Bullfight in Granada.

As is tradition in Spain, there was a bullfight in Granada last Tuesday for the holiday. When I came to Spain, I didn't think that I would ever go to a bullfight, mostly because I hate seeing any type of animal hurt, but I decided that I had to go because it is such a cultural experience, if nothing else. I went with my sister, her boyfriend and my friend Megan. I advise you, some of this is graphic, so I apologize in advance.

The actual bullfighting ring was impressive. It is a huge circle with sand as a floor. There are entryways on three areas of the ring for the matador and his helpers to escape from the bulls. There is a place where the bull comes out of and a place where the horses come from. At first, I thought it was going to be very gruesome and bloody but there were only certain parts that I could not watch.

Sarah and I at the bullfight.

The bullfighting ring of Granada.

There are six separate bullfights, each with a different bull and different matador. The entire event starts off with the entrance of all the matadors, helpers, horsemen and horsewomen. I was surprised that the matadors weren't dressed in more extravagant outfits, but apparently each city does bullfights differently and thus, the custom in Granada is for the matador to almost blend with his helpers. There were a few horses, each with a different purpose. Two of the horses were ridden by women who basically only introduced the whole crew before the start of the first fight. Two other smaller horses were chained to what seemed to be a carriage holder without the carriage. Those horses were used to take the dead bulls out of the ring. The other two horses were dressed in what seemed to look like a cardboard box. This material was wrapped all the way around the horse in order to protect it from the bull. These horses are ridden by the men who stab the bull first, in order to start the bleeding and tire the bull. 

The crew.

The crew again.

When each bullfight begins, the bull comes raging out of its gate. The matador's helpers are there with pink capes, luring the bull in and then hiding behind the barricades. This is used to tire the bull before the horseman comes to stab it for the first time. Sometimes the matador helps in this and sometimes he waits until the bull is more tired. The more involved the matador is through the whole process, the more praise he receives. After the bull is stabbed by the horseman, there are four or six fish hook- type rods that are stuck into the bulls back, around the shoulder blades. These are colorful rods which make the bull bleed even more, again, to tire it before the final stabbing. After other people have helped the matador, it is solely him and the bull in the ring. He uses his red cape to show off different moves and dangers. Sometimes, the matador is very risky and sometimes, he is boring to watch because he is so safe. Finally, after a few more "OLE'S!", the matador will point his sword at the bull and concentrate. The whole crowd is completely quiet, and if one person talks, everyone will 'shush' them. At this point, the matador needs to stab the sword directly in the soft spot between the bull's shoulder blades. If it is done right, the lungs and heart will collapse, and the bull will die almost instantly. If it is done wrong, the bull suffers more. A few times, it wasn't done right and therefore, very hard to watch because the bull was struggling so much. When it was done right though, it was almost instant and seemed to not be a struggle. Then one of the matador's helpers cuts the brain stem just to insure that the bull will not lunge its horns one more time and the horses come to take it away.

 The matador's helper.

The standoff.

The horseman stabbing the bull.

The final point of the sword before the final stabbing.

In general, the crowd is very sympathetic towards the bull. If a matador is not doing the stabbing correctly and thus, making the bull suffer, the crowd thinks poorly of him. When the bull does die, people have white flags that they wave in honor of the bull and the courage it had. It was interesting to look at all these people who had all paid to see an animal (or six) get slaughtered but then be sympathetic towards said animal. The whole atmosphere was entirely hypocritical but an interesting cultural experience, none the less.  

Sarah and Chris visit Granada!

It seems my time in Granada is dwindling. The weeks have been flying by and the next few are booked of fun things to make the most of my time here. It has been a long time since I have seen my family, so just in time for a little homesickness to kick in, my sister Sarah and her boyfriend, Chris, came to visit: the perfect cure! Naturally, I wanted to show off my new-found home and I had a few things planned out for them. One of which was the huge monument in Granada, the Alhambra. Since Muslims had a huge influence on the culture, art and architecture in Southern Spain, it seemed fitting to show them the Muslim palace that sits on the hill across from my school. I had not gone inside yet, so I was especially excited to see the amazing-ness that I have heard about inside this beautiful palace. First we went to the gardens of the palace, called the Generalife. They have beautiful courtyards and grew many vegetables and fruits for their own consumption. Next, we moved on to the Nasrid palace, which is the real beauty in the whole complex. The intricacies of the stone work and wood ceilings are breathtaking. 

