The Weekend of Freedom

On Friday we took our final exams for the intensive month, and the actual semester begins tomorrow, so this past weekend I was completely free from any type of work or obligation.  That was pretty great.  Friday night, I went out with my friends for tapas.  We went to one of our usual places, Cafe Futbol, which is conveniently close to my house.  The lack of distance was especially nice this time, because it rained all weekend. (Let me tell you, for a place that doesn't typically get a lot of rain, it sure has been raining a lot.)  But the rain brought fall weather with it, so I am happy about that.

Saturday morning my roommate and I went out for crepes for breakfast at a little diner-like place near our house.  I also got fresh squeezed orange juice, which was absolutely delicious.  It was fun watching the oranges being squeezed through the little juice machine.  In the afternoon, my friends and I went to Parque de las Ciencias, which is a science museum.  We took a bus there because it was raining.  It was my first time in a moving vehicle since arriving in Granada, and my first time on public transportation in Spain. (To be honest, though, it wasn't too different from taking a bus in any other city.)  When we first got to Parque de Ciencias, it was pretty much just like any other science museum.  We went to exhibits about puppets, the human body, and safety.  But then (when the weather had cleared up) we went to the outside part, and it was amazing.  Now I understood why it was called a Park of Science.  There was a little arena where they were doing a demonstration with birds of prey.  (It reminded me of the falconers at the Renaissance Faire.)  but we didn't stop to watch the show, because I was eager to get to the butterfly garden.

 

After enjoying las mariposas (the butterflies), we found our way through the hedge maze.  This was pretty cool, because the hedges were taller than we were, so we couldn't see over the tops.  There were also some interesting plants there, too.  Next, we went to to top of an observation tower. (I wanted to climb up the stairs, but you weren't allowed to, so we had to take the elevator.)  Here, we got another fantastic view of Granada, and all the mountains surrounding it.

That evening, I had my first cinematic experience abroad. We walked to a movie theater in a mall to see "La Gran Familia Espanola."  They have a lot of American movies dubbed in Spanish, but we wanted to see a film made in Spain, and this one is the most well-known that is out right now.  It was a crazy dramatic movie, with some funny parts.  I thought it was good.

Sunday morning I went with some of my friends to Mass at the Cathedral.  It was a feast day (the big one they've been leading up to all month), so it was the happening place.  It was kind of weird to see people walking around the Cathedral, talking, and taking pictures during the service.  We'll have to go back there when it's not a holiday to see if it is usually like that.

It was still rainy, so my roommate and I spent most of the afternoon inside watching a Harry Potter movie.  (We watched it with Spanish subtitles, so it still counts as a Spain-y activity.)  Later in the afternoon I met up with my friends again to go to a Teteria, which is an Arabic-style tea house.  It was really neat.

This morning I still had to go to my last official class of the intensive month, but it started an hour later, and only consisted of us getting back our exams.  Afterwards, I went with some classmates to get some crepes, which were stuffed with real, delicious chocolate.

La Capilla Real y La Catedral de Granada

On Thursday I went with my ISA group on a tour of the Capilla Real (the Royal Chapel), and the Cathedral of Granada, both constructed for Los Reyes Catolicos, Isabel and Fernando.  The Capilla Real was really cool.  It kind of reminded me of the chapel at Windsor Castle.  It also is where Isabel and Fernando are buried, along with their daughter, Juana la Loca, her husband Felipe, and the Royal Monarch's first grandchild, who died when she was little.  So we got to see their coffins, which was pretty neat. There was also a little museum on the side with a lot of their things, including artwork, clothing, jewelry, and Isabel's crown. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for you), we weren't allowed to take pictures here, so you'll have to take my word that is was really beautiful.

Next we went to the Cathedral, which is actually part of the same complex (along with another church, too).  The inside was just so huge, way bigger than either the Cathedral in Chicago or in St. Paul.  We were allowed to take photos here, so I made up for my lack of camera action in la Capilla.

Parque Frederico Garcia Lorca

Yesterday afternoon  I went out with some of my friends in their neck of the woods.  There's a pretty big park in that area, and I decided to check it out after class today.  The first thing I noticed as I entered the park was that there was grass.  That made me really happy.  I love the fountains and trees in the parks here, but I haven't seen too much grass so far.  There was also a pond with a few birds, some sort of museum building, and pretty flower gardens (in addition to the trees and benches and paths that most parks consist of.)  It was a nice little excursion.  I got home just in time for lunch, which was even more delicious than usual.  We had mushrooms stuffed with cream cheese and a bit of blue cheese, fried partridge eggs, and a cabbage salad.  OK, that sounds kind of weird, but it was really good.  Spanish  food is yummy.

Every day I'm wandering

Both yesterday and today after class I just picked a street and walked down it to see what I could see.  Both times this worked out quite well for me.  Yesterday I found myself in a botanic garden, which I soon realized was the same one I saw on my tour of the University of Granada. This time I went in through the main gate, though, and was able to explore it more fully.

Today after class, I went the opposite direction, to an area I had actually been a couple times before, but this time I went through a door to a really fancy looking yard.  I came across an old, historical building, and it was really cool.  As I was walking back out onto the street I noticed a sign above the entrance identifying is as "Archivo Historico de la Ciudad Granada."

Just keep walking...

Yesterday I had signed up for a mountain biking excursion with the CLM (my school), which I was really excited and a little scared for.  Unfortunately, I found out it had been canceled just a couple hours beforehand because not enough people had signed up.  I was disappointed that I couldn't go biking, but I just did what a Granada resident does best: I went for a walk (uphill, of course).  I took this time to further explore the parks leading up to the Alhambra, or at least in that general vicinity.  I went into the Mosque Baths of the Alhambra, looked at an archaeological site, and saw a church and a palace whose names I can't remember.  It was really touristy, which kind of annoyed me. (I guess that means I officially live here now.) But I did get an opportunity to use both the vosotros form and the subjunctive when I offered to take a couple's picture. They were actually kind of funny. They took pictures of each other, and then just kind of sat down and posed for their picture, waiting for me to offer to take it for them.