Granada,
Spain
Sunday, January 20, 2008
We finally booked our plane tickets to London and Dublin! We are leaving for London late on January 30 and will be there until February 4. Then we will be in Dublin from the morning of February 4 until February 6. I'm so excited! After lunch Julie, Mark (from ISU), and I walked around Granada. There are Orange Trees all over here and Julie and I were finally tempted enough to try one. It was really sour. We pretended like it was good so Mark would try it, he didn't think we were very funny. Something that caught my eye today was an older woman carrying two grocery bags tripped in the plaza. Everyone walking past her, men and women, ran to help. Honestly, not one person passed her by. It made me think of the United States compared to here, and made me sad. For dinner, Maria surprised us with pizza because earlier we were talking about foods that we eat a lot at home, or should I say ISU. She is really trying to make us feel comfortable here and I'm so thankful that I ended up with her! That night I had tapas for the first time! I went with Julie, Amy, Collette, Jackie, and another Julie. The guy made us all order the same thing, probably to make it easier on himself, so we got some kind of pork sandwich with cheese and tinto veranos. Tinto verano is my new favorite drink! It translates to "summer wine." It is a red wine with some kind of added fruity flavoring and you buy it already mixed. If you wanted to make something similar yourself you could add Fanta to a red wine. After our tapas we met up with more people at a 1 Euro shot bar. This place had 120 different kids of shots! There was one called a USA and we all toasted to it. Afterwards, we all headed to the disco Mae West. This place was huge! It was made up of four huge rooms with their own personal bars and a balcony. Upstairs along the balconies were hallways with bathrooms and private rooms. I will post a picture of one room from its balcony. In the photo there is not a mirror behind the bar; those are actual people on all sides. Keep in mind there are four rooms this size and larger! This night has been the most fun and crazy, so far. Again, Julie, Jackie, and I closed it down, but this time Natalie did too! What else can I say about Friday night...I suppose only these few things: a red rose, jugador, "Es mi pelo rubio...No esta bien!" and "Julie, why is that lady cleaning the hotel this late? That is so mean!"..."Justine, she probably just got to work."
Well, I defiantly missed lunch on Saturday. Julie told Maria I had "too much disco last night." She laughed and it became a joke later on at dinner. I really like Maria. She just laughs at us. When I finally woke up around 4PM Julie and I went to the park and used someone's wireless. It was so nice out, 66 F! After we got our internet fix, we met Jackie and checked out Corte Ingles. It is a huge department store with six floors. On the way home we hit up a candy store where Julie and I shared a bag and got just about two of everything to try. Our favorite is the chocolate covered banana bites. The other day it came up that I have never had churros dipped in chocolate so Maria made some for dessert. They were delicious! A few days ago Maria asked if I had been to the Boteons. I had no idea what she was talking about so she explained it as designated outside drinking zones in Granada where people meet before going out to the bars and discos. The Boteons came up in conversation with some friends who had gone the night before and were going again. I went with and it was absolutely crazy looking. We were in the parking lot of a different Corte Ingles and there were just hundreds of people hanging out and drinking. You would think that it would get out of control, but it never did. I was still exhausted from the night before so after hanging out there for a bit Julie and I went home and crashed.
Sunday night was the two big games Patriots vs.
Our sour orange
San Diego and then Packers vs. Giants. I went to Paddy's to watch the first game, and then ventured across the street to Hannighans for the second. It was weird to watch the games here in Spain.
Comments
Spanish wine and food
I'm really enjoying reading about your trip. Try manzanilla wine (mixed with 7up or sprite is how they serve it most of the time), and don't forget the Sangria! Corte Ingles store I remember was fun - there is even a grocery store in there! I'm getting excited to visit - helped Jess plan her trip yesterday and today. London and Dublin will be awesome - don't forget to post some pictures. Will you be able to stay out of the bars when you get home? Love you. Brenda