Turning 21 in España

It's been an incredibly busy weekend here in Granada and that is all thanks to my brilliant parents and friends.

Although the actual day of birthday was quite boring as I didn't do much, the evening made up for it. I went babysitting in the afternoon and we made a cake and they sang happy birthday to me which was lovely.

After rushing back to mine I quickly got dressed up as I had been told to be ready by 8:30pm by the girls. They turned up at my door with a cake lit with candles singing happy birthday. I was so surprised and it set the night off well. We went off for dinner and some cocktails in town before heading back to mine to drink some more. After that I have to say I remember very little until I woke up at 2pm the next day. I know I had a great night though, and the photos are proof! We had such a fun night in Mae West. The next day we went to the arabic baths for a massage and a bit of relaxation which was amazing.

I knew they had (ANOTHER) surprise planned for the weekend and it was brilliant. We took a bus to Guadix, a town about an hour outside of Granada. Guadix is famous (kind of) for it's caves. I don't mean caves that you go caving in, but caves in which people live. Once we arrived we went and had dinner in a nice little restaurant, nice but slightly creepy. I'm not sure why it was scary but it had an eerie feel to it. Afterwards, we got a taxi up to our cave (!). It was really cool, there were 3 bedrooms, a lounge, kitchen and bathroom. The next day we went to a cave museum which was basically a family's home. They showed us round and explained things to us, then we had a roam around the other caves which were really interesting. It's incredible to believe that people still live in them. We got a taxi back in to the town centre and had an amazing well priced but delicious lunch. The best places in Spain always tend to look bog standard from the outside. We knew we were in a good place because of all the old people, they know where the good food is at. We had a really nice relaxing lunch and ate so much, some of the old people noticed we were English (well we're clearly not Spanish) and started talking to us and showing a real interest in what we were doing there/in Spain generally.

our home for the night

All in all an amazing weekend with my brilliant friends. I can't say thank you enough to them or to my Mum and Dad for making it all possible. Also, thanks to all my friends/family for my lovely cards and presents. GRACIAS.

I'm back at uni and I forgot how much I hate it here. Luckily I'm all enrolled to my classes so I don't have to faff around with that, but unfortunately my twatty portuguese is no longer our teacher, instead it is his wife! She's seems like even more of a twat than him. Happy days.

Guiri on tour

There are two things I will be talking about in this blog la romería de San Cecilio and my trip to Oviedo.

La romería de San Cecilio is celebrated the every year in honour of the patron saint of Granada, San Cecilio. It's a pilgrimage / street party in the sacromonte (gypsy part of Granada). We were mainly attracted by the free food being offered. We got given a piece of bread called salaíllas it was ok but too salty for me, we also got some habas (broad beans) and a piece of bacalao desmigado, this looked like a dried stick of cod. Although I've broadened my taste buds over the past year, I couldn't bring myself to try this cos it looked gross. When we got to the top and got our free food we went and watched some bailes tradicionales which were incredible. There was a dancer who looked the spitting image of me it was just weird. We also had a walk around and took in the incredible view of the city and the alhambra. It was the perfect Sunday.

I found my twin

A few days later, my exams were over and I was off on my travels to Oviedo. It took me 11.5 hours on the bus which wasn't ideal but there aren't any flights in the winter. Although most of the journey was quite boring the last hour was incredible as we went through the mountains. It was just like the Sierra Nevada here but more impressive in my opinion, with huge snowy mountains and iced over lakes it was incredible, I didn't feel like I was in Spain. This year makes me realise how stereotypical we are of countries, the standard Englishman thinks of sun and sea when Spain is mentioned but it is not like that at all. It has got a lot more to offer.

I could write in detail about every minute of my time there but I shan't. Here are my highlights

• Food: Centollo, paella, bígoros y merluza. (crab, paella, sea snails and hake).
• Museo Arqueológico.
• Noticing how much my Spanish has improved by now being able to hold decent conversations about things that don't involve 'how are you and do you want breakfast?'. 
• Going to Candás, the place I first went to in Spain with my family to meet them all.
• The countless glasses of wine shared with everyone along with good conversation.
• Being in a different country but still feeling at home with my familia española. 

Candás

sea snails

me and paula

me and paula

Now I'm back in Granada where they speak funny and I have very little to do. My classes don't start for another week so I am going to chill and look forward to my birthday on Friday. I'm really excited and so grateful to my family and friends who have made the effort to send stuff to me from England. You learn who your true friends are when you spend this amount of time living in a different country.