First excursion!

This weekend, we had our first excursion out of Granada--to Ronda!

We took a day-trip on Saturday to Ronda, an small Andalusian city about 2.5 hours from Granada.  Needless to say, to get a full-day's worth of adventures in, we had to leave pretty early.  It was pretty weird walking through Granada on an early Saturday morning--no one was around!

After a pretty sleepy bus ride through the mountains around Granada, we arrived in Ronda!  Ronda is in the providence of Malaga, which is known for its sunny, warm climate, and Ronda was no exception!  The sun was shining, and we all took off our jackets as we toured the beautiful city.  Ronda is on a hill surrounded by mountains, so the view was gorgeous.  We spent a long time just staring out at the Spanish countryside, then toured their bullring and learned about bullfighting in Spain.  Afterwards, we had a giant lunch at a local restaurant, then walked over the the bridge that connects the old and new parts of Ronda.  They bridge is needed because right in the middle of the city there is a huge crack in the earth.  It was a pretty incredible sight.

We all got some free time in Ronda after visiting the bridge, so I explored the older part of the city and spent some time in some cute plazas.  When the sun started to set, we all boarded the bus and traveled back to Granada, getting home just in time for dinner.

It was really exciting to leave Granada for the day and see another part of Spain!  It really got me ready to start traveling more, but we all want to wait until at least February so that we have a chance to really get to know Granada.

This week is the last week of the intense Spanish course.  On Monday we will be taking out placement test and our semester-long classes will start the following week!  I'm definitely looking forward to getting into a routine here in Spain.  Hopefully then it will feel more like home!

Spain Countryside

Bullring!

Giant crack in the earth!

Bridge