LONDON!!!

Well I am back safe and sound from London. The plane ride back was ok except that I could not really sleep because I kept waking myself up - once I heard myself snore and the next time I could tell my mouth was hanging open. To make matters worse, one of the times that I woke up, the stewards (yes, they were all males) were standing right by our row handing out drinks. I know they saw me drooling on myself = )
Anywho, I had an amazing time in London. It seems a lot like the US only with an accent and royalty. I got in very late on Wednesday night (essentially Thursday morning). My friend Patrick(who has been studying with me in Granada) was in London on Thursday as well. We toured together and saw many things. We saw Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Tower, Tower Bridge and London Bridge (and no, it was not falling down like the popular song goes - though it is the 7th official London Bridge and so lots of others have indeed fallen down before this one). Patrick and I had a very busy day but the best part had to have been going to see Wicked that night at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Even though I have seen it before, it was still absolutely marvelous. It was off to bed after the show as Patrick had to be up very early to continue on with his travels in Munich, Germany.
I spent the day touring by myself on Friday (first time in my life I have ever done that). I went to the Globe Theater and got a picture and saw the River Thames. I went on a 3-hour walking tour through the old-city part of London. It was long but very worthwhile and informational. We saw the business district, the Bank of England, St. Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, and much more. It rained that afternoon and so I did some shopping. That night, I went to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. It was wonderful - it's amazing how the costimes are designed so that the people look like animals but you can still see their faces and you don't lose all aspects of the human quality. The music was amazing and I am so glad I got to see it. Friday night, I met up with a friends of my friend Liz (who studied with me in Granada as well) who is studying/working in London right now. There was a private going-away party in the upper part of a pub for one of his friends and so I felt like a VIP tourist or something for going to a private party in London though I had only spent two days there. It was fun to meet Will (Liz's friend) and some other American's studying there.
Saturday, I got up and checked out of the hostel and went to the British Museum. It was cool but I didn't stay for long as my attention span just wasn't prepared for a museum. I did a bit more wandering/souvenir shopping, ate some lunch, then went to catch my bus to get to the airport.
Now, it's back to Granada until Tuesday night and then it's off to the U.S. for me........

Night in the Pueblo = )

So I have to fill everyone in on my night in the pueblo of Iznalloz (small town where Paco was born and where they still have a house) with Paco and Pilar. I have been to the pueblo with them twice before and this time we went to have coffee with the two other couples that they always go on vacation with. Firstly, as we were headed up the winding road to the mountain where the one couple lives, Paco ran over a snake that was slithering across the road. After it happened, I peered over my shoulder out the back windshield to see it squirming and suffering. We all laughed and continued on. When we got to the house, which was mid-mountain and placed all alone, I was taken away by the amazing views of the city below and of the other mountains. I can understand now why people have houses in the pueblo and in Granada in the city. I met all of the couples and they were very nice. We had coffee and cookies together and then the owner of the house asked if I wanted to see the goats. So he gave me plastic booties to put over my shoes and off we went to see the goats. He is an old man and has a think Andalucian accent, dropping pretty much every "s" that he possibly can and so I understood about half of what he said. Nevertheless, we went to the barn and there must have been over a hundred goats walking around. It didn't smell as horrible as I thought it would. I was even able to hold a baby goat that was born yesterday!! It was soooo cute. Then we continued on to see the chickens, a hen that was sitting on its eggs, sheep, a peacock, and all of the equipment they use for collecting milk from the goats. He was quite proud to show me all of these things and I was happy to be part of the tour. He also had a room full of ham legs that were curing (called serrano ham and is considered a delicacy in Spain). There were so many things to see on their piece of property. After my tour, we all sat around outside and talked. Meanwhile, the sun was setting over the mountains and the view was spectacular. I can't put into words how beautiful the night was. We finally left around 9:45pm and headed back to Granada. I hate to say it but on the windy mountain roads back to the pueblo and eventually to the highway, we encountered the poor snake we had trampled with the car earlier on in the night and indeed, he was dead. As much as I don't like snakes, I also don't like seeing them dead in the middle of the road either.
It was a very fun night - the two other couples besides Paco and Pilar are so nice and made me feel right at home (even though I was the only kid there). I hope I can come back to the pueblo at least one more time before I leave Granada in 9 days!! ahhh it hardly seems possible.
Until next time,
Emily

PRAGUE!!!

