Memories from My Spain Adventure

Me in the Madrid Airport super excited after we finally got our luggage after waiting for two hours!

Libby and I in the Madrid Airport ready to begin our adventure!

Memories from My Spain Adventure

Hello!

So this is my last blog for this Spain trip. So sad! I have really enjoyed writing them and I hope you have enjoyed reading them. I have learned so much on this trip it is really difficult to write it all down. My Spanish has improved, obviously, and I have learned, through experiencing, the Spanish culture and how they live their day to day lives. I have travelled to more cities in Spain than I ever thought I would in my life: Granada, Ronda, Nerja, the Sierra Nevadas, Cordoba, Pais Vasco: San Sebastian and Bilbao, Valencia, Madrid, Toledo, Segovia, Sevilla, Cadiz and Jerez. As you have seen from my previous blogs, these trips were always eye-opening and amazing experiences.

I have had the best homestay experience, and of course my host mom has everything to do with that! She was truly a gift in this journey and I am extremely grateful that she was there for me when I needed her. She will always have a special place in my heart and I will miss her tons. Of course I will also miss her adorable grandchildren, Sonsole and Juan Antonio. Over the weekend, Libby and I went with Ana to mass because we wanted to experience her life a little bit. She goes every day. It was a beautiful church and a cool experience. After we walked around Granada together and took pictures in Federico Garcia Lorca Park near our house.

For this blog, I have posted pictures of some of the best memories from this experience in chronological order. There have been so many, so I couldn’t choose them all! I hope you enjoy looking back on these memories as much as I do. I kinda went overboard on the pictures, but that is because there were so many amazing memories that I want to share!! I chose a photo or two from each trip and also some from around Granada. Enjoy!!

I am anxious to get back home and excited to see everyone. As the last week of this trip comes rapidly to a close, I am grateful for my family for helping me be here, my friends for being there when I got homesick and of course everyone who read my blog and shared in this experience with me. I hope I will be able to have more adventures and experiences like this in the future, but I acknowledge that this experience was unique--one that I will never be able to repeat.

Again, thanks for reading my blog!

5 days and counting.

Abrazos y besos,
Annie


Me in Madrid in Plaza Major.

Kathryn, me, Kailey and Libby in Ronda.

Me in Nerja looking out over the Meditarranean Sea!

Me at the top (well almost!) of the Sierra Nevadas

Me in Cordoba.

Me, Kailey, Libby, Brittany and Kathryn in San Sebastian.

Brittany, Me, Kathryn, Kailey and Libby in San Sebastian.

Me in Valencia on the beach!

A bunch of us at the center of Spain in Madrid.

Kathryn and I in Toledo.

Kailey, Kathryn, Chris, Me and Libby in Toledo.

Me, Chris and Brittany in Sevilla.

Chris, Me, Kathryn and Kyle in Cadiz.

Granada Photos:

My host mom Ana and I in Federico Garcia Lorca Park in Granada.

Sonsole, the granddaughter of Ana, and I building card houses!

Libby, Kailey, Kathryn, Me and Kendall in Granada for my 20th birthday.

Libby and I in Granada heading out to listen to a live jazz band.

Libby, Brittany and me going out in Granada.

Kathryn, Jo and me having dinner with Chris's parents when they came to visit Granada.

Me in the neighborhood Albaycin with a view of La Alhambra behind me.

Me at night with La Alhambra in the background.

Libby and I in front of a fountain in Puerta Real, about two minutes from our house.

Me in Federico Garcia Lorca Park.

Cadiz y Jerez: Last Adventure in Spain

Me, Chris and Kathryn at the top of the tower of the Cathedral in Cadiz looking out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Kathryn, Chris and I at sunset in Cadiz looking over the Atlantic Ocean.

Me at the beach in Cadiz. Yes, in December!

The group: Chris, me, Kathryn and Kyle--hanging out at the beach in Cadiz.

Me with our completed and AMAZING pumpkin pie. It's as happy as I am!

Hello!

Over the weekend I went to Cádiz and Jerez with some good friends of mine. We had a five day weekend because of holidays in Spain on Monday and Tuesday. Cádiz is a beautiful little town, basically surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, in southern Spain on the western coast. Even though it was December, it was still t-shirt weather and the sun was shining! Since my friends and I were renting an apartment for the weekend we did all our own cooking, which was really fun! And of course, as promised we made pumpkin pie! We experimented and made a gram-cracker crust, which ended up turning out really good! We also walked around the city; it’s small so we pretty much saw most of it. We also took a walk along the boardwalk looking out over the Atlantic Ocean and of course we walked on the beach.

On Sunday we took a day trip to Jerez, which is about 40 minutes from Cádiz. Jerez is known for its winery’s, which we saw everywhere, and has a beautiful Cathedral. We found an outdoor market that was more like a garage sale. There was a ton of stuff that looked like people had just grabbed it out of their house to sell!! But there were some gems among the rubble. I found a pretty pair of earrings for myself and my friend Chris found some very cool sand drawings.

Needless to say, it was a very relaxing and fun weekend with friends. Now I am in the final stretch of this Spain adventure. This week is the last week of classes and next week is finals. In less than 2 weeks I will be back in the states. The time here has flown by!! I cannot believe that it is almost over. It has been such a great experience.

I won’t have any more adventures to write about but I will blog another time or two about my last week and a half here in Spain and of course about arriving home! I miss you all and I cannot wait to see you when I return.

10 days and counting!

-Annie