Birthday birthday!

Even though I am pretty behind on my blogging, I thought I would also share about my 21st birthday that happened about two weeks ago on the 10th of April. The day before my birthday, Saturday, I hung out with my good friends, we ate brunch (Swedish pancakes made by me haha!), laid in the sun and then my friend Olivia made me a beautiful rainbow cake!

There was also a Falla that had been set up in a plaza downtown and that night they burned it...I decided they were just celebrating my birthday.

Fallas are normally burned in Valencia, Spain for the celebration of Saint Joseph, but for some reason they set one up in Granada just before the start of Holy Week and burned it on my birthday. It was really cool to see; there were fireworks going off and people dressed up in traditional clothing...great way to start off my birthday since the celebration didn't end til way past midnight.

On my actual birthday, Sunday, we went to a near-by beach called Nerja. It was a beyond gorgeous day and the perfect way to spend a birthday...doing nothing! We played in the sea, laid in the sun and just enjoyed our time relaxing.

Olivia, Kelsey, Troy and Me on the beach in Nerja getting ready to drink a Mimosa.

Olivia and Me

I didn't have the typical American 21st birthday, didn't get belligerently drunk at any point in time, but I'm perfectly okay with that. I think I probably had the coolest birthday of anyone I know...who can say they spent their 21st birthday on a beach in Spain?! Not many people. :)

Chau!!

Mom's Visit: London

To continue our story of Mom's visit, I now need to tell about our time in London. I want to start off by saying that London is a HUGE city, I think the biggest one I've ever been to in my entire life. But it was really pretty at the same time and didn't have the same sewer smell that a lot of big Spanish cities have, so that was really nice.
We arrived there Thursday afternoon and after checking into our hotel we went to the also very huge department store of Harrods.

Harrods carries everything that is expensive and luxurious, it has five stories and is just plain massive. I thought that the Macy's in Chicago was big (and it very well is), but Harrods feels a hundred times bigger; I'm not sure that it actually is, but it just has a feeling of greatness.
Every floor has it's own dinning area and not just a mall eating area, actual restaurants and cafes. All of the products are designer and there are a million sales representatives, so no one would ever be left waiting in line to be helped. It's a beautiful store overall, but also a tourist attraction in and of itself, so not the ideal shopping environment for someone with cash to blow. We ate a delicious, but very pricey, lunch there before heading over to see Buckingham Palace.

It pretty much looks like a building of political purpose and the statue of Queen Victoria in the front is very pretty with lots of depictions of Greek and Roman Gods as well. We walked around the Palace and watched the guards for a few minutes; it really is amazing that they don't move...seriously, they just stand there, not even a twitch!

Saint James' park is right next to Buckingham, so we took a nice stroll through it and watched all the funny little birds wander around. It's a beautiful park; there were tons of fresh, brightly colored flowers and a pond where the swans and ducks could swim. I was informed that it is a federal offense in London to harm or kill any swan because they are property of the Queen herself.
Then we walked over to Trafalgar Square where the National Gallery is and watched a few street performers, but we were all tired and went back to our hotel to find a place to eat. We ended up going to a pub just down the street that had amazing food. We all left so stuffed because we couldn't stop eating! I had fish with spinach and mashed potatoes and I got so full that I couldn't finish my Guinness.

The next day we got straight to touring London and first went to Westminster Abbey, unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures in the Abbey, but it was gorgeous building with tombs and monuments of lots of historic figures. Mom was really excited to see the Abbey because of the Royal Wedding that is coming up at the end of the month. Across the street from the Abbey is Parliament and Big Ben, it was really cool to see both up close because they are so beautiful and intricately detailed.

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

After the Abbey, we ate lunch at a cute little pub called Albert's and had more amazing food and beers! The English sure have the right idea of what comfort food is! I definitely couldn't eat it all the time, but dishes with mashed potatoes, roasted meat and cooked veggies covered in sauces and gravies are simply delicious...very different from Spanish food for sure!
Next we went to Westminster Cathedral, the largest cathedral in London and the one that still has frequent masses.

Westminster Cathedral

Inside the cathedral

The interior of the cathedral is amazing! All of the ceilings are mosaics made with tiny pieces of tile to create different scenes from the Bible and pictures of Saints. It was mesmerizing. The cathedral also has an elevator up to the top of the tower where you can get a great view of the entire city. It was really pretty up there, but I just like over-looks of cities anyway.

Our final destination for the day was the Tower of London. Despite what you might think, it's not a tower at all! It's actually the old fortress of London and was also used as a jail. It is right on the Thames river and was the place where Anne Boleyn was jailed and beheaded...if you know anything about English history that might be interesting to you.

Mom and Me with the Tower of London in the background.

The Tower is also where the crown jewels are currently kept, when the Royals are not using them. Unfortunately it's not allowed to take pictures of them either, but it was cool to see them. They are way too pretty and one of the scepters contains the world's largest cut diamond!
At the Tower you can see the Tower Bridge, which is the bridge commonly mistaken for the London Bridge, but we didn't go across it.

Tower Bridge

We were pretty exhausted after that and went back to the hotel to hang out and rest before dinner. We ended up going to the same pub we went the night before and all had wonderful food and beers once again!
The next morning, I left for Spain early in the morning and had to say goodbye to Mom, Donna and Cori (their flight back to the States left later in the day). Over all it was a wonderful trip and it was so great to spend time with my Mom...it's freaken hard to be away from her for such a long period time! And since she had just had shoulder surgery when I went home after Christmas, I couldn't hug her then, so it was nice to be able to give her lots of big hugs this visit! :)

Typical London picture!

