Granada!

Hola! Hope everyone is doing well! I just got back on Wednesday from a trip to Seville and Lisbon, Portugal, which was amazing! We went to Seville for a few days with our program, but then a few girlfriends and I returned after Lisbon for two nights. We officially started classes on Thursday after we got back; next week is our first full week. But we never have classes on Fridays, so three-day weekends all the time! We saw some beautiful sights in Seville, but I didn’t end up liking it as much as I anticipated. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but something about the atmosphere. Also, compared with Lisbon and Granada, it felt much more Americanized—we saw six Starbucks just in one day! The Cathedral there is amazing though. It is the largest gothic cathedral in the world, and overall the third largest cathedral in the world. We went to some pretty amazing palaces and gardens as well, and ruins of a Roman city. Also found a bar with an excellent happy hour (!) that we frequented quite often. I traveled from Seville to Lisbon via a five-hour night bus with a big group of 9 other students. We successfully found our hostel, which will probably be one of the best hostels I will ever stay in. The young guy who owns the hostel with his family, Joao, was really friendly and helpful. There were two big common rooms with colorfully patterned couches and pillows, beanbag chairs, beautifully molded, tall ceilings, and dark green trim. A bunch of us had a huge room of 8 to ourselves, equipped with red lockers and bunk beds. There was a kitchen that we were able to cook in as well! Two nights we went to the market and helped Cully cook stir fry and shrimp (and drank lots of gin and tonics and wine!). We befriended an Aussie guy at our hostel and ended up hanging out with him a lot, which was really fun. We saw a lot of great sights in Lisbon as well. We spent some time just exploring the city, wandering around and getting lost. One day Cully, Ashley and I took the tram (really scary!) but to some markets. Later in the day all of us took a train to the beach, which was absolutely beautiful! We went to an amazing castle in a little town called Sintra. The castle had an incredible view of Sintra; it was just beautiful. The picture of me in the yellow turret is there! It felt really nice to get back to my host mom’s apartment in Granada. My first day of classes went pretty smoothly. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Society and Politics in Modern Spain and Political Structure of the European Union. All of my classes are in Spanish but only with international students. On Mondays and Wednesdays I will have a grammar class, Islamic Culture in Spain, and History of Spain from Franco to present. I also have yoga classes two times a week! I miss you all tons! Chau! Anna