Last day of "freedom" before classes! ironic, happy 4th of july!

i woke up this morning to monica tossing and turning, pausing and then jumping out of bed. what the heck? turns out that she woke up, looked at the clock and realized it was already 1 p.m.!!!!! WE SLEPT IN!!!! but not to worry, we had no plans this morning, we were planning on sleeping in....but not all the way till 1! geez. oh well, we justified it by saying that we were exhausted from the crazy partying we did with the spaniards last night and by the fact that classes start tomorrow and we wont be able to do this again. ok, now we dont feel guilty ;)
we hung around for a while and were lazy. didnt really know what to do as we had the entire day off except for the dance recital we were going to in the evening. what to do on a day off in granada? we finally decided to get our books, bring some money and go read in the shade in one of the beautiful squares nearby. cheap + peacefulness = a good time :)
monica and i rocked our red, white and blue to represent the good ol' U.S.A. so weird being here and there not being a celebration. oh well, we did what we could.
we got our stuff and walked outside and glanced at the reader board that read 42 degrees celcius. for those of you who do knot know what that is in fahrenheit... well.... that adds up to a whopping 108 degrees. thats right. we. were. dying. monicas over there saying "ah its sooooo hot!!!" and im thinkin, "girl. your from southern california. im pretty much from a place that might see sun 2 months out of the year. stop complaining. im the one who isnt used to this!" ;)
we walked and after getting lost for a good 30 minutes (we tend to do this....mmm....about every day) we finally found the place we wanted to sit. we went and got GELATO (mmmmmmmmmm) and then sat down and ate in silence because neither of us felt like talking. the only things murmured were, "mmmmmm, ahhhhhh" we are obsessed with the gelato here.
monica made a call to her parents back home and so at that point i got up to go get "una coca-cola" at a shop across the square. walked over and passed this tiny alley that made me double take. i backtracked and saw that it was this narrow long alley FULL of things to buy. "wow." so being the shopper i LOVE to be (NOT), i decided to take a stroll down the alley to find my family and friends some gifts. if i were alone in this world, i can promise you i wouldnt spend a dime on stuff while abroad. but since i have such an amazing family and friends, i do decide to overcome my annoyance of shopping just for them ;)
i walked through the alley and spent a good half an hour picking out some stuff for my 2 sisters, k schroe and danielle. :)
as i was buying some of their stuff, i was practicing my spanish with the store owner. i was telling him who i was buying for, what i was looking for, what i should get my mom, etc. i couldnt help but chuckle as i was trying to pick something out for kristin and he was helping me shop by asking me what color her hair and skin were and was pointing to different things. he was quite the helper in my shopping endeavor. this cute little man who didnt even realize his jeans were unzipped.... ooops ;)
i then went back to the store i knew the coke was in and saw that it was a MAJOR souvenir shop- obviously directed at tourists. so i got my coke and decided to sip on it to keep me in a good mood as i continued to shop. found something for chanels daughter, brissa, (but nothing yet for you chanel....sorry....hehe ;) and i also found something for my mom and dad. ;)
one thing i find funny over in europe is that we all come over looking forward to experiencing this whole new culture that we expect to be so "un-american." well, when you shop, dont expect anything unique because i cant tell you how many lady gaga and chris brown songs i have heard over here. ALL they listen to is american music!!! why?! there is definately nothing special about lady gaga and chris brown.
after that i walked back over to monica and she had just gotten off the phone. it was getting later and we decided to head back to the room. so much for reading ;)
as we were walking back home, we were walking along the main street and have you ever done that slippy sliddy motion where you barely catch yourself before your feet are about to slide out from beneath you? well, thats what happened to me today....for about the 17th time. the streets here are mostly made of marble and they are OUT TO GET YOU. especially us americans who only wear sandals because we will die from heat stroke if we dont. goodness, one of my many goals this trip is to not fall flat on my butt on that wonderfully hard marble. *cross my fingers*
we got back to the room and i dropped off my stuff and heard some girls talking down my hall. i didnt mention to you that 2 girls live right next door to us. their names are alaina and eva. and where are they from? GREECE. ahhhhhhhhhhhh, greece. me encanta!!!
so i heard them chatting and went and knocked on their door and sat on their bed with them. the girls both speak EXCELLENT english, greek, one of them also speaks french and they are currently learning spanish. 4 languages? ay ay ay.
we talked for about an hour and a half. i LOVE talking to people from all around the world. they asked me so many things about the united states, like: "is the movie mean girls really what highschool is like in the U.S.?" and "are the hospitals that are in greys anatomy really what the hospitals in the U.S. are like??" and "have you ever seen or met chad michael murray???" hahaha oh how funny it is to hear what people find fascinating about the U.S. - simply: the media.
so i answered their questions and asked them some as well. i told them they should come visit me in the U.S. and they said they want me to visit them in greece. really? OK! next stop: greece.
as i was walking out, my bathroom buddy/friend who lives down the hall, quinton, from kentucky, ran up to me in his red white and blue shirt and asked me if i wanted to celebrate the 4th of july by going to burger king with him. "um....sure....but how would that be celebrating the 4th of july??" he says, "katie, going out to a fast food restaurant, eating a burger, a shake and fries....common....its the american way!" hahahaha. well of course it is. ;)
when i got back, it was time to meet for the dance concert tonight. we met the group and hopped on a bus that brought us to the top of the hill where the famous alhambra rests. i was standing in the back of the bus where there was this huge area to just stand. we were crammed in there and we were HAULING up those streets! i tell ya, i dont know why i havent died yet either on the bus or on the street. these people are crazy drivers. being as i already have issues standing on a bus without falling, i made sure to grip the handle for MY LIFE as we zoomed up the hills and around the corners. turns out this tiny little woman was in control of this huge bus and man did she drive like she was the king of the world. someday i hope to drive with her skill ;)
we reached the top of the hill alive and walked up to where the concert was. the sun was just setting and oh wow i cannot tell you how beautiful the view was. we were back at the alhambra and were seeing it and the city at dusk. absolutely. gorgeous.
we went and found our seats and were pretty much the only ones there since spanish tradition is to show up at the last minute possible. we chatted until it began.
when they turned out the lights, even before the show began, i gasped to myself as i looked up. the sky had already turned black and stars lit up the heavens. i stared as it took about a minute for the show to began. there i was in spain at an outdoor dance recital with the stars gleaming down on me. how much more lucky could i get? i closed my eyes and took a snapshot in my head as i knew that moment would probably never come around again.
the show started and it was beautiful. breathtaking costumes, beautiful dancing and spanish music and lyrics to top it all off. the evening came to a close as the last dance took my breath away when a beautiful female ballerina danced solo to the lyrics, "en este momento, recuerdo el amor que compartimos cuando bailo a este cancion" which means, "in this moment, i remember the love we once shared as i dance to this song."
as the dance came to a close, we all looked at each other in awe as we heard a faint nose of fireworks going off in the distance.
happy birthday, america.