Un Semestre en España: Sleepless in Granada

This weekend was our last group trip with ASA and it was an overnight trip to Granada. But first, I have to start with the night before. So we had to be at the train station on Friday at 6:30 am which meant the cab that Lindsey, Megan, Brittany, and I were sharing was leaving from Lindsey's house at 6am. Brittany had the idea of going out thursday night and just going to the train station straight from the club. I thought she was crazy because I needed to actually sleep that night. Little did I know, I would actually do it. We had the intention of going out to do some karaoke, but apparently the place we had in mind doesn't exist. So instead, we hungout at calle betis for some drinks and then some dancing after. Before I knew it, 5:15am rolled around, and Tatiana and I were the only 2 still out from our group. The club was still packed, so it was easy to think it was a bit earlier than 5! So we walked home and I got back with 15 minutes to pack. Brittany was like "where have you been?! We have to catch our taxi in 15 minutes!" haha woops. So I shoved everything I needed into my backpack and headed on our way.

Straight from the club at 5 am...

...to the train station at 6 am.

We got to the train station with another half hour to spare! So we parked it on some benches. On the train, I don't think I've ever seen our group so quiet! We were all passeddd outtt. I was very uncomfortable the ride so I didn't really sleep. When we got to Granada, we had a wonderful 45 minute walk to the hotel (it wasn't actually wonderful). We got there and found out our rooms weren't ready for another couple of hours. Really ASA, you're going to do this to me when I'm working off of zero sleep? First, a 6am train ride, then a 45 minute walk to the hotel, then our rooms aren't going to be ready when we get there so I can't crash. Why couldn't we have just taken a later train then? Ugh. So we grabbed some breakfast/lunch at a cafe and chilled until our rooms were ready. I took a delightful and much needed 2 hour siesta and a nice hot shower once we got to our rooms because we had free time for 4 hours :) I look forward to these trips just for the hot showers! haha.

First picture of all the UPO kids together! We just happened to all be sitting on the couch at the same time.

We all met down in the lobby around 5 and Brittany brought me back the most amazinggggg sandwich!! The food in Granada was very moroccan-like and very different from the rest of spanish food. This sandwich was a kebob with chicken, sauce, tomato, and lettuce. Basically heaven inside some bread. Then it was time for our tour of the city with our tourguide Ignacio. He was cool, but talked about things for a bit too long and lost all of our attention. But he took us around and showed us all the hotspots like where to get tapas. I love Granada's tapa tradition- order a drink and you get a free tapa! We also hiked a mountain to find the most beautiful view of the Alhambra. I was sad that we were there on a cloudy day, otherwise we would have been able to see the sunset behind it that I heard so much about :(

View of the Alhambra.

After the tour, a bunch of us grabbed some drinks and free tapas at an outdoor restaurant. After that, we hopped over to this awesome moroccan place where we got more food and some hookah. I loved loved loved the atmosphere. I felt like I was suddenly in Aladdin. Then we all went back to our rooms and got ready for our night out in the caves! Literally, a lot of Granada's best bars/clubs are inside caves in the mountains. The club was very fun. It was empty when we first got there but quickly became more and more packed. Some of us ended up staying out a littleee too late. We were going to leave earlier but Cassie forgot her jacket and when we went back in to get it, they kept playing songs from Grease as well as other good songs so we just couldn't leave! lol. We grabbed a cab back to the hotel where we continued to stay up playing never have I ever until reallyy late (well actually early). We had to be down in the lobby at 9am. Cassie, Drew, and I ended up passing out for an hour and were woken up being told that we had to be down in the lobby in 15 minutes! So I ran back to my room, packed up all my stuff. Yes, ASA also didn't book us for a 2nd night which meant we had to store our stuff all day in the hotel even though we wouldn't be getting back to Sevilla until midnight! We were literally homeless for the day. All we all wanted to do was sleep but there was nowhere to crash!

Partying in the caves!

From the hotel, we walked over to the Alhambra and had our 3 hour tour. Like Toledo, I felt bad because I couldn't really enjoy a lot of it because I was so tired from the night before. But it was still really pretty and so big! The tour took forever. And my camera mysteriously broke halfway through. I was sooo upset (and still am). So I was worried about that for the rest of the tour as well. After the Alhambra, we basically had free time for the rest of the day. This is when we became homeless. Some kids in the group went back to the hotel and just crashed on the couches. A group of us went to lunch and then found a cool moroccan-like tea room where we sat on some pillows and hungout for a long time. I laid down and laid there for a whileee. I heard the whole place starting to get more and more crowded so they must have been really curious as to why I was lying in our area sleeping. It was an awesome and relaxing atmosphere! But all I really wanted was a comfy bed to just fall into.

Inside the Alhambra

View of Granada from the Alhambra.

Afterwards, we had another hour or so to kill so we walked around the market area, bought some souveniers, and bought one last yummy kebob for the train ride home! We then did our 45 minute walk back to the train station and took our 3 hour trainride back to Sevilla. We got back home at 12:30 this morning and I have been sleeping alllll day! (except for when the family in the apartment next to us decided to have a party and started singing all the songs that they play in the clubs here haha I was ready to start singing/dancing along with them!). But overall, Granada was such a beautiful city! It was the last Muslim territory in Spain before the Christians took over, and you can definitely see they kept the Arab-vibe of their city. It was different from any other part of Spain that I've been too and that definitely makes it a unique place. The food was amazing! I wish we had more time to spend there. But after seeing Granada, I'm definitely ready for my trip to Morocco :)

Now enjoy some pictures that pretty much describe my weekend (let's see if you notice the common factor):