Mom and Dad in Spain = )

So I am mad at myself for having to apologize before every post and I really thought I would be better about updating my blog while my parents were here (since we had WIFI in our apartment). However, we just had so many fun things to do everyday and I could not justify spending any of the precious time I had with my parents updating my blog. Therefore, here comes another exhaustive summary of the events from April 1st – April 9^th ……….

Tuesday April 1^st – The arrival: I have never had a day pass so slowly in my entire life! My parents were supposed to arrive in Granada at 1pm but instead arrived at 5:10pm because of changes in their flight schedule. I was worried the entire day that they were playing the worst April Fool’s Day joke on me of my entire life (however, I knew better!) Their plane finally arrived and I was there waiting in the luggage area as they walked off the plane. The reunion was all I could have hoped for. I ran to my parents arms and just hugged them for minutes (complete with tears and all). I had never before felt such joy and excitement! Unfortunately, they arrived without luggage but we checked in with the airline and made sure they had our contact information for when the suitcases arrived. We took the bus from the airport to Granada. It was so hard to believe that my parents were actually with me in Spain! It seemed too good to be true – but it was! We got settled into our apartment – it was very spacious and modern (two words that are quite uncommon to Granada). We met two of my friends (Bill and Patrick) for tapas later that night and we had a good time. It was an early night as Mom and Dad were very tired from a day-and-a-half of traveling.

Wednesday April 2^nd – Mom and Dad slept in – I think jetlag got the best of them that first night. We went to the SuperSol to pick up some food for our apartment. Dad quickly realized that Coca Cola Light is nothing like Diet Coke in the US! Then I took them on their first of many walks around Spain. We went to the Albaycin and Sacramonte (the caves and neighborhood of the gypsies). It was a hike and I was proud of them for not complaining TOO much. We made it up to a lookout point called the “Mirador de San Nicolas” and they were in awe of the views of the entire city and of the Alhambra. They agreed that it was definitely worth the hike.

Wednesday night we had tapas again with my friend Liz. Then we took my parents to a salsa dancing bar so that they could experience a bit of the Spanish nightlife!

Thursday April 3^rd – Alhambra day – Once again, Mom and Dad flashed their mighty super strengths and hiked all the way up a very large hill to get to the Alhambra. I was very proud of them as it is a struggle for even the most young and in-shape of people (and that was not supposed to be a reference that they are old and out-of-shape). We made it just in time for our 11:30am visit. We spent about 3 hours touring the three parts of the Alhambra. I tried to tell them as much as I knew about it but for some parts we hopped on the end of a tour group who had an English-speaking leader (we know how to be resourceful, when needed!) We were tuckered out by the end of our visit and we all were ready for a siesta by the time we reached our apartment.

Thursday night – my parents had the privilege of meeting my host parents (Paco and Pilar). Pilar made tapas and we all sat around the table and had cervezas (beers). It was a wonderful visit. Paco and Pilar kept talking in Spanish just like my parents understood everything they said. Naturally, I had to be the translator and found it to be an entertaining job for the night. I gave my parents a tour of the apartment and they were very impressed with how nicely it was decorated and kept clean. Mom and Dad did the best that they could to speak as much Spanish as they could quickly gather from their high school memory bank. I couldn’t have imagined a better meeting of my two sets of parents!

After tapas with Paco and Pilar, we met up with some of my friends and we took my parents to see the botellon in Spain. It was fun but a little uncomfortable as they were easily the oldest people there. Oh well – they will probably only be in Spain once and my friends and I wanted them to experience all there is to see and do in Granada!

