first from granada
i'm here in one piece! vale!
today is my first full day in granada, and we're having our siesta (seriously why don't we have this in the u.s? it's the best). i think i'm actually going to take a nap so i'll make this short and sweet. my flights were all on time, and i was actually on the same flight as josh from my group, out of sfo (which we hadn't realized, b/c he's from corvalis...). it's nice to have someone you know on a flight that long, even if we didn't sit next to eachother. speaking of seat neighbors: i got stuck next to a guy with awful b.o. UGH. 11 hours! haha, lucky me. in frankfurt josh and i navigated our way through the maze of an airport and had a beer while we waited for our flights to madrid, but we weren't on that same flight :( my plane was like a freakin schoolbus, though, there were so many students. a couple from u of o, too, but they were headed to oviedo. so, we get into madrid and i got my luggage and everything was going well [actually, that was kinda creepy- i don't know if you all know about it but there was an ETA bombing in one of the terminals on new years day. i thought there'd be crazy security but i don't think i saw but one or two guards and i didn't go through any kind of customs at all...] i took a cab to the hotel where i was suposed to meet up with two people from my group... but they weren't there. i was so tired and stressed, i cried. it all ended up ok, though. i just got a room at the same hotel (nicest guys ever at the front desk) and ate dinner and then slept and slept. i woke up really early yesterday morning (sleep schedule is [still] wack!) and walked around the gran via in madrid. it was really neat, i'm going back to see more, but nothing opened until around 9:30/10am so i just meandered until i found a cafe that was open and had breakfast. let me tell you, the coffee here is a million times better than in the states. i had some churros and good fresh squeezed zumo de naranja, too. yum. then i took a cab to the bus station to catch a bus to granada, but missed the one i planned on taking and had to wait 40 minutes for the next one. i met a nice guy, though, and he bought me otra cafe while we waited. he was on his way to granada too but on a different bus. everyone here is very friendly, and muy simpatico to my abilities speaking their language. which, actually is not as big of an issue as i feared, plus it will get even easier, so that's excellent! kim (also from my class) was also on the second bus to granada, so we go to eat lunch together when the busses stopped mid trip. i took a cab from the bus station to my host house, and jackie was already there. it's so sweet! it's a flat, and kind of small (jackie and i share a big room, though) but very efficient and european. granda is...fantastic. we walked to our school this morning and it's about 15 minutes away, but we walk right through the main streets and it is perfect. i'll just be posting a lot of pictures because i don't think i can adequately describe it. there's narrow and cobble-stonned streets, and lots of fountains and parks and prommenades. after our siesta jackie and i are going to go out and explore/look for good cell phone deals AND tomorrow is Dia de los Reyes (look it up, but basically instead of santa bringing presents, the three kings bring 'em to the kids every year, just like they did for baby jesus) so tonight there'll be a parade with the three kings, complete with camels, and throwing out candy to the little kids. it'll be great, i love parades! oh, and my host family! we live with chony (divorced) and her 15 year old daughter paula (very cute, but just had her heart broken so she was in a sad state yesterday). chony owns a clothing store (sweet!) and is (and will be) super super busy with it because of dia de los reyes, and then the big january sale starts tomorrow. spain mainly has one month of sales every januray, all january. the rest of the year it's normal prices, so everyone goes nuts around this time. muy interesante, no?
bueno guapos, ya voy a dormir un rato, vale?
muchos besos, and maybe i'll update again soon. fotos next, probably!
xoxo
today is my first full day in granada, and we're having our siesta (seriously why don't we have this in the u.s? it's the best). i think i'm actually going to take a nap so i'll make this short and sweet. my flights were all on time, and i was actually on the same flight as josh from my group, out of sfo (which we hadn't realized, b/c he's from corvalis...). it's nice to have someone you know on a flight that long, even if we didn't sit next to eachother. speaking of seat neighbors: i got stuck next to a guy with awful b.o. UGH. 11 hours! haha, lucky me. in frankfurt josh and i navigated our way through the maze of an airport and had a beer while we waited for our flights to madrid, but we weren't on that same flight :( my plane was like a freakin schoolbus, though, there were so many students. a couple from u of o, too, but they were headed to oviedo. so, we get into madrid and i got my luggage and everything was going well [actually, that was kinda creepy- i don't know if you all know about it but there was an ETA bombing in one of the terminals on new years day. i thought there'd be crazy security but i don't think i saw but one or two guards and i didn't go through any kind of customs at all...] i took a cab to the hotel where i was suposed to meet up with two people from my group... but they weren't there. i was so tired and stressed, i cried. it all ended up ok, though. i just got a room at the same hotel (nicest guys ever at the front desk) and ate dinner and then slept and slept. i woke up really early yesterday morning (sleep schedule is [still] wack!) and walked around the gran via in madrid. it was really neat, i'm going back to see more, but nothing opened until around 9:30/10am so i just meandered until i found a cafe that was open and had breakfast. let me tell you, the coffee here is a million times better than in the states. i had some churros and good fresh squeezed zumo de naranja, too. yum. then i took a cab to the bus station to catch a bus to granada, but missed the one i planned on taking and had to wait 40 minutes for the next one. i met a nice guy, though, and he bought me otra cafe while we waited. he was on his way to granada too but on a different bus. everyone here is very friendly, and muy simpatico to my abilities speaking their language. which, actually is not as big of an issue as i feared, plus it will get even easier, so that's excellent! kim (also from my class) was also on the second bus to granada, so we go to eat lunch together when the busses stopped mid trip. i took a cab from the bus station to my host house, and jackie was already there. it's so sweet! it's a flat, and kind of small (jackie and i share a big room, though) but very efficient and european. granda is...fantastic. we walked to our school this morning and it's about 15 minutes away, but we walk right through the main streets and it is perfect. i'll just be posting a lot of pictures because i don't think i can adequately describe it. there's narrow and cobble-stonned streets, and lots of fountains and parks and prommenades. after our siesta jackie and i are going to go out and explore/look for good cell phone deals AND tomorrow is Dia de los Reyes (look it up, but basically instead of santa bringing presents, the three kings bring 'em to the kids every year, just like they did for baby jesus) so tonight there'll be a parade with the three kings, complete with camels, and throwing out candy to the little kids. it'll be great, i love parades! oh, and my host family! we live with chony (divorced) and her 15 year old daughter paula (very cute, but just had her heart broken so she was in a sad state yesterday). chony owns a clothing store (sweet!) and is (and will be) super super busy with it because of dia de los reyes, and then the big january sale starts tomorrow. spain mainly has one month of sales every januray, all january. the rest of the year it's normal prices, so everyone goes nuts around this time. muy interesante, no?
bueno guapos, ya voy a dormir un rato, vale?
muchos besos, and maybe i'll update again soon. fotos next, probably!
xoxo