Andalucía (Córdoba and Granada)

One and a half weeks late, but better late than never!

The weekend before last our entire study abroad group (70 from the university in which I am currently studying and another 80 from a ''somewhat more prestigious'' university in Madrid) went to the south of Spain to Andalucía, which is ''Andalusia'' in English...at least I think that's how it's spelled. It was so fun! The best thing was that everything was already paid for and planned out so I didn't have to worry about much.

First we went to Córdoba, which was a four hour bus ride, during which my friend Kyle and I spent no less than 30 minutes talking in a British accent about the possibility of a half chair, half human person. Then my friend Amy and I spent at least another 30 minutes talking about awkward pictures that friends send you, meanwhile the rest of the people around us were talking politics. Conclusion: I am most likely very annoying and immature. BUT, I have a good time so I guess that's what counts.

The entire time I was in Córdoba I kept smelling poop, and for a while I thought maybe I had stepped in some, but it turns out that there are about 5 billion olive trees in southern Spain and olives smell like poop. Oh, the study-abroad revelations. Always profound. The hotel was very nice and pretty close to La Mesquita (Mosque) and cute little restaurants.

At night we went to a GENUINE flamenco show and it was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. The way they move their bodies! Gosh, I now desperately want to take flamenco classes, but I don't know if I could keep that serious face that the make the entire time.

So later that night we discovered that 150 college kids plus alcohol in one hotel equals disaster(ish). AKA, our group made a buttload (@Alicia Roll) of noise and the other guests/hotel manager got super pissed. We could definitely hear some yelling from our room. The best part though was when our program coordinators knocked on the door of our hotel room to tell me, Amy and Isela that whatever party we were having in our room needed to stop immediately. Now, this is hilarious because we were all in bed at this point and when I opened to the door to greet the coordinators, not only was I wearing my extremely patriotic red, white and blue striped boxers, but I also had my retainers in. On the bright side, the retainers helped me to achieve the Spanish lisp :)

The next day we went to Granada, which it turns out means ''pomegranate.'' Who knew? Well, I guess probably a lot of people knew, but I didn't. We saw La Alhambra which was beautiful and really made me feel like I was going back in time or visiting another planet or something. Very cool. Our tour guide looked about 8 months pregnant but still somehow managed to walk faster than all of us spry young ones.

That night we had a very non-vegetarian-friendly dinner (sorry guys) and then celebrated Tania's birthday by going to a club on the hillside that overlooked La Alhambra at night. It was all lit up and just all around visually appealing. Of course, going to the club meant being super exhausted the next day when we went to see the tombs of Fernando and Isabel (king and queen), but that's life, eh?

I was so sad to go home (Madrid home), especially since my time in Spain is coming to and end, so I'm going to have to go ''home home'' soon. Despite the creepy men and the smoking I FREAKING LOVE SPAIN! Studying abroad=one of the best decisions I've made in a long time.