5-19-09

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I had breakfast at 8:00, 15 minutes later than usual and Julia had a good laugh about that when I told her I would be leaving later. She was expecting to sleep in at least another half hour but unfortunately she still had to madrugar. Anyway, I bought tickets for the Alhambra the day before so I had a nice morning hike up there. It’s actually cooler and cloudy today but I was sweating by the time I got to the top! I only had tickets to the gardens which was only €7. I’ve heard the flowers are just gorgeous and the Generalife looks like a totally different place – and it was true! I can really tell why artists love Granada and where they get their material. It was just so peaceful with the water rushing around, the HUGE roses, the birds chirping, and the quiet of the morning (well, as quiet as Granada gets I suppose). Some man asked me to take a picture of him and I pretended like I only spoke Spanish .. and I think he believed me :) After the Generalife I went through the Puerta de Siete Cielos, the Arab bath, Palacio de Carlos V, and the Alhambra museum. I spent the entire morning there just soaking it all up and having my own personal send-off.
I came down, did a little shopping (I still have lots of Euros left!) then came to the CLM to turn in my art paper. I also had to say goodbye to Verónica, Aida, and Jeff – not particularly fun. We came back for a huge lunch (what’s new..) then I put off packing for a while longer. I finally gave in and started with all of my papers since that’s what would take me the longest. Taylor took a huge nap while I worked on that and then I started in with my clothes. It actually didn’t take me too long at all to get everything folded up and put in my suitcases but I just really didn’t want to do it. I started putting all of my heavy stuff in my little bag and I am honestly a little worried that it’s going to be 50 lbs! It’s unbelievable how many papers, books, and glasses I have to take home.. And thank goodness I got two sets of luggage tags for Christmas because there’s no way my other ones would even make it through the Granada airport. I put on my new ones and took off what was left of the other ones – aka a few threads. Taylor started packing her stuff and separating what she will need when her parents so our room and closet look totally empty and sad :(
After some tortillita española Mitch, Taylor and I walked to Ronda for some ice cream and to say goodbye to Graciela. It’s pretty difficult to meet up when one of you doesn’t have internet and neither have money left on their phone (somehow I ended up with -,03€ left, how is that possible?). We rang the buzzer about 100 times and since it’s broken poor Ami had to come all the way down to tell us Grace and Lucía weren’t even there. We went and got our ice cream then came back and she was still gone. I was sad because I doubt I’ll get back down to Ronda today and I have no idea when I would ever see Graciela again since she’ll be going back to Argentina soon.
Sidenote - I feel bad for people with allergies here – the pollen is out of control. Especially since the olive trees are in bloom and they’re, well, everywhere. I’ve seen tons of people walking around with swine flu masks (jk) Pobrecitos!