Olivas Olivas Olivas! As seen from the charming renaissance town of Ubeda in the Jaen province

More beautiful views of Granada during our hiking adventure

Hiking through the mountains overlooking our perfect Granada

My 21st Birthday... Lucky lucky with such wonderful girls!

FLAMENCO!!

The southern coast of Spain in Cadiz, far east almost as far as Portgual. Here we are dressed in costumes enjoying the Carnival while we still had daylight...and before the rain came!!

This gem of a plaza is my home! To the back of me is the apartment building where I live (with my host mother Mellina and her daughter Mika). The arc is called the Arco de Elvira and is famous for when Isabel and Ferdinand arrived to Granada and made a triumphant entrance through the arc. As I mentioned before that my neighborhood is right below the Albaicin...you can get a better sense of this by the white casitas clustered together on the hill behind the arc.... these are the hills of mi barrio preferido!!

El barrio de la Albaicin... Arabic whitewashed homes clustered around narrow cobblestone streets and open plazas. The most charming escape. To walk up and down these paths alongside the different musicians playing spanish guitar or hippies selling loose leaf tea from Morocco makes one feel as though they have been thrown into a time warp. This neighborhood is pretty much my backyard as I live just below one of the major hills needed to get to the top however those who really live in the Albaicin certainly have it best, living in a whole other world. The photo of the Alhambra from my first post is taken from the 'mirador' that you reach once at the top of this hill. I like to pretend I am a hippie and that I live here too.

My bedroom here in Granada. Cozy cozy.... little little.

GRANADA

The Alhambra seen from San Nicolas... a spectacular lookout spot from atop the ancient barrio of the Albaicin. When I came to Granada last November for less than 24 hours to see if I was "interested" in living here/studying for the next 5 months, this is the view that I landed at after hiking up an exhausting hill. I stood at this lookout point while the rain came down, tourists snapped photos, and simply just started laughing. Laughing and laughing at the fact that living here was even an option. From that moment on I didn't look back.