Una vista rara en Granada

For the past two days, it has been raining in Granada. This has only been the third time it has rained in the entire time of being here, which has been about two months. In fact, this morning I woke up to the sound of a downpour and thunder! It's quite strange for this region to experience this type of weather, but it is so dry that I'm sure the ground and plants need it.

Classes have been great and I am learning more about Spain than I ever could have in the United States. I very much enjoy the fact that these classes are centered around a very specific topic, but there is so much to learn just about that one thing. For example, I am taking a class called "Civilización y Cultura Española", and it seems that the topic is very narrow, but it is just the opposite! I have learned about the first people who had lived on the Iberian peninsula to the political structure of Spanish government to the differences between Generalísimo Franco era and today.

Today I am going to walk up to the Alhambra with my friend, Breanna, and we're going to take some more pictures and enjoy the atmosphere.

Gibraltar, el paísito y Málaga, nos encontramos otra vez.

¡Cúanto tiempo sin verte!

As today is the national holiday of Spain, simply named "Fiesta Nacional de España", I actually managed to squeeze some time to write about my experience travelling to the British-owned territory known as Gibraltar and the astonishing city of Málaga (this time, I actually got to view a lot more of the city, and I am in love with it even more).

When we arrived to Gibraltar, we were required to go through British customs. Before the border, I got to look upon the "Rock" of Gibraltar, which is basically what is thought of whenever this  place is mentioned. The funny thing about the rock was there was this dark, ominous cloud hovering over all of the peninsula, and we said that it was imitating the natural conditions of the United Kingdom. This was partially true, as there was clouds mostly over the British side all day but never on the Spanish side.

The cloud!

The border.

The flag of Gibraltar, followed by the British flag, finally followed by the European Union flag.

Yes, a telephone booth! There were a lot of people doing tourist photos in this phonebooth as we were waiting for the others.

Once everybody gained permission to enter the territory, we hopped on a bus with a tour guide that was born and raised in Gibraltar! His mother was Spanish and his father was British, so he grew up knowing both languages, for which I had fits of jealousy. However, I learned that relations between the Spanish and the British have not always been the best, and I felt remorseful for some of the hardships that the man had to endure during his lifetime in Gibraltar. While he was explaining his story, we waited forever in traffic for some unknown reason. He then told us that we were waiting for a plane to take off because the roadway we were on shared the runway for the airport!

The actual plane is located at the bottom of the lamppost.

Driving over a runway, no big deal.

We were then given a tour of the various tourist spots located on the Rock, and this required our little van to climb higher and higher up the steep roads, and it made us somewhat nervous. However, our tour guide insisted that nothing would happen, and gratefully nothing did. Here are some views on the way up and St. Michael's cave.

The bay, from not too terribly high on the Rock.

Queen of England? That's pretty interesting!

The Jurassic-aged cave of St. Michael. Not too much to see, but I enjoy hearing the history of things.

Upon leaving the cave, we were met by the famous monkeys of Gibraltar. The reason why they are so popular is that they are the only species of monkey to live naturally in any part of Europe. It is believed that they were brought there by the Moors when they first invaded southern Spain, but of course, that is just speculation of the experts. I will let the pictures of the silly monkeys explain themselves!

It found a Twix bar wrapper, but found nothing. Can you see the subtle disappointment in this little fellow's face?

That's as close as I would get to the monkeys. Right after this picture, this same monkey jumped off the wall, ran to a lady with a purse, opened her purse, and stole an open bag of Doritos.

Must have been delicious!

A baby!

Look at the human mannerism that this monkey has!

Ah, the Barbary Macaques in a "natural" habitat...

For lunch, my roommate Aurelie and I found a Subway in Gibraltar, and decided to eat there. However, it cost us thirteen Euros for a footlong sub sandwich and two large sodas, which is about $18 in the United States. We asked the employee as to why it cost so much money, and they said that it was due to a steep exchange rate between the Euro and the British Pound. I did not think about how they had to pay a certain percentage to exchange money, but that was the reason of being outrageously expensive.

Aurelie and I.

After a few hours in Gibraltar, we said goodbye and headed to the precious city of Málaga. We were fortunate enough to stay in a four-star hotel while there, and I enjoyed it immensely for its comfortable beds (Best sleep I have ever had in my life!). On the Sunday of our trip, we were able to view the Alcazaba of Málaga, which is a Moorish fortress similar to Granada´s Alhambra. The castle and fortress were not as impressive as the Alhambra, but the view of the Mediterranean Sea was absolutely spectacular! In general, the visit to different places around Málaga was nothing short of fantastic, and I am glad that I had an opportunity to explore this city more than before.

The walls of the fortress along with the background being of the city and port of Málaga.

Skyline of Málaga and the Mediterranean Sea. The picture is a bit overexposed, but it is very difficult to escape the sun in this city (Guaranteed 3,000 hours of sun a year!)

Our tour guide (the name escapes me) and an ancient Roman theater alongside the Alcazaba.

Roman theater! How tremendous!

