Una tormenta...

Things I like about Spain:

1. Everyone shops at all hours of the day...I pretty much wander the stores at least once a day on my way back from class but I'm trying not to spend too much money.

2. Chocolate croissants...Practically right outside my door is this place called Casita del pan, they have the best desserts and croissants ever. And they are only 1 euro and SO big.

3. The plazas, each plaza has a name and a really cool fuente. And at each intersection there is a plaza so that makes for a lot of fountains.

4. You can wear anything and call it an outfit, some of the things I have seen I wouldn't choose for myself but there is definitely no pressure getting dressed in the morning(or afternoon depending on the day haha)

5. Tinto de verano...wine mixed with fanta límon. Easiest to order and drink. The best part is the orange wedge at the bottom when its soaked in all the drink.

6. Helado...I haven't had an ice cream in a while and it's not raining so today might be a good day for one!

7. No one is in a rush...I swear if it ever stops raining I am going to just sit outside for hours and hours. I've heard rumors that the spanish sun is the best, maybe I'll get to see it someday : )

There's definitely a lot more but that's all I can think of right now.

So on Thursday night we met us with our intercambio, it was not exactly what I was expecting and not really that helpful. I feel like they were kind of more excited to be out with 5 girls than to be practicing speaking english/spanish. We left early and went home. But on the plus side they did show us two cool bars that I definitely want to go back to.

Friday we spent most of the day getting our costume stuff for Cádiz(yes I went back...). I don't think it was raining much that day, so it was nice to be out and about. I got crazy makeup and a lime green wig. We didn't go out Friday night, instead we watched The Proposal on my computer...funny movie!

Saturday day was gorgeous out! We went to pick up bocadillos to take to Cádiz with us and a couple other last minute things. Then Cailtin, Tarah, Brett and I walked to the bus meeting point and thats where it all began haha. I was sitting on the bus thinking "What the hell am I doing? I should get off right now."But no. We got there and I was actually kind of excited, we walked around, met some people, basically the same thing as last time. Then at about 1-1:30 it started to rain a little, ok no big deal I brought my umbrella. Then it started to rain harder and got a little windy so we went to find some cover. Thank god because next thing I know we are in the middle of a hurricane. No joke. Torrential downpours and wind. SO we stood for 7 hours under an archway with every other person who was in Cádiz. It was miserable! Athough we did meet some españoles so I did get to practice my Spanish a little. We ran to the bus in the tormenta, through the flooded streets and the bus was 45 minutes late. ¡Que coño!

Ahh what can you do in those situations...

It's time for lunch and then class so hasta luego!

Kayla

Bueno

Ahh what craziness! This past weekend we went to carnival in Cádiz which was insane. Kate and I took a 5 hour bus ride there to party for 7 hours and then took a 5 hour bus ride back. It was a good time but I will definitely not be going again this weekend. Everyone had really funny costumes and ours were kind of lacking but not much could be done about it. Some spanish girls stole them anyway.

There hasn't been much improvement in the weather, still rains every day. At least today is little warmer but I think it's about to pour again. : ( I am still so grateful I brought my umbrella, it's the only thing that I use every day. Apparently this is very unusual for Andalucia but I'll believe it when I see it. The residencia has improved a little bit, it's still quiet all the time but getting better. I've discovered that its easier to talk to the girls during the weekend when some of them go home. It's way less intimidating to join a conversation with 3 people than 10 people. My classes are not great but they are definitely manageable. And I planned out my schedule for next year so I don't have to worry about that anymore. I already missed a homework assignment though, I think I spend most of the time during my 8:30am class trying not to fall asleep and so I forget to listen. It's much harder to listen in Spanish than in English. When classes are in English it's easy to space out and still know what's going on. Luckily, I think having my classes in Spanish last semester really helped me improve my listening ability.

I am worried that I am not learning the language as quickly as I should be but then I remember I haven't even been here 3 weeks yet. It seems like it's been so much longer. I think most of the time I am just using the stuff that I already know and not trying very hard to try things I don't know. The same thing happened in Italy though and I eventually ended up learning a lot.

If it's not raining this weekend we might try to go to the beach for the day. It won't be super warm but I have heard it's so beautiful. Then the following weekend we are booked to go to Dublin. I can't wait!

I heard from some of the people I met at the intercambio and I think we are going to meet with Fabián y David el viernes to get coffee and talk a little bit. I am so looking forward to it, I love when I get the opportunity to talk in Spanish and don't have to worry about being right or wrong. I'm sure they will be able to help us a lot.

