Dessert

I had been unintentionally and inexplicably not meeting my daily sweets quota while in Spain. However, on Thursday night some friends and I decided we were in the mood for something sweet. Two different Granadinos (natives of Granada) had suggested a place on University Square as the only place in Granada to get good crepes, so we went there. It was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall place, and I got a crepe with dark chocolate and almonds in it, which was SO. GOOD. Speaking of almonds, the word for them in Spanish is almendras, a very pretty-sounding word in my opinion :) and the almond trees are so pretty in bloom here right now!

This week IES took us on an excursion to Sevilla and Ronda. The first stop was Sevilla, the capital of Andalucía. I was super excited to see KC´s sister city; it did not disappoint. We took a tour through the Reales Alcázares, basically an old palace and its gardens. Then we had picnic lunches in a plaza… For lunch Pepita packed me 2 sandwiches and 5 oranges—ha!—I saved some for snacks in the afternoon :) It was beautiful weather all weekend, so sitting on a bench for lunch was just lovely.

Then we went to the cathedral. o.m.g. That was probably my favorite part of the entire excursion. The cathedral in Sevilla is the third largest (behind St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London), but it is the largest gothic-style cathedral in the world. Totally awesome! And I’ll be back in Sevilla with Ali Emily and Jordan for Easter, so we may even get to go to mass there… How cool would that be? :)

The last event of the day in Sevilla was a tiny private flamenco show. It really wasn’t at all what I was expecting… It was more storytelling, less showy, and more foot movement based than I would have thought. However, the guitar player was amazing.

To compare Granada and Sevilla:

·         Sevilla’s river (Guadalquivir) is a lot more impressive than Granada’s (the Genil). Ours looks more like a creek right now because the mountains are hoarding the water (winter/snow).

·         Personally, I like Granada’s local brew (Alhambra) better than Sevilla’s (Cruzcampo), although I don’t really like beer that much at all.*

·         Granada is obviously much smaller than Sevilla. Granada is a lot more manageable, and for my goals (to integrate myself so I don’t feel like a tourist) I’d say Granada was the best choice…Sevilla was a close second though.

·         Sevilla is not in the mountains like Granada is, therefore it has a generally warmer climate. It was soo nice this weekend!!

·         I can’t decide if I liked Sevillas cream-filled, chocolate-covered churro, or Granada’s crispy churro dipped in drinking chocolate better…

Ronda yesterday was really pretty. It’s a city built on a cliff…awesome views! Also I got to go inside the bullfighting arena, and to see the Arab baths. And I got coffee + walnuts and cream flavored ice cream there. Cool :)

The bus rides between all the cities this weekend have caused me to decide that living in a mountainous region for a semester will be a fun change of scenery. It’s so abnormal (for me) to see giant cliffs and hills of rock, all the orchards on the slopes (olives, oranges, almonds), and heavy duty wire netting covering the cliffs right by the highway in case a boulder decides to fall so it won’t crash through someone’s  car window. Just different. I kinda like it.

I’ve made some progress in my little for-fun book. The boy calls his younger brother “the Imbecile.” It’s pretty entertaining.

I love all the fresh fruit (I think I eat like 3 oranges a day), but I do enjoy a “real” sugar fix every once in a while… A thank-you shout-out to those who supplied me with American candy before I left. Mike&Ikes really hit the spot lately :)

Have a sweet Sunday!

¡Que tenid un dulce domingo!

*Just to clarify: I am of legal drinking age here in Europe, and I don’t drink in excess :)