Yesterday, we had to get up and be at the school at 9:00 for orientation, now most of you think that you get see what the school looks like and hear about it...nope! We were put straight into a class from 9:00 to 11:30 to review material. We got a 30 minute break and then had to be back for class till 2:00, I got pretty tired by the end of the day. This school is so different that any school I have ever visited in the United States. If you have noticed all the close buildings from my pictures, the school is squeezed into these buildings just like any store or restaurant. The school is not all together either, it is spread throughout the town, but in the same area. I will have to get a picture of the building I have been going to orientation in. Tomorrow, we take our exam to see what level Spanish we will be taking, I described it in a previous blog. I am pretty nervous, but I think everything will be okay, the review the past two days has helped. After we got home from class, Ellie had yummy food for us! She made chicken paella which is like the vegetable paella in a previous blog, but this time with chicken and twice as good! Of course she had pan (bread) on the table, my favorite! Mom and Dad I promise I didn't eat the whole loaf, figured that would be rude. She also had the salad we had the night before the dinner on the table, but we were so full from paella and bread that we couldn't eat the salad. Ellie also poured us some really good red wine to go with our food and watermelon for dessert. Here, the women of the house usually goes to the market every day so everything is SO fresh! The watermelon was amazing! After lunch, Heather and I practically crashed and burned on our beds for a nice afternoon siesta! By the time we woke up it was time to meet our group to take a tour downtown and then go see Flamenco dancers! Downtown Granada was beautiful and we walked a long way. To get to where the Flamenco dancers were, we had to walk up this huge hill on cobble stone, definitely hoping that I am losing weight by walking everywhere and up and down hills. The Flamenco dancers were so interesting! If you are a dancer and know that tap dancing can be a little difficult to master, this is twice that! It was so cool to watch. After the Flamenco dancing, a group of us roamed around the city and some got ice cream. We then decided to go get a drink at a bar and some free tapas! It took us a while to actually find a place and on the way there these men were selling knock off designer bags. When I saw the Louis Vuitton knock off doctor looking bag, I couldn't help myself to try and bargain with him and get it for 35 euros. I am pretty excited, but probably won't wear it here in case a gypsy tries to steal it with all my belongings in there. All of us were pretty tired so we left the bar at 11:30 and headed back home to go to sleep. Sleeping with the balcony door open and hearing all the people, cars, and vespas is starting to sink in and I can fall asleep a little bit faster now.
Today, was a good learning experience day, but filled with lots of walking! We had to go back for orientation today from 9:00-2:00. When we were done, we got to eat our sandwiches that our families made for us, mine would have been delicious if Ellie had not put mustard on it. I gave it a try and ate about half of the sandwich, but the mustard just did not sit well with me. Heather and I are going to tell her if she has to make us another lunch on the go that we don't like mustard. After we got done eating, we started the treacherous walk up to the Alhambra. Keep in mind, I live down in the city and the Alhambra over looks all of Granada. It was a nice long hike up there, I just hope the hiking and walking will end up paying off. We toured Alhambra for 3 hours, or maybe a little more and we all were exhausted after. If you are not sure what the Alhambra is, here is some quick background information. The fortress was once red that the Muslim rulers built. Eventually some Christian rulers took over some of the Alhambra where King Charles resided. The Spanish eventually took over and painted the Alhambra white so the sun reflected off so the soldiers that guarded it did not get so hot. The pictures below show a lot of the inside of the buildings, it was built with mathematics and great symmetry. It is truly something for people to go see if you ever get the chance. On our way back home we stopped for some ice cream and to rest our feet for a little bit. We made it home and fell right to our beds and then Ellie came in to tell us dinner was ready around 9:00. She made us homemade bacon pizza, it was delicious! I also had a salad and since they do not really have salad dressings here, I put olive oil on top. For dessert, Ellie gave me an apple to eat, it was so delicious because it is so fresh! Now I am about to hit the books in preparation for my exam tomorrow. Prayers would be very helpful! I must get into the level in order to get my 6 hours credit or they will not transfer and coming over here to take classes and get my hours is the whole reason I am here. Will keep you posted on what is to come! We have not decided what to do on our free weekend yet. A group of us have about 3 options: Hike the Sierra Nevadas, go to the beach, or take a bus and go to some city close by like Malaga. Enjoy the pictures!
while roaming the city you find a lot of graffiti on the buildings, it was pretty cool
in front of the fountain downtown
flamenco dancing
she was my favorite!
alhambra from down below
walking around granada at night
it is sad to say that when a group of us walked around the corner and found this statue, we all had to look again because we looked at it the wrong way haha
this is Julio!
the fountain!
my rooms
the beginning of a lot of the pictures of the alhambra
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