Parque de Ciencias

Hola! Es la hora de la siesta, asi before i do take my nap I wanted to put up pictures for you of the Parque de las Ciencias, which we visited on Friday. The Parque de las Ciencias (Park of the Sciences) is a huuuge museum-type thing. It's like RMSC and Strong combined except bigger. We went to take notes on scientific development in Al-Andalus (the arabic era in Spain) but we got side-tracked. The thing is called a park because it actually is one. There's a huge green space with gardens, playgrounds(plural) and an outdoor theater. Next to that there is a small zoo. They keep butterflies, cats, little things in cages, and rehabilitated birds of prey. There are four big buildings and dozens of little ones all over. One of the big ones is a tall, skinny tower from which you can see most of the city. Enough talk, how about a photographic tour?

There was an exhibit on taxonomy, so we got to see lots of dead, stuffed things like

bears,

and deer, with an appopriately placed kangaroo

There was another exhibit on the human body, which was both creepy and interesting

Here are Oscar and Miguel with their new friend

Like I said, they keep birds of prey that were rescued and for some reason can't be returned to the wild. They have eagles, owls, hawks, falcons, flamingoes, all that cool stuff. They run a hunting/flying demonstration at feeding time so we got to see that too. The birdies came right up and sat between our legs and flew between the seats.

They chill on little stumps until it's time...

...and then they swoop down and eat your chihuahua

There was a butterfly conservatory too, or as they say in spanish un mariposaria. It was soooo hot in there so we didn't stay for too many pix

but we did get this little guy!

Y'know how i said there were playgrounds?

If i wasn't aware that they were made for smaller people, i certainly am now

cuz i got stuck on this sucker.

Ok, i'm tired now so i'm going to take my siesta. After siesta I have my first flamenco class with world-renouned profesora Anna. Wish me luck, cuz when it comes to organized dancing I move like a stick bug. Post-flamenco, we meet at Hannigan's for another go at Pub Quiz. It's bar trivia so there are awesome prizes to be won, but what we really love about it is that it's in english.

Hasta luego,

Sara

La Alhambra

This post is a little late because i've had soooo much to do. We had a quiz today, a paseo yesterday, and a partido de futbol (soccer game) on tuesday night. This was not a passive spectator partido de futbol, we actually played it. Apparently we are to play soccer every tuesday until our deaths or the end of the semester, whichever comes first. The game was actually really fun. Why? Because my team won. Here are the highlights of the evening, or at least the ones my camera caught before it died:

Tori, Katie, Kathy, and Shanie stretching out before the game

A warm-up drill. Like monkey in the middle but meaner.

Los Ganadores! (The Winners)

This is our group leader, Teresa, getting down and dirty with us

So after that exhausting night of futbol, we woke up bright and early the next day to climb THE BIGGEST HILL IN ALL OF SPAIN in order to visit the Alhambra. Was it worth it? My buns and thighs say absolutely not, but it was stunning. For those of you who live under the american rock, the Alhambra is a palace/fort/walled in city on a huge-ass hill called "al-Sabika". As you may have guessed from the names, it was originally build by the arabs that ruled Spain from 711ad to 1492, when the Reyes Catolicos (the catholic monarchs ferdinand and isabel) took over the city, and consequently the whole country. When they entered the Alhambra they decided that it was so beautiful that they wouldn't bother building their own palace, they would just live there. So aside from the original arab palace, there is one redone in the renaissance style. There is also one done in renaissance barroque style because when Carlos V, the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabel, inherited the land, he was so enchanted with the alhambra that he wanted to live there too. The simple arab palaces were too insignificant for him, so he destroyed one and built a palace over it. Aside from those 3, there's one more called the Generalife. It was the summer palace of the arabs but Ferdinand and Isabel weren't thrilled with it so they rented it out to another noble family for 200 or 300 years.

So now that history class is over, we can move on to the fun stuff. I took pictures until my brand new batteries gave out so i will post as many as the site will support up on here. Disfrutalos! (Enjoy!)

