A Taste of Spain: Temporary Home

Hola! I just realized that it has been a week since my last entry...time really does fly! The end of last week was spent continuing to check out the city. We are finally at the point where we feel like we don't have to carry our maps with us everywhere, and we look less like tourists everyday! It has been kind of like starting freshman year all over again...new city, new people, new places to go, and a whole lot of uncertainty! This weekend we checked out a couple new tapas bars, and even picked out the one where we want to become regulars. It has delicious sangria and the best tapas we've found. It is called La Antigualla, and it's a medieval-themed bar that essentially serves you an entire meal with your drinks. We even got crab one night! We also went to one of the more popular discos in Granada, Granada Diez (Granada Ten, or even G10 for us Americans!). It's a pretty cool venue that I hope to visit again! Sunday was a day to relax and gear up for the start of classes on Monday. I was exhausted, and there's honestly not much to do around here on Sunday since everything is closed. You know how, in America, on Sundays you ALWAYS crave Chick-Fil-A but it's closed? Try that with everything!! Just another adjustment to make :) A definite highlight of Sunday was the Super Bowl. It didn't start until 12:30 AM here, and I hesitated to go out and watch it. I'm really glad I did, though! We met up at an Irish pub to watch the broadcast...which was on a British TV channel. So, I was sitting in an Irish pub, in Spain, watching American football, with British commentators and commercials. Quite the cultural moment! I came home at halftime (to be fair, it was 2 AM) since I had school the next day!

Monday morning came bright and early! I'm always a little nervous for the first day of school/classes, and this was no exception. However, I really enjoyed my three classes on Monday (History of Spanish Art, Spanish Speaking/Writing, and Islamic Culture in Spain). My professors were amazing and I think I'm going to be learning a lot! Today I had two classes, Spanish Grammar and Spanish Literature. My classes are all an hour and a half long (this is a huge struggle for me...that's a long time to sit still) and meet twice a week. I don't have class on Fridays, which is amazing! It will make it a lot easier to travel. Speaking of travel, I made plans for two more trips today! I booked a flight with my friend Claire to Barcelona for the last weekend of March. We'll fly out of Granada Thursday night after a week of midterms and return Sunday afternoon. We're already counting down the days! We also have a long weekend at the end of this month (no school Feb. 28th), and a bunch of us are going to hop on a bus and go to Seville. I'm running out of weekends for trips...it is amazing how quickly you can fill up four months!

Things here have been pretty great. I think I'm finally getting adjusted to the different aspects of Spanish culture. Now it seems normal (well...more normal) to eat lunch at 3 pm, hang dry my clothes, and watch the entire city shut down mid-afternoon. Today was the first day I took a real siesta and it felt fantastic. I also made my first purchase from Zara today...for those of you who haven't heard about it, it's like if Forever 21 and H&M combined. There are literally 3 stores on the same street in Granada! We have heard that all the sales end at the end of February, so we are buying the clothes we think we so desperately need! Hard to resist. Anyways, I am so glad to have started classes...does that statement make me lame? I'm loving having a routine and even a little (and I do mean little) amount of homework to do. The food has, of course, been amazing. Nati remains one of the most amazing cooks I have ever encountered. Today she made us homemade pizza again...and she also told us that I eat the "best". and by "best" she means "most"! Spainards get really concerned if you're not eating a whole lot! I've also had my share of pastries and churros...I'm trying to keep it in check, but every time I walk by a shop with yummy chocolately desserts in the window, it is so hard to resist!

Okay, well this post is getting a little long so I'll end with some pictures. I've been really terrible about taking pictures around Granada, but I promise to do a better job in the next few days! For now, here are some shots of my humble abode :) Love and miss you all so much!