We only have 1 week left here in Spain!! Oh my gosh, it has gone by so fast, and I can?t believe we?re almost done! My friends are already moving in to college station, and the end of this trip is starting to feel so surreal. Our friends who came to Spain from the Lead Abroad program are already leaving, and they only got to Spain a few days before us! I know I?m gonna miss Spain a lot!! Not to mention all the pappas bravas, croquettes, and gelato it has to offer!
This past week has been so much fun! With no school going on, we?ve been traveling a lot. I?m actually currently writing this on our train to Seville! Earlier this week, we went to Madrid, and it has been one of my favorite places we?ve visited so far! There was just so much to do and so much to see! Our first meal was this mexican sushi restaurant, and we all left in a food coma. We spent the first hours of Madrid just walking around in awe. Retiro Park was hands down my favorite park that I?ve ever been to. Everywhere we walked, someone was playing the violin, flute, or guitar, and it felt like we were in a movie. We saw the glass palace, the royal palace, and the cathedral, which were all so incredible and beautiful. The Royal Palace might?ve been my favorite because it was just so extravagant, and it was hard to believe that someone had actually lived there. We also got to learn more about the King and Queen of Spain, which we didn?t know a lot about since we?re living in Catalunya. After, We met up with some of our friends and went to a Flamenco show that was recommended to us! I had no idea what to expect going in, but it was so cool. I still don?t know how their feet moved that fast. We loved it so much that we booked another flamenco show for this upcoming weekend in Seville!
After we got back from Madrid, we had a day trip to Girona the next morning with our program. Although we were really tired from our trip before, it was really cool and I?m glad we were able to go. The beach and the views were all so pretty that I almost wish we had more time to just sit and relax there! They also had great hole in the wall shops all along the streets, and I was able to get a few souvenirs for my sister.
The next day, I went to a flea market in Barcelona. It was cool to just walk around and see what they had. It was filled with a lot of locals and almost nobody spoke English, so it was a great way for me to try out my Spanish. Afterwards, we had our cooking class! We learned how to make different types of tapas and Paella. I?m allergic to seafood, so I have never been able to have Paella before because it almost always contains seafood. However, we had made one vegetable and one seafood one, so I was able to try this staple Spanish food! It was so good, and it tasted even better because we cooked it! I learned a lot from our chef, and I took mental notes when he was teaching us how to make Croquettes and Pappas Bravas. Those are two dishes I will definitely be making when we get back to College Station because they sound like the perfect after school snack.
This week, we left to go on our trip to Granada and Seville! We?ve only been to Granda so far, and we?re heading to Seville today! Granada was unlike any other Spain city we?ve been to so far. It had a lot of Arabic influence, and it felt like we were in Morocco at times! Granada is also a lot hotter here than in Barcelona, so it reminded me why we don?t walk around everywhere in Texas. The 99 degree weather in Granada also reminded me that I needed to get use to the heat again since I?m about to come back to Houston. While we were in Granada, we went to the Alhambra, and it is a must see in Granada! Although it?s a hike to get there, it is totally worth it. The gardens and palace are beautiful, not to mention the views it had of the city were incredible! Later that day, we went on a sunset hike in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which is a 20 minute drive from Granada. This was my favorite part of Granada because it was so fun to hike and see everything! We had the best view of the sunset, and we were able to just sit and watch the sun go down. We haven?t hiked on this trip yet, and I wouldn?t have picked another place to do it! It was the perfect end to Granada. I loved Granada, but it was a really small town so I?m excited to see what Seville has to offer! Earlier this summer, when I told people I was studying abroad in Spain, almost everyone recommended Seville. We only have 3 days here, but I can?t wait to see everything before we head back to Barcelona for our last few days!