Feb 16th – Day of Wanting to Go Back

Drama…bad drama in the morning. I was way upset and wanted to go home. Pretty much you don’t need to know anything more except for that person and I aren’t friends anymore and I learned my lesson with trusting that person as a friend. When we left the hostel, we all (the whole group together) walked down to the main plaza before to hang out before we had to catch the bus to go back to Madrid. The day was very pretty, but I longed to be anywhere but there. Or at least for one person to not be there. I would try to make the best of it, and keep going until I was in the safety of my room. We all went by a pastry shop to get breakfast and people watch. Then we walked the streets going by and seeing the shops. Walking down a narrow street, we all saw a street vendor with beautiful Arabic poetry that was done like a painting on old stylized paper. Sophia and I decided to buy one for each of us, without knowing the message on it but purely by how it aesthetically appealed to us. And wouldn’t you know it, the poems had meanings that were important to us individually. Mine, the man said, meant pure love and Sophia’s meant luck. Weird how in a different culture certain themes still appeal to you naturally without you knowing their meaning in advance. Then we heard beautiful guitars serenading the bystanders in the street and decided to listen in. It was coming from three guitarist who were incredibly talented playing in the street and one of the men sang occasionally. Weird how talented they were and they were playing in the streets when they should be so much more…Sophia and I saw that they were selling their cds of their stuff, and it was the first time I was compelled to buy one. I can’t even describe how great they were, but I guess it was good that I bought one because flamenco guitarist playing originates in the southern part of Spain. So I figured I should take them up on the opportunity, I mean where would I ever be able to hear their sound?! I could have sat there all day to listen and half of me wanted to, it made me forget and feel like I was back home laying in the grass at Woodward Park in the spring when everything is in bloom. My favorite time of year. After staying for a bit, the rest of the group was getting anxious to move on, so we walked down to explore the other shops. Then we came upon the main plaza in Granada, which looked different but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Then I realized what it was, there is a fountain in the center surrounded by beautiful full rosy pink flowers and a huge statue sits in the middle. But there were clouds of soapy bubbles overflowing into the streets…how did it get here? My eyes move up toward the fountain and there it was. A prank pulled by most likely students where they put a massive amount of what looked like detergent or bubble bath solution. Well you can imagine a giant waterfall with constant circulation of the water plus enough soap…the fountain was overflowing with soap bubbles everywhere! In the streets, making bubble mountains in the fountains, spilling out onto the sidewalks surrounding the plaza…what fun Spaniards have here! Some of the girls went to go play in the suds but I was caught up in watching the little kids try to catch mounds of it to throw at their parents or marvel the bubbles. What a mess and what fun at the same time. After, we caught the bus and went to the train station. We had an hour to wait and it made me wish I had caught the earlier bus so that I could be away. But only a little longer…soon enough, but not too soon, it was time for us to board and we were on our way. I slept most of the way except for when I woke once we had just arrived in Madrid. We caught the next bus going into Alcala and once we got there I said goodbye and went to my host home. Falling asleep to Finding Nemo, I was still upset but at least I was in the safety of my room.