Beautiful courtyard, too bad it was raining!

Stone and wood carvings.

The Arabic writing on the walls.

An amazing ceiling.

Sorry for the construction!

Besides the Alhambra, we did a lot of amazing things together. Many things that I haven't done yet. We climbed to a look-out called San Miguel that had an amazing view of the city, while also seeing the old city wall that used to protect Granada. We also went to another area called the Sacromente, where there was an old Jewish religious building. The building was mostly abandoned, but once again, it had amazing views, so we sat and ate some fruit and then walked around the Albayzin (the "old city"). It is beautiful in that area. Many of the houses have white walls, red-ish roofs and beautiful terraces. When I thought of Spain before I arrived, I thought of houses and neighborhoods such as this. I'm glad I was able to explore more and see different things while I was with my sister. 

Beautiful landscape.

Sun shining through the clouds.

San Miguel look-out.

Sacromente.

Weirdos at San Miguel look out.

The rest of the time, I showed them around different neighborhoods and fed them the local foods. They loved the concept of tapas! I'm really glad that my sister got to see the city that I quickly fell in love with. It was good to have a close friend/sister experience things with me while abroad. 

Dublin, Ireland.

This weekend I went to Dublin to visit my friends (including my cutie roommate, Alyssa). I got there late on Thursday night so the real Irish times started on Friday morning. I met up with my roommate and two other friends and we went to the town of Howth, a little bus ride outside the city center. It was right on the coast and was exactly what I envisioned an Irish fishing town would be. We walked down along these beautiful cliffs and saw some amazing sights. We walked all along the cliffs of the town and ended up by the port of Howth.

The beginning of the Howth cliffs.

My roomie Alyssa and I in Howth.

The other side of the town.

Beautiful view.

We had a little lunch and headed back towards the city center to explore the Guinness Storehouse, brewed in Dublin. It wasn't the actual brewery, but more like a museum. At the top, there was an amazing 360 degree window bar, the Gravity Bar, in which you could see the whole city of Dublin! And, even better, the Guinness is ten times better in Dublin than in other place I have had it. I got some swag from the factory and we left feeling satisfied and full of beer.

Alyssa and I before the tour.

In the tasting room.

Having our earned Guinness in the Gravity Bar.

A quote by Mr. Guinness.

That night we went on my first pub crawl. It was only 12 euro, and we got into four bars and ended up at an amazing club. We got drinks at every bar and it was really cool pub culture with live Irish music. It was also nice to speak English everywhere we went instead of struggling with Spanish.

The next day, I spent a lot of the day with my friend who I was staying with and we went into the city to get cider and beers. We ended up walking around the city some more. I tried this amazing hot chocolate at Butler's chocolate with Oreo's in it! So I spent a lot of time and money on great food and drink in Dublin. We had a relaxing last night so that I could catch my early flight in the morning. I had an amazing time and it was nice to be in a city and not be pressed to see a million things and just enjoy the people. The people in Ireland are so much nicer than America and Spain, probably combined. All my taxi drivers helped me with places to go and never charged me the full amount. It was a really charming city, but as always I am happy to be home in Granada. Here's some extra pics and I'll  update again soon!

Taking a break in Howth.

At the pub crawl.

Actual plants and flowers, unlike Spain.

Alyssa and I during the pub crawl.

An Italian Getaway

In Spain, they have celebrations and processions the entire week before Easter. It is called Semana Santa, and luckily, our program has no school for that week, similar to a spring break. My friends and I decided to have an Italian vacation including the cities of Rome, Florence and Venice. We were scheduled to leave the country on March 29th, but it just so happens that there was a nationwide strike that day and almost all the public flights were cancelled in Spain. Therefore, my friend Meg and I were naturally very upset! We had to refund our flights and then buy all new ones for the entire trip. It was kind of frustrating, because we had to leave two days later, but if we're being honest, it was totally worth it.

We arrived in Rome on Saturday. We stayed at the Yellow Hostel, which is specifically for young people, mostly Americans. It was basically a night club, bar and hostel all in one. Right when we got there, the other girls that already arrived were ready to take us out and show us around. We went to an authentic Italian restaurant and had wine, bread, chicken Parmesan, lasagna, pizza and gelato. It was quite a feast, and I was very satisfied afterwards. A few of us then went to see the Trevi Fountain, the one that is famous for throwing in coins in order to guarantee that you'll return to Rome. It was enormous! I didn't realize how big it would be.

