Fun Facts and a Gorgeous Hike

Buenas!
So I thought it'd be cool to tell you all some of the really amazing things I've been learning about Spain. I mean some things aren't so cool, like when to use different grammar tenses, but some things are certainly worth hearing.
-16 Spains could fit into the USA
-More people speak Spanish in America than in Spain
-The Mediterranean Ocean is named from the Latin medis terrae which means mid-land because the body of water lies in the middle of all the land that made up the Roman Empire
-The word Gitano, the Spanish word for Gypsy, comes from the word Egipciano because the gypsies were believed to have come from Egypt (we now know that they really came from India)
-Castellano, the name of the Spanish language, comes from the word Castilla which was the name of the plateau that makes up the heart of Spain
-The word Guada means "river" in Arabic, and combined with quivir, meaning "big" becomes the name "Guadalquivir," one of Spain's biggest rivers
-For a reason even my grammar teacher couldn't explain the word agua (and about 45 other irregular nouns) is masculine when singular, but feminine everywhere else. So although one would have to say "mira el agua" one would also say "mira las aguas claras"
-Only a mere 10 miles separates Spain from Morocco
-The first city in Europe, in the metropolitan sense of the word, was Cadiz, in Spain, founded around 1200
-The name España, the Spanish version of "Spain," comes from hispania, was given the area by the Phoenicians and meant "land of the rabbits"
-Tariq was the first conqueror of Spain to come from Morocco and established the Moorish rule of Spain in 711. When he died he wanted to be buried in Spain, but where he could see Morocco. The Arabic word for tomb is Gibral, and thus Gibral Tariq, or "Tariq's tomb," became the well known Gibraltar.
-There are about 5000 Arabic words in the Spanish language

Whew! So now that you've enjoyed that history lesson I will tell you about yesterday's surprise activity. It wasn't really a surprise, it has been written on our calendar since the beginning of our program, but I either misread it or mixed it up in my head and thought we were going to the Alhambra. We don't actually get to tour the red palace until the 10th, but yesterday we got to go on a hike that revealed the beauty of nature rather than man-made wonders.
We started out our hike on the outskirts of town, on the steep cobbled streets that have become so essential to my perception of Granada. Soon we got farther from the houses and farms that told us we were still in the city and the road became gravelly and dusty. Still I was a bit unsure that this hike would be cool, since I knew I could find gravel to walk on in any city. But after another ten minutes or so we reached what was unmistakeably the true start of our hike. We stood on a circular plateau that was about 20 or 30 feet across and took a brief rest before turning and walking into the giant green mountains that surround Granada. Though the terrain remained dry and deserty for a while, soon we reached a small creek and the surroundings became slowly more and more green. We ended up walking along the creek balancing on a stone wall, crouching under overhanging rock that was really part of the mountain at our side, and hanging onto metal handles hammered into the rock wall to prevent ourselves from falling into the water. Overall it was amazing! We moved at a fairly quick pace so that it was definitely a work out, but we also took frequent enough breaks that it didn't overwhelm any of us. After moving away from the mountain-wall and crossing two rickety suspension bridges we reached a valley in which we stopped and ate lunch. Mountains rose all around us and yet created no shade at all, so a few of us hiked on a little further to find a cooler place to eat. We ended up climbing up a steep hill that was obviously not part of the trail and found a place where a bit of rock jutted out and created some shade. From up there we could see the mountains surrounding us and all the way down into the city! It was a beautiful place to eat lunch. On the return we took a different way which unfortunately did not follow a water source and thus was extremely dry and hot. Still, it was nice to see more of the surrounding naturaleza and even nicer to relax into the air conditioned bus that would take us back to our Colegio in the center of Granada.
Overall it felt awesome to get out an exercise, and to see the wonderful mountainous earth on which Granada was built.
Today classes started again and I found to my excitement that practically everything we are learning in our Lit class, I have not only learned already, but I have studied in more depth than we will even reach in this class. Which means that for the next week at least I only have to concentrate on 4 instead of 5 classes! Which is good because I need to spend all my extra time finding an apartment!
Wish me luck!
Hanna