Granada.

My friends,

I may be in Europe, but I'm enjoying this beautiful Sunday with some homestyle roots. I met a friend who just got to Sevilla for the semester and had coffee with her for a few hours. We went to La Campana, a cafetería (coffee shop) and confitería (pastry shop) established in the late 1800's. Now I'm in a coffee shop, listening to the True Grit soundtrack and Americana music by Frank Fairchild, per recommendation of my cousin Joel. I may be living in Europe, but American pride is alive and well in my heart, folks - don't you worry.

Friday and Saturday, I went with my API program to the beautiful city of Granada. I didn't really know what to expect, except that it was supposed to be cold because it was so close to the Sierra Nevada mountains. I had such a good weekend full of so many fun experiences.

We started our day out with a tour of the Cathedral of Granada. It wasn't nearly as extravagant as some El Escorial or the Catedral de Sevilla, but was beautiful nonetheless. We were greeted to a pleasant surprise after the tour when our program took us out to get chocolate and churros on them! The chocolatería that we went to was probably the coolest one I've been in yet, with a very old-fashioned and classic atmosphere. When I asked the bartender for a glass of tap water, he said "this is the water of the Sierra Nevada Mountains - the best in the world". It was hard to disagree with him, y'all.

After eating a complimentary all-you-can-eat buffet at our 4-star hotel (seriously, who am I?!), the group ventured out for the night to our next adventure - seeing Flamenco in a cave! After a long and rigorous walk, we got to the cave. The room barely fit the 60 of us API students, and often I was nervous that the dancers would actually run into us! There were two different sets of performers, consisting of about 4 dancers, a singer, and a guitarist in each set. The second set also featured a very good cajón player. The dancers would sometimes all dance at once, or one woman would dance while another one would go out and change costumes. When the people wouldn't be dancing, they would always be clapping along to the song with different beats. It truly was an art form.

This was my second time seeing flamenco in Spain, and third time in my life. Each experience has been very different. In Florida, I witnessed a very large production of flamenco. In Sevilla, a very simple and stripped-down 3-person show, and then now this show. Without a doubt, the performance in Granada was my favorite, and possibly one of the best memories I've had so far in Spain (I mean come on, it was in a cave!)

Later that night, I went with around 20 other people to a tea and hookah lounge. It was a very relaxing environment - we all sat on pillows and cushions around table, drank tea, and just talked until around 3 in the morning. I realized at that point how thankful I was for having a solid community of people and for allowing us all to be so comfortable around each other.

Saturday, we went and toured La Alhambra. La Alhambra is basically the most popular and iconic site in all of Granada. So rich in history that I would butcher even trying to explain it all, the combination of this palace's Islamic and Christian influence amongst the Sierra Nevada mountains was truly a site to be seen. So, I took a few pictures!

I'm so glad that I decided to do my study abroad through API. It's been such a blessing so have so many cool friends, and to make new ones every day!

Next weekend I'm headed to the city of Cádiz for the day before reuniting with a good friend, Knox Schroller. #Flare

Brad.

P.S. In case my blog isn't interesting enough, this sign in Granada made me smile.