Granada....my new temporary home

So it's been about a month since I've been living here and now have a little bit of time to share some things with you about this marvelous city. Granada is not only a city, but it is a type of state that is also a part of the comunidad autonoma of Andalucia. Granada has around 280,000 inhabitants within the city and the city itself has a large area of land. There are mountains that surround the sides of the city and there is a beach at the bottom of the comunidad.

This city is filled with beautiful plazas and there are small parks throughout the city. Also, there is a prevalent "hippie/gypsy" culture here in Granada. Lots of dread locks and also teterias, which are tea shops. I went to a teteria before and they serve the tea with milk and it was very good. Also, there is an Arabic influence due to the hundreds of years that Muslims lived in Andalucia.
The entrance to Kenya which is one of the many campuses that are part of the Universidad de Granada. This is not where I have classes. I take classes at the CLM (centro de lenguas modernas). I still have so much to see and visit within Granada, but I've enjoyed every part I've visited so far. I've been lucky enough to visit the amazing La Alhambra, I went to the Mirador de San Nicolas, which is a look-out point where you can see the entire city, and I have seen several plazas.
On our walk through the Albaicin. This is the Arabic/more hippie section of Granada. It's very beautiful and has many tiendas that sell Arabic things. The sun was setting and made for a good picture. Our walk to El Mirador was long and steep, but well worth it!
Some of the homes in Albaicin...very colorful.
This is our usual meeting spot: Plaza de Isabel la Catolica. The statue represents a very important history in Spain and Granada. Isabel and Fernando were the Reyes Catolicos and known as the royal family that united Spain and got rid of all the Muslim control in Spain. Isabel funded Christopher Columbus' travels to the Americas. This is what the statue is representing, the contract between the two.
This is the plaza of the battle. I don't think it represents any particular battle, but just in general.
This is the cathedral of Granada. I haven't entered here; I'm not even sure if you can, but hopefully I will have an excursion with my group here.

La Alhambra:
Here's the side of La Alhambra. The outside is plain, but the inside is just beautiful.
The intensive Trimester group! Maggie, Katasha, me, Anna, Mikala and Katie...the pond behind us is so cool with the arched fountains.

The gardens of La Alhambra. There are several gardens, but these were my favorite; they were like a maze with all the hedges.
View of one of the courtyards from inside the palace.
This is the water system for the fountains that run all through the palace.
One of the fantastic stucco art.
Katasha and I in front of one of the courtyards.
Katie and I with the city of Granada behind us.
This is the view of the Sierra Nevadas with snow from the roof of my apartment complex.
Another courtyard....so beautiful.
I just love the architecture. This was where the sultan lived.
Cool!

Here we are in the patio/plaza before entering La Alhambra. Since it was sunny we had a "picnic" in the patio before going in. :D

I really enjoy my family here. They are very kind and so helpful. They really try to invite me into their family, which I appreciate. I live with my Senora Conchi who is 63 and has 4 children, 2 sons: Antonio y Elia and 2 daughters: Hermi y Marga. I haven't met Elia or his family, but Marga also lives in the house with us. She's 25 and as I mentioned before, she is also a FAN of Twilight...that was our bonding factor...hehe...we actually get along so well and we have even done a few things together since I've been here. Antonio has 2 children, Antonio who is 7 and so adorable and Africa who is 2 and very shy. She cracks me up because as soon as I try to talk to her or get her attention, she will immediately turn her head to look away from me, but she will still try to stare at me from the corner of her eye! It's hilarious! She did however give me a hug the last time I saw her...we're making progress. Hermi is 32 yrs old and I see her almost every day because she and her family always come over for lunch. Her family lives in a small pueblo 10 mins from Conchi's house. Her husband is Jesus and they have 2 children: Sergio who is 4 and the most amazing little boy and 2 week old Daniela. Yes, she was born the Monday of the second week I was here! She is very attentive. Sergio is very talkative and loves to talk to me about anything. I showed him a few magic tricks and almost every time I see him, he asks me to do them for him.

