SURPRISE!!!!
Whoa!!! Straight hair!!!! Craziness!!!!! Yep, for the first time ever, I straightened my hair. Well, actually, it was the talented miss Dimnia who did it for me. No one recognized me at the birthday party at which my hair had its world premiere! That boy in the picture is Sebastien, boyfriend of my roommate, Shermine. Well, I like how the hair looked! It was a really fun change to take on for a couple days. Every time I looked in the mirror I didn't recognize myself. I could pass as sophistocated! I think, though, that it won't become a regular thing. It took forever and I love having curly hair.

HALLOWEEN!!!
Katy, Mandi and I dressed up as Greek goddesses for Halloween - the most fun, simplest, and cheapest costume! I generally don't enjoy Halloween, but this one was really fun! I think its the decorations that get to me, but there weren't any here! Spain celebrates All Saints Day on November 1st, so we didn't have school the next day! haha, the way Halloween should be celebrated!








The day after Halloween, Angela, Dane, and I rented a car and drove to Portugal! It was one of the best adventures of my life! Driving was an adventure in and of itself. When we first got in the car, we were a bit panicky just to get out of Granada! Roundabouts and unfamiliar road signs made driving a bit nervewracking at first, but we got the hang of it. We learned really well how to follow a map! It was funny at the end of the trip looking back to how much trouble we had starting out in Granada compared to the grace with which we had completely circumnavigated 3 unknown cities by the end of the weekend!
The first place we stayed in was Lagos. It's a nice city on the southern coast of Portugal. The beaches there are spectacular! We pulled over and walked along one of the first beaches we saw which was divided into several coves by cliffs that reached into the ocean. The cliffs all had passage-ways borred through them so you could explore the whole beach easily. There were lots of caves to play in (and lots of crabs)!
We checked into a hostel called The Rising Cock - I think the rooster is some national symbol or something... It was an interesting place - well, just like any other hostel, I suppose, but this was my first hostel and I thought it was really strange how comfortable everyone looked in the hostel. I'd never been around so many friendly strangers! Everyone looked as if they'd lived there for years! We had a nice stay there, but didn't do much after driving for so long and just wanting to relax. Our goal for the weekend was to escape to the shores of Portugal and go surfing and catch rays the whole weekend. However, this did not work out on account of rain pouring on and off and Dane being a bit under the weather.
On Thursday we drove to Sagres and Cabo Sao Vicente - the South-western tip of Portugal. It was SO BEAUTIFUL! We spent a couple hours at Fortaleza de Sagres - an ancient fortress on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. I was swept away not only with the fortress - with its rusted cannons and almost archaic structure - but also with the natural beauty of the place. The water was a very refreshing shade of blue as it crashed into the cliffs below us. There were thousands of fishies swimming around just under the surface of the water. Dane and I enjoyed throwing pebbles over the edge to make the fish jump around. Our afternoon there was so cleansing! I sat on a cliff for a while just looking out over the ocean, watching birds fly right by me and feeling the misting rain in my face. There were also giant holes in the cliffs - caves that led right down to the ocean. One was so deep and twisted that we could only hear the waves crashing at the bottom of it - we couldn't see them at all. I'm really glad we spent time at this place. It was quite remarkable.
It began to downpour just as we were leaving. We had no plan, so we just drove northward up the coast looking to see which town we thought was charming enough to sleep in that night. As we drove through town after town, nothing looked promising. They were all beautiful, but too small to look very welcoming to travelers. After about the fourth town, we decided to just drive all the way to Lisboa (you may know it as Lisbon), the capitol. I am SO GLAD for the rain and the small towns because had we not made it to Lisboa, I never would have known what I missed! This city is so incredibly beautiful and fun! At the same time, the people are noticeably nicer and everyone speaks English fluently.
We found a hostel called Lisbon Lounge (catchy, but can't really top the name of the first one) to sleep in that night. It was really fun, and again, the people there were all extremely friendly and looked right at home. This time we socialized a little bit and enjoyed meeting all sorts of people. One boy from New York was celebrating his one year of anniversary of traveling through Europe that night. Everyone had such an interesting story of their recent adventures. They gave me inspiring reminders to make the most of my time here and to never stop exploring.
We walked around Lisboa as much as we could with the weather's indecisiveness. The most picturesque place we visited was the Castelo de Sao Jorge - a castle, but not. From the outside, it looked like a castle with courtyards, gardens, a moat, a bridge and the castle walls. But when we walked inside, we were still outside! There were just walls going in different directions and seemed more like a fort to me than a castle. In any case, it was beautiful! And it was the highest point of the city, making for amazing photos.
Lisboa is divided by a big river into North and South Lisboa. I am really glad we drove into the North part. We couldn't have known it before arriving, but it turned out to be the more exciting half of the city. On Friday night, Angela and I went out while Dane rested up. We found the bar scene and were absolutely blown away! It was such a beautiful sight to see bars lined up with their doors open and music pouring out from every direction, crowds of people in the streets with drinks and conversation, no snobbyness or competition; just 5 or so parallel streets filled with young people, good music, and good clean fun. Around closing time, we met a boy who turned out to be Spanish. He was the kind of guy who knew everyone and enjoyed guiding us to a disco to dance the rest of the night away. We were excited about making a new friend, but he seemed to forget we were there as soon as we entered the club. Oh well. Only one person from his posse stayed with us trying to sweep Angela off her feet with his dance moves. Well, it was fun, but soon we just wanted to get away without any drama so we did what any mature woman would do: we told him we were going to the bathroom and then walked straight out the door back to our hostal.
I fell in love with Portugal! It is a very beautiful country. There are green rolling hills for miles and miles and as we drove back through the countryside, the scenic route didn't seem to end. I don't know what Spain has against trees, but there is a very noticeable difference in Spain's appearance as you cross over the border. Granted, I haven't seen northern Spain at all yet. I hear its lovely. In any case, I really enjoyed being surrounded by so much green and by so many people who seemed to care to talk to me. Its still hard for me to strike up conversations with people in Granada because the attitude so many of them have about Americans makes them look down on me as soon as I open my mouth. I've found a few that are friendly and seem interested in getting to know me, but it would be so much easier if more people here had the same attitude as those in Portugal.
Our trip was the best! We came home with memories of a very adventurous weekend we hadn't even anticipated! Four days relaxing on the beach turned into traveling through half the country and discovering Lisboa: Europe's best-kept secret. I would love to go back someday, but I'm thankful to know that a place like that exists in the world and that I got to experience it at least for a little while.
As far as my Granada experience goes, I am doing really well. This past week I had my three midterms and I think they went alright. I am learning a lot of Spanish every day and meeting people from all over the world. Unfortunately, I can count all of my Spanish friends on one hand, but I'm not too worried about it. I am really glad that I'll be here for another whole semester to really start making connections here. My living situation is also going pretty smoothly. I adore my roommates. They are all very nice and respectful girls. Our place is always clean (well, except for my room) and harmonious and I'm still in love with my gigantic room.
Thanksgiving is here already! Our program is providing a big dinner for us at some restaurant, so we'll at least get to celebrate it. I've never been away from my family for the holidays, and of course, its a very special time of year for family-togetherness. As the weather gets colder and home seems farther and farther away, it feels a little bit lonely sometimes. Family, I love you and miss you and I know you miss me too. I am thinking about you always and am especially thankful for each of you and the love you give me. I hope all of you readers have a wonderful and cozy Thanksgiving spent with the people you love most and lotsa good eats. Ciao!

