Self Control

So I was talking to my one friend, and I realized... its gonna be freaking HARD to keep my hands to myself with all the cute suave European men over there!
This is a demonstration (with my fabulous art skills) of what could happen without practicing proper control:

as you can see, if I am not careful, the poor, unaware, sexy European guys might get attacked. Lets all hope this does NOT happen so all those sexy Europeans can keep their backs unbroken ;)
For those of you looking to practice control, carry around a blindfold! ;D



hehehe this was just a humorous lil' post. I promise to not jump any European men! :P Merry Christmas everyone!

29 days!!!!!

-Christy

Granada, España!

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Well, 38 days left here in America until I'm flying away for Spain, but who's counting? I was thinking about what I could write about before I left, and then I realized I hadn't really said much about where I was going.

So this post will be about what I know about the city of Granada!(With a little help from my good friend, Wikipedia.)

Granada, España is in the south of Spain, in Andalusia. It is about an hour from the coast of the Alboran Sea. It's also very close to the Sierra Nevada National Park which is a popular ski location.

The population of Granada is somewhere around 250,000, however the entire urban area of Granada contains a little less than 475,000, ranking it as the 13th largest urban area in Spain. 

one of the things Granada is most famous for, is the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a giant castle/fortress that was originally constructed around the 10th century by the Arabic ruler Badis ben Habus. It was re-conquered by the Spanish Catholic Monarchs around 1492 and parts of the castle were added on by Charles V. The castle was abandoned and fell into disrepair until "rediscovered" in the 19th century by European scholars. It is one of the top attractions in Spain and is considered by some to be one of the 10 wonders of the world. If you would like to read more about the Alhambra, go here. 

The University of Granada is one of the top ranked Universities in Spain and is one of the top destination Universities for europeans and exchange students. The city of Granada itself is considered one of the cheapest cities for college students to live in. It is also famous for its free tapas, which are like little appetizers. Granada offers many cultural activities and Flamenco is popular there. 

I'm sure most of you can understand why I'm so excited to go to Granada. I will definitely post more about my views on the city while I'm there as well as a lot of photos! :)

VISA!!!!!

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Well, I've been kinda sorta panicking this week. It always seems before something good happens, I start to freak.
For example:

I had applied to one college when I was a senior in high school. I guess I could have applied to more schools  but I'm gonna be honest with you. I did NOT want to write any essays. So I applied to IUP because I didn't have to write one (although it was strongly recommended). I had good grades and rather decent SAT scores, so I was decently confident I would make it in without a problem. A couple of weeks go by after I send in my application and I'm thinking, Okay. This is normal. They have a lot of applications coming in and it will take them a little bit to get to mine. A couple more weeks pass and that's where I start to freak. I wasn't going to be accepted. It was taking way too long! I didn't write an essay. . . WHY DIDN'T I WRITE ONE??!
 I started having nightmares about being rejected. What the heck was I going to do? It was too late to apply to other schools. I was going to be a sad McDonald's employee for the rest of my life.
When I finally resigned to my fate of flipping burgers and frying fries, I got the letter in the mail. I was accepted into college!

Anyways, my point is, I tend to overreact before things happen - especially when that thing is important to me! The same thing has kinda been happening with my visa over the last couple of days. It's been on my mind constantly! What if I don't get it? What if it gets lost in the mail? What if I filled out my forms incorrectly and have to reapply? I was so worried that if I didn't get it, I would still have to pay the fee for the program, which isn't cheap ladies and gentlemen! But, God has an awesome way of working things out and I found out today, after resigning to the fact that I wasn't going to get it, that it arrived in the mail with my passport! :D

So, plane ticket - check! Visa - Check! Passport - Check! Camera - Check! Journal - Check!
Looks like I'm almost ready to go!

48 DAYS!!!!!!

-Christy