Vacation begins! Or have I already been on a 6-month vacation?

As of Wednesday at 1pm I finished with my finals! Freeedoooom!!! Now it is vacation time! So naturally we spent the entire day at the beach and ate at my favorite ice cream shop, VIOKO, literally the best. I actually am not sure what flavor I ordered, some exotic fruit, but it was delicious! I will definitely miss this shop a whole lot.

On another note, today is the feast day of Saint John and pretty much the entire city gathered on the Barcelona beaches last night to celebrate the shortest night of the year! It was crazy with bonfires, sparklers, fireworks and just a ton of people drinking in the streets, and actually very frightening with firecrackers going off and little toddlers playing with fire. But I managed out alive.

Tonight I will be baking apple crisp for all of my latin girlfriends to try! and then we are heading to probably the fanciest hotel in Barcelona, the W, for one really expensive drink. The hotel looks over the water and the bar is located at the top of the sailboat shaped building. Super excited!

And exactly one week left here.

Exams and Papers

Sorry I haven't been posting regularly! I have been writing essays and studying for finals as this week and next are my final exams! I can't believe I am taking exams in June but I suppose this is how trimesters work!

Also, friends from my program start leaving from Barcelona as early as this Friday! Bittersweet! Where did the time go!

Anyways, need to get back to studying Spanish literature!

Christina

Trip to Granada, Spain

This weekend I went to a class field trip to Granada, Spain. I was so impressed by this city! It is located in Southern Spain and is gorgeous!!!! The lifestyle is very laid back with plenty of time during the day to grab sangria and free tapas (yes for every drink you order in the city it comes with a free tapas plate!). The city is so unique being the last city the Muslims had hold over until Ferdinand and Isabel re-conquered Spain in 1492. Read below for some highlights:

Alhambra- the most well-known building in Granada. It used to be a Moorish Palace during the time that the Muslims conquered what is now modern-day Spain. It has acres of gardens in the Generalife, beautiful patios with fountains and gardens and typical arabic architecture with tons of succo and eleborate decorations. The Alhambra was unlike anything I have ever seen before. It was so unique to my eyes that I did not feel like I was in Spain but in some far away country in the Middle East. Here are a few photos of the parts of the Alhambra:

Flamenco Show- I saw my first Falmenco show in Granada!! It was probably one of the best experiences I have had here in Spain. They started off with guitarists and other musicians then added singers and finally had a Flamenco dancer on stage. The dancer was so passionate in all of her moves and simply fabulous.

The Cathedral of Granada - a stunning cathedral we entered and soon after we saw the tombs of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella