Granada
I took a weekend trip the city of Granada, Spain, with some friends a couple of weekends ago. It turned out to be one of my favorite places that I have visited in Spain. The city has a lot of character, and we met some of the most interesting people from around the world while we were there. There were the Spanish men who danced with us in their shop, a man from Damascus who showed us how to write something in Arabic, a guy from Africa who struck up conversation with my friend Katie and me while we were eating ice cream, and a friendly Dutch women who ran a store in the city. I also tried Arabic coffee in a really cool tea shop (I must admit I didn't really like it, but it was fun to try).Granada was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain, and is home to La Alhambra, which dates to the 14th century. We were able to explore the gardens, the palace and remains of the old neighborhoods. It was fascinating, especially since we had studied a lot of the architecture in my Spanish Art History class. After Ferdinand and Isabel drove the Muslims out of Granada, they used the palace, and it is in this location that Christopher Columbus was originally commissioned for his history-making voyage.
Ireland
My roommate, Katelin, and I took a whirlwind six-day trip to Ireland, London and Paris over our break for Semana Santa. In Ireland, we stayed in Dublin, where we explored some of the famous sites in the city. These included Trinity College, Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral and Saint Patrick's Cathedral, which is near the site where Saint Patrick baptized the first Christian converts in Ireland. I found this really interesting since I know some of the history of Saint Patrick.Funny story about our time wandering around Dublin: We were hit by a bike. Yes, we were just walking along and all of a sudden I got hit in the elbow from behind by a bike. I fell into Katelin, who ended up on the ground next to this crazy bicyclist. We're pretty sure he was drunk or on drugs based on how he was acting. But anyway, I ended up with a giant bruise on my elbow and Katelin got some scrapes. It made for some good laughs though considering it was just such a random thing to have happen.
We also took a day trip on a tour bus to see some of the surrounding Irish countryside, including the Glendalough monastic settlement, which was founded in the sixth century. Despite the cold weather, fog, rain and wind, I enjoyed getting to see some of God's beautiful creation in Ireland.
London
We were rather insane and decided to take a day trip to London, flying out of Dublin early in the morning and then back to Dublin late that night. However it worked out quite well and we were able to hit many of the major sites in London. We saw Buckingham Palace and the guards, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, and the London Eye, which is the world's tallest observation wheel (443 feet tall). We decided to pay to go up in the London Eye, which gave us a great view of the city and River Thames. We also wandered through Hyde Park, Green Park and Kensington Gardens and saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain. Paris
This was probably my favorite stop of our Semana Santa travels. I think I just had this romanticized picture of Paris, and it did indeed turn out to be quite an enchanting city. Of course, we saw the Eiffel Tour (and I took about 100 pictures of it both during the day and at night), the Arc of Triumph and the Moulin Rouge, made famous by the movie. We also went to the Louvre art museum, which one could literally spend days exploring. We limited ourselves to a few key areas of the museum, and saw some amazing artwork including the Mona Lisa (which I happen to think is over-hyped and not nearly impressive as a lot of other artwork, but it was still cool to get to take a picture of such a famous painting). We wandered the Latin Quarter and saw Dotre Dame Cathedral. We ate some great French food, such as croissants, crepes, baguettes and omelets. We also mastered the metro system, which we were quite excited about!As much as I enjoyed spending some time in Paris, I have never been so happy to be back to a place where Spanish is spoken. It's a challenge being in a country like France where I only know about 10 words of the language! So I'm back in Sevilla now, but I'm still processing the fact that I just traveled to three other countries in the past week. It's a dream come true for someone like me who has always dreamed of traveling, and I'm trying to soak it all in and enjoy it to the fullest. I'm really thankful for these opportunities.
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