The End

Well, it's here. I never thought it actually would come, but it has. The end of my adventure in Spain. I sit here typing this blog post at my relatives house in Sweden, but my study abroad adventure is all but nearly done now. Of course, I'm excited to see home and the people I left behind, but let's be honest how me and 90% of my program friends are feeling/thinking right now.

This sucks.

Spain was, undoubtedly, the best experience of my life thus far. It has changed my life in so many ways, from my current views on topics and life to my future plans, and many details in between, that I can't even begin to express how much I appreciate the opportunity to go abroad like I did. I earnestly hope and pray every other student has the chance to do what I did these past five months - experience a whole other world and live your life to the absolute max (do I sound inspirational, or what?!) in this short time frame of college.

The people I've met here will undoubtedly be some of my best friends for the remainder of my life. Don't worry, friends back home, we're still tight, but when you are thrust into a foreign country that speaks a different language, operates on a different time frame with different laws, you fuse together really quickly.

Back home, I'm already going over what I will do differently. Language, actions, how I treat others, being able to relate...and then some! Reverse culture shock might kill me, though.

Examples. Let's review the experience.

A trip down memory lane; the first week in Granada. I looked so young.

Our first night out. These two girls would end up being some of my best friends.

And of course, old friends are also present. Kelly, it was awesome getting to share Spain with you! Best buds for life!

Sometimes, you just had to get to the highest point in town and take it in...and then take a selfie.

Best birthday ever. 21st, you're gonna have to try really hard to beat this one.

Festivals that you'll never find on our continent. Carnaval in Cadiz, one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Oh, the people you meet...

Nights out in Spain are undoubtedly the best.

Yet, you learn to appreciate the things you left behind, such as your parents. I love you mom and dad!

Beach days were never more than a quick bus ride away.

And travel was so accessible. Here, one of our first trips, Seville. 

Sometimes, you just have to jump into probably-ill-advised water with friends! (Pretty much a metaphor for my life abroad.)

The locals you meet will stick in your memory forever..

Honestly, I debated for a good hour on what to put in this (not final) blog post. I'm gonna say what I have to say to everyone back home when they ask me the very broad question "How was Spain?".
It is indescribable. I couldn't write down everything because I simply wouldn't have time. More will come in convo, and perhaps some memory blogs I make later, but in the meantime, I'll close with this.

Spain, I'll be back. Don't you worry.

Thank you God for everything!

Jacob

I found Paradise, guys. It was in Portugal!

Hello all,

I'm back from a weekend of sun, fun, and friends in Portugal, and I loved every minute of it! I'd even argue it was one of the best vacations of my life, and that's saying something, because I've been on a lot of awesome vacations! Where oh where do I begin?

Well, we can start at five in the morning on May 2nd, 2014. I had to double and triple check my backpack that I had everything I'd need for the next three days, because my bus left at six thirty in the morning. I realized at this moment that I'm in serious trouble, because waking up this morning was extraordinarily difficult, even though I was about to embark on an awesome adventure! I guess we'll deal with work at 6 AM when we arrive at that bridge, no?
We double checked that all 200ish of us were there (they were) and headed off to Lagos, Portugal, located near the southwestern corner of the country.

We arrived and, well, it was hot. The first thing on the agenda was a Sangria Boat Cruise among the beautiful coastline of Lagos. Stupidly, I had forgotten back in Granada to take out money for it, so I immediately rushed to the nearest ATM. Here is where I began to create a list of things that annoy me in the Mediterranean area, and topping the list at this moment was/is the lack of ability to use card. I spent a good twenty minutes walking in what I discovered later to be the wrong direction in an attempt to find the ATM that was so vaguely described for me. Walking back, getting directions for a third time, and going and finally finding it, I finally acquired the money. Heading back to the hotel, we boarded the bus to the port, where we would begin our boat "cruise" adventure.

