pipiripipipi

the title is from a song santi, our director, taught us one of our long bus rides. apparently it's a spanish classic!

over the weekend we stayed at what just might be the nicest hotel in spain. we're in the city of nerja, right on the mediterranean sea. today we had a class on the history of spain in the morning, then in the afternoon we had free time. i explored the small city with some friends, wandering the narrow streets surrounded by tall, white buildings. we met on the beach for a delicious lunch of authentic paella (they even made me a vegetarian one!) but not before splashing around the in the blue-green water at our feet. we climbed rocks, took lots of pictures, and enjoyed the first day with weather warm enough not to have to wear a hat and gloves outside.

after lunch a few of us walked around the city a little bit more and found a new lookout on the sea with a nice view of our hotel. we returned for our afternoon culture class, which was a trip up in the mountains to the town of frigiliana, a pueblo blanco. it had more narrow streets and beautiful buildings that are now painted white to keep cool in the summer, but were originally covered in cal (lime from limestone). we climbed up the steep streets until we were above the city, then kept climbing until we were in a small, short forest on top of the mountain. we had a beautiful view of the city with the sun setting over the mountains around in and the mediterranean peeking through on one side. on the other side of our mountain were the sierra madres real, the mountain range in southern spain. que bonitas!

the next day we went to granada to visit the alhambra - the citadel, palace, mosque, church on a hill in the mountains. it was so beautiful! (pics are on facebook or the link to the right.) it was a great building originally built by the Muslims that entered spain from africa, but was later remodeled by the Christians after the inquisition. the buildings are amazing themselves, and they are surrounded by beautiful gardens. i think they might have been a little bit more beautiful in the spring or summer, but what we did see was still pretty neat.

granada, and all of andalucía for that matter, was long controlled by the Muslims and thus has a great african flavor. after the alhambra and a visit to the catedral, we had a free night to find our own dinner and explore the freezing cold city. alex, jessica, catherine, amy, and i found a small restaurant where we had the traditional tortillas españolas (potato omelets). afterwards we searched and searched for the flamenco bars we had heard about, but eventually the cold won over and we decided to call it a night.

Now we're in Madrid, living with our host families and taking classes and the Instituto Internacional. The classes are great so far, but I'm still trying to decide which ones to take. I got a huge green skirt to wear for my flamenco class! My host mother is very nice and makes delicious vegetarian food - even better than the restaurants we've been eating at (ok, some of them weren't hard to beat). She has 3 children, one of whom is 18 and still lives at home with us. She's a senior in high school, preparing to take their equivalent of the SATs (go Emily!) We also have a perrito (little dog - don't forget to roll the "r") named Nena, who miraculously I am not allergic to!

for now, we've got a few more orientation events - exploring old madrid tonight, and a tour of the prado museum tomorrow. my friends and i are trying to figure out where we want to travel on the weekends. if you have any suggestions or know cheap places to stay let us know! hope all is well with all of you :)