Week 6 (Part 2): Classes, Volunteer, and Granada Cathedral 3/1 to 3/4/16

This week has been a little tiring I do have to say. So much fun, but jammed packed with classes, volunteer, work, Spanish speaking, and cultural activities.

Classes went very well this week. Midterms are right around the corner -- which is hard to believe in of itself -- so I am trying to get ahead and practice my speaking and listening skills a little more so I am more prepared for the presentations and exams.

Two days ago Wednesday I headed to do my volunteer work at the community center. There ended up being six volunteers, which was great, but unfortunately no directors. We still ran the English class with the six kids we had, but it definitely a little bit more difficult because we did not have a native speaker who could easily take a control. We ended up playing a lot of games to reenforce English vocabulary with the kids: hangman, pictoinary, and a bunch of others. Some of the kids were being a little difficult at points and not responsive to the games, so it was also quite exhausting. Nonetheless though it was so much fun and great practice for my Spanish!

Also Wednesday my program had another "intercambio" exchange activity between our group and the school of architecture at the University of Granada. We worked with them to make foam sculptures of futuristic bridges...they didn't turn out perfectly, but it was fun! I also met a guy who plays guitar so we are going to meet up sometime soon and play together!

As for the rest of the week, today I went to the Cathedral of Granada and the Royal Chapel where the Catholic Monarchs are buried. I'll explain a little bit more with the pictures!

As for this weekend I am off on an excursion to Alpujarras (to hike) and Nerja (to relax on the beach) with my ISA group. Going to be a lot of pictures for that!

Here are some pictures from today:

A piece of tile art in one of the plazas right by the cathedral depicting the river
 that runs through and under the city of Granada

Interesting building right next to the Royal Chapel. It is an old Moorish school, and although it appears to be made out of stone, it was actually just painted to look like that in order to save money. 

This grand altar in the Royal Chapel depicts many different stories from the Bible:
some from the life of Jesus, others of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist. 

Here are Ferdinand and Isabel's coffins buried underneath the chapel

Now here are some pictures of the Cathedral:

This is one of the float-like structures that Spaniards process with through the streets during Holy Week. For this particular one, it weighs a couple thousand pounds, and can be carried by 30 to 40 men all underneath it. They carry it throughout the streets and process it to the cathedral for specific parades during Holy Week.

Main Altar

Organ

Thank so much for reading! Until next time!