I am writing this blog entry on my flight from Paris CDG to Malaga (obviously I posted it when I got home). There must be 5 or 6 babies on the flight and so there is a constant chorus of screams and cries – not exactly the most relaxing flight of my life but that’s why I have an i-pod. My journeys to Prague and back have both been very long travel days but very worth-while. I decided to do a weekend in Prague to visit my cousin Sarah (she currently teaches English in Prague). We had an awesome time together. I got in on Friday night and we went to her flat and decided to make dinner for ourselves. We made delicious chicken fajitas (it was a welcome relief to have some Mexican food!!!) Saturday we spent the entire day being very touristy and seeing as many things as we could. We saw the Charles Bridge, the astronomical clock (and we saw it strike noon), the Prague castle and cathedral (complete with breathtaking stained glass windows), the Jewish quarter of the city, and many other little treasures. It was a sunny and beautiful day for touring. We spent about 8 hours walking around. We had a late lunch (which I am used to in Spain) at Bohemia Bagel. Yes, that’s right – I had my first bagel since December of ’07 and it was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. Another plus – bottomless refills on fountain pop! I also have not had a refill on a drink since before coming to Spain. My how I can delight in the small things in life = ) Saturday night, we went out for a night on the town. We went to an 80’s/90’s themed club and it was soooo much fun! We danced the night away. Sunday, we spent some quality cousin-bonding time together. We had a picnic in the local park near Sarah’s flat. Unfortunately, immediately after finishing our lunch, it started raining and we were forced indoors (where it quickly turned into the perfect afternoon for a nap!) W went to dinner near Sarah’s flat at an Italian place that was very good but very filling. Afterward, we met one of Sarah’s friends Laura for a movie. We saw Penelope (I had not heard of it but it was very cute). We got up very early this morning for Sarah to get ready and off to work and so I could get to the airport to head out. It was the perfect weekend get-away! Only 1 ½ weeks in Granada, then to London for 4 days, Granada for 4 more and then I will be headed for the United States of America!

Until next time,

Em

Getting to Prague

(FYI – this blog entry was written during the excruciating amount of time that I spent in the airport in Malaga)

Well, it sure has been an interesting time getting to Prague. I decided to fly out of Malaga, Spain (1 ½ hours from Granada) instead of the Granada airport (since it is so small and lacks flight options). So, here’s where it gets a little complicated……My flight out of Malaga was scheduled for 10am on Friday morning. However, the earliest bus from Granada to Malaga leaves at 7am and arrives at the Malaga bus station at 8:45am – which did not leave me enough time to get to the airport and check-in. Instead, I took the latest bus on Thursday night and arrived in Malaga at 11pm. Luckily, I caught the last bus to the airport and arrived around 12am. Needless to say, I arrived in plenty of time for my flight (10 hrs is early enough, right?) I had good intentions of sleeping for at least part of the night in the airport, gripping very tightly to my things, of course (all because I was too cheap to pay for a hostel and really just wanted to prove to myself that I am a tough girl and can sleep in an airport if I need to). Much to my dismay, I passed the entire night wide awake – my mind not letting me drift off to sleep. I walked around a lot – half attempting to exhaust myself and half attempting to find a comfortable place to catch a few zzz’s. I got my hopes up for a while at about 5:30 am. There was an earlier flight leaving for Paris (my 6 hour lay-over site). So I decided to check into the possibility of changing my flight from 10am to 7am (more time to leave the airport in Paris and explore). After checking in at the counter, I was told I had to go to the AirFrance ticket office to make any changes in my ticket. Well, I went there only to find out the office didn’t open until 9am. Unfortunately, I had no such luck changing my flight and was left to wait for about 3 ½ hours longer in the airport. My only saving grace for the entire night/morning was that I met a very nice family from Georgia and sort of made friends with them for the remainder of my wait in the Malaga airport. Finally, around 10am, I was off and en route to Prague. The rest of my travel day was long but well worth it when I finally made it to Paris and saw cousin Sarah waiting in the airport for my arrival.