people to learn about the past so it is not repeated.

Getting excited to eat at the Blue Door. The people seated next to us thought that we were funny taking these pictures.

A round of cheese for spreading on bread. Delicious!

Huge bowl of vegetable soup

Prawns omelette with french fries. Prawns are tiny shrimp (I had to ask because nobody from Illinois knows that much about seafood).

I was sad to leave Lagos, but I am very happy to be given this opportunity. This weekend, I am going to a traditional Spanish bullfight in Granada. I am not sure whether I will like it or not, but I believe that this is perfect for learning about the Spanish culture more. I was told to bring a white handkerchief to wave and a hat to block the sun, but not much else. We shall see how everything goes the next time I write.

¡Hasta luego a todos!

Visité muchos sitios, y por eso, este blog es tarde

I apologize for the delay in how long it has been between blogs, but I have done a lot from the last time I wrote, and decided that one large post will be satisfactory.

My classes have been going well. It is actually only one class that is divided in two parts, and the total amount of time in the classroom is four hours. It may have been the most intense class I have ever taken. Also, I was placed in level seven, which is considered to be the Upper-Advanced class. The course itself is challenging, but I am learning so much from this level. Remember, challenges facilitate the need to learn. The building that I have my classes is located a little bit further from the main building, but the walk and the views to and from this building make it worth my while. Here are some pictures:

Last Saturday, our group woke up early for a trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains, more specifically the region of the Alpujarras. After the Moors were driven out of the city of Granada, they fled to this area for a couple hundred years before they abandoned it because they had a choice of either converting to Christianity or expulsion. The town closest to where we were is called Lanjarón, and it is famous for the clean water from the Sierras which is bottled and enjoyed by all of Spain.

The purpose of our visit was to enjoy some adventure sports, which included archery, zip-lining, being launched by bungee (not sure of the actual word...), and bungee-jumping for amateurs. I didn´t bring my camera, but I managed to obtain a picture of me being launched by bungee.

I´m not sure what happened that day, but my fear of heights was pushed to the side, and for this, I had such a memorable time.

Also, I felt that including this next picture was a MUST. While walking to the other side of town for our picnic lunch, we passed by a caballero (roughly translated, cowboy) with a mule and a dog.

Cuando en España...

After all the activities of that day, I came home and slept for what seemed to be forever, but I was glad that I did. The next day, we took a tour of everything inside the Alhambra, which is the famous tourist site for its historical significance. I am not going to bore everyone with the 200+ pictures I took, but I here are a few to get a taste of the beauty that the Alhambra offered to me:

 Inside the Palace of Charles (or Carlos) V

Overlooking the Albaicín

The gardens of Generalife

Roughly translated, this quote says that it would be a terrible misfortune to be blind in Granada :)

I also have some quirky photos that I took, and some are funny and others I will explain...

The tiny bus we managed to squeeze about 30 people in at one time

Literally it is lemonade (limonada), but it´s creative because limon is lemon and nada means nothing, and there is no added sugar... so it´s lemon with nothing!

Toilets, spelled wrong.

This picture was hilarious

Me with cool looking flowers.

From the Gardens of Generalife looking over the Alhambra fortress

A pomegranate! This is what this city is named after. 

Overlooking Granada

Gelato! Yum!

Tomorrow is a "festival", and is celebrated for what I believe is the patron saint of the province of Granada. I will be attending the parade at night, so I will take pictures of this. Also, on Friday I am going on a 3-day trip to Lagos, Portugal, which includes a sunset view from what was perceived to be the end of the world before America was discovered.