This weekend has been a touristy one as Erin came to visit Granada for a few days. On Thursday I just had one class to go to before going to meet Erin from the bus, I rather unenthusiastically dragged myself up the hill and into the classroom just for the teacher to turn up and tell us that there would be no class. As you can imagine I was not impressed, not just because I'd got myself up there but also because next week we are missing a class because of a strike and I could really do with the lesson time for Latin if I am going to stand half a chance in the exam. Still, there is nothing I can do about it, ♫ Que sera sera ♫ and all that, so off I went back down the hill to the flat. When Erin arrived things were not quite as straight forward as they could've been, the internet says that the bus stop is at Triunfo Gardens so logically that is where I was waiting when I received a text from Erin telling me she had just got off of the bus, yet she was no where to be seen. Some confusion and rough directions later and we found each other after the bus had quite helpfully dropped her off down the road, not even in sight of the gardens! With the initial confusion over we spent the afternoon having a wander round the city, and even went inside the cathedral which I'd still not done. We ate in a really nice restaurant where the food was really moorish (Sorry, I think I have spent too much time around Jack and his terrible puns, I won't do it again...), I had a lovely cous cous dish with vegetables and we also had some arabic tea afterwards too.
Friday brought with it a trip up into the Sierra Nevada. I didn't really know what to expect but knew that I should make the most of my chance to go up into the snowy mountains and enjoy the views before it all melted away. The bus ride is only 45 minutes and cost us less than 10 euros for the return which was really reasonable. The views on the bus journey are amazing and every time you think that you couldn't possibly be driving any higher you turn another corner and up you climb a bit more. We were prepared for the cold with hats, scarves, gloves, hoodies and gillets but it wasn't as cold up there as we'd been expecting. In fact we sat outside a bar drinking cold drinks and watching the ice melt before our eyes. Being so warm and sunny yet surrounded by snow was more than a little surreal I must say! Whilst we were there we took the cable car up higher, we think it was around 8200ft, to really make the most of it. It was quite expensive at 16.50 each but worth it to appreciate the views up there, we'd been walking round the bottom of the resort which was absolutely dead, we soon discovered it was because they were all at the next stage up, there were loads of people! After another sit down with a drink in the sun we headed back down to have some lunch before getting on the bus again. In the evening we met up with the others to go out for tapas, we tried the Chinese tapas to start off with which was a strange concept but the food was good and that was all that mattered! The last place we went to had a huge range of tapas to chose from and we had some really good fajitas, will certainly be going there again.
On Saturday we woke up to the rather disappointing sight of clouds and everything looking generally grey but this actually turned out to our advantage because although it rained a little it made our day a lot easier. We walked (or more accurately climbed) up to the Alhambra where we queued, in order to queue, in order to just queue again! You'd think we were in England, we like queuing there, it's our national sport, but the Spanish don't generally like to partake in such an activity! Despite all the queuing we had a really good time, but we did an awful lot of walking and consequently by the end of the evening after we'd been out my feet were in no fit state to walk home and we ended up getting a taxi- stupid blisters! We'd not eaten anything for lunch before we went into the Alhambra and so were rather hungry when we eventually caved in to the temptation of buying a packet of gullible tourist priced biscuits from a stall, half a packet is a nutritious lunch right?! We did eventually eat again when we got back into town and went for tapas, including another visit to the Chinese tapas place. In the evening we went to Paddys with the others for a few drinks, finally arriving back at the flat in time to change the clocks and see an hour of our sleep for the night go flying out of the window...
Today I've not done much, in fact I don't really think I've done anything. I walked to the bus stop (that this time actually was at Truinfo Gardens) to say goodbye to Erin and then headed back to the flat where I have successfully done one load of washing, written this blog and put my photos on facebook. For those of you that want to see my photos from the weekend I've put them all (or at least am in the process of...)on flickr as opposed to Facebook where I have only uploaded half.
This week is going to be a short one as the Spanish are going on general strike on Thursday so I won't have my classes. I do have an exam on Wednesday though which I have no clue about the content so that should be rather interesting. Oh well! Just 3 days of classes to get through before a few days off and then off on holiday for a week! I can't wait now, it should be really good. As well as looking forward to seeing my friends (obviously) I'm really looking forward to getting to see a Spanish Easter parade on Maundey Thursday. At the end of this week I'll be half way through my classes out here in Granada and a third of the way through my time in Spain. 6 weeks down and 12 to go!
Showing posts with label Cold. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cold. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
¡Me encanta Granada!
I know I said it would probably be a few days before my next blog post but sitting here watching the Simpsons dubbed in Spanish (I'm sure I'll never get used to it along with Friends, Two and a Half Men and Sex and the City) with my Spanish flat mate I thought it was maybe time to update you all about how I'm getting on!
