Starting Friday March 30, I had 10 days off from classes to wander and travel. In Spain, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is quite important, classes are cancelled, shops are closed and there are processions throughout the street. For the first weekend my friend Reese and I hopped a 7 hour bus to a small beach town called Santa Pola. It's just south of the famous beaches of Alicante, where apparently all the celebrities go for summer vacations. It was my first trip to the ocean since our family vacation to Disney World and Daytona Beach. It was a little too cold to swim, but I ran around in the surf for a while. We stayed in a really cheap hotel, so cheap we were nervous about what we would find when we showed up, but we lucked out. We had a living room with a balcony, a bedroom and a bathtub (completely unheard of in Spain)! We spent five glorious days lounging around on the beach, tanning and drinking margaritas. Our first lunch we tested out a seaside steakhouse (also uncommon in Spain- this one was designated as Argentinian food). We had fantastic steaks, baked potatoes, and veggies followed up by free champaign from our waiter. It was hard to believe such a scene right by the Mediterranean Sea. What a blast! Our designated departure day was the first bout of bad weather, it wasn't so painful to leave with all the wind and rain. We also made sure to leave early enough in the week so we could see some of the religious processions. Every church in Granada builds a float dedicated to Jesus and one dedicated to Mary and they march throughout the city at various times throughout Holy Week with tons of candles and volunteers in Spanish priest outfits- To paint a picture: the KKK took their costume ideas from these priests. It's really easy to pick out the Americans during the processions because they are all shifting uncomfortably in the presense of the creepy outfits (not to mention the feeling that they are all marching off to a lynching with candles and torches). All in all, it's still quite interesting to see such huge parades throughout the entire city.That's all for now! adios amigos