12 February 2017
We went to
Granada and to ski in Sierra Nevada! It was great :) ..although, we did have
slight problems with the car on the way there because of the “check engine” light
suddenly going on. We had to stop and stayed at a gas station trying to locate
the problem with the help of a mechanic on the phone. We never found the
problem but because the mechanic convinced us that if the car seems normal and
the engine sounds fine we could continue driving as long us nothing weird comes
up. Finally, we arrived in Granada at around 1.30 AM and hadn’t had any
dinner.. ..and I went straight to bed as the next morning, the kick off to the
slopes in Sierra Nevada was at 7.45, which made the trip at least for me a bit
of an adventure, having to compromise my basic needs. But in Sierra Nevada I
finally got some food and skiing itself was really nice. We were worried that
there wouldn’t be enough snow but it was allright. We skied for almost 6 hours
and I think we never did a slope twice so that was more than enough for us.
Also, Granada itself is a cute city and very interesting with really exciting history with Arabs and religious game of thrones types of things. We went to see the Arab temple, Alhambra and I must say it is something everyone should see once in their life. Really detailed and colourful beautiful rooms, walls, ceilings and gardens.
Now I’ve tested
the public health care system here too because I got a sick after the trip and
had to go see a doctor. It was much better than I expected; everything was
smooth and I had no problems explaining my situation in Spain etc., only needed
to show my European health insurance card, “the European Kela card” and
everything was settled. I got to see a doctor almost right away and didn’t have
to pay for anything. The doctor prescribed me some medicine and if I understand
correctly, I also got a reduction of those. Although, I must say, my illness
wasn’t cured with that medicine and they wanted to send me to a specialised
doctor, which was a bit more tricky. They told me to give them my phone number
and they would contact me to assign me an appointment. They told me to contact
them again if I hadn’t heard anything from then in 15 days. Waiting 15 days was
too much for me so I went to a private health center to see a specialist. That
was expensive but efficient and convenient.
I think it may
now be getting warmer here. But so far the nights have still been rather cold.
That’s why I have been sick so often. At the moment I don’t know if I’m happy
or terrified by the fact that spring is coming.
P.S. Note to self: Next time you go skiing in Spain, wear more than two layers of 50 SPF sun screen :) (Yes, I burned my face :D)
With love,
Noora
