No Pasa Nada: i Me Encanta La Alhambra !

...Or "I love the Alhambra!" for all the single-language folk out there.

Anyways, I have finally won in the war between myself and jet lag, and thus now have the energy to start doing all the wonderful things that study abroad students get to do, such as blog, eat churros, and be international!
With that said, I would like to begin by telling you allllllll about a little day trip my group took together this past Sunday to a muy famoso place in Granada known as La Alhambra! As you'll be able to tell by las fotos that follow, La Alhambra is a very huge and very old castle/fortress/miniature town overlooking the city of Granada. It was built by the Moors back in 711 and eventually taken over by the Catholics in 1492, and I can definitely see why. If I ever came across a place that was that beautiful and detailed and came with sweet gardens and a view, I would want to take it over too!
Anyway, the group met at the meeting place that morning, and we walked together up the hill to get there. I'm using the word "together" rather loosely, due to the fact that I'm pretty sure our group leader Miguel thought he was participating in the 100 yard dash at the Olympics, so naturally, on a 30 minute walk up a hill that was probably equivalent to an incline of 20 on a treadmill, the strong and healthy were separated from the weak and whiny. I'm embarrassed to tell you what group I was a part of.
Once we finished climbing that wretched hill, we dove right into various parts of the Alhambra. My group started by walking around the ruins and taking pictures of all the views, and then we got to go into the buildings. Que hermosa! I could not believe how beautiful all the fountains, statues, baths and even just the walls were! The walls were especially one of the coolest parts porque they all are COMPLETELY carved with either verses of the Qu'ran or just other designs that meant something or other to them. The tour of the inside took about 2 hours, and after eating lunch (my host mom made me a sandwich with a spanish omelette and ketchup on it, probably because the only conversation we've had where we've understood eachother was about my newfound love for spanish omelettes), we took a tour of the Generalife, the name for the gardens that surround the Alhambra. I don't know if I've ever seen something so beautiful, and the only thing that could have made any it better was if it had not been a rainy day in the middle of winter, because unfortunatamente not all of the flowers/trees were in bloom. It is easily my favorite thing I've seen since being in Spain, partially because it made me think a lot about my mom. I thought she would really really love all the flowers and exotic plants and how good everything smelled. I can't wait to go back in the springtime, and then again in 5-10 years to get married there! Todos son invitados!

In other news: I am fine, my host-mom still intimidates me with how fast she speaks, and I am currently in the midst of planning all the trips I want to take to various european destinations with all my new amigos! Suggestions are welcome and encouraged, and the money to do so is encouraged even more! :)

And now, La Alhambra....