The intensive trimester girls! L to R Anna, Mikala, Maggie, Katie, me and Katasha. The four girls on the left side have recently become friends of mine. Especially Katie, I adore her quirkiness....she's my equivalent of Mary (don't worry Mary, you can NEVER be replaced!!!).
Marga and Sergio on the teeter-totter at a park near the piso. This was his first time on it! Love is faux-hawk!
Sergio...showing off his MAD skills!

Conchi told me that one day she'll take me to her old pueblo and show me around. I have a few pictures of the family, but when I get more I'll be sure to put them up. Classes are okay. I'm in Superior A and it is tough, but I'm learning. Actually this Thursday I'm taking my exam to see if I will move up to the next level or not. The program I'm in is intensive so every month we have an exam to see where we are and whether we move up a language level or not. I'll let you know more about this later.

I had a roommate named Katasha (you'll see her in some of the pictures) from Pittsburg, who at the beginning I was struggling with just because she has a very difficult personality. She caused some problems with my senora (making things difficult) and requested to be moved and my senora agreed as well. So now I have a room to myself and as of now I won't have a roommate, but possibly in the future. I've really lucked out with my two past placements...hehe...I do love my family though.

Enjoy my pictures and hopefully soon I will put up a post on my travels to Sevilla and Cordoba from this past weekend. I miss you all very much; I actually wish I could go home for a few weeks and then return, but I will return soon enough.

Besitos para todos!

The land of Hercules

Greece was one of my new places to visit. Since I had done Italy and Ireland, my next conquest was Greece and I succeeded! Amanda (Westoby) flew half way across the world to meet me in Athens. We stayed in Athens for 5 nights and then on the island of Corfu for 2 nights. Athens was fun, but not what I imagined. It looked a lot older and dirtier than I had thought it to be, but the ruins of the Acropolis were just incredible. There were so many things we saw. We also went to a movie one evening, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was fantastic. My favorite part of Athens was walking down the small streets and walking into the little shops. For the most part, people were friendly with us. The gyros were wonderful and we even went to a restaurant where you were shown 18 different dishes and you picked 5 to share plus you got bread, a drink and dessert. We also went to a REALLY cool Flea Market.It was so much fun.
Amanda and I some place in Athens.
Park near the bottom of the Acropolis
Amanda playing a traditional Greek instrument: bouzouki
A view of the Acropolis from our balcony!
An adorable Greek orthodox church in the middle of a square.
Dionysis Theater, on the Acropolis
Entrance to Dionysis theater. We weren't allowed to enter.
The view of Athens from the top of the Acropolis.
This is at the top of Athena's Pantheon. Most of the statues/figures have been removed or fallen and placed into museums, but there are still a few remaining. What beauty.
The Pantheon. Amazing!

Not only did we see Athens, but we took two day trips. One trip was to Delphi, which is the location of the infamous Delphi Oracle and many other ruins. We walked everywhere and were able to get very close to the ruins.
This is the spot where the oracle of Delphi gave her advice to the Greeks.
I am standing at a look-out spot in Delphi.
More ruins in Delphi
An old amphitheater...I don't remember which god it was named after.
This small building, dedicated to Athena, was a place to pray.

Our second day trip was to Corinth. The "new" city of Corinth was beautiful. It looks very tropical and has a beautiful port. The whole time we were there, I kept saying how it reminded me of Yucatan. It was just a strange mixture of the smells, the weather and the water. We took a bus to the ancient part of the city, where the ruins are, and also visited the museum, where we saw pottery and statues that were found during the excavation of the ruins. We had lunch in the ancient city and sat at a small restaurant where we could see the mountains and the ocean that were in front of us. The owner was very friendly to us and was telling us about Corinth during the summer. We also got some ice cream before we headed down to the "new" city. We walked around the port, took some more pictures and then headed back to Athens.
The ruins in Acro-corinthe, the ancient city.
The Temple of Zeus, this was the temple used for worship and prayer. It looks amazing against the blue sky!

