¡Hola from Granada!

Well it has been a crazy week since I last wrote on here so I will fill you all in! Starting off on Monday, we had another cooking class where we learned to make gazpacho and magdalenas (lemon cupcakes). I was not that big of a fan of the gazpacho, however the magdalenas I will definitely be making again! It started feeling like I actually had school this week! Projects and papers are creeping up quickly!! I am enjoying my classes very much – especially my Spanish class. My teacher is lots of fun and makes what we learn very applicable to our life here (of course it applicable – we are in Spain!!); however she teaches us a lot of the Granada lingo and customs. On Saturday we left around noon for Carnaval in Cadiz – and didn’t get there till about 7 pm! It was a lonnnnng bus ride to say the least, but it went by quickly with all the entertainment we had! There were three guys who lead this bus trip to Cadiz and they got out their megaphone and started “karaoke” on the bus for a good few hours! They were walking up and down the bus singing all sorts of songs! Everyone was excited for Carnaval and it made for a good time!
After arriving right at sunset (we watched it set in a matter of minutes from the bus windows – it was GORGEOUS!) we got all dressed up in our costumes and headed for the beach! I dressed up as Jasmine from Aladdin. Some of my other friends were Aladdin, the Genie and Iago – Jafar’s parrot! Every costume you could ever imagine was there at Carnaval – pirates, police, clowns, animals of every sort, men dressed as women (lots of them!) famous people like Edward scissor hands, and many more extravagant costumes! The city was packed! We didn’t get to see much of Cadiz because it was so hard to move around the place! We spent most of our time on the beach because it was so beautiful and less crowded there.
Our bus back to Granada did not leave till 8 am Sunday morning, we couldn’t be back on the bus till 7 am, and by the time it was 4 am I was ready to call it a night!! We had a pretty big group of IES kids and we all made one big long spooning line on the beach and tried to stay warm; however it was very windy on the beach and we all re-thought the brilliance of that idea after a few hours. Around 5:30 am we retreated to the streets and looked for open cafes however there were NONE! So we hung out in a lobby of an apartment for an hour or two till we went back to our bus and slept the whole way home on our 5 hour bus journey! I felt homeless for a few hours there, and it was not a fun feeling!! The idea of being able to stay awake all night is way easier than it seems!! Although the Carnaval stays open till 8 am, I definitely could not make it that long! So, we have learned our lesson – Carnaval was not as fun as it was made out to be! It was a cool experience – but I have had it now and don’t ever want to experience it again! Haha
We all made it back safely and slept the majority of the day. On Sunday night, we went and saw the play “Boda de Sangre” by Federico Garcia Lorca in the Teatro de Isabella Catolica. Despite being exhausted, I enjoyed the play very much. It was put on very well and I surprisingly understood most of it! After the play, I went home and slept like a rock until I was up this morning for class!
Now we are back to Monday and I have just finished my morning classes. I have one more this evening and then cooking class again! Maybe I will be able to survive next year after all cooking for myself!
As the weather gets nicer and nicer here every day (around 60 degrees each day!) I am starting to miss home a bit more! As much as I love it here, there is nothing like springtime at home! There is no grass here to sit out on and enjoy the sun!  AND as it gets nicer outside, my room stays the same temperature – FREEZING!! I just opened my balcony door – and yes – it is colder inside my room than it is outside!! I hope this changes soon or I’m going to be wearing scarves in May!
That’s all my news for now! We have a full week of classes and then on Friday we are taking a day trip to Cordoba with all of IES.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Oxox - Julia