15 days makes me want to cry.

I know I haven’t finished updating yet but this post was necessary.

Today is December 6^th. Which unfortunately means that the numbers on my countdown are incredibly small. 15 to be exact. First of all, where the heck did this come from? I still vividly remember getting on the plane in Boston Logan International Airport on August 31^st kind of freaking out, having to repack my suitcase in front of an incredibly long line of people at the check-in desk, trying to not to cry when I had to say goodbye to my family, meeting my first Granada friend and starting this whole wonderful adventure. I know people tell you that it’s going to go by fast but this wasn’t fast. This was light speed. In September you feel like you have all the time in the world. You keep saying, I don’t need to do this right now or, it can wait, I have three months. Well those three months fly by in the blink of an eye and before you know it, here you are, 15 days left. Every single time for the past few weeks that anyone in our group has said anything about going home everyone’s response is, “Let’s not talk about it.” The thought of leaving gives me a combined feeling of wanting to cry/vom (I’m sorry, I know that’s not really ladylike). There is no way that this can be over so soon. I’ll admit, I’m in a bit of denial. But, instead of continuing to mope about how little time I have left, I’ll leave you a little list of things I’m hoping to accomplish this week (lots of free time since we only have class on Monday and Wednesday thanks to some holidays) and in the remainder of the 15 days to come.

-        Night trip to the Alhambra

-        Palacio de Carlos V

-        Explore the Albaicin/Sacromonte

-        Go to the movies (I still have yet to see a movie in Spanish here)

-        Go-karting (last week’s attempt to go did not pan out as planned)

-        Day trip to the Sierra Nevada (Thursday if all goes according to plan!)

-        Ice skating (yes, shockingly enough in this desert that I currently live in they’ve put up an ice rink for Christmas!)

-        Try new restaurants & tapas bars

-        Granada soccer game (praying for this one, still don’t know if it’ll happen)

-        Explore as much of Granada as I possibly can!

That’s all for now friends. Best of luck to all back home with finals and holiday preparations! I love you all! And to end on a happy note, 15 more days here means only 15 more days until the Allen Family Christmas European Vacation; I cannot wait to see you, Mom & Melissa!

Sending all my love to the other side of the Atlantic.

xoxo – S

Reunited Roommates, Castles, Cliffs, Sheep, Vegetable Soup, Brown Bread & a Ghoul-way Halloween!

Let’s take a trip through time back to my first real trip in Europe this semester.  To do so we need to rewind to October 28^th when I took a few buses and a plane and one bus more and finally made it to Galway, Ireland! Ireland was a trip that I knew I wanted to do before I even left for Europe. Last time I was here I wasn’t able to go to Ireland and I had heard wonderful things about how beautiful it was. Also adding to the motivation was the fact that my wonderful roommate Julia and some other Stonehill friends would be spending the semester there. So Ireland was the first trip I looked into doing and I reserved my longest weekend (we had Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off thanks to a national holiday) to make the journey.

So upon arriving in Ireland with ZERO traveling issues (can you believe it?!) Julia and Jess picked me up at the Galway bus station and brought me to their home at Gort Na Coirbe (their residence hall/apartment area). Julia and I had dinner and had quality roommate catch up time. Saturday morning I got a nice little tour of Galway city, got to see NUI Galway where all of the Stonehill abroaders are taking their classes, and had lunch in a nice little Irish pub (with incredible vegetable soup and brown bread – just a heads up, this is going to become a trend in my meals here).

 windy day in Galway Bay

 Julia & I at Galway Bay

 Shop Street in Galway City

Also on Saturday night, other wonderful Stonehill friends, Tara and Amy who are studying in Denmark were kicking off their two week long travel break with a stop in Ireland! It was so nice to be able to see them because unfortunately a trip to Denmark did not work out for the semester. So, on Sunday morning, early and not so bright because it was a little cloudy/rainy (per usual when you’re in Ireland) Amy, Tara, Julia, and I all hopped on a bus tour to see some of Ireland and go to the Cliffs of Moher!







 Dunguaire Castle

 Amy, Tara, and I at the Portal Tomb

 foggy day at the Cliffs of Moher

 Amy & I at the Cliffs

 S & J: Cliffs of Moher Version

 the end of a wonderful day at the Cliffs of Moher!

Although it was a bit of a foggy day at the Cliffs it was still a wonderful day and I’m really happy I got to spend it in such great company! Also, not depicted in the pictures above is our stop for lunch at a cute little Irish pub where we sat by the fire and had delicious vegetable soup and brown bread (I told you you’d hear this again but really, it was so good).

Monday was Halloween and since our Galway friends had class on Tuesday, Tara, Amy, and I set out on our own for another bus tour, this time of Connemara and Kylemore Abbey. This morning when we left it was raining kind of bad so we were a little nervous about our tour but we lucked out and when we arrived at Kylemore Abbey we had wonderful weather.

 Kylemore Abbey

The Gardens at Kylemore Abbey

 Leaving Kylemore Abbey with our new Irish sheep wool sweaters in hand!

Sheep literally everywhere in the countryside

Following this day of touring the Ireland countryside, we returned to Galway City. As I mentioned, Monday was Halloween which, little did the three of us know, is like a HUGE deal in Galway. Obviously, due to packing restrictions for our travels, none of us brought Halloween costumes. However, lucky for us, our wonderful friends Julia and Jess went out and got us Halloween costumes while we were gone and we enjoyed a night of celebrating a Ghoulway Halloween! Unfortunately after that, my Galway weekend had to end and I had to leave for the bus station at about 3:30 am to catch my 8 am flight back home so that was a bit sleepless. Nonetheless, I had an absolutely wonderful weekend in Galway. It was so nice to be able to see so many Stonehill friends and hear about how wonderful their own experiences were. But also, my trip to Ireland reaffirmed for me that I made the right choice by coming to Granada. Although I had the most wonderful time, part of me missed Granada which for me was a good sign. Also, just being able to share my experiences and how much I love Granada told me that I made the absolute right choice and that I was having the study abroad experience that I wanted. As always, I am so grateful for how blessed I am to be able to travel the world and even more so for having some truly wonderful friends!

xoxo – S