¡GOOOOOOOOL!

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*edit* Monday, 6/26 -- I´ve added several more photos of the Alhambra and our hike yesterday, plus a short little bit on the hiking trip. I didn´t really have enough to write to merit another entry... but I think there are some good photos. */edit*

So Corups Christi was amazing. The whole city prety much shut down to celebrate and have a good time. There were bull fights all week (although I didn´t go... I´m saving that for Pamplona after all those silly people run with the bulls. I will be watching from a safe distance, of course...). There was also a huge fair just outside of town. We went to the fair on Wednesday night (10 days ago) and had a really good time. All the rides and such were pretty expensive but were awesome. It´s amazing how much more fun a ride is when you don´t have all the saftey regulations like in the states... When we left the fair around 3AM, there were still people showing up. Apparently it runs pretty much until 7AM but none of us were interested in finding out. The other crazy thing about this fair is that it catered to people of ALL ages. There were babies being pushed around in strollers, kids of all ages, and adults all the way up into their 80´s at the fair, at 3AM. This country is crazy.

Another very important event has been taking place, as well. La Copa Mundial (World Cup). Spain has now played 3 times and won 3 times. I´ve watched all 3 games at a bar close to the University campus that is crowded with students so it´s a lot of fun. The other great thing about this bar was their special -- free beer with every goal Spain scored. (Spain won their first game 4-0 and their second 3-1). Unfortunately, after the second game, that special was discontinued... no one here expected Spain to be playing so well. In fact, the papers speculate that the low expectations for this team might be why they´ve done so well. Whatever the reason, this city comes alive like I´ve never seen after Spain wins. It´s pretty freaking amazing. I wish people in the US took their soccer as seriously as people here. Spain´s next game is Tuesday against France which is a game that has a lot of people around here worried. If they win that game, they will likely play Brazil which has pretty much spells doom for their chances in this World Cup. Oh well, by the time they get to Brazil, I´ll be in Italy. :)

Classes have been going well. I skipped all my classes on Friday so that I could watch the Spain game... but so did most other people so it´s alright. I have final exams this Thursday and Friday... it just seems too soon. I cannot believe I´ve already been in Spain for almost 5 weeks and that I will be in Italy a week from today.

Things with my host family have been alright. Due to my class schedule and the fact that I live with a single mom who works full time, I don´t get to spend a whole lot of time around them which is sad but theres not much I can do to change that.

Today we went and saw the Alhambra, which is pretty much the main tourist destination of Granada. It is an old Arabic fortress/palace that has beautiful arquitecture but once again, we were in a huge tour group so good photos were few and far between. I´ll go through them on Monday when I can access a computer for free and post any that I like to this entry.

*edit*
Hiking! Sunday morning we all got up early and got a bus to a small town outside of Granada called Monochil (sp?) where we set off on a 6 hour hike. The views were amazing and we all had a really good time. I took over 100 photos (oops) on the hike and added a few of my favorites here. Enjoy!
*/edit*

So for the next 6 days, here are my plans:
Sunday- hiking
Monday- Classes
Tuesday- Classes, Spain game at 9PM
Wednesday- Classes, goodbye celebration thrown by ISA
Thursday-Exams... last night in Granada
Friday- Exams and then we leave Granada on a 10:45PM bus headed for Madrid

As for my travel plans... heres how its looking:
7/1 Fly Madrid-Rome
7/6 Train from Rome to Venice
7/8 Fly Venice to Barcelona
7/9 Early morning train from Barcelona to Pamplona
7/10 Evening train from Pamplona to Barcelona
After that I´m not really sure where to go. I´ll definitely spend 7/11 and maybe 7/12 in Barcelona and then I can´t decide if I should try to squeeze Munich in or go straight to London. I´m leaning towards heading to London on 7/12 or 7/13 to save money beacuse the trip to Munich is looking quite expensive. In either case, I plan to spend 7/15 in London and then on 7/16 I will be headed out to Oxford to study there until mid-August.

Ok... well my hour of Internet is nearly up so I´m going to have to sign off. I will hopefully update one last time before I begin my travels. ¡Adios!

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