Hola once again!

It seems that every day I see more and more of the beauty of Granada, and I spot new things all the time. Like on my walk to school I noticed a lemon tree that I hadn’t ever seen before even though I have walked past it at least twice a day. On my walk to lunch I listened to my iPod and just enjoyed my surroundings. Yesterday (Thursday) was magnificent, beautiful, fun, amazing, etc. I went on an excursion with my class to Albaycin. This is a community for higher up people in society, originally, but it is known for its beautiful scenery and views of the city. It is a short, but very steep climb up steps through the community. As our tour guide/professor explained it, we were going to see multiple views and they were going to go “sexy, sexy, sexy, boom”. I didn’t understand what he meant but we started climbing and the first shot was of the Alhambra which I think is close to the kingdom area. Our class is going to visit there in March. Anyways I thought that view was amazing, but no that was just “sexy uno”. The next view was “sexy dos”, etc. THEN! We get to an alley at the top when we are all completely exhausted. The alley way turns into a large patio area where some people from the community are playing music and socializing. As I turned on the patio, I understood. BOOM! Hooooly Crap! I could see the Sierra Nevadas for miles and miles. I saw the entire city of Granada from the north to the south, from the east to the west. I could see where the city ended and continued. If I could have, and I might later this semester, I would just sit there for hours upon end until the sun goes down and I can’t keep my eyes open. It was such a thrilling and peaceful place. Alas, we had to keep moving on for there are things to do and people to see.

After class we had our first “intercambio”. This is for us to start speaking Spanish more and become more comfortable with it. There were 5 University of Granada students that came and divided us into groups. I am in a group of 3 other girls that tested at the same level as me. Our student is Cari and she is studying English at the University. We started out in the classroom to exchange contact information, but then the entire class went to a bar for drinks and tapas. Tapas are small plates of food served to you when you only order a drink. It’s a cheap way to get food around here. That was a blast. Even though we could only communicate in Spanish it was a lot of fun. At the end, I felt very good about myself because of how well I “performed” during our intercambio. I don’t know if I should have tested higher and the other people I was with weren’t that great at Spanish, but I think I dominated the conversation and translated for Cari and the other girls in my group. These are required get togethers and I’m looking forward to the next one.

This weekend I plan on doing a lot more exploring and experiencing Granada. So far I don’t quite know the area except for my way to school and around school. I didn’t even know there was a restaurant literally right next to our house because I never turn that way to go to school. I would really like to know my area and explore in areas I haven’t been. Basically I want to get lost, but in a good way. In a way that I know my way back =)

I don’t know if I’m going to be able to access the internet over the weekend since the school is closed. I’ll post sometime next week…if I don’t fully get lost this weekend and end up in Portugal.

Hasta Luego!