The view of the mountains and ocean were incredible. I'm not positive, but the direction behind me is towards Athens.
The port- the water was contaminated or dirty so the boats weren't allowed out of the port. Lucky for us it made for a better picture!
This is the newer city of Corinth. It's cleaner and looks very tropical; this is why it reminds me so much of Yucatan.

For those of you who knew my original plans, we were supposed to go to Santorini, but the day of our flight, our trip was canceled because of the weather on the island. We were told that it was extremely windy and was raining so we had to find a new place to visit. We decided on Corfu even though we knew nothing about this beautiful island, but found a good hostel and just went for it. I was very happy and surprised with how much I enjoyed Corfu. It is a small island with the capital city being Corfu. We stayed in a hostel on the east side of the island which was beautiful and had a balcony and a view of the ocean. One day we walked all the way down to the ocean and just walked on the sand picking up seashells (there were very few that we found) and colorful rocks. I can't tell you how many pictures I took. We also took a short bus ride to the small town where we walked around the streets and Amanda bought some small treats for people back home. It rained for part of the day, but it added a great illusion to being on the island. At the hostel we made two new friends, dogs to be exact, who would just follow us around the hostel..I'm sure as most of you have guessed, that was an exciting factor for me!
Amanda and I on the beach of western Corfu.
The beautiful beach! There were three different shades of blue!
More beach!
The pink palace...our amazing hostel!

Bonjour! Ciao Bella!

As most of you know, after my family trip, one of my favorite people in the whole world came to visit me...MARY!!! We had so much fun together and I was able to revisit Italy with a new perspective.

Mary and I met at the Paris Airport on the 11th of Jan and it took us an hour to find each other, but when we finally found each other (like a scene out of a movie) we were ready for our European Adventure!

We did so much in Paris. We did one of those sight seeing bus tours which was perfect because it took us to everywhere we wanted to go. We also walked a lot which was easy to do there. As I share my pictures, I will comment on them. Just so everyone knows, the Parisians were EXTREMELY nice and helpful to Mary and I. We did not meet one single rude French person. We even used a little French and they seemed to enjoy that. :D
P.S. Some pictures aren't in order, sorry.
Twilight!!! So as some of you know, thanks to Mary and Paris, I am now an addict to the Twilight Saga books. Our first day in Paris was by far my favorite and Mary's too. We saw the Arc du Triomph, Eiffel Tower, some other sites, went to Hard Rock and then around 9pm we decided we didn't want the day to end. Our wonderful waitress at Hard Rock told us that there were some theaters nearby that had movies in English. We walked to the theater and decided to see Twilight. I fell in love with the movie immediately and then Mary and I hunted for the books while in Paris (although I got some in Italy, too). Since the Twilight posters were EVERYWHERE, I decided to take a picture. XD
In the gardens behind the Louvre, Mary found the womping willow! We were careful not to get too close.
Inside the Louvre we saw so many famous paintings and sculptures. That's what I liked about the Louvre- that it wasn't just paintings. This is the infamous Venus de Milo. It still amazes me that people are able to create a sculpture with such detail and softened features from a slab of marble/stone.
The river La Siene that flows throughout all of Paris.
The beautiful Notre Dame at night.

