A few thousand words for you...

This is Minnie, my South Korean friend from White Nest. She speaks South Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, English, and a bit of Spanish. I envy her broad knowledge of languages. She was a lot of fun and had many stories worth sharing. I will miss her... In the background, you will see the Alhambra. After only 2 days, I am obsessed with this castle and I highly anticipate the day I get to enter it. My heart jumps a little every time I see it peaking over the mountainside at me, since the hill was right across the river from my hostel. In it's own way, it's found a special place in my heart.

There is a place like hostel heaven, and I found it at White Nest. I hope to stop by and visit Christian, my awesome Italian host/receptionist person who spoke 5 languages and couldn't wait to get off his shift. The English tour guide was also awesome and hilarious. In this picture looking out the window is Christianne, my Australian friend from the hostel. We met on the walking tour and me, her, Minnie, and Amelie became fairly good friends (considering the circumstances and all).

There are a few interesting things about this picture. Firstly, I like the way the sun streaks over the top of the church. Secondly, notice that the cross (on top of the church, behind the church bells-ish... it's kind of small in the picture) is on top of three balls. These balls symbolize the Earth, the Universe, and the Seven Heavens of Islam. It was actually a mosque before it was a church, but the Queen Isabella loved the stylistics of Islamic architecture too much to destroy it.

Making friends is easy, especially when everyone needs to make them. These guys were my companions for the 2 days I spent in my hostel and I will miss them. Also, notice the cobblestone steps. My feet have 5 or 6 blisters because of them. But honestly... the pain is so worth it. I hardly notice because I'm too busy gawking at the architecture around here...

This seems like a random picture to pick out from my 150, but I feel a need to discuss this little door. It is actually an Islamic courtesy to bow your head upon entrance, so when this door was installed, it was made short. Also, it's a defense strategy. To enter this door, you must bow your head in or stick a leg in, both can be easily amputated a simple swing of the sword...

I eventually decided I needed a picture of me so I could prove I was actually at these places, haha, and I really liked the way this one turned out. The background is of nothing in particular, but it is still distinctly Spanish, which is one of the things I really like about it. The entire town has a unique atmosphere about it, which I like to think of as laid-back, but exciting and busy. There is always something to do, something new to see, but people are much calmer, laid-back, friendly, and easy-going about it. I simply love it. I think I can see a bit of that in this picture. Or maybe I'm just delusional.

Once upon a time, this was a Jewish Carmen. Now, it belongs to the University. It is so green and lush, but what I like about this picture is the light on the far side of the green canopy. It's just the sunlight hitting the building, but I think it has a unique effect to it. Additionally, a good portion of my tour group is in this picture, and I'm very glad I have pictures of them since I will probably never see them again.

This was my first time entering a mosque. I really liked the courtyard, and, of course, the fact that it overlooks the Alhambra. They had a little stand in there that you could get a glass of a juice/tea mix for 1E and keep the glass. I kind of wanted to do it, but I didn't have any money on me. Perhaps I will return for the tea and free glass. Of course we didn't actually enter the mosque, but it was liberal enough to let us enter the courtyard. It's the only mosque in Granada (or was it the first?) which I think is funny because there is so much Islamic influence in the culture and architecture here.

You cannot talk about Granada without talking about cats. They are everywhere. Some are really friendly and want to rub up on you, some are looking for food and look kind of mangy, some run away from people, and most live at the river. These ones were kind of scrappy looking on the streets and ran away from us behind this fence, but the looked so cute I had to take a picture. And really, the cats are a very important part of Granada.

Everyone decorates their houses with china and pottery that has a pomegranate on it. "La granada" in Spanish is "pomegranate", so naturally, la granada is the symbol of Granada. The patron saint of Granada is even holding a pomegranate in his left hand! I love the style though, I love the pottery and china and tiles decorating people's houses. It's just lovely.


Anyway, I'm sure I've given you enough pictures to soak in for now... Frankly, I don't want to post any pictures without an explanation (that's what Facebook is for in my opinion), so this is taking a little while, but it has been a ton of fun posting these and keeping you updated! I will definitely be posting more pictures of the city in the days to come!!!

Orientation starts tomorrow!!! I'm so excited!