The next chapter of my semester abroad has been written and what a week it has been. Typical classes throughout the week. Something new, on Wednesday night Chris and I walked down to this local futsal court and were able to play with a mixture between locales and other study abroad students. It was a great time and believe it or not the soccer level was surprisingly fast paced, it will be a nice relaxing change from the strenous practices with the semi-pro team. On Thursday, my monumets class, which is basically just a field trip every day around Seville, found us in this Muslim Palace. The design and attention to detail was just an appetizer of what was coming this weekend in Granada. Nonetheless, this two story mosaic filled palace held pieces of history that are in incredible condition. The focus of this palace is on the inside rather than the outside, I almost walked right past the palace because the outside blends in with the surrounding buildings. Thursday night, Chris and I were able to actually have a full practice with the team and it was so much fun, very fast paced and for a second time this season I had a great practice. After a satisfying practice, it was time to pack for the first of many trips around Spain, this time to Granada.
The drive from Seville to Granada took us about three hours. In order to reach this ski city, you pass by the typical valley towns and farm lands. Shipping companies, run down barns and farm houses, and rows upon rows of olive trees were the extent of what was around us while driving. I realize now why olive oil is the biggest Spanish export because the trees are everywhere. When we arrived at our Hotel Montecarlo, we could already notice the difference in cities. Obviously, the climate but even the people were a little more relaxed, less smoking, and a younger crowd. Friday afternoon, we were able to get a tour of La Alhombra, which is the pictures you see above. It is the largest Muslim palace and I would bet the most beautiful. Words and pictures could not explain the sheer beauty that went into creating this palace. Every wall, floor, door, window, and even bushes were created with such a purpose of excellence, that it impresses anyone who steps inside the palace wall. The positioning of this palace was on top of a hill overlooking the city of Granada. It was suppose to rain that day but as you can tell someone wanted me to take some more amazing pictures in order to make my frirends and family jealous. Being in the presence of that view, art, history, and aura was surreal. I kept pinching myself thinking I was going to wake up from a dream. Friday night was spent discovering the night life of Granada. Kababs, desserts, and bars filled every corner and this ski city is also very unique because everytime you order a drink, a free tapa (appetizer) comes with it. The tapa is chosen by the chef but you can't go wrong. Thinking that this trip could not get any better, Saturday morning six of us drove up to the Sierra Nevada to shred the gnar (go snowboarding).
No one brought gear to snowboard or ski in but luckily for only 40 euros, we were able to rent a board, boots, pants, jacket, gloves, helmet, and goggles. I thought it was amazing we could rent all this stuff for so cheap and when we got out to the mountain I realized why. My pants and jacket from the 90's soaked up water rather than repelling it. My goggles were either covered on the outside by ice or fogged up on the inside making it impossible to see out of, it was already hard enough to see five feet infront of you. Luckily, the bindings of my board made it pretty much all day without falling apart but the last run was spent with only one strap keeping my foot attached to the board. Hail and then snow whipped around the air creating the visibility shown above. Although the gear and the weather was rough, this could not stop my excitment to snowboard in Spain. We rode for about six hours straight not knowing where exactly we were on the mountain, at some points it was confusing which way was actually down. It snowed the day before so there were pockets of untouched snow and this just added to the already great base. The mountain didn't have a ton of runs compared to some resorts out west in the States, but the runs they did have were steep and long. This made lift lines short and rides long. When 4:00pm rolled around I finished my shred session with an amazing flawless run all the way to the bottom, which took about 25 minutes without breaks. I topped off the day by refueling my American side with a huge bacon cheeseburger. As we were leaving the resort, the sun decided to break out from the clouds and reveal the mountatin that we were actually snowboarding on.
I was upset at first, but then realized, "seeing" is only one part of your senses in which you experience things. This picture just added to the perfect day, sometimes it is easy to just go along with your day to day and not stop realize the beauty that is around you. Snowboarding in the clouds today, not being able to see anything could have been looked at as a waste of a snowboard day, but making the most of it and then realizing the mountain I was able to snowboard on was yet another experience that I am going to remember for the rest of my life. The drive back was spent taking some pictures of the mountains and in a trance of what we were able to just accomplish. I occasionally would smile randomly just recalling where I am, what I'm doing, and what the rest of the trip is going to bring.
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