Granada

 Last weekend, I took my first trip outside of Madrid to Granada. After a five-hour bus ride directly south from Madrid, I arrived at Granada at 7 PM (or 19, as it is here.) It was somewhat humorous as the day I was on the bus was Thanksgiving in the states. I stayed at the same hostel in Granada as the one I stayed at when I first arrived in Madrid, Hostel One. I figured that since I had such a positive experience in the Madrid Hostel One, I'd give the one in Granada a go.

The first night I was at the hostel, it was a ghost town: me, my Australian roommate, and two Canadian girls were the only four people staying there that night. Needless to say, the first night wasn't real busy, I just got acclimated to my surroundings, did a little walking around, then hit the hay.

The next day, I went to La Alhambra, a famous Islamic palace in Granada. The palace was beautiful, both the architecture and intricacy of the buildings and towers as well as the gardens interspersed throughout. One of my favorite parts of Alhambra was Palacio de Carlos V, the emperor's summer home. When I went inside, I was standing in the middle of a huge, stone circular structure with no ceiling (what I imagine a bull-fighting ring would look like.) The Nasrid Palace also had amazing architecture. The views from the palace were astounding as well, looking out over much of the city of Granada.

The next day, I went to El Albayzin, a mountainous area of Granada that is very hilly and runs perpendicular to La Alhambra, so has great views of the palace. To be honest, I enjoyed Albayzin more than Alhambra. At the very top of the hill was a lookout point named after San Nicolas (Mirador de San Nicolas.) Although the trek up to this lookout point was steep and very windy, the spectacular view was totally worth it. I spent at least 2 hours admiring the amazing view and exploring what was around the plaza. Eventually, I got lunch at a cafe nearby and sat on the wall overlooking Albayzin, Granada, and La Alhambra. Throughout Albayzin, the moorish influence on the small town was omnipresent.

That Saturday night, there were a lot more people at the hostel. Thus, we all went out to a local bar and got tapas. I had always known that Spain was famous for its tapas but, up until this point, I honestly didn't see what was so amazing about these little dishes; you put one type of food on top of another, serve it in small portions, and it's a tapa... okay. Not until I was in Granada did I truly grasp the concept of tapas. In Madrid, I'd always had to pay for the tapas. However, in Granada, the tapas come along with any drink ordered. It didn't even have to be an alcoholic drink: as long as you ordered a drink, a tapa came along with it... with no extra charge! These were legitimate tapas too- octopus, french fries with sauce dabbled on top, croquetas (croquettes), etc... Only when I came back to Madrid last Sunday did a friend take me to a bar where free tapas were served along with a drink.

One more experience of note while I was in Granada occurred on the way to Albayzin walking through an open-air market. I noticed a fair amount of people gathered around a board, many signing and writing messages on the board. I got closer, read some of the messages people had written, and saw that is was an anti-domestic violence campaign. The people running the campaign saw me and proffered me a pen. I took the pen and wrote something in Spanish along the lines of “we cannot put up with any type of violence, especially domestic violence.” After I'd finished writing, a worker handed me a shirt and pen with the insignia of the cause written on both. The shirt is black with a palm on the front (stop signal), across it is written “no a la violencia de genero.” The woman also pinned a little purple bow to my jacket, showing I'd supported the cause. It really doesn't sound like much now that I write it out but it felt great to show my support of a cause in another country in a foreign language. I left Granada on Sunday and started teaching again the next day.

On a similar note, I have now reached the 20 hours necessary to receive my TEFL certificate. I've passed the theory, children, and business courses as well as written a reflection paper towards the end. Now that the 20 hours are complete, the 20 lesson plans just have to be approved by someone at TEFL then I will be eligible to receive the certificate. Wednesday was the last lesson with my adult student. I will have one more lesson each with my four children students next week.

I leave for Barcelona on Saturday, December 8^th and then will continue on to Paris on the 13^th, travel through Italy around the 19^th and then come back to Madrid on the 28^th so that I can spend New Years with friends I've made here. I look forward to completing my last classes and further exploring Spain outside of Madrid.