It was a cruise, technically. You could call it that. It also was every American college student's dream: a big sailboat in beautiful waters, sailing the sea with friends, girls, and free alcohol. Yes, quite literally that was it. It was awesome. Every half hour or so as well, a smaller boat would arrive and take us on a mini tour of the grottos in the area. They were quite gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

Behold, the party boat!

While the others were on the boat, we were downing our free sangria by the "boatful" (get it?!). The crew had a really good summer playlist going as well, and the water was just warm enough to jump in (but not stay in). I would go as so far to say this was the highlight of my study abroad experience thus far. Beautiful people, scenery, friends, and relaxation. It really doesn't get better than this.

Out on the grotto.

 

After about two hours, we disembarked from the boat onto land, although, for some of us, the boat feeling followed us (a bit much sangria for some). We headed back to the hotel to freshen up/hardcore power nap before dinner. Our group, Discover Excursions, had everything set up for us, including discount meals and drinks at the nightclubs. The first night, some of my friends and I headed out to a local bar that served a hodge-podge of pretty much anything. I had ribs. Dare I say, I devoured them, and I had/have no regrets (There's still nothing quite like American meat...). Then, it was off to the club for most of us; some decided they weren't ready to turn up and headed back to sleep.
For some reason, we were taken to a seemingly-obscure bar out of the way and left there by our guide. Immediately, we were persuaded by the not-so-subtle bartenders to take some shots and buy some beer. Now these bartenders were very, very good at their jobs; wearing nothing buy a sports bra, ripped jean shorts, and a shirt bearing a bit more than usual cleavage, they squeezed at least five euros out of us that we didn't intend to. At least they made good conversation while they were robbing us...
Then we were off to the club. Entering, it was immediately different than the others we had experienced. It was pretty much full of Americans, other people from our program/group, but fun nonetheless. The free drinks didn't hurt either.
After dancing our hearts out, we wandered around the warm, old streets of Lagos back to our hotel and passed out. A good, full day indeed, and we still had two more ahead of us.

Day 2. It would be hard to beat the first day. We enjoyed a free breakfast, one we took full advantage of, as it was the only free meal on the trip (breakfast, that is). Stuffing ourselves to the max, we waddled back over to the buses again to head off to the beach. Here they had the option to go sea kayaking, but given my [lack of] money situation, I opted to stay on the beach. On this beach, which spanned a good length of the city, we drank more free sangria, rented some paddle boats and proceeded to get them stuck out in the water, and body surf for a good hour. I'm not a huge fan of salt water, but I'll tell ya, the ability to body surf is awesome and definitely makes up for the salt.

After recovering from the beach, we set out to one of the coolest destinations I've ever been to; the "end of the world" in Portugal. It's the most western point on the European continent, and we went there to watch the sunset. I'll just leave some pictures up, because words don't adequately describe it.

Somewhere wayyy over there is America.

That night, we headed out again to a place called Joe's Garage, where we were given free drinks (you sense a pattern here?) and fun! Somehow, one of the bartenders that we had met the night before was working at this bar/club as well, so we met up with her again and...surprise...ended up buying drinks from her. *sighs* We are hopeless.

Day 3: Waking up after a good balcony talk with some friends after the club, we proceeded to enjoy our final free breakfast, and headed out to yet another beach. This time we were on our own; our bus would pick us up at around four thirty, so we had to make sure just to be there on time (though, I wouldn't have necessarily minded being left behind there.).
Some people (aka those most sunburnt) weren't necessarily feeling another day at the beach. So, after doing some incredible exploring over the rocks at the first beach, some females and I packed up and headed to another.

Finally, maybe now my father will love me!

The beach was awesome, though a bit cold, and it was nice to just chill and talk before heading back to Granada.

The bus ride back was quiet, because we were all so dead. We got back at 1:30 AM Monday morning, so I ended up missing class the next day (my 8:30 one, at least). Regardless, it was totally worth the experience, and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone.


Next post: Germany and Semana Santa.

