Ronda

For our final ISA excursion we went to Ronda, a small town in the Sierra Nevadas of Andalucía. It was so wonderful to get out of the city and spend some time enjoying nature. So granola.
First stop was the Plaza de Torros--the oldest in Spain!

Jess, Sarah, and Taryn

Sexy outfits

Then we got to do some hiking! Here are some sweet views of the bridge in Ronda and some other lovely miradores:

I mean, I guess it's kinda pretty...

El Puente!

We got to hike with a Spanish Elvis impersonator...he was just walkin' around, blasting Elvis tunes on his boombox.

The lovely Tracy taking some sweet photos

Sarah's boots

Jess found a horse...magical, isn't it?

Taryn exploring the waterfall

Día de Acción de Gracias

I'll admit, I was pretty bummed that I wasn't home for Thanksgiving this year. Not only was it my first Thanksgiving not at home with my family, but it was my first one not in America. Which means we had school. Lame. So yes, we were all pretty down about the fact that instead of being at home with our families, stuffing our faces with turkey, we were in class. But hey, we were in SPAIN. And we were lucky enough to be a part of an amazing study abroad program that treated us to a fancy Thanksgiving dinner, American style. The only style. Needless to say, we all were able to put that little bit of sadness behind us and enjoy an incredible night with what many of us would consider our families.

Taryn, Steph, Eli, and Alyssa

Dinner! It was SOOO good.

Molly, Danielle, and one of our fabulous directors Tamara

Molly and I were shoe twins

Jess and Sarah

Fierce Sevillana dancers

Bailey...yay for Santander roomies!

God Bless Amurrrica

Sarah!

Córdoba y Granada

Last weekend we took an excursion with ISA to Córdoba and Granada, both of which are located in Andalucía. There really isn't much to do in Cordoba except to visit the mezquita (mosque). I could give you a little history lesson about it, but basically what makes this mosque so interesting is that it really isn't a mosque anymore. The Christians took over the place and turned it into a cathedral of sorts, constructing their own architecture on top of the mosque. As weird as it sounds, it makes for an incredible structure. And because it is so old, you can see every type of architectural style that has been implemented since 1492. It's sort of like someone puked all the European architecture that ever existed on top of one building. Poetic, right? But SO cool.

From there we drove a couple hours to Granada! View of the Alhmabra at night:

Went to a flamenco show:

And then I met up with my friend Allie who is studying in Granada

The next morning we headed up to the Alhmabra: