Andalucia

Inside the mosque-turned-cathedral

In the garden of the Alhambra

The Alhambra

This past weekend was the program trip to Andalucia which is a province in the south of Spain. We went to three cities in three days and it was very tiring. We left Madrid Friday morning, arrived in Granada in the late afternoon, and went stright to a walking tour through the city, in a cathedral, and up a big hill to see the Alhabra. Everything was really pretty and fun to see, but there was lots of walking. I'll try to put up some pictures a little later when my camera battery is charged. Friday night, I ate dinner with some friends from the program at this restaurant that had a perfect view of the castle...I think we ended up eating for like at least a couple hours! It felt so european to just be eating dinner for so long outside next to a beautiful view haha. The next morning, we were supposed to be able to go into the palace, but when we got there, the people told us our reservations had been cancelled :( but we were still able to see the garden which was pretty good. After that, we made our way to Sevilla where we saw another cathedral and another garden. Ohh and we also got treated to ice cream since we didn't get to see inside the palace like we were supposed to haha. In Sevilla there were lots horse-drawn carriages which was kind of neat to see. That night, one of the coordinaters told us about a place where we could see a free flamenco show, so I went there with a few other people. It was pretty crowded, but the music that accompanied the dancer was pretty interesting...it sounded kind of arabic or something the way the guy was singing. After the show we went to an irish pub. Overall a pretty good night! The next morning we were off to Cordoba, although we only had time to stay there for a few hours...in that time, we saw yet another cathedral, although this one was pretty interesting since it was originally a mosque, so it had lots of gothic arquitecture with a few splashes of more tipical cathedral-esque things here and there. We left Cordoba in the afternoon, and then got back to Madrid at 9ish...long busride=lots of napping, but everyone was still pretty tired. When my roommate and I got home, our senora and her friend were there waiting for us with dinner which was nice since I was very hungry. We had some spinach dish, tortilla de patatas, salad, bread, and some kind of rice patty. They also gave us a glass of wine which was supposedly a very good one from Spain... After that I had to do all my homework, but I got to bed by 1 I think...nonetheless I still had trouble waking up the next day.