Granada and Giving Thanks

It's been a wild ride since the last update. With school, Granada, exams, and Thanksgiving, there's a lot to tell you about! In the week leading up to Granada, we had classes as usual, with most classes doing some sort of review for the second round of midterms, except for Biomechanics. In Systems, we finished covering material and reviewed during lecture instead of recitation because we didn't have class on Thursday, like we normally do. In Instrumentation, we went over almost three full exams from past years and did a review of some of the theory to be tested. But for Biomechanics, instead we moved on to new material. We didn't have an exam for Biotransport, so trying to finish up the curriculum made sense. Because of the review in Instrumentation and Signals, I was feeling confident ahead of the exams. Biomechanics was another story; I was super nervous. I spent that entire week, and part of my Granada trip, studying for Biomechanics, even though it was the last of my three exams. You'll find out how those went a little later in the blog post.

After finishing up with class that Thursday evening, I packed my bag, since we had to leave early Friday morning, and went to sleep. I woke up bright and early, right before my alarm went off at 2:15 am. I had a Colts game to watch! It was a divisional game against the Texans, with both teams being tied in their record. Unfortunately, the Colts offense didn't play too well. There were some questionable calls (I'm not just saying this as a biased fan; the opposing teams fans, and even players agreed in post-game interviews), and the Colts lost by 3 points. It was a pretty ugly game and I was sad the Colts lost, but I don't really regret getting up early to watch the game. After the game ended, I went back to sleep, but kept waking up because it was when Brennan was getting up and getting ready. As we were eating breakfast, I realized I had forgotten to make sandwiches for lunch, so I quickly made two right before we left!

We got to the station right on time and were barely able to hop onto the metro. Either way, it would have been okay, because we didn't leave until almost 8:45 anyways. When our bus came, we found it that it was a double-decker! Even with the 60 people going, almost everyone got 2 seats. This was great because I was able to be comfortable when sleeping and got a great view when I was awake! However, since I'd been watching the game for a lot of the night, I was asleep almost the entire way there! When we got there, our hotel was incredible. It was just like the five star hotel in Salamanca. This one was four stars, but it was still really nice. The first thing I did when we got our room was to start researching restaurants. In Salamanca, we didn't have reservations and it was often hard to find food that everyone could eat. I was determined not to let that happen this time. Over the next two hours, I researched the many restaurants and narrowed down a list of ten to try.

At 6:30 pm however, we all met in the lobby of the hotel to go to a Flamenco show! We were going to walk through the Albaicín neighborhood of Granada, which is the old Arab quarter with narrow, winding streets, and stop at a viewpoint before going to a cave to watch Flamenco. However, it was raining decently hard the entire time. Even though we had jackets and umbrellas, almost everyone got very wet. The plan was the stay at the viewpoint for about 30 minutes, but because of the rain, we stopped for two minutes to take pictures and instead went to the Flamenco show 40 minutes early! Walking through the Albaicín neighborhood was interesting. It was basically a maze, but not many enjoyed it because it was a series of uphill and downhill routes. Either way, there was essentially a river of water hitting our feet during our trip. I really enjoyed the Flamenco show. It was super fun to watch, and seeing the professionals really gave me a sense of how much stamina and skill you need. Here's a very short clip of what we saw!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/ee0372_46a7ad1bae654e18b17a19f194cc02c1/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

After the Flamenco show, we all gathered back in a plaza near the city center before splitting off for dinner. On the way back however, we got a better view of the Alhambra, a palace and fortress from the 9th century. It's what we were able to see from the viewpoint, but the pictures weren't great because of the dark and rain. Since the rain had stopped, I was able to get a better picture. I also got photos of a couple other sights. Here's a slideshow! There's a picture of the cave, without all the red lights, the sight from the viewpoint, the view of the Alhambra on the way back, and more!

After we all split up, some friends and I went to the first restaurant on my list, a vegan restaurant called Hicuri Art Vegan! The food there looked really good so we were super excited to go. It was definitely worth it! I ordered a Legume burger with fries and an almond tiramisu. My friends also ordered dessert, opting for a three chocolate cake and a carrot cake!

