Granada etc.

It's been a while since the last post and it looks like I have a LOT of ground to cover. We went to Granada for an intensive language course (which was not actually very intense), and I did not bring my laptop so I could not update you lovely folk until now. I really enjoyed Granada mostly because I consider myself a smaller city sort of person, meaning that I find Madrid pretty overwhelming but thought that Granada was the perfect size. It also has a really rich history combined with a young atmosphere since it is a college town.

We traveled there by train for 5 hours, going through a more mountainous region, which also meant that it was MUCH cooler there than Madrid thank goodness. Also our hotel had AC so that was a double plus. We had class for 4 hours a day for 5 days at the Don Quixote institute, which specializes in teaching Spanish to foreigners. Cool things we did outside of class:

• Walked around the Albaycín, the old part of the city, up to the Mirador de San Nicolás (lookout of Saint Nicholas) which had an incredible view of the Alhambra and the city in general (side note: I thought the Alhambra would be outside of the city but it was right there, which was cool)
• Visited historical Arab baths
• Visited modernized Arab baths, basically a spa full of pools with different water temperatures. We got to spend a nice relaxing time in there and even got massages!
• Saw a play by the famous playwright Frederico García Lorca called Yerma (Barren) in an outdoor courtyard. It was really hard to understand but a good experience.
• Visited Lorca's family's house, which has much of the original furnishings
• Went to the Alhambra of course, SO incredible, this is a pic of me with Ariel, the girl I'm living with:

• Watched a flamenco show on the side of the mountain in the Albaycín, fun fact: apparently actual gypsies live up there in caves with no electricity or running water
• Went on an olive oil tour in a nearby town, which involved learning how they used to make olive oil and then doing olive oil tasting. It was really interesting to see how much the taste can vary, I thought it tasted all the same but you can really tell the difference.
• Went out to lunch with our program director's friend Juan in a small town next to the small town where he lives, then went to his house to have coffee with him and his wife. These small towns were absolutely precious and really wonderful to spend time in, the day we went around to all of them was probably the best in Spain yet.

• Traveled to the seaside city of Málaga, where we went to the beach and visited the second best Picasso museum in the country (#1 would be in Barcelona)

For literally hundreds more photos I refer you to Facebook. Now that I'm back in Madrid this week is orientation and class scheduling stuff. I should also probably unpack the rest of my stuff at some point...