BCS - Granada, Spain - 2023

Today, we went to the Sierra Nevada mall and had lots of fun shopping and eating! To our surprise, most of the stores inside were actually American. We decided to buy some nice jackets at Gutteridge, T-shirts at Citees, and had some familiar American food at Five Guys. After leaving the mall, we took the train to Churreria Alhambra and enjoyed a less American dessert: churros with chocolate and sugar. They were excellent, but the serving size was enormous—collectively as a group, we couldn’t even finish half of it. Afterwards, we were able to relax a little until dinner, which we had with our host family. They took us to a very famous tapas restaurant known as Avila. The food was incredible—especially the jamon asado con pan—and we overall had a great time with our families to end our 10-day trip! **Families: we will send you an email when we are in Madrid, ready to take off for JFK, and then when we land at JFK!

Today, we went to the Sierra Nevada mall and had lots of fun shopping and eating! To our surprise, most of the stores inside were actually American. We decided to buy some nice jackets at Gutteridge, T-shirts at Citees, and had some familiar American food at Five Guys. After leaving the mall, we took the train to Churreria Alhambra and enjoyed a less American dessert: churros with chocolate and sugar. They were excellent, but the serving size was enormous—collectively as a group, we couldn’t even finish half of it. Afterwards, we were able to relax a little until dinner, which we had with our host family. They took us to a very famous tapas restaurant known as Avila. The food was incredible—especially the jamon asado con pan—and we overall had a great time with our families to end our 10-day trip! **Families: we will send you an email when we are in Madrid, ready to take off for JFK, and then when we land at JFK!

Monday Update from Ani, Ella, y Julia Hola familias! We started the day at the Itáca school and had Spanish class. In Ani and Ella’s class we had a debate (all in Spanish) on which musical artist is better: Lana Del Rey or Bad Bunny! And in Julia’s class we did a Kahoot on our knowledge of the Alhambra. After class, we ate lunch in the park with our friends. After lunch, we went home to nap and get ready for the night. At around 5:30, we grabbed sandwiches in the Plaza Nueva and then took the bus to Sacramonte, a town we explored with our tour guide Laura. We saw beautiful views of the mountains and the Alhambra in the sunset. The tour landed us at our event for the night: Flamenco Dancing! We were lucky enough to experience an intimate and captivating performance by professional flamenco dancers; they danced only inches away from us! After the performance, we took a bus home and ended our night watching Princess and the Frog, or “La Princesa y el Sapo”.  Hasta luego!  Tuesday...

Lia y Eliza Today we spent the whole day with our familia de Granada! We went to a local flea market, checked out some gorgeous miradors (lookouts), and enjoyed a delicious homemade paella de arroz negro. We ended the day with some churros and chocolate in town.  Jason y Jackson On Sunday Jackson and I woke up at 12 which was quickly followed by a breakfast of eggs and fruit. We took an hoir long drive to the beach, Playa de Torrenueva. We ate fish at a local restaurant by the beach and took a walk on the back on the way to a mountain which we hiked. Afterwards we drove back to Granada to watch the soccer game which was very fun. April y Amba Today we got to sleep in until 11:30! It was a good chance to catch up on sleep. We started off our day going to Llano de la Perdiz to have a picnic. The view up there was incredible, and we got to see a massive sundial. At the picnic, we had empanadas, chorizo, and paella. Afterwards, we rested until 8 and then went to dinner with out family....

Hola desde España! Today we woke up bright and early for our excursion to Córdoba. On our two hour bus ride, we spent our time drinking cappuccinos and getting excited for our day ahead. Once in Córdoba, we started our trip at La Mezquita de Córdoba. La Mezquita has been all a church, a mosque, and a cathedral in the 1,035 years it’s been here. During our tour, we learned about the importance of the site, and what rich history it holds.  After touring La Mezquita, we ate our sandwiches (homemade by our lovely homestay family) on our walk to Torre de Calahorra, the Calahorra Tower. As we made our way up to the top, we listened to a self guided tour and learned even more about Córdoba’s history. At the top, we basked in the viewpoint of the whole city.  We broke for lunch and enjoyed shopping and eating gelato while exploring the streets. On our ride home, we rested up for a night out on the town. Finally, we ended the day at dinner with friends and enjoyed the hopping nightlife...

¡Hola familias! Today we got the chance to visit the Alhambra — a palace in Granada which dates back to the 14th century. The Alhambra started as a church, was converted into an Arab mosque, and then converted back into a Church during the Spanish Inquisition. Our tour guide, Laura, took us around the different palaces, mosques, churches and gardens and taught us about the history behind each of them.   As we learned earlier this week, our favorite thing we learned was about the daughter of Isabel and Fernando, the Catholic king and queen of Spain in the 1500’s, whose husband was unfaithful. She was painted as a crazy woman and was jailed for 40 years because of feeling “jealous” about her husbands infidelity. Years later, when sculptures were made of Juana and her husband, Felipe, Juana’s head was portrayed as heavier in the sculpture, symbolizing the truth behind the marriage that Juana was the more smart, powerful person in the marriage.  We walked around the Muslim neighbo...