Granada y Sevilla!

hola!
I just returned from my first weekend trip and I would say was a HUGE success! It was my first time planning my own trip, traveling with just friends, and staying in a hostel! My friends Katy, Whitney, and myself left for Granada Thursday afternoon. After almost missing our bus we were so excited to find that it was not full so we were able to take our own seats and nap. We had not planned on staying in a hostel our first night, because we were getting in late and didn't want to have to pay for just 5 hours of rest. Our plan was the sleep in the bus station, but when we arrived we found that was not the best idea. So we wondered Granada to try to find somewhere that was open and had room. Luckily by 2 a.m. we found a hostel. Our room was nice with 3 beds and reminded me of a hotel. The next morning we went to Alhambra, which is a palace in Granada. I have already been here summer 200, but it was amazing! I didn't get too many pictures because I didn't charge my camera, plus already have many pictures of it from before. Our hostel for the night was located in the Muslim area of town, which is beautiful because all the building are white. We had an amazing late lunch where we ate Schaurma which was amazing. It was a mix between a burrito and a pita, but had this yogurt sauce and fillafal(sp?). Plus the waiter was really nice and gave us free mint tea that was to die for. While eating my friends and I were sitting across from a Muslim women who is from Wisconsin. Her name is Aisha and recently moved to Granada and converted to Muslim. She was such a great person and we plan on keeping in contact with her. After our dinner we went to another tea place where we got crepes and tea. My tea was very interesting, but i enjoyed it. The crepes was HUGE. It had whipped cream and strawberries. YUM! That night everyone from the hostel was going out to a few tapas bars. It was really great to get to know so many people from all different backgrounds. We meet some people that work in Madrid that we already have plans with for this coming Friday. Also we met this guy from Tokyo who was also going to Sevilla the next day and happened to be staying at the same hostel and in the same room as us again. I met so many amazing people in Granada that I was super excited to see who else I would meet in Sevilla.

We left Granada at 6:45 in order to get a taxi, and make it to the bus on time. Once we arrived in Sevilla we didn't really have any idea of where to go. We knew the name of the hostel, but nothing more. Luckily we were meeting 4 of our other friends there. We got to the hostel (Oasis Backpackers) and went to breakfast. Breakfast in Spain doesn't really exist. It is more like chocolate croissants and coffee. We were really hungry and decided to go to this itialian/mexican restaurant that the hostel recommend. It was both crepe and amazing. Since I have already seen all the tourist stuff in Sevilla, along with a few other girls, we decided to do something different. We decided to go on a carriage ride around the city. It was so beautiful but really cold. The weather was started to get bad. We went back to the hostel, where I did all of the 6 other girls make up, and then we out with people for the hostel. We went to a tapas bar where I sat with a woman from Sweden and another woman from Arizona. They both have really great stories. I was amazed at how inspiring other peoples stories were to me. The woman Ann from Arizona is out here for a month. She is traveling around to places she has never been, while visiting and traveling with her son. He is 19 and a college student in Switzerland. I have not met him yet, but we plan on meeting up when he is in Madrid this Saturday. After tapas, we went to a FREE flamenco show. Now it was not as cool as the one I had been on my last trip to Spain, but it was free so it was awesome! It was really rainy afterwards and we all got lost going back to the hostel, so by the time we got there we all looked like wet dogs. It rained all night and was still raining the entire bus back to Madrid today. In fact, it snowed in Madrid today. brrrrrrr!

Overall this weekend was a great first travel experience. I loved staying in hostels (even though I lost my cocoon - sorry mom), my company, and the fact that I met people for 14 different countries. Next trip will be more organized and I will learn as I go. I cant wait for the next one.

<3 Kayla





(The first pictures is a view of the Muslim community of Granada which is where I stayed. The second is a picture of me looking out at the view! The next 2 pictures are from Sevilla. The guy with curly hair is Alberto from Mexico, then my friends from school Katy, Ruth, and Meredith, and last Shin from Tokyo. The last picture is my friends from school Scotti, Samantha, and Whitney, with our new friend Scott from Colorado. Also notice my new purple jacket?)