After our amazing meal, we went back to the hotel. Right as I entered my room, I realized that I'd left my umbrella at the restaurant, and it was about to close. So I ran back to the hotel and picked up the umbrella. I had to call them on the way to let them know so they wouldn't close before I got there. I really needed the umbrella because it was supposed to rain all weekend, and the next day, we were going to visit the Alhambra, which has a large outdoor component. When I got to the restaurant, I realized I wasn't the only one to leave my umbrella there. Another friend had also left theirs, so I brought it back with me.

The next day, I got up early to eat breakfast. Anna, one of our program's staff members, had been hyping this breakfast up since we first got to Granada. She thought it was the best hotel breakfast she'd ever had. I concurred. The breakfast was expansive and delicious. They had anything and everything you could ask for. There was a huge section with all the fruits. Next to that, meat trays and cheese trays. From there, you moved into the warm food sections. They had empanadas, waffles, warm pastries, three types of eggs, and more meats. To the right of that, the breads. They must of had tens of types of breads, with a few loaves of each type. On the adjacent wall, there were jams and spreads, including honey that you take straight from the honeycomb! Then you had your drinks, including all the coffee variations you'd like, melted chocolate like you'd eat with churros, four different types of freshly squeezed fruit juices, and sparkling water. To top it all off, there was a center island with more pastries and sweets, including muffins, cookies, croissants, and candy. Needless to say, I ate a lot for breakfast each day.

After our filling breakfast, we loaded up into the bus again and visited the Alhambra. At first we had some issues with tickets. We had three tour guides, so we split into groups of English, Spanglish, and Spanish. But only half of us got tickets. When they went to get the rest of us tickets, they were for 10:30, while the originals were for 10:00. The entrance to the Alhambra is super strict. They only let in 300 people every 30 minutes. So we decided to all just wait and go at 10:30 instead of dividing ourselves even farther. We first visited los Palacios Nazaríes, which were super beautiful. You could definitely see the Arabic influences in the architecture. The walls were decorated with intricate arabesques and calligraphy.

After finishing those palaces, we quickly visited Palacio de Carlos V and then took a short break before heading to the Generalife Gardens and Palace.

The Generalife Gardens and Palace were also really beautiful. As soon as you crossed over to the gardens, you got a fantastic view of the Albaicín neighborhood and the other parts of the Alhambra. We could also see all the crops they were growing, the flowers blooming, and so much more. It was such a relaxing and refreshing environment to be in.

After finishing up with the Alhambra, we had free time for the rest of the day. We could have taken the bus back to the hotel, but since it wasn't raining, and I wanted to see more of the city, I convinced Brennan, Corey, and Megan to walk back. It was only a 15 minute walk, and almost all downhill.

When we got to the bottom of the hill, we wandered into a sweets shop called Sabor a España. We saw them making some of their products fresh. I didn't buy anything because we were about to go to lunch! We were headed to a small, authentic Italian place called Cacho & Pepe. It was a super small restaurant, with really only the kitchen and one table with two seats. It seemed like most of their sales were through carry out rather than dining in. But they had a great collection of lasagna, cannelloni, and pastas. They had 8 options each of lasagna and cannelloni, but if you would rather have pasta, you could pick between small, large, or stuffed pasta, and top it with your choice of their eight sauces. At first, we had a little bit of trouble deciding what we wanted, but one of their employees, the only one that spoke either English or Spanish, helped us decided. I ended up ordering mushroom tortellini with tomato, ricotta, and basil sauce. We took our orders back to the hotel and ate. It was incredible.

After relaxing a bit from our post-meal food comas, Corey, Megan, and I wanted to visit el Parque Frederico García Lorca, named after the Spanish poet. There was also a house-museum in the center called Huerta de San Vicente. This house was actual the Lorca family's summer home. The park was their land. So on our way to the park, we explored some of the west side of the city. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the house. On our tour of the house, we also saw an art exhibit inspired by Lorca. I thought it was a little bit weird, but nonetheless, seeing the house, room, and desk of Lorca was pretty neat. After the tour, we decided to continue walking south and go back east along the Genil River. We also stumbled upon a second park where some workers were decorating the city and assembling a large winter slide for kids.

