Week after Malaga...

After Malaga - tried to catch up on classes since I was tired from being gone all weekend. Nothing special. Tuesday night we went back to Hannigans to watch Jacobo play guitar and sing, and Hannah joined him on the mike! She is an amazing singer! Thursday evening (the 15th) we had an Intercambio through API - meaning a language exchange with another person who wants to practice your language, while you practice theirs. Alex and I met at the API bus stop, which is only about 2 min from us (go US!!), but then we had to wait about 15 min for people to get there (some of the girls got lost). Then, we proceeded to walk back PAST OUR HOUSE to a bar about 10 medium-sized steps past our front door. ;) Which was kinda ridiculous at the time, but great afterward. ;)

Friday morning (the 16th - my birthday) we hosted the American Breakfast I had been planning with Sean before the Malaga trip!! Technically it started at 11am and went till 2pm, but that was way long, in retrospect. We had a bunch of people show up and help pay/clean/cook, and it was a bunch of good, clean fun!! :) We had: honey wheat pancakes, with a fresh peach compote/syrup. Scrambled eggs with "American" (yellow, but not cheddar) cheese and milk. Home-style potato hash-browns with SPICES, real bacon, lots of fresh fruit, and orange juice to drink. There is always green tea, coffee and hot chocolate at the API office already. Sean made an AWFUL mess of the kitchen, but it tasted SO GOOD, that nobody cared and we all helped clean up. :) Everyone put in 2-3 Euro for grocery money and for the set of pans that Sean had shelled money out for, so we were able to cover ALL the groceries and some of his costs. It was SO AMAZING, we want to do it more!! At the end of the breakfast, when Sean was done cooking but some people were still sitting around eating, he asked everyone to wait for a moment, and at that point he, Amelia and Chris brought out a small plate with 5 different pastries on it. Everyone sang happy birthday, and I got to blow out my imaginary candle on the center pastry. :) I was so embarrassed, but it was so thoughtful and sweet of everyone! I almost cried. :)

Didn't really have other plans for the day, but my host mom treated Alex and I to two glasses of red wine with dinner, and then two shots of Chestnut Licor afterward. I went out with Alex, Kelsey and Jacobo in the evening, and we went to a bar near API to meet Chris and Sean (just for a moment - they were using the WiFi there). I didn't get anything, but received a phone call from Ethan wishing me Happy Birthday, since he had been in class during the breakfast and missed it. Made my evening - he is pretty quiet and the phone call was a really nice surprise. The two guys stayed to finish their online activities, while the rest of us continued on to a few other bars in the area to check things out. Ended up settling in a hookah bar, ordering fruit milkshakes (I got strawberries and cream - basically fruit juice with some flavoring and a touch of cream, whipped. A 'light' version of a milkshake at home, but very good). The guy there was crazy though... we asked for a hookah with APPLE, and received ANISE. I got my shake, but Kelsey ordered something with pear, which they 'didn't have', so ordered mango, and Jacobo got something else - but he brought BOTH of the shakes Kelsey ordered, which Jacobo was ok with. We were brought a hookah with half a coal and nothing to turn it with, and at the end of the evening, the guy FORGOT to charge us for the hookah itself (just for the shakes). So we just left. Absolutely nuts... We went home and went to bed after that - not a late night or anything. :)

There had been plans to go the the Albaicin again Saturday, but they fell through because some of us had been out late the night before, and others had homework. We decided to postpone until Sunday, so I spent almost the entire day on my computer - skyping family, reading my friends' blogs, cleaning out both of my inboxes... etc. Very unproductive, on the whole.

Sunday we met and wandered up into the Albaicin again. My host mom recommended a bar at the top which is world renown for it's caracoles (snails), and there is a pastry shop up there also that is supposed to be the best in Granada. Didn't stop at either, because we were walking around during siesta hours on a Sunday (walking was all we COULD do). Darn Spain and its lazy afternoons!!