OH! And as usual, all additional photos are available for your viewing pleasure at http://veronicamalki.shutterfly.com

Ok, first off: I do intend on updating this more than once a month. I'm not too busy for you or anything, but what happens is its just one adventure after the next so I'm always saying, "Ok, I'll get pictures from this and then update the blog." Then 'this' happens and 20 adventures later I realize that I have enough photos to write a children's encyclopedia and that's when I feel like I can't find the time to sort this all out and update you.

Right, so anyway, I'm HERE!!!! Life is still amazing - it gets better every day! I've got a lot to tell you about, but I'm going to save Portugal for another entry because I haven't rounded up all the pictures yet.

I've been singing! One day like a month ago I was at Hannigan's - the Irish pub in my neighborhood where I can walk in any time of day or night and find friends and good times. They have Karaoke on Thursday nights and I sang Creep by TLC. When I finished, Erin (the DJ) told me about an open mic thing they do on Tuesdays so, I hooked up with her and a guy from Italy named Andrea and I've been singing there more or less regularly. Its been a lot of fun, but I haven't been practicing very much. I'm now sick for the second time, so that makes it a bit difficult. But anyhow, I am SO SO SO happy that I found a place where I can just sing and have a good time. It is exactly a goal I had in mind before coming here. Its been a lot of fun meeting other musical people and everyone just sharing what they have without any pressure.


The only trip I've gone on aside from Portugal was my program's trip to Toledo. It was a pretty remarkable town, unlike any other I'd seen until now. It is in Castilla La Mancha - the same 'state' of Spain that Madrid is in. La Mancha and Andalucia, where Granada is, are very very different. As we spent time exploring Toledo, I felt transported into land of Don Quixote, which as it turns out, is the truth! Its been a while since I read that book, but I definitely had the same feeling in Toledo that I had while reading it. I guess that proves how good Cervantes was with imagery.
Well, to be completely honest, our weekend in Toledo was not the happiest for me. For a number of reasons I was really emotional. In fact that whole week, I had been on a roller coaster of emotions - experiencing extreme joy for nothing in particular - just being alive. Then two hours later, falling apart at the seams because I remembered something a little sad from my childhood. I might have scared a few people, but the experience made me come to terms with what huge changes this year abroad will mean for me. After a week or so of keeping to myself, talking to my mom and David, and getting things a bit organized, I more or less leveled out, but I know some things have changed forever.
Halloween came. It was so nice to not have the hype around Halloween that there is in the states. It happens to be my least favorite holiday. There is no Halloween in Spain, except in Granada where some bars and clubs have events for it because of how many American students there are here. And I must say it was the best Halloween I've had in a really long time! Mandi, Katy (the same girls that are in the picture above) and I dressed up as Greek goddesses and joined the crew in the bars. Later there was a big party at Camborio - a nightclub here that is in a cave! But, I didn't go because I was leaving for Portugal the next morning. Anyway, I had a terrific night - everyone did! I have pictures, but they're not working right now, so when I put up the Portugal stuff, you'll get some Halloween pics too.
Thanks for tuning in! I'll be back hopefully within the week to put up the other stuff. My shutterfly webpage is not completely updated right now, but if you still want to see all the photos I have up there, be my guest: veronicamalki.shutterfly.com

HASTA LUEGO!!!