My roommate Tori in front of La Puerta de la Justicia, the main entrance to the Alhambra

The whole group! For future reference, from L to R: Erica, Gabby, Tori, Nick, Katie, Alex(behind), Kathy, Margaret, Oscar, Elsa, Stephanie(behind), Shanie, Erin, Laura(behind), Me, Miguel (behind), and other Erin

The view from the Torre de la Vela (Watch tower)

An awesome view of La Catedral/Capilla Real (Cathedral and Royal Chapel) from the Torre de la Vela

Me on top of the Torre de la Vela

The Chicos in front of an arab fountain in the Jardin de los Adarves (Soldier's Garden, more or less)

The Palace of Carlos V

Another awesome sign! This one is letting you know that right-handed people cannot enter. If you do get in, you must burn your camera and fall off of skis. The last one is hard to see, but it's describing how you must turn your backpack around and wear it fashionably on your front. (yes, they do make you do that). Said look must be accompanied by swagger, best achieved by keeping one shoulder higher than the other and doing half of the Charleston.

Arches on the inside of the Nazari palace

The famous Patio de los Arrayanes. That's water, but it reflects things just like a mirror.

This is an archway outside of the Sala de Embajadores. The decoration hanging down from the archways are called "mocarabes"

The cieling of the Sala de Dos Hermanas. It looks like the picture is fuzzy, but it's really the mocarabes hanging down. The whole thing is 20 - 30 feet deep but for some reason the camera just can't capture the height.

An absolutely beautiful garden - El Jardin de Daraxa

Same garden, different POV

Same gardin, other side

Did I mention that I really like this garden?

Part of the Jardines del Partal. The only place in the Alhambra where you can eat.

A lovely fountain on the path leading from the palaces of the Alhambra to the Generalife, which is still within the walls, but it's a 10 minute walk from everything else.

The Patio de la Acequia. In the summer all the bushes are rose bushes!

The private garden of the Generalife, The Patio de los Cipreses.

Nick in the archway leading from the Generalife to the forest of la Alhambra. These bushes also sprout roses in the summer.

Gatos de La Alhambra

(cats of the alhambra)

There are a bunch of cats that live on the property of the Alhambra. They're stray and skinny but still very cute. Some of them are very aggressive but others are wicked sweet and friendly.

These were the nice cats. I got to pet the browner one :) Those patches on the wall are food that the groundskeepers set out for the kitties

This one was in the Jardin del Partal. It was not friendly, but we gave it some ham anyway. 

These are ADORABLE kitties on the path through the forest, which brings you back to the city

A little kitten, also in the forest not too far from the other two. Undoubtedly my favorite cat of the day.

So there we have the Alhambra! And now we have the quote of the day. Conveniently this quote was delivered in the Alhambra. There's a room under one of the towers that is engineered so that if you whisper into one corner of the room you can hear it perfectly in the opposite corner. Oscar wanted to try doing it so he got up against the wall and whispered:

"Dime algo sexual"

and as expected, we could hear it perfectly from the other side of the room. In case the only word you recognize from this sentence is "sexual", it means: "Tell me something sexy", so you were halfway there.

I have to go out now and find batteries for my camera, which is harder than it sounds because the stores here are veeery different from the stores in the US. They are all small (extremely, claustrophobically small), specialized shops. For example, a papeleria sells only paper, pens, and notebooks. A fruteria sells only fruit. A zapateria sells only shoes. There is no such thing as a "batteryeria", so this will be like chasing a wild goose that doesn't move. Wish me luck!

Hasta luego,

Sara

Discoteca de retraso

Hola otra vez! Today is Sunday, and the spanish take that whole "day of rest thing" very literally. We had an activity in the morning and have been lounging around the casa for 5 hours. There are NO stores open and only a few cafes after mass, which means all day. There are masses every hour from 6am to 10pm so come all ye faithful!

So on a completely unrelated subject, i have, as promised, stalked down pictures from the discoteca on friday, which i am both pleased and nervous to present to you ahora...er...now.

This is a discoteca. This one is an old theater converted into a dance club. We took this picture at the very beginning of the night (2:30am) and it was packed by the time we left.

Kathy (L) and Katie (R) somehow worked their way into the DJ booth. Katie was pretty excited about that...

