La Feria Ha Venido A Granada!!! (The Carnaval has come to Granada)

With less than a month left, La Feria came to town. I remember seeing them setting it up a week or so before. La ferria is a traveling carnival that stops in Granada once a year for one week. Everyone was exited to go, because at La feria there are so many different attractions. There are discotecas, live music, entertainment, carnival rides, and a ton of people. Walking to La Feria we saw thousands and thousands of people. While La ferria is in Granada the weather was great, it was hot during the day, but nice and cool at night. For me personally going to La Feria was one of the best experiences I had in Spain because it was towards the end of my time, and I got to spend some good quality time with people I cared about.

I remember the first night of La Feria I was with my host family. We all ate dinner at my aunt Fuensanta's house. Then we all walked up to her balcony and made a toast while we watched the opening ceremony of la feria. Then we all went together to la feria. I remember it was a school night and I had a test in philosophy the following day, but I stayed there until 4 in the morning. The next day I woke up at 6 o'clock and went to school tired as can be.

I went to la feria every single day after the first day with all of my different friends. We would get out of school and go strait to la feria to pass the hours away. It was just a magical time that I will never forget. Here are some pictures!

All of my friends and I at La Feria

Life after getting back from all that traveling

After I got back from all of my travels, I realized that I had about two months left in Granada before I would return back home. At this point I had already done everything I had wanted to do. I had traveled all over Andalusia, and to both Italy and England; I got to meet many people, and go partying almost every weekend. I got to see the Alhambra, and las prosesiones de Granada during semana santa. I also learned Spanish, and a little bit of flamenco.

I had a three week vacation from my normal life in Granada. First of all semana santa was a week off of school, then my trip to Italy was another week, then London was also another week. When I went back to school for the first time in 3 weeks, I suddenly realized that the routine I had become accustomed to would soon be coming to an eventual end. I felt confused, should I settle myself back in again, or should I just prepare myself for the end? I looked at everything differently; the streets, the parks, the people, and I thought to myself from here on out I have to make every moment count. To appreciate all the little things that occur without us even noticing them half the time. Because at that point I knew there would be certain people and places I wouldn't see again. 

So instead of preparing myself for the end, I decided to just get back into the routine I had been in before I left. So I continued to tutor in English twice a week, go to basketball practice twice a week, take my guitar lessons once a week, and go out and have fun during the weekends. So I continued doing my thing not worrying at all about returning home.

These are just some pictures of me hanging out with friends after I got back from my two trips.
 Still just being myself.

Viaje de estudios a Londres

 Fish and Chips from England

 After a week of going clubbing and touring the beautiful country of Italy I was completely exhausted. Upon arrival in Granada, a friend picked me up and let me spend the night at her house. I used the following day   to catch up on all of the sleep that I had missed. When I woke up I got all my bags ready again, because I was a day away from taking off on an other week long trip to London.
 

My friend Rosa, who picked me up at the bus station

I woke up at 5 in the morning April 17th with all my luggage ready to go. My host mother then dropped me off at the school where a bus would later pick up our class to head to Malaga. From the airport of Malaga we went on a 2 hour flight all the way to London. Later that day we arrived in our hotel and settled our stuff in.

Me and my Spaniard friends on the plane

 After we were all settled, our chaperons gathered us all together to do our first tour of London. As we left the hotel we went to take the metro system. I honestly have to say London's metro system is incredible; there was a ton of people all over the place. At this point the chaperons let us divide into our own groups having a place to meet up later on. So a group of friends and I ventured off exploring the city. The city was dazzling, with people all around of all colors and ethnic background. I know this sounds obvious but they were all speaking with an English accent! It was so cool listening to it. A few times while we were walking down the streets of London I tried talking to the people with a British accent. A few of them actually believed that I was English! I felt like I could blend in without any problem. Also being able to speak English made me an official interpreter/ translator for my Spaniard friends.They would tell me from time to time, "Hey we are lost, ask this guy how to get back back", or "Tell this guy that I want to buy these shoes; ask him how much they cost."

The funniest thing about my Spaniard friends was how they bartered with people. We walked into a store and a couple friends of mine saw these really cool headphones. They decided that they wanted to buy them, so they told me to ask the owner how much they cost. So I ask and the guy and tells me they are 50 pounds. My friends were not willing to buy a pair of head phones for 50 pounds, so they continued to ask the guy to drop the price. They said we will buy them for 30, then the guy said  that they were worth much more than 30 pounds. So my friends told me to tell him the weren't going to buy them, and decided they were going to leave. Right as they began to leave the guy agreed to sell the head phones for 30. Then my friends told me to ask the guy to sell them the headphones for 15 pounds. I was positive the guy was going to throw us out, because I didn't think there was any way he would sell it to them for 15 pounds. And of course the guy said no, he would not sell them for 15 pounds, so my friends decided to "pretend to leave" again. Sure enough right after, the guy agreed to sell them the headphones for 15 pounds! I was shocked, there was no way I could have done that. They saved themselves 35 pounds, it was amazing actually.

Here are some pictures of me in London

The Queens Residence

The giant Ferris wheel

Royal Guards of the Queen

The Famous telephone booths of England

Big Ben

Museum of Science

I was in London while they were setting up for the Olympics

These guys will not move or smile at all

Not at all. No matter how hard you try to piss them off