Jacob

Lost in the Mountains

Late night blog post. I'm currently debating on whether I should even go to bed tonight, since I have to get up at 5 AM tomorrow (the 2nd of May) to catch a bus to Portugal. Decisions, decisions. In the meantime, enjoy my misfortunes in the mountains of Granada today!

I've been living in Granada, Spain for nearly four months now (wow, time flies!), yet not once have I managed to get to the Sierra Nevada mountains that are but a few miles away (I know they use kilometers here, but miles are clearly superior, right?!). Well, after a night out we decided to shotgun a trip to Los Cahorros, a series of trails up near the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. First. we had to catch a bus to the base town of Monachil, except we caught a bus that decided it didn't want to go the whole way, so it dropped us off a good mile away and we had to walk. No biggie, right? We're young, strapping, handsome (I'd even argue gorgeous) Americans on a Spanish adventure; walking is no biggie. Well, it was only the beginning.

We made it! Well, erm, to the almost-beginning.

The town was completely shut down due to the Spanish Día del Trabajador (Labor Day). (I actually find it kinda ironic they have a labor day, since it seems like they have a holiday/party every week anyway, but hey, when in Spain...). Following some dirt roads up, and up, and up.........and up..........and up, until we reached the entrance of the national park.
Yay. We've already seemingly hiked miles, and our adventure has just begun.

Here we go!

If you've ever been to Zion National Park in Utah, that's the closest place I can relate it to that I know of. They're both beautiful. To start, we had to cross a pretty long swaying bridge (after waiting in line for about half an hour, of course, because who said nature doesn't have lines?), only 4 at a time are allowed to cross.

See ya on the other side!

Once on the other side, we were mesmerized by some waterfalls and rock climbers - there were a lot of the latter - as we hiked, crawled, and hanged (yes, literally) our way across the path. The hiking "trail" is a human-placed cement block that hugs some of the rocks, meaning at certain points we had to hang on to the provided hooks, get on our knees and crawl, or my personal favorite, jump into the parallel river and just avoid it all! The water was a bit nippy, but it felt good on such a hot day.
Then we emerged onto the other side. Incredible.

On the other side, we spent more time walking in between the beautiful mountains, streams, and even waterfalls. Eventually, we reached a big gathering point for groups by the stream. Dozens of people were lounging around, eating lunch, and generally just relaxing. It was a great atmosphere. After finishing our makeshift lunches and recharging a bit, we decided to keep going and find the other way out. Consulting some locals, we headed out.
Moving on over nature and at one time literally through a waterfall, the trail started to disappear. It was still evidently a man-made trail, but we found ourselves at quite literally a dead end (still beautiful, but it didn't get us out of the park).

Just follow me into my cave; I swear it's okay...

I suddenly found my climbing skills...

Like I said, quite literally through this waterfall.
Credit Brianne Burie

Frustrated, tired, and running out of water, we finally decided to turn around, something I like to avoid because I want to keep exploring. Backtracking a good half hour, we found more people and asked them how to get out of this beautiful, yet entrapping Eden. The man we asked directed us back in the direction we came from, a good hour's walk, assuming we didn't stop.
We stopped. A lot.
Murphy's Law states that "if something can go wrong, it will.". Well, I'd like to amend it to "if there are two paths to choose from, you're going to choose the wrong one first 100% of the time". Again, it was beautiful and I'm glad we could see these new angles, but we were all starting to tucker out now, and we still had to walk back to town once we left the park. Uf-dah.
Finally, after dragging some of the slower folk with us, we made it. We had escaped the national park. Walking back to town, we caught the bus back to town and quite literally passed out on the half hour ride back. All I remember of this part is that it was uncomfortably hot...darn that mass transit! Hungry, tired, sore, and very much desiring to just sit and reflect, we all headed home to shower up and rest.

Thus, here I am, finishing this. En fin, the hike was awesome and possibly one of the best uses of my day! (cheap, as well!) Now, we're heading off to Lagos, Portugal for a weekend retreat with a bunch of other students. Now that will be an interesting blog post.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment!

Jacob

PS. Yes, Semana Santa will happen...