Anyway, time to go back to class. Hasta luego, or ta luego as they say here in Granada.

¡Que suerte!

This week was the first week of classes here and it was kind of a let down. The classes are very typical American classes with very typical American students. I was kind of hoping there would be some spaniards mixed in there. I got the worst possible schedule for traveling on weekends, class until 8pm on Thursday and class at 8:30am on Monday. The 8:30 one is every day(except Friday when we dont't have class) and I'm so sleepy in the morning. It's been rainy and dark so getting out of bed is muy dificil. My classes seem easy though so at least I won't be totally overloaded with work. These are the classes I am taking: Literatura española, Geografía de España, Producción oral y escrito(my favorite class), Civilización y cultura española y Nociones de gramática española. Three of them are repeats from last semester but I'm sure they will be different enough so that it'll still be interesting! I feel like I have already learned a lot in my grammar class, the professor is very laid back and doesn't really help with the answers. He kind of just waits until we figure it out on our own and then explains why. It's been a good refresher for little common mistakes. The teachers here love to play music during class, it's so cool.

Wednesday night we went to d'cuadros after dinner for tapas and tinto de verano. This place is my absolute favorite. The drinks are the best and only 2 euro, and then you get free tapas on top of that. And the tapas are the best I've had so far. It's perfect for when we are served a really bad dinner and we can just walk around the corner for some delicious food.

Last night we had an intercambio. ISA sets it up so that we can meet spaniards who want to practice speaking english, we meet and talk with them for a while in a bar setting and then we can plan to meet to practice english with them for 30 minutes and they practice spanish with us for 30 minutes. I think it'll be really helpful. I really need to work on extending my vocabulary, that's happening naturally here but I mean realllyyyyy extend it. I don't wanna waste time because I am only here for 4 months and I need to be an excellent spanish speaker come may 20th. We met two girls who we will probably meet up with next week, and one guy who spoke english really well so that should be easy.

After we went to d'cuadros(big surprise) for drinks and tapas. I think the constant and overwhelming inhalation of smoke made me sick so I cut out early and went home. Kind of disappointing because I was looking forward to going out.

I paid the deposit for the trip to Morocco which I am really excited for now. And I made a few other travel plans so it looks like the time is going to fly. The rain needs to end soon. It's been raining since Sunday night now. My umbrella is the most useful thing I brought with me and it looks like I'll be needing it again today but hopefully when Caitlin wakes up we can go do some shopping. I need a costume for Cadiz! But for now it's Friday morning and I don't have class again until Monday so I am in no rush to do anything.

"Tu gramática es muy baja"

Ughh we finally had our placement exam and classes start tomorrow. I can't wait for class, I just wanna know which ones I am in and who is in them with me. All the professors seem really nice, and one reminds me so much of my mom! I didn't do as well as I was hoping on the placement test, I was hoping to get into Hispanic Studies, which is the superior level, but I missed it by one point so I'm in Spanish Language and Culture. Supposedly if it's too easy I can try to move up but I doubt it will be. I realized today when they handed out the exam that I haven't used my brain since last semester ended at Umass. I forgot how to write an open response. At least she said my writing and speaking skills are very high but my gramática es muy baja. I tried to argue with her and explain that I haven't practiced spanish grammar since my class ended but no luck switching yet. I guess they placed me there for a reason but I'm stubborn.

After the exam Caitlin and I went to get coffee and talked for a long time, turns out we had a pretty similar situation to talk about. I feel like I finally enjoyed coffee how it is supposed to be here, we didn't even have to ask for la cuenta. He came over and asked if we wanted it. I still hate ordering food and drinks because I honestly feel like they purposely make it difficult. Like the tiniest mistake in pronunciation and waiter has NO idea what I am talking about. And then they finally realize and say it "correctly" and I can't hear any difference. Oh well.

I emailed our housing director about possibly switching to a family because this place is so depressing. And it's supposed to rain all week so I feel like it will only get worse. I doubt there is anything she can do but fingers crossed. On a positive note I found out they offer horseback riding at the CLM which is greaaaatttt.

This weekend vamos a Malaga, but it's also the Cadiz carnival so I don't know which one to do. Staying in a hotel with ISA sounds like heaven right about now but Cadiz is supposed to be insane and that would be pretty good too. No sé.

I can't figure out for the life of me why our señora neglects our room. She goes into every other room to clean the bathroom, make the beds and take out the trash but she hasn't been in here since the day we moved in. Weird, no? I need to remember to ask her today. Almost time for almuerzo!

