Granada :-)

We have been in Granada for a little over two weeks now, wow I can't believe how fast time flies! Here's a little bit about my experience so far in Granada. Jill and I share a room in our host family's apartment. Their apartment is really modern compared to most apartments in Granada, they even have a dishwasher and dryer! Our host Mom's name is Mary, Dad is Antonio, daughter is Laura and son is Antonio Jr. At first we were really excited that our host family has kids our age, Antonio is 20. We thought they would take us out and show us around the city or give us tips on the best places to go. However, neither of them seem to take much interest in us (They are pretty spoiled!). They have been housing international students for over six years, so I have a feeling they are a little over it. Our host dad is really nice and often starts conversations with us at the dinner table, we especially love to talk about soccer! Our host mom, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care too much to get to know us. Our host family is a lot different than most of the other families in the program because most only consist of a Señora, who's children have probably moved out of the house. Either way, it has been fun experiencing what life is like in another culture.

Experiencing the food here has been quite an adventure. Breakfast is not really a meal at all here, Mary leaves us crackers or a little muffin. It's hard for us to get used to that because Jill and I both love a big breakfast. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, around 3pm. Dinner is very light, which is nice because they don't eat dinner until around 10pm! Jill and I have been going to the grocery store to get snacks, because it is so hard to go all day with no food until lunch at 3pm! We are dying for some vegetables! Mary does not make veggies or salads often because her kids do not like them. The diet here basically consists of carbs and more carbs haha. Jill and I are probably going to ask her if we can have more salads and veggies, because my stomach just can't handle all the starch.

School has been really fun so far. We go to class from 9am - 1pm Monday through Friday. We don't have much homework right now because we are in the "intensive month" where the professors just concentrate on getting the students up to par with speaking Spanish. When our semester starts on Oct 7th, I will definitely have a lot of homework! It takes about 25 minutes to walk to school. It is a very nice walk, uphill for the most part...but it's a good workout! We have a beautiful river behind our house where I like to go for runs. It has been really stormy and raining a lot the last couple of days, thunder and lightening!! The cool weather has been a nice change because when we first got here it was blistering hot! With no air conditioning in the apartment, we were hot and sweaty all the time!

Last Friday we went for a hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains with one of our directors. It takes about 20 minutes on a bus to get there. We hiked for about six hours, it was beautiful! I will post some pictures of the hike. The other day we tried churros con chocolate for the first time. They are so rich...my dad would love them! They give you a cup of chocolate that tastes a lot like really thick hot chocolate and you dip your churro in the chocolate...talk about fattening!

Jill and I just finished planning our trip to Dublin and Paris! We have a week break with no school from September 30th to October 6th, so France and Ireland here we come! We found some really good deals on flights but we have to take a 5 hour bus ride from Granada to Madrid to fly out of Madrid. We are staying in Dublin for two nights and Paris for four nights! We have a free place to stay in Paris with a friend of a friend of Jill's. It will be really nice to save some money there. I can't wait! Well I have to get some homework done...pictures are coming! Love you and miss you all!
xoxoxo,
Elena