Friday April 4^th – We did the most “touristy” thing we could possibly do….we took a ride on the Granada Tourist Bus! Most of my friends in the program say they wouldn’t be caught dead riding on it but while my parentals were here, it was completely acceptable for me to be a full-blown tourist! It was a lot of fun and we got to see most of the city. We even had a very informative narration (in English too!) We had to return to the apartment mid-afternoon to pack for our weekend get-away to Barcelona. We had a flight out of Granada at 8pm on Ryanair to Girona (a small town about an hour outside of Barcelona). Once in Girona, we had an hour bus ride into Barcelona. We had rented a flat in Barcelona in Barri Gotic for the two nights we were there and we met someone from the rental company to let us in and got all situated. It was off to bed as we had a long day ahead of us.

Saturday April 5^th – Barcelona! We decided to do a weekend trip to break up the time that my parents were here. My Mom has always wanted to visit Barcelona and so that’s where we headed. Saturday was a busy day and we did a lot. We walked down Paseig de Gracia to see both of Gaudi’s houses, went to the Sagrada Familia (though we passed up going inside to conserve time), visited Parc Guell (one of my favorite parts of Barcelona – and there we had a picnic lunch), walked down Las Ramblas and visited a big open-air market where we bought fresh fruit, bread and cheese to snack on that afternoon. We returned to the flat for a short siesta and snack time! Then it was off again to do some more exploring. We went to Barceloneta (known as little Barcelona and is near the water), we all put our fingertips into the Mediterranean Ocean, and then we hit up a couple of bars for some drinks to end the day. I had been to Barcelona before and so I knew where I wanted to take them and how to navigate the city/metro (which was very helpful since we had so little time in Barcelona).

Sunday April 6^th – We visited the Cathedral (which dates back to the 1200’s) and saw more of Barri Gotic. We took a walk to Parc de la Ciutadella and it was a beautiful day for a nice stroll in the park. We also visited the Chocolate Museum. It was a random/spur of the moment decision but it was fun and entertaining. We had lunch on Las Ramblas and did some postcard shopping. Our flight was at 6:40pm and so we had to catch the bus to the Girona airport around 4pm. It was a short visit in Barcelona but very fun. Once back in Granada, we had dinner at a nice little restaurant that I had eaten at my second day in Granada. It was a hit!

Monday April 7^th – We paid a visit to the infamous “bread lady” of Granada. There is a kiosk in a small plaza in Granada (very close to my school – Cegrí) and every morning a woman sells bread and pastries there. She is a hit with all of the people in my program and also with a lot of people in Granada. She always has a line of people waiting. We bought some goodies and ate them near the river in a park. Then we took a bus tour of the University of Granada (really we just stayed on the city bus all the way around campus and I narrated!) We had some tapas with Liz during the afternoon and I had class. That night we had a group outing for tapas with some of my friends and Patrick’s parents were here too so we met up with them. We filled a whole bar with all English – speaking people. I am sure the people working just loved us! It was so much fun. I didn’t want to leave.

Tuesday April 8^th – We had a lazy day because we had done most of what we wanted to do in Granada. We did some more shopping for souvenirs and then we took a walk to a big park in Granada called Parque de Garcia Lorca. Mom had brought a couple of movies from home (at my request) and so we all sat around and watched The Holiday together and it was just perfect. We had dinner at an Italian Restaurant called La Piccola Italia. It was very good and we all had a great time. We had tapas once again (though we were not hungry in the least) with Alan and Mike.

Wednesday April 9^th - The Goodbye – The day we had all been dreading had finally arrived. We all were up early as Mom and Dad’s flight left Granada at 9:55 am. I walked them to the bus stop on Gran Vía and that is where we had our tearful goodbye. We hugged for a long time – no one wanting to let go! It was so hard to see them drive away on the bus.

It was an amazing time and we made some memories that none of us will ever forget. I still can’t believe that I was able to have my parents with me in Spain for nine days. I am so grateful that they were willing to spend the money to come visit and to experience life with me in another country. Love you guys!!!

Now it’s back to normal life around here. We only have two more weeks of class at Cegrí and it seems hard to believe that most of the group (Wisconsin and Illinois students) will be going home at the beginning of May. It will be weird without them here.

Until next time (at the rate I am going, who knows when that will be?!?! Haha)

Em