The Travel Bug :-)

Hello everyone! I hope this blog finds you all well! I am leaving tomorrow afternoon for Dublin and Paris...I can't wait! Tomorrow after class we will take the bus from Granada to Madrid. Then from Madrid we fly to Dublin and spend two days there :) We are going to an Irish dance show at a pub in Dublin on the second night, so exciting! After Dublin we are flying to Paris and staying there for 3 days! We are staying with a friend of a friend in Paris...it will be so nice to save some money. On October 6th we fly back to Madrid and take a bus back to Granada. We start school the next day, so I have a feeling I will be a little bit tired on the first day of classes ;) I will post pictures and write about my trip as soon as I get back!

xoxo,
Elena

Intercambio

Last Wednesday our program, ISA (International Studies Abroad) set up our first intercambio! An intercambio is where you meet up with a Spaniard who wants to learn English and you practice both languages. Our program sets up the first meeting, then it's our job to exchange numbers or emails with as many Spaniards as we can so we can practice speaking as much as possible! There were about 40 American students and 20 Spanish students on Wednesday. We went to a really neat teteria, an Arabic tea cafe. Jill and I just happened to sit next to these two guys who we ended up having a lot in common with. Their names are Fernando and Alejandro. They have both graduated from the University of Granada already with degrees in Engineering. Fernando was a Computer Engineering major and Alejandro was a Mechanical Engineering major. They both enjoy doing "outdoorsy" stuff, such as running, hiking, mountain biking, skiing etc. Jill and I were really excited to meet people who like doing "outdoorsy" activities because we haven't met many people who do. They are both really nice and really eager to learn more English. They both speak English very well, they are almost fluent. It makes it easy for us because when we forget a word in Spanish we can just say it in English and they know the translation! We usually have conversations in English and Spanish, we just switch languages whenever.

Since Wednesday we have gone out with them two times. Fernando introduced us to some of his friends and we went out for tapas on Friday night. Fernando lives very close to us (on the outskirts of town) so every time we have gone out at night he walks us home to make sure we get there safely...very sweet! I have already learned so much from them, even an awesome little shortcut on the way home from the center of the city! I have learned more about Granada, Spain and the Spanish culture in the last few times we've spent time with them, than I have the whole month I have been living with my host family! Last night we went to another teteria (Arabic tea cafe) that had an amazing view of La Alhambra, which is beautifully illuminated at night. After having tea we went to a plaza in Granada which was hosting a chocolate fair! We ate crepes with homemade chocolate...yummy! Then we met up with some of their friends and we went to a popular pizza place in Granada. They are really fun people, I can tell I am going to learn a lot from them! Here are some pics:


Fernando, me and Alejandro at the choclate fair!

The chocolate fair :)

Eating pizza with Fernando (aka "Fern")

Jill, Fernando and I at a tapas place

Fernando's group

Fotos de Granada

Some of the beautiful flowers in the gardens of La Alhambra :)


La Alhambra, one of the Moorish buildings...amazing architecture!

Fotos de Granada!

Jill and I in one of the many gorgeous plazas in Granada :)


Centro de Lenguas Modernas, my school!


This is our cozy room :-)


The famous "Churros con chocolate." The other day Jill and I went to get churros con chocolate with our two friends for the first time. When the waiter came up to us and asked us if we wanted four orders we figured that was right because we thought you would get one churro per order. Little did we know one order means five churros!!! ahhh we had wayyyy to many churros, enough to feed an army! hahaha they are really good though, very rich!


yummmy :-)

Hike in the Sierra Nevadas

Last Friday we went for a hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains with one of our directors. It was absolutely gorgeous! Our director's name is Christian but everyone calls him "titi" (it sounds a lot different in Spanish than the way we would pronounce it in English haha). He is really funny, especially when he tries to crack a joke in English with his British accent. Anywho, we hiked for about six hours through the mountains and stopped near a beautiful waterfall for almuerzo (lunch). Our host Mom, Mary, packed Jill and I a "bocadillo," which means sandwich. Of course it was a ham sandwich...haha I swear that's all they eat here. We were really lucky because last Friday was probably the last day of sun, it has been raining since Saturday! We saw some mountain goats on the way up which was fun! At first I thought they were deer from far away, but I was quickly corrected by "titi". The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking. The sky was crystal blue with beautiful clouds. There were a lot of pomegranate trees on the way up (Granada means pomegranate, hence the abundance of pomegranate trees here)! Here are some pictures from the hike :)






My friend Sherman and I on one of the many suspension bridges!


Where we stopped for lunch, beautiful!


Our director, "titi", pointing to the sign at the beginning of the hike

Granada pictures!

Pictures of La Alhambra, the famous monument in Granada which is a mix of Moorish and Catholic palaces. It was built in 1238 and is still gorgeous!

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