Granada Tierra Soñada Por Mi

I absolutely loved my time in Granada. I've talked about it so much that most of my friends now roll their eyes and sigh anytime the word Spain even comes out of my mouth. I chose that city because it is a college town, so I knew there would be lots of Spaniards in my age group, and because it was smaller I thought it would be easier to get into the habit of speaking Spanish more regularly. Also, the city itself is absolutely beautiful + they have one of the most famous gelato shops in all of the south-Los Italianos- I'm pretty sure it was featured on the Travel Channel, or by Rick Steves. The thing I enjoyed the most was just being outdoors on a regular basis, being from a large city in Texas I spend a good amount of time experiencing my city as I drive, I loved getting to walk around, bike ride, hike and just sit outside with a cool drink. I also got very lucky as I was able to experience Spain during a World Cup year so there was lots of excitement, made even better by the fact that they won for the first time ever! The hardest thing was probably adapting to day-to-day activities. Everyone tells about about the history of Spain, the importance of Catholicism, flamenco, tapas, etc. What I didn't know before arrival was what was difficult to adjust to- bringing my own toilet paper to some bars, not having AC on a regular basis, siesta (its real, and once you get used to it, it's glorious) getting used to literally everything being closed on Sundays, etc. As you get accustomed to those things, they become less of a big deal-but I wish I had known ahead of time. Overall, I loved my experience and I would return in a heartbeat.