So there you go. There will be more pix from more discotecas en seguida, just not during the week cuz it takes alot out of you!

Y ahora, the quote of the day. It is pertinent to the discoteca so this is appropriate placement i suppose. We were talking about out big night out when Nick said to me:

"Remember that song we were dancing to? We went crazy, i was like a straight person on you!"

It will undoubtedly help your comprehension to be aware that Nick is gay. Ok, now you can laugh.

I have to go write an essay now, because as much as i will deny it to myself, i am in school.
Hasta la hora,
Sara

El Albaicin

Today we went on a paseo (a walk, just for the sake of walking) around a neighborhood called "el Albaicin". It's the more arab part of the city so the architecture is very different. I might call it minimalist but that it just a personal opinion. The Albaicin is built up the side of the Sierra Nevada so it gave us an amazing view of the city and the fort/palace La Alhambra. Luckily, i took photos so you can see for yourself:

The view of la Alhambra

a little side street with an awesome view

Way off in the distance is la Sierra Nevada. It comes back around so it was behind us too

The best view of the tower of the Alhambra from a patio/tea parlour

In the Albaicin there were a bunch of awesome things, not the least of which were signs that tried to communicate in languages other than english, here specifically english and also sign language. It reminded me of the signs on the subway in Italy. There are a lot of these kind of signs around Granada so I'll periodically come out with more. Here are the ones from the Albaicin:

This one is about a construction zone. Apparently you can die forward and backward but not if you wear a Redcoat uniform. And safety goggles come with a complimentary awesome hairdo.

This is outside a tiny little street that looks like you can drive down it when in reality it gets thinner and thinner until you get stuck.

Technically you could call this graffiti but it's kind of awesome graffiti. In case you speak no spanish at all the word across the top is "smoking" and the one going up and down is "kills".

This is a van from some extreme climbing group in the UK.



So that was the morning, but last night we went to the discoteca, which is like a crazy nightclub. There are many in the city but we went to one called Granada 10. The discotecas don't open til 2 so we went to some bars beforehand. I'll steal fb pics to post later. ahora, i'm going to tomar chocolate with Nick and Tori!

Hasta Luego!!!

Sara

Encore!

The siesta is actually 3 hours long, so i have time to update my blog before i go down for a nap. We just came back from la Caja Granada Memoria de Andalucia, which is a very modern museum dedicated to the history of Andalucia, the province that we're in:

The entrance (la entrada)

My roommate Tori

Alex, Gabby, y Oscar outside the museo

Our group on the patio inside the museo

The exhibits were these screens that had video options on them. You activate them like a kinect, with your body. You just point at something and it opens a video. I'm deficient or something cuz i always selected things i didn't want.

Speaking of deficient, we all went out for karaoke last night at Hannigan's. We love Hannigan's because they speak engligh there. What a coincidence...so do we! Katie and Kathy did a duet of the Backstreet Boys which i include for your viewing pleasure:

Of course that performance recieved a standing ovation and calls for an encore. Later on, Kathy obliged us and, accompanied by Gabby, gave us her rendition of "Like a Prayer". Ella es la nueva Madonna. Here's more of our noche por la ciudad:

 

Katie y Kathy, singing their little hearts out



Los Chicos! (L to R: Nick, Alex, Oscar, y Miguel)

An overview of Hannigans on a Thursday night. Not bad, eh?

I'm starting a specific section of the blog called "quote of the day". We keep a notebook of stupid and/or funny things that people say every day. The best of them will make their debut on the internet. So today's quote comes to us from Shanie, who told her madre de casa:
 "me gusta sus pantalones, es un mono!"

In theory, this means 'i like your pants, they're cute', but unfortunately theories are just theories. In reality, they word "mono" has two meanings: "mono" (adj.) means cute, but "el mono" (n.) means 'the monkey'. So what Shanie really said was:

"I like your pants. It's a monkey!"

Since it's la siesta, i'm gonna take a siesta now. Tonight we are going out for tapas, bebidas, and posiblemente un discoteca! If we do make it to the discoteca, there will surely be muchas noticias for you en la manana.

You know you love me
XOXO
Sara