Giant bubbles in the plaza.

Underneath this pyramid, there were some kind of ancient Roman remains, and it was pretty swell. I could not obtain a picture of the actual site due to a terrible reflection of the sun coming from the glass.

Laura and I.

Some of the restored arches in the Alcazaba.

I thought the silhouettes of Christina and Aurelie looked pretty appealing.

I´m addicted to salmon sandwiches, but I took this picture because I liked the design to make my plate seem fancy (although there was already a chip in the ceramic)

All in all, I very much enjoyed this weekend with my study abroad group. The best part was that the price was already included in what we had originally paid in our billing, so it was definitely worth the somewhat-expensive part of studying abroad. 

¡Eran los primeros días del octubre y hacía buen tiempo todavía!

Buenas tardes a todos,

This weekend I was able to explore the beautiful coastal city of Cádiz, Spain for three days. Two other girls, Bailey and Laura, decided to go on this adventure about two days before the day of departure, but it was definitely such a great decision. We paid for a round trip bus ticket and arrived in Cádiz on Saturday in the afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the beach called "La playa de la caleta". The ocean water was very warm, but it was quite windy and that led to us being covered in tons of sand by the time we left.

Overlooking the beach. There were many older Spanish women sitting together, talking, and playing games under the umbrella structures. The way that they were enjoying the beach makes me want to move to somewhere such as Florida when I retire, but I still have many years to think about that.

There were many small boats dotted along the shore, and also the stretch of land in the distance is actually a castle, called San Sebastián. We did not go there on Saturday, but later in the trip we did.

View of our street we stayed on from my room. When we arrived, the apartment across the street had children randomly singing Nickelodeon songs in English. The impact that American culture plays on the rest of the world continues to impress me every time I encounter it while being here in Spain. However, this is usually limited to just music, television, and movies from what I have noticed. 

That night, we returned to the hotel, took a nap for a few hours, and then went to the rooftop terrace for dinner. We learned upon arrival that the staff prepares a dinner for five euros a plate, and since we did not know too much of Cádiz yet, this seemed like the best option for the night. The hotel had some leftover paella from the night before, and I had not tried paella up until that point, so I bought this for only two euros. It was absolutely delicious, even if it was a day old. The night turned a bit chilly, but for October, it was absolutely beautiful and still comfortable.

The next day, we ate toast and had a cup of coffee before heading to all the tourist sites within Cádiz. As we did not want to spend too much money, anything that charged an admission we skipped. That is just what happens when you are a college student on a budget. The first place we went to was the Plaza de la Catedral, which included the Cádiz Cathedral along with another church with a name that escapes me. However, here are the wonderful photographs I took of the whole plaza.

The plaza

The other church on the plaza

Also, since Cádiz is essentially a decent-sized peninsula, we were able to encounter views of the sea simply by walking about 20 minutes in any direction.

Cádiz is one of the oldest, continuously-inhabited cities in all of Europe, and for this, we discovered several ancient remains throughout the city. This included anywhere from an ancient Phoenician necropolis remains to small bits leftover of an aqueduct from the Romans.  

Roman theater, in quite a crumbling state. We were prohibited from entering due to large gates, but it was definitely amazing to see from a short distance.

Some of the ancient Phoenician necropolis.

Remains of a Roman aqueduct. Nothing too spectacular, but I love seeing something that is incredibly old with historical significance.

While walking along the shoreline, we encountered some remains, but there was no information about it.

I´m not sure why I enjoy seeing police cars in everywhere I visit, but I think it is mostly because no matter where you may go in the world, you will find some form of peacekeepers, but they may present themselves in a completely different manner.

This vehicle is gives a very intimidating impression!

Finally, on the last day, we walked around before our bus and stumbled upon the castle of San Sebastián. We were not permitted to go in, but here are some pictures of the scenery around where we could be. 

Some pretty interesting rock formations surrounding the castle! 

Looking back on Cádiz

I took this picture accidentally, but it is very impressive.

The only speed bump that occurred during this trip was at the end. Since both my friend Laura and I had our tickets printed on the same piece of paper, and Laura could not find the ticket when we were supposed to go, we missed to bus to Granada. Seeing that the next bus to Granada was approximately 5 hours later, we found the train station, bought tickets to Sevilla, and continued our journey. The train was actually quite enjoyable, much better than the trains we have in the United States. They are smoother riding and quieter, so I got to catch up on a little bit of sleep. Upon arrival to Sevilla, we found the tourism kiosk and asked for directions to the bus station. The man there was very nice and even helped us figure out when the next bus to Granada would be! It took us about half an hour to walk and take a city bus to the station, but we purchased tickets for the bus and headed back home.

Tomorrow I start my new schedule, and I will be taking 4 classes. Now, this may not seem to be a large amount; however, each class meets four hours a week and the university uses a trimester format for their classes. I'm very excited for my classes for I have heard many good things about the professors that will be teaching my classes and that I love to learn more about Spain and Spanish. 

¡Saludos!