GRANADA

I do apologize for Brad´s super speedy and not super informative blog...but that really was mostly what happened outside of orientation sessions that lasted most of the day.

After speaking to my mom the other day, I realized that many of you still have no idea what our living situation and the environment is like in Granada...so here it is!

We left Malaga in the late afternoon and came straight to Granada. The ride was beautiful and relatively short. We dropped off all of the other students to meet their host families and then we continued by bus to our dorm, Residencia Carlos V. Miriam (we love Miriam) brought us into the office and helped us take care of lots of logistical things. Then Nathan, Brad, Christina (another IES girl) and I were escorted by the office woman to our rooms, which happened to be in the same hall. As the woman showed Nathan and Brad their rooms, Christina and I met 2 girls who live in the hall. They are from some part of Spain that speaks even faster than Andalucians so I was pretty lost. Miriam introduced us and then I awkwardly put my hand out to shake Nuria´s hand, and she went in for besos....it was awkward. (sorry for people who had to read that story for the second time).

Anyway, the rooms are really nice. Brad and Nathan share a HUGE room and Christina and I have little rooms that are very cute and nice. We all have a bathroom, refrigerator, and microwave as well. I wish that American dorms were this awesome! We also get our rooms cleaned every Friday. We spend that first night hanging out, and Miriam ordered us a pizza.

The next day we were delighted to have delicious residencia breakfast. (Ken, this part is for you) Every day we can eat toasted bagettes with any combination of tomato spread, butter, jam, cheese, and ham (math nerds who are reading this, that means there are 128 different combinations of bread toast). Furthermore, there is always one type of cereal which is usually pretty bad, but for a week we had frosted flakes...yum! Then there are 3 different types of donuts, and best of all...MUFFINS. They are the most delicious muffins in the world. Finally, there is a station with coffee, milk, hot milk, hot water, tea, etc. (again, so many mathematical options). Brad gets cocoa, I get coffee, and Nathan has been making tea. In all, it is all quite delicious.

Anyway, we arrived in Granada on Thursday night, and Friday morning we met at the IES center to continue with orientation. IES is about a 30 minute walk away from the Residencia, and it is very close to the center of town. It is located in the Plaza Nueva and there is a great view of the Alhambra from the "terraza." Anyway, orientation class was meant for a bit of grammar review (before the big placement test), to get us familiar with important vocab, give a bit of city orientation, and to get us out and speaking with Spaniards. We would have a variety of assignments such as "go order coffee and find out what the different types of coffee are here" or "go fake shopping at _____ store" etc. We would also meet at night for Paseos and walk around to beautiful places that we probably would not have explored on our own. In all, it was beautiful.

The first week was a great way to explore and enjoy the town, and the FREE TAPAS that come with drinks at night. (If you didn´t know, Granada is the only city in Spain that does this, which if for no other reason, makes it the best!)

That is all for now. We will be posting soon about our individual experiences and more places we´ve seen.