El Albaicin

So today we went on a tour of El Albaicin which is a district on the mountain facing the Alhambra. It was amazing. My pictures will say the most about it! Yesterday, we got another student living in our house. She is from China and she is really nice! She is studying Spanish here in a four year program! It is good to have her here because we are forced to speak Spanish with her (she knows little English) and she is much less intimidating to talk to. This weekend was really fun! The nightlife is taking a lot out of me though since people do not meet until 12 or 1 o'clock in the morning! The tour today really showed me how much there is to see! And I am excited to go on the next one. It is very helpful that they are in Spanish and led by a professor who always makes sure we are keeping up. I also became facebook friends with the girl who stayed in this house last year. She is really helpful in telling us what to expect, and who to go to for certain things we need. (like my laundry!!!) There are a lot of nice girls in the ISU program and everything is still going well! :)

Escuela y comida

Hey everyone! So I started school yesterday, and I placed in an advanced level for the intensive language course. There are only 9 of us in the class because all of us are split up by level. I would say I'm about middle of the road with experience and everything. The class is perfect for me. I can understand everything that's going on and we are talking pretty much the whole class which is what I need to practice. Until January 29, I will be taking this class from 9-1 monday through friday, and then we have no school until February 9. 3 of us are planning a trip to Italy for those ten days. Everything is going well so far. I love so many things here - everything is so beautiful and much cleaner...but I miss a lot of things too like using as much water as I want and driving in a car and all of you of course! The food is still really good. We have very big lunches and what they call "smaller" dinners which are really like normal for us! We had spaghetti one night, GRILLED CHEESE the next (with some type of white cheese - not american of course lol but still good), and today we had a type of chicken soup and the traditional spanish tortilla. Lunch yesterday was like homeade chinese food. We had white rice and something like sweet and sour chicken with pineapple and peppers and stuff - it was sooo good. For lunch today, I tried fish - a lot of it!! They made a type of bread rice, with a bunch of sides to mix in. There was pico de gallo, peppers, chorizo (which i dont really like - it's spicy sausage), bacalao (cod!) and these little fish that had weird names. They were fully in tact with eyes and everything. We had to peel the sides off making sure we didn't get any of the tiny bones in the meat. I liked it more than Katie did, but they definitely tasted very fishy. The cod was better because it was in squares and fried. I am proud of myself for trying it, but I am still dreading the day they serve a full pig. There is literally one sitting on the kitchen counter. It's been there since we got here. They told us that as long as we try everything, they will not be offended if we don't like it. I try to eat as much as I can to make my Senora happy, but the servings are gigantic!! I don't know why everyone says we eat such large servings in the U.S. - I think that only applies to McDonalds haha. Well it is about 11:00 at night now, and I am going to meet some friends for tapas - even though I really don't think I can eat anything else! Miss you all <3

Mi Casa (My House)

Wow my house! It is gorgeous and the food is wonderful!!! :) We took the 5 hour train ride from Madrid to Granada this morning and when we got here we were all very nervous. We paired off by roommate and took taxis to our homes. Granada is more like Madrid than I was expecting. It is still very city like...just smaller scale. So all of the apartments are above storefronts. We had no idea how to get up to the apartment and we couldn't find our building number either. I didn't want to keep walking around with all of my luggage so I decided to ask for help. I asked a woman who was using her key to go up to her apartment if she could tell me where Pavaneras 1 was, and there we were talking to our new "sister." We had no idea of course because she just said this is it! And we walked up together very confused. When she led us into her apartment, we finally realized that we were living with this woman and it was very awkward. Spanish is even different here than it was in Madrid! It's going to take some getting used to. But anyways, we came in and met her sister, but the Senora was not home....we still have not met her. Apparently she loves to shop and she has been taking advantage of the Rebajas (huge sale that started today and lasts until Februrary) :) I think we are going to get along. We have a little dog named Nicotina and we call her Tina. The sisters are I think in their 30s and they are very nice. They served us lunch which was soup, a spanish tortilla made of eggs, potatoes and onions, and a tomato and onion salad. This was around 3:30 and then one of the sisters (we still dont know their names) walked us to the post office where we were meeting as a group to walk to school so we know where it is. We are the only ones who live on the same street as the school. We have about a 3 minute walk while others have up to a half hour!! Tomorrow I will take my placement test at 9:00 AM. Katie and I share a room which is small, but furnished with antique wood furniture. The apartment is very large and decorated beautifully. We have internet here, which is very rare, and I am almost positive that hosting students is more of a hobby than a business for this family. I feel so lucky and excited!!

Madrid 2

I'm finally getting adjusted to the time change. Yesterday we tried to eat dinner at 7:00 PM and we were the only ones in the cafe eating dinner!! We had to get up to let them set the table because people don't eat dinner until 9 or 10 at night. Most restaurants don't even open until then, but people were drinking coffee and eating three kings bread in this particular cafe. The crowd around the parade was so crowded that we decided to watch it on TV in the cafe. I ordered chicken wings and potatoes (I wasn't really sure what I was ordering bc the menu was in Spanish, but I saw pollo (chicken) and that sold me) Today we ate at the restaurant in the hotel and it was amazinggg! I bartered with a vendor on the street yesterday and bought a purse for 10 euro instead of 15. We also went out to a few discotecas and bars last night. We went out at 12:15 and we were the first ones there! I didn't go to sleep until 6:00 AM so even though I woke up today at 3:00 in the afternoon, I still only got 9 hours of sleep. I am going to bed early tonight because I meet my host mom tomorrow! We are taking a train there at 9:00 AM and it is 5 hours long. I am excited to unpack and get settled. I will let you know how it all goes! Cross your fingers that there's not a pig with an apple in its mouth waiting for me when I get there! haha

I made it to Madrid!

So I'm here in Madrid, and it is beautiful! Today is basically Christmas Eve here and the streets and stores are packed! The plane was an experience. I found it really hard to sleep so last night was really the first night I have slept in days. We got here and went to find somewhere to eat and we ended up getting pizza from this small shop which was nothing like the pizza at home so good thing i got Beggars in before I left! I am having a hard time with the food. Almost everything they serve at the hotel has ham on it. But I did eat a piece of pizza with tuna and pepper on it today! Everything is so different! Katie blew a fuse in our room the first night with her blowdryer. It is harder to understand people than I thought and when we speak to them, even in Spanish, it is hard for them to understand us. I love Madrid but I am excited to get settled in Granada where it won't be so busy. There are a lot of super nice girls in the program. I bought a phone and I can recieve calls and texts for free! So if you have a phone card or free international long distance or something you can call me. The number you have to dial from the U.S. is 011 -34 - 633123820 I miss you all so much! We are about to leave to go to a huge parade through the middle of the city so I will tell you more later. <3