Jesus is Just Alright With Me

Time is disappearing here in Granada and it's been another few fantastic days. We've had a few more free afternoons recently, and Monday night we took a trip to the baños arabes (Arab baths). It was this amazing spa-like setting with a bunch of hot pools and one cold pool that you would alternate in and out of. They also served us tea, and the program covered all of this since it was a "cultural experience." I love my program.

Tuesday afternoon we visited the Granada's Cathedral and Royal Chapel, which were impressive, beautiful, and overwhelmingly Catholic. Ferdinand and Isabelle are entombed in the Royal Chapel along with one of their daughters and her husband as well as one of their grandchildren. It was a little creepy to see five caskets in this little underground room and know that there were dead bodies in there. Aside from the dead bodies, the chapel also had several depictions of the Muslims handing over the keys to Granada to the Catholic king & queen (Ferdinand & Isabelle) as well as the forced conversion of Muslims to Catholicism. It was a grandiose and important building, but left me with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. After that we went to the Cathedral, which was a lot less creepy and very, very big. They also had a lot of paintings of the Virgin Mary, they really seem to dig her. But I guess that's understandable, there's a lot to dig about Jewish girls.

I've also started running with another girl on the program who is also named Rachel and is from Vassar. Today we went for a 45 minute run along the Genil, this little river in front of our hotel, as well as through the city a little. I have to say, running along a riverbank with the mountains in the background, wearing a tank top and shorts in early February is pretty fucking cool.

Friday and Saturday will be busy days, as Friday we take "final exams" (which are a big joke) for our orientation classes, have a farewell dinner, and get a bunch of information about academics in Madrid. Saturday we fly back to Madrid and go our separate ways for the night to meet our host families and settle in. It should be quite the adventure.