Sebash esta en Madrid!: Tearing up Andalucia

Wow. Just finished the longest week of my life. With all the students in the program, we traveled for a week through Andalucia. Our first stop was Granada, then hit up Sevilla, traveled over to Cadiz, and then made our way back to Sevilla where we ended our journey and came back to Madrid. Lots to cover.

Day 1: Granada
Left Madrid via autobus around 8:30. Made our way to the beautiful city of Granada. We toured some cool chapel (la Capilla Real) and then we went off on our own adventures. For dinner Duke was kind enough to take us to this incredibly beautiful restaurant where we had this awesome view of the Alhambra which is a huge Moorish palace located above the city of Granada. I'm pretty sure we had a 7 course meal at this restaurant, along with 3 bottles of wine per table. Living the life. Our hotel was also incredible. Duke goes for real. We don't play around with our dinners and hotels. The next day we toured La Alhambra which was muy bonita. Tengo muchos fotos. After that, we took off for Sevilla.

Sevilla.
Many interesting things happened in this beautiful city. There were many tours of many incredible chapels and palaces and what not. We saw La Alcazar, we learned how to flamenco dance, we went to a Flamenco dance, and we had one of the fanciest dinners I've ever had. Our first night there, Duke took us again to a spectacular dinner on the Rio Guadalquivir. We had a lot of scrumptious bread and wine, and also a very good meat dish. I, however, was not a fan of the duck liver or shall I say the Foie Gras. I am proud of myself for trying it though. Never say no. That's my motto. And hakuna matata. So after dinner, a bunch of us enjoyed the nightlife in Sevilla, drinking and chatting along the river. It was great. Our hotel was again, very fancy and comfortable. The second night in Sevilla was fun as well. Let's just say, I'm a fan of the wine and I love el Rio Guadalquivir. It is very beautiful. Also, shout out to my new friend Pedro! Hola mi amigo. Sevilla was great. Not sure if I am the biggest fan of the flamenco, but I certainly do love that guitar.

Cadiz. Vamos a la playaaaa
Me encanta Cadiz! The beach is beautiful, the people are friendly, the weather is perfect. I'm a fan. This part of the trip was not a part of the Duke in Madrid program. A large group of decided to extend our stay and live in hostels in Cadiz and Sevilla for a couple of nights. In Cadiz, I stayed in my first hostel called Cadiz Inn Backpackers. 7 of us girls stayed in this hostel together. We met some great people and definitely had a bonding expereince. 4 of us had a room together with some other random roommates who turned out to be pretty awesome. We met lots of people in this hostel: Johnny Depp, the awesome and sexy receptionist who made us feel very welcome, Troy, the world traveling Australian with a brilliant accent, Cara, the cute hostel employee who makes dank sangria, and my two new brothers, Marcello and Simon from South African, whom I now consider family (which is Facebook official, very legit). There were many other Duke students living in another hostel and we spent a lot of time with them on the beach Friday. Tanning, swimming, sleeping, drinking, playing futbol, laughing. It was a grand ole time. Friday night we also rang in Joe's 21st birthday. Happy birthday Joseph!!! That night the entire Duke in Cadiz group took over my hostels Pubcrawl and made our way through the city of Cadiz with our new hostel friends, celebrating and laughing and going jamon of course. Found out they drink Absinthe in Spain, which I totally thought was illegal but I was quickly proven wrong. We did some green bomb alcoholic thing that is scary and on fire and should not be allowed around drunk people. Overall, it was a successful night. Saturday we passed out by the beach and realized that Andalucia had gotten the best of us. We had to make it one more night, so we packed up and took off on the train back to Sevilla for the night. Adios Cadiz, it was real.

Sevilla (again)
Stayed at another hostel, Sevilla Inn Backpackers. Same company as the one in Cadiz. But this night only 3 Duke students stayed here and we are all a bunch of scrubs and ended up in different rooms. Lame. This hostel was really nice though and had better bathrooms, thank god. Me, Alexandra, and Charlie finally found sushi in Sevilla. I might not have survived another day without it. And it definitely hit the spot. It was fantastic. We met up with this cool chic Lee who is living in Sevilla with her UNC program and she took us out to this crazy street filled with bars and people. I was kind of dying from the long week so I wasn't able to go as loco as I wanted too. Proud to say I have tried Agua de Sevilla, which was delicious but could ruin your night too quickly. Gotta stay away from that one. Went to bed relatively early (3am) and woke up and headed back to Madrid where mi madre Carmen was waiting for us with a table full of her delicious Spanish cooking. I truly am living the life.

Now I back in my bed, resting and attempting to watch football in hopes of keeping up with my Fantasy team. Very unrealistic. But I'm coming for you Block 8. We start class tomorrow morning. A little excited and nervous for that. I'm excited to go sleep in my bed in my new home in Madrid with my favorite roommate Alexandra now. Adios chicossss