Granada, la Alhambra, y el Corre de Toros

Saturday morning 5 of my friends and I left here for Granada, which is about a 3 hour bus ride away. At first I didn't like it and was creeped out by our hippie hangout of a hostel. After a while though, I began to appreciate the city for what it was and I finally grew to like it. It is just extremely different from Sevilla in that it has a hugeee Arab influence which really shows everywhere in the city. The streets above the downtown are windy and narrow and are lined with little shops selling products from the Middle East.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Alhambra. If you don't know what it is, I suggest you wikipedia it. We were really surprised we even got tickets, because they usually sell out by 1 PM or so. There are many different palaces on the grounds, and all of them are absolutely beautiful. The main one is just astounding - the walls and ceilings are covered with intricate designs carved into marble and wood. The views are also amazinggg. You can pretty much see the entire city from the top of the palace.
After the Alhambra, we went to get some dinner and then went shopping around the town. The tiny streets are all lined with the tiny shops, and we had some fun looking around and picking up some souveniers :-) We then went to go get ice cream (even though it was raining!) because ice cream in Spain is just wayyy too good to pass up.
Finally, we made our way back to the hostel. We ended up meeting 2 girls from Australia who had been traveling for 3 months and still have 3 more months to go. We also met a girl from Montreal and another from Puerto Rico. All 9 of us went out to what is known as a Teteria, which is an Arabic restaurant that serves tea, pastries, and hookah if you so desire. We all had a great time trying all of the different teas and desserts and ended up talking until 12 or so.
After a long and hard attempt to get into my tiny bunk bed (it was a triple decker and I was in the middle - just try to imagine how I may have looked attempting that one in the dark) and a good sleep, we headed back to Sevilla.

Last night we went to a bullfight, but I left after 2 bulls (there's a total of 6 per bullfight). I would call it less of a fight and more of a public slaughtering. There are about 6 matadors against 1 bull - really the bull doesn't have a fighting chance. I tried to view it in a cultural way, but I really had seen all I really wanted to see after the 2nd bull. Turns out, a lot of people in Sevilla don't like the bullfights for the same reason.

And here I am. In my architecture class we are going to the Alcazar, which is the oldest royal palace still in use, so that should be interesting. Wednesday I have my first midterm (soo soon I know!), so it may take me a while to post again.

And now for unas fotografias:

Okay nevermind on the photos, my internet is too slow. I will try to upload some within the next few days.

Muchos besos!