Street Art in Granada

I love the graffiti in Granada so much (sorry for sounding like a broken record player), that I wanted to compile all the pieces I was able to see during my trip onto a single post. Unfortunately, my pictures don't do it justice because for me at least, a lot of the beauty isn't just the art itself, but also the way it complements or changes its surrounding environment. It's the contextual picture of the scenery and art placement put together that makes the art even more fascinating.

Either way though, the pieces are beautiful. There is clearly a lot of artistic talent in the city of Granada. Which makes sense based off what I've been learning in my Spanish Lit/Cinema class, since a lot of Spain's famous art figures are from Granada. Look guys, I'm learning in my study abroad! About actual relavant things!

Granada

• Visited the Alhambra, which is one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture I have ever seen. It's an ancient palace from the old Arab empires. My pictures nor words will never do it justice. You just have to go see it for yourself in person.
• Ate delicious tapas! Granada is renowned for having the best tapas around and now I can say I see why.  
• Got to see a lot of beautiful street art. I love graffiti art work and I think it adds an interesting flavor to the surrounding street and neighborhood. 
• Was invited to eat lunch with Julie and her spanish family. Spanish culture is unique in that it doesn't encourage visitors in the house. Which is why being invited over was a real treat and such a lovely experience. I love Julie's spanish mama and her lovely dog Haida! 
• FUNNY STORY, when I gathered Julie and her family to take a group picture, Haida the dog immediately LEAPED onto the table and insisted on being in the picture! Greatest dog ever.
• FUNNY STORY part 2: took down a 6" tall ex-football player boy on our way back to the hostel. Maybe I'm stronger than I look? We got honked at too...but long story short, we made it back alive. 
• Again, accidentally ate goat brains. It may have been unintentional, but at least I can say I really "absorbed" the authentic culture of where I was? Yay? 
• Bought awesome fatboy pants. They're puffy with a cool bohemian pattern. Can't wait to wear my matching pants with Julie in Portugal! 
• Was brought back to life at a teteria. Thank god Julie and I are on the same page are on really similar pages when we need it the most. 
• Partied in gypsy caves until 4:30 AM with a bunch of international students from all over Europe 
• Saw the Sierra Nevada mountains.
• Spent the entire weekend with Julie Brown. 
• Successfully caught the bus back to Cordoba with only 1 minute to spare, and spent 3 hours taking in beautiful scenery with Yalda while riding back home. 

Easy to say, it has been a great weekend. 

And you know you are having the best possible home stay experience when, after 72 hours of exploring/eating/sleep deprivation, you get off your 3 hour bus ride, enter your apartment, and get that yeees, I am home feeling. Great weekend, great life.

Inside the Alhambra

Inside the Alhambra

One of the 8937422394 tapas I had this weekend

Julie, Tara and their spanish mama.

Posing by the Alhambra

The Alhambra

Look at the Sierra Nevada mountains! 

More beautiful views of the mountains

Friendship! Love! White on Yellow love!

On my bus ride home

Losses in Translation

Language barriers make the easiest tasks become hikes to Mt. Everest. For instance, trying to tell someone how you almost locked yourself out of your apartment becomes a 2 hour long Odyssey monologue. Painful, long, and really awkward to hear. Luckily, I haven't had too many serious mishaps yet. But language barriers can quickly go from something comedic to serious, especially if you're dealing with things like allergies, electronic malfunctions, or taxi/bus driver directions. So far, my language barrier experiences have been the "shake my head in shame" kind, and not the "crap, do I need to call the US embassy?!" kind. 

• In Cordoba last week, two high school classmates who are studying abroad in France and London came down to Córdoba for a day trip. It was really fun showing them around and getting tapas with them. While ordering tapas from Casa Santos, a tapas place well known around town, I tried getting myself a cup of vino blanco but ended up with fino, which is a wine unique to Cordoba. It has kind of a weird fishy taste and isn't my favorite drink. When I took my cup and took my first sip, I thought, god damnit, I got stuck with fino AGAIN!? This has definitely happened to me more than once. Sigh.
  
  

  

  This is what a NOT free "tapa" looks like

• In Granada this past weekend, I was getting tapas for lunch and was trying to figure out which ones were free to choose from with my wine. Accidentally ended up ordering a 9 euro entry somehow, while thinking it was a free tapa the entire time. Ouch for my wallet, but at least it was really delicious for my tummy.
  
• Again in Granada, I accidentally, not knowingly, ate brains. We were eating at a very well known and delicious restaurant called Casa Juanillo (It's in the Sacromonte district-up in the mountains by the gypsy caves and a gorgeous view of the Alhambra). There weren't too many vegetarian options, but I see "Tortilla de Sacromonte" and decide to order that. Tortilla is really common in Andaluz and is just eggs and potato cooked into a nice, spongy, cake-type thing. What I got though was different from any tortilla I've seen. It was much for thin, like the egg "bing" I was used to eating from my parents. No problem. I eat my tortilla thinking nothing of it. It is pretty good, nice and spongy and flavorful. I guess I never caught the part where our waiter jokingly told us "there is a surprise ingredient but I won't tell you what it is until after you eat the food." HONESTLY, if I had caught him saying that, I wouldn't have gone within 10 feet of the plate. Maybe it is because I'm chinese and I come from a culture of people who eat weird and disgusting things (I.E fish brain, blech!!!), but that sentence right there is the dead giveaway that you are about to consume an internal organ. But no, OF COURSE, I didn't hear or understand him saying that. Which is how I ended up eating goat brains in my tortilla.

Let me just repeat myself one more time for emphasis.

During my trip to Granada, I ate goat brains.

You know what, I forgot what the original point of this post was. Now I can't stop thinking about the goat brains again.

The end.