First of all, I just learned something amazing. Spain does indeed do daylight savings, however, it doesn't start until March 27th! Megan and I were kind of confused why all of a sudden we were only 5 hours ahead of the U.S. instead of six. So, for the next few weeks, it will be that much easier to communicate with friends and family from home! You learn something new every day!

Anyways, my most recent trip was to Córdoba and Granada. On Friday morning we left at 9am for Córdoba. We arrived and had a little bit of time for some coffee, and then we had a tour of the Cathedral of Cordoba. Even though it's called a cathedral now, for the longest time it was a mosque. For a very long time most of Spain was controlled by the Moors and walking into this building it was made very clear. It is filled with red and white Arabic arches. It was so beautiful! There was also gorgeous tiling covering every wall. The details were so intricate; it's hard to believe it was all done by hand! All of the columns supporting the building were made of either granite or marble, and they were gorgeous as well! If you looked closely, you could see signatures on them! Our tour guide told us whose signatures they were, but I can't remember! They were either the architects or names of famous Pharaohs.

Our next stop was at the synagogue of Córdoba. On all the walls there was more of the ornate tiling. There was also Hebrew bordering the entire room—I couldn't read it though; no vowels or spaces between the words made it pretty difficult! After a quick tour of the synagogue, we were set free to get some lunch. My friends and I found a tapas place called Taberna las Comedias. It had 101 different tapas for 2 euro each! It was so hard to decide which ones to get—they all looked so delicious! After lunch, we found an ice cream place where I had dark chocolate and orange ice cream!!! Ben and Jerry's needs to be informed of this flavor combination! It was some of the best ice cream I've ever had!

At 3:30 we were off to Granada! We got there at around 6, and at 7 we walked up many hills to reach Las Cuevas where we got to see a flamenco show! I've been taking a class on Flamenco, so it was really neat to finally get to see it performed live! The women's' dresses were so pretty, and the guitar players and singer were so talented! Definitely take a look at my videos! After flamenco, we went to a tapas bar in Granada. One of the differences between Sevilla and Granada is that when you get a drink in Granada, you get free tapas! After filling up on free tapas, I got to meet up with a few of my friends from Pitt who are studying in Granada! It was so great to see Kristin and Jerry!!!

The next morning, we had a tour of the Alhambra. The palace itself was gorgeous. Since Córdoba used to be occupied by the Moors, it was full of Arabic arches and ornate carvings on the walls. It had the prettiest tiling I've seen in all of Spain so far. In one room, there were tons of different tiles on the ground with different pictures; there were boats, palm trees, pomegranates…everything! Pomegranates were everywhere in Granada because in Spanish the word "granada" means pomegranate. The gardens at the Alhambra are called Generalife (pronounced hen-er-al-EE-feh…NOT JEN-er-al-eyef). There were so many water features; each more beautiful than the last! The coolest part was that there was a small stream carved into the pathways throughout the whole garden! It makes more sense in pictures! Our tour guide said that all the water came down from the mountains above Alhambra which is pretty cool! It was one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever walked through, and pictures don't even begin to show how amazing it was!

After our tour, we walked all the way down the hill, and had time for lunch and some shopping. For lunch, we stopped at one of the many kebab places in Granada. I had a shawarma for the first time in my life, and now I need to find them in Sevilla! It was kind of like a gyro, but the sauce is different, and the pita isn't as thick. It was SO good—I wish I took a picture! After lunch we did some walking around some of the Moroccan markets in Granada. It was basically as good as going to Morocco itself—well, close anyways. Before we had to get back on the bus, we were sure to stop at the ice cream place my roommate Megan told us about! Tiggianni's more than lived up to the hype! They had so many flavors that I had never seen before and they looked just as good as they tasted! I sampled many flavors before deciding on my final choice. One flavor I tried was "chocolate picante" or spicy chocolate. At first, I was like oh this isn't too bad…but after a few seconds the spicy part kicked in! All my friends and I tried it and it was funny as I watched everyone's reactions to the "picante" part of the ice cream. The flavor I ended up deciding upon was called torta de miel y canela (honey and cinnamon cake) and it was absolutely to die for! Ben and Jerry's really needs to make a trip to Spain to learn a thing or two!

After a two and a half hour bus ride back to Sevilla, we were more than happy to take the walk back to our house along the river. Nice weather has finally found its way to Sevilla and—sorry Mom and Dad—I might never come home!! Walking along the river with the sun shining, and the palm trees providing shade, it's basically paradise! When the sun comes out in Sevilla, it seems the entire city situates itself along the banks of el Guadalquivir. It's a great place to people watch! After walking home and getting re-organized, Megan and my friend Gill and I went out for sushi! As it would turn out, Sevillanas make some mean sushi!

Today, I finally got to sleep in for the first time in over a month and it felt great! After waking up and getting ready, Megan and I and some of our friends just walked along the river and enjoyed the much welcomed sunshine. Sevilla is such a pretty city when it's not raining! It was nice to just stroll, and not be in a hurry to get to class. On the news today Megan heard the weatherman say that "el buen tiempo en España para quedarse" or, the nice weather in Spain is here to stay! I hope he's right!

¡Mucho amor y besitos como siempre! (Much love and kisses, like always!)