Andalucía!!!

Okay so a lot went down this week and I loved every moment of it! There was so much that happened that I will try my best to just sum it up. We got to go to Andalucía and see southern Spain!

Monday: I went to class, came home and rested, went to religion class, played soccer at church, then came home and packed!!

Windmills!

Ubeda for lunch

Tuesday: We left Alcala at 8am and began our journey. Our first stop was in Consuegra where we got to see old windmills. It was super neat! We got back on the bus and our next stop was in Ubeda where we got out to have lunch. It was a cute little town but we were just there for a bit. After Ubeda we headed to Granada! When we first got there we saw the Capilla Real and then went and checked into our hotel. That night we got to go out on our own. A group of girls and I went out to eat and walk around. We went to a little restaurant and I got some lasagna. We walked back to the hotel and I got to skype my mom for a little bit and then headed to bed.


Wednesday: We headed to Alhambra. We had a tour guide here. The gardens and building were magnificent. We were there or quite a few hours. I loved every bit of it. After Alhambra we left and headed to Cordoba. We checked into our hotel and then got to go off on our own again for the night. A bunch of us went and got pizza. I got a pizza, mozzarella sticks, and a soda all for 5,95 euros! When we got back to the hotel a few of us girls had a movie night. We watched Baby Mama. After the movie we all went to bed.

La Alhambra

La Mezquita

Thursday: We met with a tour guide in the morning. He took us around town a bit. We saw La Mezquita. It is a gorgeous cathedral. It was really neat because we went in right after a mass had ended and men were in there singing still. The beautiful singing echoed throughout the cathedral. Although we were not able to go and watched it, I saw from a corner a bit of it going on and when they ended I saw the men in white robes walk out. It was a really neat thing to experience. We then got to explore the town a bit. We then left and stopped at the Medina Azahara. It was way cool! It was a bunch of old ruins. My favorite part about it was that at the bottom you could see some of the architecture work going on. There were bricks laid down and put together. After seeing the Medina Azahara we took off and headed for Sevilla. We checked into our hotel and then got to go out for the night. Sevilla is BEAUTIFUL! The lights reflecting off the river were incredibly gorgeous. We went and ate and I got a hamburger and then some gelado for desert. We then headed back to the hotel. Veronica and I went to bed around 2am. At 3am I heard some loud moaning/singing/clapping thing going on outside of the hotel. It was so weird. It finally stopped after about 15 minutes. A few hours later it happened again with a lady! So weird..I think I got about 5 hours of sleep that night.

Sevilla at night!

Medina Azahara

Christopher Columbus' tomb!

Friday: This was probably the best day of my life. We began the day with another tour. We walked a little around Sevilla. We went to the beautiful Plaza de España! We also went to Los Reales Alcazares. It was really pretty. The tiles used in all the buildings here are amazing. The garden here was gorgeous as well. We then went to La Cathedral de Sevilla. This is the biggest gothic cathedral in the world. they even had a sheet in there saying how it is in the guinness book of world records. Inside this cathedral was also Christopher Columbus' tomb! How cool is that?! I have learned about this man my whole life, and seeing that was just amazing to me.  We then went to the top of the tower in the cathedral. It was so cool. We were up where all the bells were and the view from up there looking out into Sevilla was so beautiful. We then got the day to do whatever we wanted. Ali, Marynn, Veronica and I took a horse carriage around Sevilla! It was so much fun! We went through town and through parks. It was so relaxing and cool to see all of the awesome places in Sevilla. After our carriage ride we looked around shops then rested by a fountain. Marynn and I started to feed the birds some peanuts! We wanted to try and get them to land in our hands but then got too scared. It was so fun/funny though. We then ran into some girls from our group there. Ali and Veronica went back to the hotel to rest but Marynn and I went off with these girls. It was me, Marynn, Lindsay, Chloe, Hilary, Jenna, and Chelsey. We walked through a park and played on a fun little zip-line thingy on a playground. We then ran into some other girls in our group who had rented bikes and let us ride them around the park a bit while they played on the zip-line. It was so much fun! After the park we headed to La Plaza de España again. Chloe, Jenna, Marynn, and I rowed boats around the Plaza. It was so much fun! We did it for about 35 minutes then got off. Marynn and I went to eat then and I got some pasta! We met up with our whole group after that. That night we all went to a Flamenco performance. IT WAS AWESOME! The dancers were amazing. I also realized that the singing/moaning/clapping I had heard the other night was the same noises they make for the flamenco! It was such a cool experience. After the performance we went back to the hotel and slept.

Horse carriage ride!

Rowing a boat in La Plaza de España

Saturday: On saturday we started our way back to Alcala. On our way back we stopped in Merida. In Merida we got to see awesome things created by the Romans. We saw a bridge that they made that people still use today! We also saw older bridges that had fallen apart. We then went to a place where they had an amphitheater and coliseum created by the Romans! It was so cool to see that! Veronica and another girl in our group, Janeen, sang at the amphitheater. It was so neat! Everyone in the place got silent. It was so cool to experience that! We then headed back home to Alcala. Vern and I were really excited to see Roberto and Encarna again! They said they missed us too:) I unpacked and slept!

Roman Amphitheater 

Sunday: Today we had stake conference. I really enjoyed it. It was different than what I was used to though. They had it translated into spanish and it was really quiet so at times it was hard to hear or understand at times. It really made me focus and pay attention though.

My week was awesome, my life is great. I couldn't be happier.
:)