Bye for now!

* P.S. - Sorry for the lateness of this post, I started it and just had time to finally finish it now. I will be posting a lot in the next few days about my birthday, the roadtrip to Portugal and Semana Santa here in Spain. :)

Mom's Visit: Spain

This past week I have had the wonderful blessing of my very own Mommy coming to visit me here in Granada! As I wrote before, she came with her best friend, Donna, and Donna's daughter, Cori. It was so good to see all of them and have a piece of home here in Spain!
They arrived here in Granada on Monday after a long day of travel and some frustrations, but it was so great to see their faces and luckily I was able to greet them at their hotel! We all went out for a late dinner, well at Spanish dinner time, and my friend Olivia came with us.
Tuesday, I still went to my normal classes because they are in the early morning and the three of them went to see the Alhambra. When we met up in the early afternoon, it sounded like they didn't have the best Alhambra experience for various reasons (which made me wish I had skipped class to go with them!), but they still enjoyed it. We went out for lunch by the river, at a place that looked up at the Alhambra. Then all went to the Cathedral of Granada and the Capilla Real, where Ferdinand and Isabella, "The Catholic Monarchs", are buried. The Cathedral is a great site to see and I think they were all pleased with that visit.

Then, we took a stroll and did some tourist shopping as well as got some tapas, to complete the "real" Granada experience, of course!






The next morning we headed off to Málaga for the day. Our flight on Thursday was out of the Málaga airport and in order to avoid a long bus ride first thing in the morning we decided to stay the night there instead. And what a great idea it was! We stayed at a hotel that was literally right on the beach; it was beyond amazing. We were up in the fourth floor and had an wonderful view of the Mediterranean.

We spent pretty much the whole afternoon and evening on the beach, enjoying the water, picking up tons of seashells and sea-glass and soaking up the warm Spanish sun. It was a perfect relaxing day and I'm so glad that Mom, Donna and Cori got to have at least one day of their vacation to relax and not worry about traveling and seeing sites.

We may have not done much in Málaga, but it was not a day lacking in excitement, we were all so happy to be at the beach and it was Mom's first time seeing the Mediterranean sea!
The next day we left for London in the late morning, but we did so much that I think I will save all of that for the next post. But I will leave you with a few amazing pictures of the sunrise we saw Thursday morning over the sea, it was breathtaking.

Ciao!

P.S.- In personal news, just a week til I'm the big 21.

Visitors

Today is a very special day! In about 12 hours, my Mom will be boarding an airplane headed for Europe! She's traveling with her best friend, Donna and Donna's daughter, Cory. They will first stop in London for a day and then come here to Granada for the first half of the week and after that I am going with them back to London for a few days. I have never been in England, but I am excited to see the city that enchants so many people and I'm excited to be able to show Mom a little bit of Spain. It's so great to be able to share a piece of the life I've been living (aside from pictures and stories) with someone important in my life. They are sure to be tired and it's only a short visit, but the good thing is that Spanish life isn't stressful and nothing moves very fast...except for the cars...so hopefully their time in Spain will be a little more relaxed.
I'll be sure to update on both their visit here and our time in London. And a crazy little fact is that I will be home in exactly two months today...oh my goodness the past two and half months have flown by! I'm sure the next two won't go by any slower; already I think I have every weekend planned with something to do until I go home, wow.

Hasta luego!

Flash Forward

Lately, my eyes have been focused on the future a bit...I know it's bad, I need to constantly be living in the moment, but I'm looking forward to so many things this summer! Certainly there are things I'm dreading as well like finding a job and figuring out where to live, but then there are the great things like getting to actually spend time with my boyfriend and going to the Avett Brother's concert in July!
In thinking about the future, I also think about leaving Spain and going back to life in the States and that's obviously a bittersweet move. Last semester I wrote about all the things I missed about the States and home (here) and even though I haven't left Spain yet and don't know exactly what I'll miss, there are a few things that have been on my mind.

1.) I think the number one thing I will miss about being in Spain is living a bilingual lifestyle. It's really cool to go to class or be at my apartment and speak and hear Spanish, to go out on the streets and hear Spanish and at the same time have friends who speak English and who I can relate to well. I enjoy the constant challenge that every day presents with language and culture.

(Today is the first day of the rest of your life)












2.) A big part of being abroad in general that I will miss will be the abundance of history that surrounds me here everyday. I can take a stroll around the city and see buildings that were once occupied by kings and queens or historical religious figures and it is just fascinating to me that I can still be a part of that in a very small way.

Cathedral of Granada

















3.) This may seem like a silly thing to miss, but I really love how easy it is to buy locally made and grown products here. "Big box" stores aren't common at all and it's really nice to go to a fruitería (or any other locally owned store) and know that the produce there is majorly grown in Spain, if not in the region of Andalucía.

Me with a fresh barra from a panadería in Bilbao. (Oct 2010)
















4.) I will also miss the laid-back lifestyle here in Spain. Everyone takes their time and enjoys the simple things in life more often here than anyone in the States. It's kind of nice to go to a café and know that you actually can't get your coffee "to-go" because it's the custom to sit, enjoy your drink and relax; no one is in a rush to get to places and there's not much waiting in line behind ten people getting non-fat mocha cappuccino sundaes! Sometimes things are a little too simple and a little more efficiency would be nice, but it's some of those everyday things that really affect the quality of life here and make people less stressed.

The best café con leche! Vitoria.


















When the time finally goes come for me to leave Spain and return to real life, I will be sure to update on what things I actually miss. For now, I need to focus my eyes on the present, so I don't miss a second of my experience!

Ciao ciao!