El Tercero

So here I go again, trying to pretend as if I know what I'm doing for this whole blog thing. I decided I am going to try really hard to make this post even better than my first couple, so here it goes!


The past week has been a really good one! Classes have been going well; they aren't too hard, but I do feel like I am actually going to learn something from them in the end.  I also feel as if for the most part, I've really lucked out with my schedule (one class MW and 4, all in blocks, on TR) and teachers (my favorites being Elsa and Nerea). So all is good on that front.


As for my host family, I am still absolutely in love with them! My host mother is one of the nicest women in the world, and she'll do almost anything to make sure that I'm comfortable and having fun.  My dad is a little bit quieter and he works a lot, but he is always super kind and generous as well.  And as for the two boys, they are adorable and so much fun- they're my little buddies! If there's ever a moment at the apartment where I start to feel bored or wish I was doing something else, I can just hang out with the boys a little bit and they always distract me and cheer me up. As promised, here are some pictures my little ones:

Alejandrito <3 <3

Reppin' the ILLNI gear :)

And Javi Bebe! Stepping on his brother, nbd.

Alejandro drawing all over my journal, as usual.

<3

My guys.. They're pretty much the best. Except when they wake up at 9 am and start either crying very loudly, or screaming while playing. You can pretty much always count on that.  But luckily my love for them outweighs that! :)

Anyways... This past weekend was a lot of fun!  A lot of people began their traveling this weekend, but some of us stayed back once more and decided to start next weekend. The only unfortunate part was, of course I did not bring out my camera at ALL.  But I can give a little summary: Friday consisted of about 12 of us going out to get tapas, searching for a bar that no longer exists in Granada, and ending up spending the entire night at Tantra. With lotsss of cheap beers.  Saturday stayed more relaxed, just going out to get tapas with Meg, Madeline, Logan, and Bruce at a GREAT Chinese food place, where they let you choose your tapa (!) and give you a big portion of it, too. Then, Sunday was the most interesting night out of them all..

First, me, Meg, Logan, Madeline, and Esteban met around 11 at Burger King (central spot. Didn't get food there, though. Really).  There, we made our first Spanish friends! Sure, they were all about 16 years old and we're pretty sure we became friends just because we wanted things from each other, but hey, they were Spaniards! We then all met some other people in our program at a plaza to pregame.  This lasted until about 1, but of course that is far too early to go to a discoteca in Spain..  So we stopped by a local bar (with a foosball table in it.. How cool) and then around 2 ish, finally got to El Kapital.  Now THIS discoteca was unlike any that I've seen so far.  Can you picture in movies the stereotypical raging club with lit up stages, people dancing on them, the DJ booth way up high, crazy lights everywhere, and everyone fist-pumping (or was that just us?)? Well, that's what this bar was like.  I didn't take any pictures, but here's the most similar thing I was able to find:

People were pouring into the bar all night long. There was still a line when Meg and I decided to leave around 3:30 am. (Which we've learned is FAR too early to leave a discoteca, and that next time, we're going to start our night a lot later so we can last longer!)

Then was the disaster that is Meg and I... So we're walking home, and it's a fairly far walk and we're tired. So part way through, we decide, let's grab a taxi the rest of the way! Knowing that it's cheap, and we each have 2 euro left, we grab one.  Once inside, we notice that for some reason, the price is already at 2-something euro. As we start to drive, we notice the price going up .10 euro about every 4 seconds (even at red lights). Then, when he finally does stop, about 1.50 more is added to the price.  While beginning to panic and get out of the car, Meg drops a euro underneath the seat.  This was accidental, but we can pretend it was on purpose because it was actually genius/our only escape.  We didn't have enough money for the man at all. So we pretend that we dropped a 2 euro coin, awkwardly search for it as long as we can, then luckily the driver told us "esta bien".  We ran out of that taxi unlike anyone has ever done before. Americans.....

So it's been a good weekend overall! Today was a day of just relaxing, hanging out with my host family, and going for a run/playing soccer in the park for a while.  Hopefully it's done raining, like it has been the past couple of days here!

Next weekend is my trip to Madrid, where I plan on seeing all of the sites and going to the Real Madrid game! I am BEYOND excited and will have plenty of photographs upon my return.

Until then, adios!

El Segundo

So I've officially come to the conclusion that I am one of the worst bloggers ever. It just hasn't been quite high enough on my priority list. And so i keep taking a really long time between posts and summarize everything, making it less interesting. So sorry about that! But here I continue with my general overviews...


