It all started on a bus.
And continued on the bus for five hours.
Look how much fun we had!
Karly even made a friend!
When we finally arrived in Madrid, another bus was awaiting us. This time, however, it was full of exchange students and headed to where we'd be spending the weekend.
We were told we would be staying in Madrid, so we all expected a short bus ride to a local youth hostel or something similar.
Instead, we stayed on that bus for another two and a half hours as it scarily winded its way up a steep mountain.
When we finally got to where we were staying, we didn't see any buildings...uh oh.
After a short walk (which seemed like forever due to all our crap we were carrying), we could see our sleeping arrangements- tents.
Yes, six of a to a tiny tent was the plan.
Were we told we'd be in the cold (and by cold, I mean COLD) mountains? No. We were told we'd be in Madrid- like, you know, the city Madrid.
But once we put on as many layers as we could, the experience became extremely enjoyable.
We played a ton of games and I met many people who I grew to love that weekend.
And you know, the campground wasn't actually all that bad.
Yep, there's Karly being cute as a button.
After we got settled, we had dinner- sweet, glorious, dinner.
Selfies with Karly and selfies with Karly and Meg (the girl living in Sevilla).
Everyone is just wonderful.
For dinner, we had soup, lomo (a type of meat- very delicious), french fries, and a banana.
After dinner, many of us huddled around the lights set up in front of the tents for warmth. A great bonding activity.
Then came the worst experience of the weekend by far: sleeping.
Sure we all had sleeping bags and mats, but nothing could make 6 girls in a small tent on the lumpy ground in the freezing cold mountains of "Madrid" anything close to comfortable.
We were all fairly miserable that night.
But with morning came breakfast, a sure way to boost morale.
Later that day, we learned about rules of exchange and how to make this year the best year ever and watched a lame exchange video with horrible acting.
After all the boring (yet informative and essential) parts of the weekend were over, we were given exciting news:
That night we'd be sleeping in a building!
With newfound smiles on our faces, we packed up and walked the half hour to our new site.
It was a beautiful building! But we didn't have time to take a tour just yet- we had a hike to take!
We hiked even further up the mountain and it was gorgeous!
Karly and I made a trade with Hunter: he could have as much of our knock-off Cheetos as he wanted as long as we could have some of his water. We all benefitted, and Hunter especially enjoyed his cheese puffs.
So we hiked and talked and laughed and learned about Texas from Reid and Hunter.
Then, we were told we were just now crossing the border into Madrid...liars.
(The border ^)
After climbing up some big boulders, we had a beautiful view of Valle de los Caídos- the monument honoring those who fell in the Spanish civil war and where Francisco Franco is buried.
Obviously, my pictures do not do its beauty justice.
We tried to take pictures in front of it, but the sun was way too bright and we all look fairly awful (except for Hunter looking fab in the background).
I personally think the thumb covering a quarter of the picture really makes this image especially great.
So, we ended up taking selfies, as always.
We then hiked back down and, after briefly being thoroughly scared that we lost Aja (we didn't), we set up our rooms in the building.
The building was very nice, and it was so great to have actual beds to sleep in, despite how grody the sheets looked (thank God for sleeping bags).
We had dinner and then we performed skits. They were all so ridiculous and lame and hilarious! My group's skit featured Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Iz, Waving Flag by K'naan, and We Can't Stop by Miley Cyrus.
After hamburgers and lots of laughter and Fanta, we had a fiesta! Without any neighbors, we could play our music as loud as we wanted and dance as late as we pleased (or rather as late as our counselors allowed).
When the lights were shut off and the counselors went to bed, we were allowed to stay up for another hour as long as we were quiet. We all sat in a circle and played "Never Have I Ever" and laughed until we had to retire to our rooms.
I. Slept. Like. A. Rock.
In the morning, we all packed up and got in groups according to bus/train station.
Next came the 2+ hour bus ride down the mountain. Karly, Robin, Aja, Meg, Joe, and my bus station came first, so we all waved and said goodbye to all of our new friends.
*Insert 5 hour bus ride*
Finally, we were home in Granada. It's a little strange to call Granada home, but it feels right.
I got to take a shower (the best I've had in a long time) and, since my host family wasn't home, I hung out with Karly some more.
Despite the freezing cold, the less-than-pleasant sleeping conditions, and the fact that we spoke only English for 3 days (making it so hard to go back to only Spanish), I loved this past weekend and cannot wait until I get to see all my amigos again.
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