Hasta Luego

No es como aparece

I am definitely homesick...I knew that was going to happen but I didn't think this quickly. I guess I am more "I miss my life" sick than anything else. I have such regrets on choosing to live in this residencía. Everything I was worried about(and they reassured me wouldn't happen) has come true. I am sincerely looking forward to classes starting to take some hours out of the day. Luckily that is only 2 days away. Ughh I miss my boyfriend, my dogs, my bed, my house, everything bagels, iced coffee and MY SHOWER!!!

Now I am not saying that I am not having a good time because I definitely am. Granada really is a beautiful city, lots and lots of life and character. My favorite place is still definitely the Albaicin/Sacramonte area. So incredible. Last night we ventured up that way to a discoteca that was inside of a cave. When you first walked in it was all caves and tunnels way into the hills and they played some sweet music and all the spaniards were down there(they know where it's at). When you went upstairs it was entirely glassed in and looked over the entire city with a beautifully lit view of the Alhambra. I had such a good time because it was definitely a very unique experience. They don't have many cave clubs in Massachusetts, or at least not that I know of. Backing uppp...before this we had gone to Chupiteria, which has 120 different chupitos(and is conveniently close to our residencia). With each one that you buy you get a coupon for 1 punto, between the 4 of us we racked up a solid 25 points. Luckily it was enough to get a sombrero. However, we decided to save our chupito points for next time so we can get a sweatshirt haha.

Backing up again...

The night before we went to Hannigans for karaoke which was entertaining to say the least, watching spanish men do reenactments of Summer Lovin' is quite comical. We signed up to sing Shaggy but those men were all over it and it took too long to make it down the list. SO we headed to another bar which was owned buy a Cuban and we got free drinks and free dance lessons out of it. Apparently Americans move their hips too much and their feet too little. We turned the dance lesson into a congo line. That has plenty of foot motion.

During the day we spend most of our time walking around, getting lost and finding our way again, sitting in the sun, or shopping. It's impossible to stay out of the stores. Looks like my US shopping habits have followed me here. So far I've resisted most things, I bought a pretty scarf and I am still on a mission for a perfect pair or boots.

We called it an early night because tomorrow there is a festival going on in the Sacramonte with comida tipica y una exposicion de flamenco. Were going to wake up before 1:30, go get coffee and croissants and make the treck up the hills. I would walk up there a million times over though to see that view again. Entonces, voy a dormir. Te echo de menos.

Muchos abrazos desde Granada

El sol brilla en Granada

Today was the best day. I now understand why this city is known for being so vibrant and busy. The sun was unbelievably bright and totally changed my mood about this whole Spain thing. Everything looked so much prettier. The morning started off slow because I was up early and no one else seemed to be alive so I just kind hung out in the dark until my roommates woke up. I took a shower in the miniscule shower(if you can even call it that) and flooded the bathroom. The best way I can describe it is like an in ground pool, it drops off suddenly and there's no grip so you have to balance yourself perfectly. Neither the "deep end" nor the "shallow end" are big enough to completely stand in so its really uncomfortable. Then on top of that the shower curtain is non existent and if you hit the shower head(which is inevitable since it comes to about my shoulders) it falls off and sprays all over the bathroom. Describing this now I probably wasn't as quiet as I thought I was this morning.

We went shopping a little bit and I got a black leather jacket which I totally don't need but really wanted! Then it was time for lunch and then a meeting with ISA. We had a surprise exam which we were told was a small quiz and ended up being 80 multiple choice and got progressively more difficult as it went on. Supposedly it was to test our level of Spanish, I thought thats what the placement exam was for? Who knows.

Then came the best part of my time here so far, we toured the Albaicin/Alhambra. It's the arabic area of the city and it is so beautiful! It's narrow winding roads uphill and the houses are gorgeous. They are called "carmens" and they are gated in mansions with the most beautiful colors and decorations. We looked over some of the walls to see inside one of them and it was incredible. Like a tropical paradise hidden behind white stone walls. This was nothing compared to what was at the top though. You get to a small plaza with a white church and when you turn the corner you are above the entire city with the Sierra Nevadas and the entire Alhambra right in front of you. It's right below the gypsy caves so they come down with jewelry and scarves and dance and sing. There were two men sitting on the wall playing the guitar. It all seemed so picturesque and fake almost but that really is the life there. I guess if I had nothing to do all day I would sit in that exact spot too : )