Hello from Granada! I only left home last Monday, but it seems like so long ago. So much has happened! I will try to be better about updating, but for my first post, I will recap the week. First, though, the title of my blog (thanks for your help Rachel J You know my sense of humor so well!): Granada is a city within Andalucia, Spain (Andalucia is a province/”autonomous community” in Spain). It can be pronounced different ways, but I would say it like the title of the blog: On-the-loo-SEE-ya. As to the purpose of this blog, I’m hoping I write often enough to treat this as a sort of diary—a log of my adventures in Spain. So I can look back at it or something. People do that, right? Also, to keep in touch with you beautiful people. J Most importantly, though, this will be mostly pointless (and especially the post), so reading is probably only for the most patient of people. That being said…

I left XNA on Monday afternoon, January 23^rd, for Chicago. From Chicago to Madrid. A crazy run through Madrid airport for a flight to Malaga, where I arrived at 11am on January 24^th in Spain (4am for you in the Central time zone). How exhausting! So naturally, the new arrivals and I were told not to sleep. They said we would get over jet lag more quickly. And I guess they were right, but I honestly remember very little of my first day in Spain because I was beyond tired. We walked around Malaga (a city about an hour south of Granada, very close to the beach) and ate “comida,” the biggest meal of the day which is a very late lunch for Americans, at about 3. We returned to the hotel and left shortly after for another tour of Malaga, seeing some of the monuments and then broke into small groups for “tapas,” a small late dinner, kind of like appetizers. Finally, we were allowed to sleep.
In Malaga:

On Wednesday, we had some sessions of “orientation” in Malaga, especially relating to Spanish culture and rules/suggestions/norms for the homestays. For example, we ALWAYS wear slippers at home. My roommate forgot hers and our “padres” were so worried that her feet were cold. Also things like: respect the hours of siesta (2 to 5), take short showers, always greet your family upon arriving and always say goodbye before leaving, etc. Also, here, they eat with both hands on the table. Which is a challenge for me. Anyway…after the mini orientation, we all boarded buses and went to Granada to meet our familias. Finally.

I am living with an older couple who have four children and several grandchildren; the children and grandchildren visit often. Other than the fact that my WiFi at the house is a little tricky (I usually have to sit in a staircase to use it), I really like my homestay. My madre feeds me entirely too much; my padre jokes with me even though I sometimes don’t understand, and both are incredibly patient with me impoverished vocabulary and horrible speaking skills. I feel like I am learning so much, though, so it will be fantastic. Also, on a side note, the Spanish accent in Granada is very…relaxed and fast. They drop a lot of final consonants and talk extremely quickly, so it is hard for me to hear, but I think I am improving.

In Granada, the Cathedral!

Thursday, we had orientation classes—more about the culture and focusing on the Spanish family. And we discovered that in Spain, they have a “mid-morning” tea and coffee break. Kind of like second-breakfast, actually. I say “mid-morning” because it is actually around noon. In Spain, “morning” is from the time you wake up until comida. From comida to around eight is the afternoon, and from eight until sleeping is night. (For greeting purposes, anyway. Buenos dias, buenas tardes, buenas noches. Entienden?) After class, my roommate and I returned home for comida and siesta. Later, we met some friends to shop and go to “tapas.” In Spain, the drinking culture is much different than that of the U.S. Drinking to get drunk is very rare here. Many bars in Spain (which are actually like restaurants in the U.S.) have “tapas,” and in Granada, many have FREE tapas! When you order a drink, they bring an appetizer for the table. Usually, Granadinos will meet (small groups, two or three people) and order a drink and have tapas and spend 2 or 3 hours in a bar talking. I really like the tapas bars and I can’t wait to make a few Spanish friends to go out Spanish style and practice my speaking and listening.

Friday we had more orientation classes and after comida and siesta, I returned to IES (my program’s center) to go on a walk/tour of Granada. We went to the Albacyn. It’s an extremely famous place for viewing the Alhambra, which is right here, in Granada! It was crazy beautiful, but the pictures I took are very blurry. I will go again earlier in the day and post a picture at some point. We also walked by the Cathedral—Que precioso! I can’t wait to attend Mass there at some point.

"Un barrio en Granada:" Basically, a picture in a Granadan neighborhood

On Saturday, we had a field trip to la Alpujarra. We went to the mountains (north of Granada, I think. Haha) and hiked. Kind of. We took a bus for about an hour and a half and then went on an intense nature walk (not so much a hike) for about two and a half hours. It was exhausting and beautiful. I will post pictures at some point, one or two here and many on Facebook. We returned to Granada at around seven. Here, it’s very uncommon to eat that early (even though it seems perfectly logical to me). My roommate (who I will refer to as Nicole from this point…since that’s her name, haha) and I returned home and cleaned up before going out for tapas at 10pm. And we were even out kind of early. We went to a couple of places with a group of about ten. I am old and came home “early,” a little after two.

This morning, I slept a little later and then WENT TO MASS!!! At the church where my “madre” usually goes, although she didn’t go with me this morning. I really need a Missal, though. I understood the prayers and the reading, kind of, but I couldn’t pray with them...I had to mutter English under my breath. It was a little strange. Hopefully by the time I leave, I will be a pro at Spanish Mass, though. J That brings me to now. My family is upstairs and some of the children and grandchildren are here. And we are about to have comida. So I will say, “Hasta luego!” and hopefully update again soon.

I miss you all very much! Love and peace!