Life update!

The calm has come. I have just finished 3 finals and 2 oral presentations and only have 1 final remaining. Life seems to be zooming by with less than 2 months left here in this lovely place I call home. Here is a quick update of my last couple months. After spending a weekend in Paris with Adrienne, Giorgio came to visit Granada one more time. Then, I took off to Italy to spend my spring break with Giorgio and his family and friends. After my wonderful Italian vacation I came back to studying for my finals and then went to Bologna AGAIN with Adrienne to meet Katie and Kathryn for the weekend. After that I had three of my best friends here in my piso for about two weeks. Katie and Kathryn came over from their study abroad countries (Italy and Morocco) and Haley came all the way from California! Despite the stress that comes with spanish finals and finishing year long classes, I had an amazing time with my girls and felt like I was already back in Cali having them here. I have one more final at the end of June and am preparing for my sister's visit next Tuesday! I have not seen my sister (or anyone in my family) for almost 10 months now and cannot wait to show Caitlyn who I have become and what my life has been for the past school year. Disclaimer: This craziness is the reason I have not updated this in a while hahah

A little more detail of my life and travels....

My Spring Break:

Giorgio and I in Salsomaggiore, Italia

I would have never guessed that I would have met such a warm-hearted Italian man to spend my vacation with, but life is full of the unexpected. I flew into Bologna where he studies and we took a train the following day to his beautiful little town of Salsomaggiore. It was beyond incredible to smell fresh air without the grey clouds of exhaust expelled by the tiny Alhambra shuttles that are found in Granada. After meeting his sweet parents (mom doesn't speak a word of English, but dad speaks a little) and sister they took us out to dinner where I ate way too much as the story goes in Italy.

The daily grind in Italy

Gio's Harley, "Chelsea"

Gio took me on a bike ride tour around his town, where we ate gelato and laughed the entire time. There is nothing I enjoy more than being with a person who doesn't care what others think about them and isn't afraid to completely be themselves. We went to a beautiful park and river and enjoyed being outside for the majority of my time in Salso, except for mealtime of course. Lunch and dinner were amazing everyday with fabulous fish, homemade bread, wine, pasta, etc. Everyday my head would tell me I was full and to not except the fabulous food that was put before me, but my heart told me to eat...so I did. We went for a motorcycle ride and he even let me drive it a few meters :) His mom and I made homemade pasta together as we struggled to communicate, Gio being the translator. My Italian is improving and now I can make tiny, basic phrases, usually getting the verb tense wrong, but I know all the important words: grazie mile (thanks a ton), il cibo é buono (the food is good), ciao, etc.

Learning how to make pasta from Gio's mama

After covering a table with pasta shells handcrafted by mama italiana and I, Gio's dad took us to Parma to show me around the city. It amazes me how much history everyone knows over in these parts! They know the history behind their town, the surrounding towns, monuments, etc. We had a fabulous tour, ate a gelato and went to meet Gio's Italian grandma. She was so adorable and I said a few words to her as she tried to put a scarf around my neck because it was too cold outside. I tried to explain that I was warm and that the scarf was unnecessary hahah These situations were quite frequent in Italy and since I can barely speak the language I usually ended up not fighting it. "Sure, I'll have more pasta even though I just had to unbutton my jeans."

The Sassi in Matera, Italia

I said farewell to Giorgio's fabulous family and we took a train back to Bologna in order to take a train to the south of Italy the next day. I got to visit with some of Gio's friends I had met before and we had a wonderful dinner at his sister's house in Bologna. We took a train the next morning down south to the town of Matera where Gio was born and spent his younger years growing up. We toured the city and he shared with me his childhood memories and the places he grew up in. The Sassi in the city of Matera is breathtaking. It is where they filmed the Passion of the Christ. It all used to be under the sea so there are shells in all of the walls in the Sassi. People used to live in caves in the hills, but now it has become more of a tourist attraction and there are tiny bars and restaurants tucked into the hills. We had an amazing time laughing, exploring, and eating like we were king and queen.

Bari, Italia

We went to the sea for a day where I proceeded to fall asleep for 3 hours and burn the entire backside of my legs, southern italian style. We explored more of the Sassi, ate southern Italian pastries and dishes, stumbled upon an amazing drama of the Easter story on Good Friday in the hills of Matera where the Passion was filmed and spent a day in Bari, Italy where Gio's cousin was our fabulous tour guide. I flew home on Easter Sunday to meet my two Cali girls and have a family Easter dinner together :).

Real life....sort of:

All my girls together in Bologna, Italia

After settling back down in Granada, enjoying some Spanish festivities for some random spanish holidays, I hit the books hard until the following weekend when I went to Bologna yet again, but this time with Adrienne and met Katie and Kathryn there. It was a short, yet wonderful weekend meeting all of my best friends in Italy. Since then I have stayed in Granada...studying, but have had many visitors! Katie and Kathryn came to Granada and stayed with me, later Haley came from California. At one point I had all 3 of my best friends from home in my little spanish piso. It was so surreal and wonderful despite having to study like a maniac. I made it through finals hell and am now awaiting the arrival of my sister.

I don't think I will ever do school in another language ever again...Dad, I know you told me so. BUT, hard work pays off and this experience of spanish school has taught me so much about myself. I am feeling so strange and having random days of tears because I miss my home and family so much and then having random tears because I cannot imagine leaving the home I have built here. It's a strange feeling putting a year's worth of work into making my piso, my room, school, Granada, a spanish lifestyle seem normal and like real life and then leaving all of it just because "it's time to go." I feel for all of the effort that has been put into my life here I want to stay to enjoy it longer. At the same time I miss my family an insane amount and know that I have amazing things waiting for me in California. I still have a little time left and I plan on enjoying every last second I have in this beautiful city with these beautiful people.

Now for some pictures:

PARIS

Enjoying the art at the Pompidou

Mr. Eiffel

Notre Dame

The weather was perfect in Paris :)

Montmartre

BOLOGNA

The streets of Bologna

Squirt gun fight in the park

Bio cafe breakfast

Together again :)

Poi in the park without the flames 

Gelato with Adi girl

THE GIRLS IN GRANADA

Katie, Kathryn and I together again in my city

Tapas: Sangria and Tortilla Española

Hiking in Sacromonte

Daisy chains

Sun babies

Tapas in my neighborhood

My beautiful girl I haven't seen in 10 months

My street

Albayzín

Puerta Elvira

Family dinner

Hiking in Sacromonte in the rain

Flamenco Kristen

Pony and Bun Bun

Besties

Jumping at the Alhambra

Picnic at the Alhambra

Saying goodbye to my girls

Love to you all!