Little European Travelers - GRANADA

Ahh finally back to Spain where I can more or less communicate and know my way around. Well first we stayed a night in Girona where we stuffed ourselves full at the dinner buffet to attempt to get our moneys worth. Then we had to get up super early to catch our flight at 6:30.
We get to Granada and of course.. I miss our stop on the bus and we get stranded out in the middle of nowhere for a few minutes before the bus we were on came back and we got to where we needed to be. We dropped off her stuff at the Oasis hostel and had some breakfast there. Then we made our way to the house to visit mamacita. That went really well I thought! Mamacita kept on saying how guapa she was (good-looking) and she made us coffee with little pastry treats! Mamacita was also all upset because she wanted to invite her over for lunch and make something like paella but since she doesn't eat any fish or meat, that really limits her choices. I showed Rosemary my room and then we went to church. I was having a hard time staying focused because I was tired and I'm sure Rosemary wasn't exactly having a blast but I was glad we went. Afterwards we got our bocadillos from mamacita (yeah she made one for Rosemary too) we walked around the park where I run and took pictures. Then we headed up to the Alhambra but found out that tickets were sold out because of Easter. So we sat in the area the artists are usually at and enjoyed our lunch. Then we walked around the free parts before heading back down. We went back to her hostel to officially check her in and made sure the bed was suitable for anyone who wanted to lay down. We looked up places to eat and then went to find them. The first one was closed until 8 so we got some piononos and sat for a little bit. We went to see if the other vegetarian place we looked up was open but it wasn't so we went back to the Mexican place and enjoyed some vegetarian burgers, which were actually just vegetables fried into a burger, but still pretty tasty. Afterwards, I walked her back then headed home.
The next day I had class until lunch time, ate, then headed over to meet her. We went to see the albyzin/albaicin area then to the cathedral and capilla real. I was very excited to go to the vegetarian restaurant that has tofu, seitan, couscous, etc that's by the school but when we got there, it was open but the kitchen was closed. Bummer! So I showed her the school and we looked some things up on the internet. Then we left to find some dinner. Since we were meeting up with my friends at cafe futbol later, we went for the pizza place nearby and enjoyed some delicious pizza - we got two of the best ones and shared. At 8:15 we met up with my friends and sat outside at Cafe Futbol to enjoy some chocolate con churros, a milkshake, and some free ice cream thanks to Mauricio. Liz showed up late but got a milkshake then walked with us to the hostel. Then Liz and I stopped by the 24 hour store for her to get food before heading home.
Tuesday morning I went to the hostel after my class and ate some breakfast before finding Rosemary in her room getting ready. I just hung around while she packed. Then around 11, I headed back to the school and she went on the free walking tour. I came back after my class to meet her for coming to the house. Mamacita had invited her over for some pasta and salad even though she was still upset about not being able to make something more Spanish. I was surprised though because it's a big deal in Spain to invite people over to your house. Mamacita was very welcoming though and I'm glad things went so well. Anyways- Rosemary wasn't there when Liz and I went to the hostel but eventually we found each other. The walking tour had taken longer than we thought it would. But it wasn't a problem and we were still at the house early. We had our pasta and afterwards strawberries with whipped cream! I realized how far I had come in my Spanish understanding/speaking with Rosemary here just by comparing how I was before I left to what I was able to do when she was here. After lunch I finished up packing and then mamacita gave us bocadillos for our bus ride too! I didn't even ask her to. :) Then we were on our way and took our 5 hour bus ride to Madrid. It wasn't too bad and we stopped along the way for a bathroom break. Once we got to Madrid, we figured out what metro lines to take to get to the airport, called the hostel, and got on the shuttle to our place. It was super nice and we got a good night's sleep with great breakfast in the morning before our flight to Switzerland.

So we had quite the situation over here in Europe with the volcano in Iceland that erupted and the smoke caused most of the European airports to close, stranding a lot of people in airports/preventing trips. Luckily, things have started to clear up and airports are opening up again. Now it's just waiting to see if it keeps going or causes another one to erupt, which could cause a lot of problems. I pray that nothing happens until we're all back in the U.S. safe and sound. Although it might be an adventure, I would be rather upset to not be able to go home and be stranded in Europe for who knows how long.
School has been alright. We had a visit with our art class to the cathedral and capilla real today and don't have art class tomorrow, meaning I don't have class until 11:30. Love it! But we had our project that we were supposed to send to him yesterday which mine decided it didn't really want to attach itself in an e-mail no matter what I did. Luckily in Spain that means no pasa nada - I e-mailed him about it and I'm just going to bring it on a flash drive to class on Tuesday.
Megan and I met up with my new intercambio friend yesterday and went to a tea place. He's really nice and although we all kept on speaking in English, he tried to push us to speak more in Spanish which is what I need. I knew Megan had just gotten done with a presentation though and her mind and Spanish weren't friends. But he and I agreed that next time we'd try to do mostly Spanish. I could deal with it being just us two - I just needed backup for the first time.

I've been really short-tempered lately and lacking in patience. I don't know why. I also just have the "I'm over it" attitude. I'm not sure what's up or how much it shows to other people. I'm worried that if I don't figure it out and fix some things I'm going to have little outbursts that I would regret later on.

Anyways. Off to shower, get some things done, and hopefully enjoy a good night's sleep since I went to get some more sleeping pills today. :)