Granada is still amazing as ever. I love all of my friends, my classes, my host family, all of it.. The past couple of days have been a lot of fun. We've been getting tapas a lot, pregaming outside in random plazas, and revisiting all of our favorites such as Hannigan's, Tantra, Paddy's, etc. We've been hitting up the discoteca called, Granada 10 a lot. Most of the time staying there until 4-6 in the morning. One of the highlights from last time was when all of our group ended up dancing together on the dance floor and randomly decided to form a huge dance circle, and then proceed to shout "I-L-L....I-N-I!" Weird foreigners... Haha. Usually a night there includes too many tequila shots and lots of dancing- we can always count on leaving one of the discotecas with plenty of stories.


Another interesting thing we did a couple days ago, after classes were done for the day, was when our entire program got free tickets to see a Flamenco show. It was pretty interesting. I've never really seen dances like that. It's hard to explain.  So instead, here's a visual:

[[ I HAD a video here but of course it didn't work.. Instead, you can look at this youtube video. It's a small sample of almost the same performance we saw. ]]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2gqQ8rH0nE


Today was an interesting day as well.. First off, it snowed. My host dad told me that it snows about twice a year MAYBE in Granada. I still can't get over the fact that it rained on palm trees.. It was a little depressing because I wanted to finally play soccer today. But I suppose I can wait just one more day.  After siesta and then hanging out with my host family for a while, the majority of our program ended up going to the Irish bar in town, Paddy's, to watch the Bears vs. the Packers game, to see who makes it to the Superbowl. Unfortunately, the Bears lost, but it was still a really exciting game!


Tomorrow is Monday, aka the second week of classes begins.  Need to wake up a little earlier tomorrow to actually do my homework! So that's all for now!

¡Mi Primer Post!

Well, I've been out of the country for about a week right now, and I am lonnnng overdue for an update.. Although I've had a decent amount of time to relax, I still do feel like I have been pretty busy.  Blogging had to wait. But now, it's time to catch up! I'll start from the top...


January 12th- We arrived at "Hostal Atenas".  It was my first time in a hostel, and it was somewhat like I expected: small, cold, internet was shitty.. but something about it was endearing.  I think it had to do with 2 main components: 1-The fact that I was finally doing something completely independent really made me feel good the whole time I was there. The fact that things were uncomfortable, and I was still able to survive, made me feel more mature and confident in myself. 2-The hostel was the perfect way to become closer with everyone in my program. And I really love everyone in it.


The three days in the hostel were a lot of fun. Meg and I shared a tiny room with only two outlets and barely any heat, but we ALL ended up going out together and had a great time.

January 15th- Drumroll please....... We met our host families! I was extremely nervous, but overall, the first meeting and the rest of the first day were not bad at all! It was hard to understand my host mother at all in the beginning, but now, several days later, I'm more comfortable asking her, and the rest of the family, to please repeat or talk slower and I'm understanding more and more every day. Also, I am absolutely in love with my family.. There is the mother, father, and two little boys, Javi (age 4) and Alejandro (22 months). The little boys are ADORABLE and I already feel attached to them.. The mother and father are also two of the sweetest people ever. I don't know how I plan on leaving them.. Pictures of them soon to come.


The past week has been great. We started out by going on several tours throughout Granada. We visited the Alhambra and all sorts of other touristy spots in Spain.. Unfortunately, I don't have time tonight to list all of the specifics, but I'll show some of my favorite pictures:

I am in love with the palm trees here. I didn't know they could grow in areas that can get as cold as 40 degrees at night.. There are palm trees, next to orange trees, next to evergreens, and you can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance...all while its a perfect, 60 degree day. What could be more perfect than that? This picture is the of the path I walk down to class every day. The river is another one of my favorite parts.

Granada is gorgeous in every way.

Even the city at night.

And the Alhambra was unreal.. Buildings from the 1400-1500's, at the highest point in Granada:

And then, of course, going out in Granada is great.. It's just the beginning and we've mainly only gone to English-speaking bars so far [which needs to change.. and hopefully it will starting tomorrow], but the few places we have gone so far have still been a lot of fun.  A big part of it being fun, besides the city itself, is the group that I'm here with.  I definitely have a great group of old friends that came with me, and now new friends I've made here, that are making this experience so amazing:

Well, that's all for now! More later.

Me encanta Granada <3

First Post

I leave for Granada in 2 days! More posts and pictures to come.