Sevilla & Granada, You Have My Heart

Hey there! So this past weekend I spent it in the beautiful Andalusian cities of Sevilla and Granada. In case you missed it, I got really sick last week and was ordered to stay inside for four days. Having my grand Spanish adventure come to a halt was hard on me because there's so much to do in so little time! During that long weekend of doing nothing but watching Gilmore Girls and being constantly monitored by my host mom, I missed the opportunity to go to Sevilla with my friends (cue the violin). The following week, my energies were up again and I was ready to start planning my trip to BOTH Sevilla and Granada, but first, who was I going to go with? Everyone I asked was either going to take it easy here in Madrid or going off to another country. I was honestly ready to go alone. However, after Spanish class I was talking to my friend Kaylee and between the time we were upstairs to the time we were downstairs I had found myself a travel buddy!

Sevilla

Going to Sevilla I experienced my first train ride! Getting to the station was stressful, and by that I mean running passed people to make it to the platform right on time (yikes!). As I sat sweaty and out of breathe the train began to move. During that time, I wrote some postcards to my grandparents and enjoyed the amazing view!
After a very confusing bus ride to our hostel, we finally made it. We shared a room with a Canadian named Honey, an Italian named Sofia and two other girls. As soon as we were settled in, Kaylee and I decided to tour Sevilla. Our aimless walking led us to the beautiful Plaza de España. We toured what was open to the public and then hopped on a small boat and rowed the river around the plaza! We had such a fun time struggling to row and watching others do the same! After finally making it to land, we both looked at each other and said, "drinks?"

When you can check off 'riding around a Spanish city on a bike' off your to-do list

It was our first full day in Sevilla and we fully intended on taking advantage of every second of it. BUT FIRST, bus tickets to our next destination (Granada) had not been finalized yet! So we rented out bikes for the day (TEN EUROS, how great is that?!) and began our Sevillan Adventure! We rode by the river, monuments and parks. The whole thing was such a cool experience! If you can you should definitely tour a city via bike, it gives you a whole new perspective AND a good workout! Win-win, right?

Real Alcázar

You see that castle-looking thing on your right? Yea, that's a castle. It was originally developed by Moorish Muslim kings a little before the Middle Ages, how crazy right? This was definitely the highlight of Sevilla (besides biking). We came in contact with SO much history, beauty and art, it was incredible! We spent hours exploring the beautiful gardens with roaming peacocks, the different royal chambers and the bath room (pictured to the right)!

Nightlife/ forgetting my phone at the hostel

After walking, biking and baking in the hot sun, going out at night was almost forced. We wanted to experience Sevilla's nightlife but ended up yawning our way through our cocktails! We met these two guys but before you get too excited, it was THE weirdest conversation ever. There's no need for details but awkward laughs were definitely a thing during that conversation. The next morning we got all of our things together and left to make it to our bus for Granada. As we approached the station, I reached into my purse for my phone, but (gasp!) it wasn't there! Our bus was scheduled to leave in 20 minutes and we our stress levels heightened from zero to 100 in a matter of seconds! We asked the cab driver to go back to our hostel and I jumped off and ran in. The dang thing was comfortably sitting on the bed I slept in, wait a go Amanda! I grabbed my phone, hollered bye to Honey and Sofia and ran as fast as I could back to the cab! If you know me, you know that I don't enjoy running; I enjoy leisurely strolls, hikes and bike rides, but running? Naw, I'll pass. To make a long story short, we made it right on time (yet again) to our bus! A big shout out to the cab driver!

Granada

The trip from Sevilla to Granada was incredibly beautiful. Picture fields of yellow sunflowers as far as the eye can see! Instead of catching up on some much needed Z's, I forced my eyelids to stay open and take in this one of a kind sight!
Arriving at our hostel we expected a similar setup as the last one, however, we were SO wrong. As the woman walked us to our room she led us to a spiral staircase, while we were making the trek up with heavy bags in hand, she told us that not only were we going to have the entire floor to ourselves, but we had a terrace too! The place was too great to handle! Kaylee and I might have jumped up and down for a moment. After settling in we decided to explore the small city. We ate and then walked up to an area of Granada that overlooks the city, Alhambra (a palace) and mountains! According to every Granadian, Bill Clinton loves that place. While taking in the sight, we noticed there was a restaurant just below us overlooking the great view as well. We walked over to it, got a table and ordered a Piña Colada and Mojito. I had to pinch myself because at that moment, especially, I was in so much disbelief at how God surprised me with such a perfectly unexpected trip! That cliche, everything happens for a reason definitely rang true that weekend.

Chicas españolas para la noche

Well in case you haven't caught on, we like to take advantage of everything, including the nightlife. Nightlife here in Spain is different than in the States, people actually really dance. People have rhythm and know how to lead, there's zero awkwardness! So we went out and somehow found ourselves in a small hole-in-the-wall bar. The drinks were cheap so we decided to drink one and then hop around to another, however, a guy walked up to me wanting to dance and he then proceeded to teach me how to dance like a Spaniard! Kaylee and I took turns dancing with him and before we knew it we were certified Españolas! At the next bar we went to, we met a group of Spaniards. They all seemed to know English but we insisted on speaking Spanish the entire time. We talked for a bit and soon became instant amigos! The group made our way to a discotheque and what seemed like two hours there in reality somehow translated to being seven in the morning!

Final day

You must be thinking, "seven in the morning?! She's insane!" Well, yeah I am. After parting ways with our new friends, life hit and reminded me I'm not a Cullen (Twilight reference, vampire's don't need to sleep). We planned on walking to the Alhambra to wait in line to buy tickets but there was just no way that was going to happen for me. I like sleep. I need sleep. I want sleep. We ended up going back to our hostel and waking up at two in the afternoon (brunch time, right?). We spent the rest of the day exploring and ended it in the beautiful Alhambra! Kaylee and I stumbled upon a small restaurant and decided to have dinner overlooking a lit up part of the grand palace. That night felt like an absolute dream to me: We had a glass of red wine, classical live music was softly playing in the background and we had a view! To say I'm thankful would not be sufficient enough.

The relaxing dinner topped off our epic weekend! We took an overnight bus back to Madrid and made it just in time for our nine a.m. Spanish class. I was like one of those zombies straight off of The Walking Dead but it didn't matter because it was totally worth it!  

Back to the States 

Writing and reflecting on my time here and realizing I only have THREE more days in this beautiful country is crazy to me! I am currently in denial. Although I love it so much here I'm also ready to go home and see my amazing family! I'll arrive back in Austin on Saturday (woo!)! See you all soon! xo