The Trevi Fountain.

Throwing some coins over my shoulder into the fountain.

Little chill time in the Colosseum.

Nice view of the Colosseum.

The next day, we went to the Colosseum. It's amazing to see this building that I've known about all my life. I never imagined that I would be able to visit all these places. It was amazing, to think about all the people who had been in this building and how important that building was for their history and heritage. After touring the ruins of the Roman Forum, we were off to Florence!

Florence is my favorite Italian city, because it was absolutely beautiful but not imposingly large. It was also similar to Granada and I loved that about it. We checked into our hostel and we all got to be in the same room, with a computer and private bathroom! It was really nice. The hostel also had a bunch of terraces and free breakfast which were phenomenal. Over the couple of days that we were in Florence, we saw the Plaza Michelangelo, the Duomo and the Ponte Vechio! We also had some amazing cuisine and bought some lovely leather pieces! 

Kokaale and I having some wine in Florence.

The Duomo.

The Ponte Vecchio, filled with jewelry shops.

The view from Plaza Michelangelo. 

Our final stop was Venice. It was such a different city, all built on water. There are no motor vehicles which is actually really nice. We took a water bus to our bed and breakfast, which was basically a palace. It was definitely the nicest place we stayed. The beds were memory foam and the bathroom was marble from ceiling to floor. We got a recommendation from the owner of the B&B and went to an amazing restaurant, which had my favorite foods in one dessert: tiramisu and nutella. Naturally, I had to eat it! We went to San Marco's Basilica, went on a gondola ride and ate a lot, naturally. It was an amazing, romantic city.

San Marco Basilica.

Gondola ride with the ladies.

Tiramisu with Nutella, best dessert of my life.

Sitting by the Gran Canal on the last day in Venice.

We returned to Rome for our flight and saw the Vatican Museum, St Peter's square and the Sistene Chapel. It was beautiful and really was a great end to our amazing trip!

Famous Michelangelo painting in the Sistene Chapel.

The Vatican, Saint Peter's Square.

What an amazing week, lots of culture, lots of food. Until Dublin!

Barcelona

We went to Barcelona this weekend and it was so much fun! A few friends and I rented an apartment in the neighborhood of Clot and had an awesome time. The first day we went to the Sagrada Familia, Casa Batilo, Casa Mila and Park Guell. Gaudi had a huge influence on Barcelona. All these places were so amazing. I've been to other European cities but none are so distinct like Barcelona. Every corner, there is a different beautiful building or piece of art. I can't even describe it, so I think I'll just show some amazing pictures and let them speak for themselves.

Sagrada Familia.

Casa Mila by Gaudi.

Casa Batilo by Gaudi.

A beautiful park.

Park Guell by Gaudi.

Park Guell ceilings.

Amazing architecture in Park Guell.

Looking over the whole city of Barcelona at Park Montjuic.

It's been awhile..

It's been a while since my last entry, but I've been pretty busy. My boyfriend, Willie, and our friend, Matt, came to Europe for their spring break! I met them in London two weekends ago and we stayed in the Marriot right across from Big Ben and Parliament. The city is huge! It is so much bigger than Granada and I was not used to taking a metro to get everywhere. We went to a soccer match at the Chelsea Football Club Stadium. It was really fun, for not understanding much, but Chelsea won and I got a sweatshirt, so all in all, it was a good game! We got to meet up with my roomie from Ithaca, Alyssa. It was great to see her because I get homesick sometimes and it's so nice to see a familiar face. The next day, we went to Camden Market, which is an outdoor market with all kinds of different foods and clothes for sale. It was really fun! We then went to a typical English pub and got a few beers and it was definitely some culture shock (compared to Granada, that is). Before we left, we went to look at the Olympic stadium that was built for the Olympics this summer, which was very interesting.

After leaving London, they both came back here with me to stay for the rest of the week. I showed them around Granada, including the awesome views, gardens and different neighborhoods. I also introduced them to the world of 'tapas.' For those of you who don't know what tapas are; when you order a drink in Spain, you get a small ration of food with it. In most of Spain you have to pay for this food, but not in Granada! I brought them to some of the parks in the city with my friends from the program. We went to the discotecas and walked around a lot. It was so good to see my boyfriend and to show off my city. It makes me even MORE proud to study here.

I'm going to Barcelona, so there will definitely be a blog post after that! Ciao!