Granada to Barcelona

Our theme of incredible experiences doesn’t seem to end. We spent Monday and most of Tuesday in Granada which was full of experiences we almost could not believe. Our general consensus is that Granada was our best trip yet. Located in the south of Spain, Muslim culture still has a prominent influence on the city. We visited the Royal Chapel which is the burial place of the Catholic monarchs Isabelle and Ferdinand which was only built after the Christians regained control of Spain in 1492. We spent a solid hour and a half in a Moorish bath house which was a great way to recover from the hectic week and prepare us for the days and nights to follow. After the bath house we went to a small bar and watched the US play Italy in Confederation Cup soccer in south africa. The US blew a 1-0 lead to lose 3-1 to the defending world champions.

Later that night, Albert and some of the other boys from the trip experienced the distinct muslim culture by spending some good time in a rather authentic and "decked out" hookah bar.
A dark den with lavish couches and ritual music, we ordered different teas to go with our hookah and it seemed to be right up Albert's alley.

The final and perfect cap to the trip was a long tour of the Alhambra. Everybody in the class says that single tour was hands down the best class we have had yet. We simply cannot put into words so look it up and you’ll get a taste of what we walked through. The gardens or “carmens” throughout the entire city were spectacular but the architecture of the Alhambra combined with its gardens were almost too much to handle.

Wednesday we took our second and final trip to the Prado. We studied the famous Spanish artist Goya from the Baroque era which is considered the golden age of Spanish art. We’re all pretty much fans, but it is difficult to beat Velazquez.

Today we visited the Reina Sofia Museum for the first time. Our teacher spent time explaining the combination of classic and modern architecture the two buildings that make up the museum. We also spent a little time as cubist artists ourselves before entering the museum. The topic of the day was the great Picasso who according to our teacher is undoubtedly the most influential and important artist of the 20^th century. We went chronologically through his works which was a difficult task because the museum was recently reorganized so that paintings are not grouped by artist but by topic. Guernica was the highlight of the trip and spectacular to stand in front of. One of Picasso's most famous works, it is the gem of the Sophia's collection and definitely a beauty to witness.

*Sorry its been a while since postings, but lackluster internet combined with intense studying made it difficult to post often. I will post pictures as soon as I can because they take quite a long time to load. Thanks for the patience

We hustled back to the residence to grab our luggage for this weekend and barely made a train to Barcelona where we have only experienced more hassle so far. We met the nicest cab driver in the world, who played english techno music, talked soccer, and played more techno music......but then he turned out to be a crook after he dropped us and two classmates off twenty minutes away from our hotel after a 30 euro ride. After finally arriving at the hotel, our feelings of relief were almost immediately destroyed after we were informed that we had to book another room for the weekend because of the number of people in our group.

The good news is that we have made it, and there is no doubt we will have an incredible time this weekend although it might be slightly more expensive than we expected or were informed. Tomorrow we plan on getting up at a reasonable hour to make the most of our short time here. Hopefully we will mix in time at the beach with visits to museums such as the Picasso museum.