After this, we returned back to the city and relaxed for a bit. I fell asleep and ended up taking a short nap before starting to study a little for my exams. For dinner, Corey and I decided to walk around town and take photos of menus to bring back to the others so we could decide where to go. We found a couple, but none that we were really excited about. However, on the way back, we smelled something amazing. I personally thought it smelled a lot like Hibachi Box. We followed our noses and ended up outside a place called Noodle Rest. It offered Ramen and Wok dishes for super cheap, and you could customize your order! We went back to the hotel and pitched it to the rest before heading over to the restaurant to eat. I ended up getting a veggie Ramen and split spring rolls with the others. After dinner, I studied more, packed my bags, and called it a night.

The next morning, I once again feasted on a giant breakfast. We were going to be going on a walking tour of the city! Luckily, it wasn't raining on Sunday! First we visited Granada's ayuntamiento, or government, and then a place called Corral del Carbon, a 14th century alhóndiga, or a place where grain was stored, sold, or bought. After that, we walked through the Alcaicería, an Arabic style street market, to get to the cathedral and the royal chapel. The cathedral of Granada is the only one in Spain that isn't in a large plaza or square. There isn't a wide street surrounding it to separate it from the rest of the buildings nearby. We quickly visited inside, but didn't stay long because Mass was being held. We then walked around the building to the royal chapel, where the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella are buried. We were unable to take photos inside, but I was able to see their tombs!

After this, we had more free time, so we went back to the Arabic street market and explored the city. Later, it was time for lunch, but because of my large breakfasts, I wasn't hungry. I walked with my friends to a shawarma place, but when they got food, I decided to continue exporing. While doing so, I heard lots of music and saw a crowd gathering in a plaza. I went over to find lots of kids and young adults dancing improv! At first they seemed to be passing around a headband and following the dance moves of the leader. However, they then moved on to dance battles, also improvised. It was super cool, so I called my friends over to watch! I ended up staying there for almost an hour. We only left because we needed to catch the bus back to Madrid. Here's a fun clip of part of a dance off!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sunzxkRMJw

I caught the bus back to Madrid. I tried sleeping but was having a rough time so I just ended up listening to music instead. When we stopped, I grabbed a sandwich and some chips for lunch because I hadn't eaten. After getting home, I studied a little bit more and then it was exam time. My first two exams went well. They were straightforward, and I knew the material fairly well. After my second exam, Tuesday morning, I studied in the library for a few hours before my last exam, Biomechanics. I have no clue how I did on this exam. Once again, we had less than 45 minutes for our exam, after which we had class. The exam was only two questions, with the first being worth 80%. This question had three parts, with the last being worth 40%. The exam was less about knowing the material and more about how fast you could write. I knew the material well and I knew how to answer the question. However, with the time constraints of the exam, you can't afford to make a single mistakes. I ended up dropping a negative sign, that made it impossible for me to solve the first two parts of the problem. I realized my mistake and fixed it, but the time I had lost was too important. I wasn't able to finish. So we'll see how this one ends up, but I'm not very confident.

I got through this week of exams. On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, after class, I joined the rest of the ISA group for a Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant called the Alboroto Experience. I was super excited because the restaurant looked amazing. The dinner was amazing. I don't think I've ever eaten that much. We had probably close to 13 courses of food. I couldn't eat a couple of the courses because they had meat, so instead the restaurant asked me to order off their menu! All in all, I ate some herbed tomatos, onion rings, a bread dish, the salad I ordered (kale, brown rice, grilled avocado, pickled red onions, and a vinaigrette), zucchini, eggplant, squash, mushroom risotto (my main dish), mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and cheesecake! The restaurant also gave us bibs and gloves because they knew it would be a messy meal!

Overall, the past two weeks have been extremely eventful. It's been super fun, but I'm also missing home. There are only three weeks left for my time abroad, which is both exciting and sad. I want to come home to my family and friends, but I also am going to miss Spain. Stay tuned to see how my last couple weeks of studying abroad go!