MADRID!

Just arrived to Madrid where we finally have internet! New posts about Sevilla and Madrid coming soon!

Ice Bar and Granada

Sorry we haven't updated in a couple of days, its hard to get wifi in torremolinos. Saturday during class our teacher took us to Fuengirola which is like 20 minutes away by train and we saw a castle that was there, we didn't go inside but we went up to wat and while we where there we ate fresh grilled sardines. Saturday night we went to an ice bar and let me tell you that was an experience. Its -5 degrees inside of the bar. They give you these big hooded parkas to go inside and only allow you to stay inside for 30 minutes because you could get hypothermia if your in there too long. The entire bar is made out of ice, the walls the chairs and the shot glasses too. It was a lot of fun and something different to try from the typical bar.

The rest of the week has been pretty calm mostly staying at the hotel pool or heading down to the beach to tan.

Yesterday I went to Granada. (Sascha didn't go because she wasn't feeling well). To get to Granada was a little bit of a pain. We had to walk to the train, take the train to a bus station, take a 2 hour bus, then take another bus to another stop, then finally a bus to la alhambra.

La Alhambra was so beautiful. Its basically an old sultans palace thats 900 years old. Theres these beautiful gardens and fountains. The original water features still work, and the views are so incredible of the whole city of Granada. It was quite an experience and really beautiful.

Sardines

Paseo de las flores

Sala de las dos hermanas

Ice Bar

Festival de San Juan!!!

Last night was one of the most magical nights we've ever had! Every year on the 23rd of June there is a big festival that takes place in the south of Spain called the Festival de San Juan. People gather all along the beach for miles and miles; they eat and drink on the beach and build bonfires. At midnight everyone lights there fire and runs into the ocean. Our whole group gathered around a large public fire that was at least 10 ft tall. At midnight they lit it up and everyone striped into their bathing suits and ran in. The water was freezing but it was incredible to see hundreds of people run into the ocean. There must have been 20,000 people that we could see at this festival. Apparently running into the ocean at midnight will give you goodluck for 12 months. This also happens to be the shortest night of the year or the summer solstice. I wish I could better describe what it felt like to be a part of this, because it really was incredible!

After going in the water

Drying by the Fire

The bonfire before they lit it at 12

Karaoke and a Trip to Nerja

Beach at Nerja

Malaga Centro

Before entering the Cuevas de Nerja

Lunch at Noodles in Malaga Centro

Karaoke at El Open Arms

Malaga is amazing! We are having a great time. Sunday night we went to karaoke with a group of our friends including our teacher Alejandro and sang songs it was a lot of fun. The bar was called El Open Arms it was a british place ran by Germans and a guy from Scotland.

So our class conversation is really good. We read and write articles and yesterday we watched a movie called El Secreto en Sus Ojos. It was an oscar winning Argentinean movie it was actually a really good movie and we really enjoyed watching it.

Tuesday we went to Malaga Centro we had to take the train to get there and veered off from our group to go shopping (of course). We didn't make it to half of the places we wanted to go to but had a great time none the less. We had the most amazing gelato popsicles which we dipped in chocolate and white chocolate with nuts they where sooo delicious. For dinner we ended up at this place called noodles which was amazing.

On Wednesday we went to Nerja. We had to take a train and a bus to get to Nerja and from there we took a bus that took us the the cuevas de nerja. It took like 2 hours in total to get there. We went to the cave which was so beautiful and big. From the caves we went down to the beach which was not made out of sand but instead little pebbles and rocks. It was really pretty but the water was freezing we couldn't get in deeper than our knees. We spent a couple of hours there and then headed back to Torremolinos.

Other than this we've just been going to class in the morning and then getting lunch and napping during the day. At night we go to bars unless the group makes plans to go to a certain club. Malaga has been very fun!

Our First Adventures in Malaga!

So last night we met everyone in our Malaga Program and after dinner we all decided to go out, even our counselor came too. We went to an area called Puerto Marina and went to two clubs that were very nice. We had a great time but unfortunately we have to take a cab to get there.

Then this morning we got to go on a free tour to Mijas and Gibraltar. Mijas was a tiny little town in the mountains that was full of little shops and lots of donkeys. After a few breathtaking views in Mijas we took a 2 hour trip to Gibraltar which is between Spain and Africa, yet it is owned by the British, so they speak English and pay with the pound. It was interesting to see that considering we are in Spain, you even need your passport to get in.

Cathedral carved out of rock

View from Mijas

In Mijas

In Gibraltar

Mijas

Clouds rolling over the mountain in Mijas

Rock of Gibraltar

Malaga begins

So here we are in Malaga - Torremolinos at the Hotel Natali with our study abroad group. We were some of the first to arrive last night so we didn't do much explored the hotel, stayed in, and watched ncis and cold case in spanish. There's also like some kids sports camp going on at our hotel so there's about 600 kids here and its incredibly annoying they are so loud and all over the place. Today we woke up and explored the area, had lunch at a restaurant next to our hotel and bought some food from the mercado for our hotel room. In the evening we went back to our room and onto the balcony and got called over by the people two balconies over. So we went over and now we have friends! They are all super nice but there's about 40 girls and about 7 guys.

Tonight we are all going out together to see what's around in the neighborhood. This place has a lot of potential. Tomorrow at 9 we are all going on a tour not sure where we are going, we need to take our passports because we're going to some british territory to see some caves. Pictures to come soon!

Palma Recap!

So Palma was interesting. We had plans to do so many things and visit different areas of the island but we ended up not doing much at all.

Walking around Palma

From the Catedral

The Catedral

Mallorca

Day 1 we arrived pretty late so we met up with my cousin Luis Emilio and his wife Karen ate dinner and then went to bed.
Day 2 we walked with Karen all over el centro and saw the Catedral and other popular places. That night we just spent it in watching tv and eating dinner.
Day 3 we were supposed to walk the city and then take a bus to Magaluf which is a nearby town that has bars and clubs, but we never found a way back so that plan failed miserably so... back to watching tv and making dinner.
Day 4 we were going to go to Soller which you get there by a wooden train that is supposedly magnificent, but that plan also failed. Maybe I should mention that there was no air conditioner or even a slight wind in Mallorca so sleeping wasn't an option. We tried but every night would end up restless. So unfortunately we fell asleep when the sun came up and no Soller for us.
Day 5 we went to buy me a new suitcase and get a few goodies and then off to the airport we went for our next flight.

Palma had potential but a mixture of laziness, lack of sleep and transportation left us catching up on all our favorite t.v. shows and eating home cooked meals each night. It wasn't all bad and we did get to see the beautiful Catedral and even went to the beach on Day 4 but we wish things could have been a little different. Lets see how it goes in Malaga.