This is one incredibly sore girl writing to you all!  This weekend was very busy but also so much fun.  On Friday, about half of our study abroad group traveled to a region of the Sierra Nevada mountain range called Las Alpujarras.  We took a bus ride to a lower peak of the mountains and near the end of the trip, I felt sooo sick!  It was quite a ride - rising altitudes and twisty turns every 20 seconds!  Once we got to the hostel in the mountains, we loaded up our backpacking gear and got started on the 6 hours of hiking we were to do that day.  The weather was perfect, in the lower 80s but up on the peaks, the cold breeze helped a lot as we hiked.  I don’t know what I would have done without a breeze!  Some of the peaks were really difficult and had us huffing and puffing like out-of-shape idiots.  We had a picnic lunch at a spot on one of the peaks where the view was just gorgeous - fresh loaves of bread, lunchmeat, veggies and fruit made up our picnic and I was so happy to have “normal” food that I almost cried.  After lunch we continued our hike back to the hostel, and that night we had dinner in the hostel’s restaurant (good pork chops and potatoes!) and went to bed pretty early since we were all so tired.

On Saturday, we woke up nice and early to start the second day of hiking… we were warned that Saturday’s hike wasn’t easier or harder, just “different.”  Oh it was different alright!  The inclines to the peaks were waaaay more challenging and there were times I almost gave up.  But once we got to the 5,000 feet altitude mark, I knew the hike had been so worth it.  The view was even more breathtaking than the day before and we got to enjoy sweet cake and apples during our break :)  We then hiked for a few more hours, had another picnic lunch, hiked another hour or so, and then loaded up onto our bus to head back to Granada.  At least I didn’t feel sick this time!  

What I was left with after this trip:

• a few bruises and scrapes on my legs and arms
• INCREDIBLY dirty gymshoes from dirt, dust, grime and muddy water, all of which we had to tread through while hiking
• great pics of the Sierra Nevadas

On Sunday, a group of girls went to the beach called Nerja, and we took a two-hour bus ride to get there.  It was so pretty!  The town of Nerja is a beach town and is really quiet and quaint.  I have never been to a beach with dark sand before, so this was a treat… very different from Caribbean beaches with tan sand!  We all tried putting our feet in the water, but it was sooo cold that it was numbing!  I made myself a promise that I would swim in the Mediterranean Sea on this trip though, so later, after laying on the beach for hours and hours, we all decided to run into the water together without stopping, no matter how cold.  It was really really cold!!!  The rocks on the bottom didn’t help the situation, either.  At least I can say I swam in the Mediterranean :)  When I walked into the apartment on Sunday night, my host mom told me we were having “pizza” for dinner… I got kinda nervous that it wasn’t real pizza but it ended up being similar enough.  Either way, I was so happy to have something semi-American for once that I didn’t mind how it lacked the taste of a real Chicago pizza!

Now my dirty gymshoes have been washed out and are drying on my window ledge, and I have an oral spanish presentation to give in my class tonight, so I should prepare for that!

This upcoming weekend: LAGOS, PORTUGAL from Thursday until Sunday… I can’t wait!