The magnificent Mona Lisa. It was not only behind glass, but there were 3 security guards by it, 2 cameras on the painting and a large roped off space so no one could get too close to the painting...hehe!
At the Hard Rock. Mary with her B-52 shot...yum! I had it in London, fantastic!
Mary and I on top of the Notre Dame. We walked up so many stairs, but the view was wonderful.
The Grand Palais in the city.
The Louvre Gardens...look at all the beautiful plants!
The Louvre. The building holding the artwork is large, but what was more interesting is the entrance to the Louvre. It is a glass pyramid that leads you underground to enter the museum. It took Mary and I 20 minutes or more to find it...hehe...who would have thought that a pyramid would lead us to the museum?!
Here we are in the museum...oh to be naive.
The crazy gargoyles of Notre Dame. We tried to find Quasimodo, but he must have been hiding out. Some of the gargoyles were very morbid. One was eating the head of a goat or was it a child?
In front of the beautiful Eiffel Tower. We went up to the second platform. It was so beautiful, more so than I would have imagined and the best part....no lines!
Eiffel Tower...need I say more?
Paris in all its beauty.
Champs du Elysses are gardens/walkway that are near the Ard du Triomph. The first day in Paris we saw snow (well a little) everywhere and it was neat to see it in these gardens.
In front of the Arc du Triomph. We found other tourists to take our picture...hehe
Inside of Notre Dame. I just loved the Gothic architecture...awww the beauty.
This is the altar at the end of the Cathedral.
The beautiful Mary and I in front of the gates that open up to the Palace of Versailles.
The magnificent palace. This is definitely my favorite palace that I've visited thus far. Absolutely beautiful with all the colors.
The Queen's room (M.A.) in the palace. This is also the room that she and her children used to get away from the riots when the townsfolk came to kill the royal family.
Here is the hall of mirrors. Named so because of the mirrors that lined the left side of the wall. This was created so that when the sun shone through the windows on the right the light would be reflected in the mirrors to lighten the room. From the windows you can see out to the palace gardens which were beautiful and even had some snow covering the plants.
The palace chapel. It is beautifully decorated and I took several pictures. Service was held every Sunday and the royal family attended every weekend.
This is the outside of the Petite Trianon. Marie Antoinette's getaway home. It was quite a walk from the Palais du Versailles, but close enough for her to be able to return to the palace when needed. The Trianon was absolutely beautiful, filled with light, pastel colors.
Marie Antoinette's music room. The harp is absolutely beautiful.
The gardens of the Petite Trianon. There was so much to see here. The gazebo was where music would be played by a trio.


Italy was just as amazing. I think I enjoyed Paris a little more just because it was my first time there. We arrived in Rome on the 16th and again did the sightseeing bus tour. We saw many of the sights including two I was never able to see before: the catacombs and the Coliseum. We were impressed by both of the historical sights. And of course the Italians were extremely friendly. We ate gelato every day and loved it so much!

Mary and I in front of St. Peters Basilica. If you haven't noticed we've taken a lot of "self" pictures.
San Pietro
Il Coliseum...such history. We had an anthropologist as our tour guide which made the tour much more interesting.
An old entrance to the coliseum.
The river that divides the central city of Rome from the Vatican City. It was such a clear day when we went.
Piazza Navona...the best gelato is sold here.
Piazza dei Tribunali in Vatican City
Piazza de Venezia, absolutely beautiful.
Making wishes in the Trevi Fountain...last time I wished I would return to Italy...I guess it works!
Mary filming our adventures...she's going to make a tape of everything we saw..it's going to be crazy!
Inside of the Coliseum.
More coliseum, it was so cool!
Roma Fioro-the Roman Forum, pretty cool.
Playing cards with some pretty cool people in our hostel. We met Australians, Welsh, Mexicans (yay!) and an Indian (Azad who runs the place, he was so great). Mary, Me, Jonathan, Paul and Rohan.

On the 19th we went to Florence by express train, which only took an hour and a half. We stayed for two nights in one of the best hostels I'd ever been in. We had satellite tv on a flat screen, a computer with free internet and free wi-fi, wash and dry services, and access to a kitchen. We enjoyed Florence a lot because it was slower paced than Rome and we were the only tourists. We had a wonderful time and were so glad to end our trip with a mellow place.

Forgive me for forgetting the name of this Piazza, but it is the one that is in front of La Galeria de Uffizi. Musei Uffizi is a museum that holds many Roman sculptures of various gods and goddesses as well as Christian paintings from the Renaissance.
Mary and I in front of the "nameless" piazza.
I forgot what this is, but it is in front of Il Duomo. I just love the colored marble on both buildings.
Il Duomo, magnificent isn't it?
The amazing Mary using the computer in our hostel. Isn't the room cool?
One of the streets that lead to Il Duomo. You can see the dome in the distance.
The Piazza in front of La Galleria de Academia, which is the museum that holds Michelangelo's David. It was impressive, even for the second time.
The intricate ceiling of Il Duomo.

Hope you enjoyed!