I left home yesterday at 3.45am so as you can imagine it was an early start! All went well, the snow stayed away and we got to the airport without an issue, the bags weren't overweight and there were no delays to the flight, in fact the winds were so favourable that we we 30 minutes early. When we arrived in Malaga we were early for the bus so went and had a coffee and bought our expensive lunch, but what else do you expect from the only bar/cafe at the arrivals of a busy airport? The bus ride to Granada is 2.5 hours because it makes a stop at a few little towns on the way there, it was a pretty journey- at least for the portion of it I managed to keep my eyes open for! I managed my first conversation on the phone in Spanish when we arrived and arranged with my landlady-to-be that we would meet her at the flat when she was ready, this involved more waiting around than intended but luckily it was warm outside so it wasn't really a problem. By the time I'd got unpacked and sorted everything out there wasn't really much time to do anything else so we headed over to Mums hotel to drop off her stuff and then out to find some food. As it was a long day I had an early night, at least I'd intended to but by the time I'd actually got in bed I'm not sure it was that early after all. The nights here are really cold in the flat so layering up is 100% necessary, hopefully now as we're heading out of the winter and into the Spring the weather is going to improve.
Today was my first full day here and what better way to start than by getting up at 6.20, meeting Jack and Aimee and heading off to our first "event" (just a welcome meeting) at the Uni! It is quite convenient for me with Jack living in the flat literally below mine as it meant I didn't have to struggle with finding the building today as we could go together. The meeting wasn't exactly life changing but it was nice to actually go to something to do with the Uni and I even got to meet someone that knows a friend of mine from home that goes to her uni, it really is a small world after all!
After the meeting and a trip to Mercadona I met up with Mum and we spent the day food shopping and getting various other bits and pieces that I need to make my room feel a little more like home. I'm holding off putting up all my photos and things yet though because I might be moving rooms when one becomes available in a week or so and if I put up my photos there is no way I will bother going anywhere, even if it is a better room!
Tonight Mum and I had a great meal in a restaurant near her hotel, basically it was a huge plate of grilled vegetables and then a bowl of really strong garlic prawns but it was a lot nicer than I am making it sound. It was all washed down rather nicely with a jug of Sangria between us too. We even had a dessert that we really didn't need, and I'm not even sure I particularly wanted it, we made a good team though because it was crepes with chocolate sauce, bananas and cream- I ate the banana and Mum dealt with the crepes.
I'm really pleased with how my Spanish is going so far, and it really proves to me how much better my Spanish is when compared with my French, unfortunately for me in Brussels I really didn't have ample opportunity to speak French and in fact here I have probably already spoken more Spanish in less than 48 hours than I did in a week, or possibly a month in Brussels!
That's all for now, the next couple of days I'll spend exploring with Mum before I head off to the Uni again on Friday and classes start on Monday. There will be another blog from me again soon I'm sure. Adios!
I left home yesterday at 3.45am so as you can imagine it was an early start! All went well, the snow stayed away and we got to the airport without an issue, the bags weren't overweight and there were no delays to the flight, in fact the winds were so favourable that we we 30 minutes early. When we arrived in Malaga we were early for the bus so went and had a coffee and bought our expensive lunch, but what else do you expect from the only bar/cafe at the arrivals of a busy airport? The bus ride to Granada is 2.5 hours because it makes a stop at a few little towns on the way there, it was a pretty journey- at least for the portion of it I managed to keep my eyes open for! I managed my first conversation on the phone in Spanish when we arrived and arranged with my landlady-to-be that we would meet her at the flat when she was ready, this involved more waiting around than intended but luckily it was warm outside so it wasn't really a problem. By the time I'd got unpacked and sorted everything out there wasn't really much time to do anything else so we headed over to Mums hotel to drop off her stuff and then out to find some food. As it was a long day I had an early night, at least I'd intended to but by the time I'd actually got in bed I'm not sure it was that early after all. The nights here are really cold in the flat so layering up is 100% necessary, hopefully now as we're heading out of the winter and into the Spring the weather is going to improve.
Today was my first full day here and what better way to start than by getting up at 6.20, meeting Jack and Aimee and heading off to our first "event" (just a welcome meeting) at the Uni! It is quite convenient for me with Jack living in the flat literally below mine as it meant I didn't have to struggle with finding the building today as we could go together. The meeting wasn't exactly life changing but it was nice to actually go to something to do with the Uni and I even got to meet someone that knows a friend of mine from home that goes to her uni, it really is a small world after all!
After the meeting and a trip to Mercadona I met up with Mum and we spent the day food shopping and getting various other bits and pieces that I need to make my room feel a little more like home. I'm holding off putting up all my photos and things yet though because I might be moving rooms when one becomes available in a week or so and if I put up my photos there is no way I will bother going anywhere, even if it is a better room!
Tonight Mum and I had a great meal in a restaurant near her hotel, basically it was a huge plate of grilled vegetables and then a bowl of really strong garlic prawns but it was a lot nicer than I am making it sound. It was all washed down rather nicely with a jug of Sangria between us too. We even had a dessert that we really didn't need, and I'm not even sure I particularly wanted it, we made a good team though because it was crepes with chocolate sauce, bananas and cream- I ate the banana and Mum dealt with the crepes.
I'm really pleased with how my Spanish is going so far, and it really proves to me how much better my Spanish is when compared with my French, unfortunately for me in Brussels I really didn't have ample opportunity to speak French and in fact here I have probably already spoken more Spanish in less than 48 hours than I did in a week, or possibly a month in Brussels!
That's all for now, the next couple of days I'll spend exploring with Mum before I head off to the Uni again on Friday and classes start on Monday. There will be another blog from me again soon I'm sure. Adios!
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