A Time of Firsts

Hola All!

Look how good I am updating my blog so early (imagine me beaming with self contentment)!

Anywho, a lot has happened since I last updated...and you´ll NEVER believe what I did!!!! I went to a *drumroll please*...I went to a discoteca AND a bar, a SHOTS bar...and I absolutely did not like it at all :( ,BUT it was an experience and I´m glad that I did it :D :D :D.

And now the story of what happened...

My roommate´s friend was having his 21st birthday on Thursday night (and we alllllllll know what ¨21st birthday party¨implies), and she wanted me to go with her so she wouldn´t have to walk back home alone...and me having no ability to mouth the phrase, ¨No,¨ said, ¨SURE BETHANY! I´d loooooooooooove to go!¨ while in my head I was thinking, ¨Holy moly! What the HELL do I think I´m doing saying yes to a night out on the town!¨

So around rolls Thursday and I´m out the door with Bethany, dressed to impress. We get to the shots bar and I realized very quickly that me being in a room where the sole purpose of the people around me was to drink as much as they could, made for me becoming a wallflower very very quickly. The place was packed with people from our program and because it was so small, everyone was gathered in the middle of the room around the bar. Now, me standing amisdt everyone to chatter the night away was a good idea for the first half of the night, but I slowly started being shoved out of the cluster by those making their way to the bar (usually not fully possessing the ability to walk as normal unintoxicated people do). At that point I decided it was my cue to make myself over to wall and have a nice conversation with 2 or 3 of the other girls that were not drinking.

After the shots bar we were going to go to Mae West, the most popular discoteca in Granada. Now, everyone that knows me knows how much I LOVE to dance, so I thought, ¨HEY! I´ve never been to a club before but I love to dance so I´m going to have a BLAST!¨ Oh dear me, sometimes I am quite the optimistic soul :(. Now don´t get me wrong, I did dance, and I did like it...what I didn´t like was the club environment...loud music, crazy lights, people rubbing against one another (when they don´t even know each other), the smell of alcohol, the inability to hear or say anything to anyone else, cigarette smoke... all equaled to a night that I probably will not be repeating. That night when I finally got back home, I REEKED of cigarette smoke...the hideous smell was in my hair, in my clothes...YUCK!

Having said all of this, I am SUPER glad that I tried it. I´m going to stick to dancing in my room in front of my mirror/in the grass outside of Old Maine.

This is just another experience that is helping me realize what type of person I am...what are the things that I really love to do and what are the things that I can pass on. Por ejemplo, first Friday out in Granada: a night of tapas, shwarma, and tea = chill and totally up there on my list of things I LOVE to do. Last Thursday: drunk people, loco lights, loud music, and cigarette smoke = ¨Um...I´ll have to pass on that¨.

On Saturday, I left with ISA to Cordoba. I absolutely LOVED it. The candy cane mosque that I was so excited to see was everything times a million that I had hoped that it would be. In all of the trips that I´ve taken and all of the absolutely beautiful things that I have seen since arriving in Europe, no doubt the mezquita de Cordoba was the most magnificent thing I have yet to see.

Standing in the 3rd largest mosque in the world and looking around me, I felt so proud of the Muslim heritage I come from. As the guide talked about the amazing additions to science that the Muslim civilization made, the example of tolerance that was set by the Islamic reign in Spain, and the beauty of Islamic architecture, a feeling of happiness swelled up inside me. That is why I came here to study...it was here in Andalucia that I have been able to see what people of my faith were capable of doing...to see what Islam REALLY teaches it followers.

At the same time, tears literally came into my eyes as I walked around a glorious mezquita that has now been converted into a cathedral. I was standing inside the definition of what Islam has become today. Today it has no respect in the eyes of the Western world. Where once it used to be full of tolerance and beauty, it is now full of religious warfare and division. To see the glory it once held in the world and in contrast to the constant battle to redeem itself that it must now endure can only be defined by one word: a tragedy. Our people were once so kind, they were true Muslims. Now, we are the ones raging out against those of different religions and against those of our OWN religion.

After experiencing the mosque, we were free to do whatever we wished for the evening. I spent the evening doing what I have realized I love to do the most: just chilling with my homies (hehehe, Spain has converted me into a gangsta :P). We went out for dinner, got some coffee in a Jazz cafe where we took in the amazing vibe around us, and went to a free belly dancing show. The evening was ended with sitting along the river and talking to our directors and friends. In short, it was wonderful :).

The BEST thing was that we got an extra hour of sleep due to daylight savings time. We had plenty to time to sleep, eat breakfast, and be out the door again for a visit to Alcazar, the castle where Columbus proposed his plan of sailing to ¨India¨ to Ferdenand and Isabelle.

The weather was exquisite and it was great fun to sit in the gardens and talk about being princesses (watch out Prince William, you will be falling in love with me and marrying me very shortly :-P). We finally made our way back to Granada.

It was a wonderful weekend to say the least.

I still miss everyone back home tons, but day by day Granada is becoming my home. It will be a place that I will be sad to leave, but I am going to be PUMPED to set foot in XNA airport and give a major running hug to my parents. I can see this being a chapter of my life that I´ll be glad to have lived, but I already cannot wait for the day when I get back home to the amazing dinner that will await me :).

I totally forgot to post about my trip to Barcelona with the last post! Don´t worry kiddos, I will be doing that soon, but I think for today this is plenty.

With much love,
A content me