week dos

most important update: bought a hot pair of black leather boots... half off! All the stores here are having crazy sales. Rebajas! Rebajas! So I'll be sporting my new boots this weekend in Madrid. I definitely plan on spending all of Saturday exploring the Museo Prado and the rest of the weekend is open to see the rest of Madrid. The bus system here is great so we'll be taking the bus round trip for a good deal. Yesterday the weather was beautiful and sunny so I spent the day walking around and exploring all the local stores. That's why I came home with a new pair of boots :) Classes here are definitely picking up the pace. I'm writing essays practically every night, so that's keeping me busy along with socializing (obvi) haha. I'll be sure to post pictures again after Madrid. Keep the emails coming!

Some things I never expected but should have known upon coming to Granada

1. Postre, the after lunch/dinner dessert, is not a delicious chocolate treat. Postres here are always fruit, more specifically mandarin oranges. On a daily basis I consume 4-5 mandarins. At any given time during the day I have 2 mandarins on my person in my backpack. I don’t know if Ana Aragon, my host mom, is catholic or not, but I do know she believes in the power of vitamin C. I don’t have the heart to tell her I can’t possible eat 3 oranges per meal, so I take them and keep them in my backpack in case a friend gets hungry during class. The only problem, they too have abundant quantities of mandarins in their purses.
2. When it rains, it pours. Besides the oranges, the only other thing I consistently carry is my umbrella. Should have packed the rain boots, too.
3. I am immediately spotted as an Americana. Everywhere.
4. If enough chicas americanas want drinks for free, we usually get them. The trick is to go out in large groups. If the bar charges cover and no one wants to pay, as a group we decide to turn away and they doormen almost always come back with a better offer. This usually includes free entrance and one free chupito.
i. Vocabulario: chupito- shot
ii. Vocabulario más importante: chupito gratis- free shot
5. Some stores never open. So I have lived in my apartment for over a week now. I always have to pass a floral shop. Today was the first day I have seen the florist working. Every other I have walked and passed the store there were different flowers in the window, but never open for business. Everything closes on Sunday. Everything except the American owned store is closed from 2-4:30pm for siesta. On Saturdays, most stores do not reopen after siesta. So really, there is about a 2 hour window on Monday for me to get the things I need. However, every café also sells wine and beer. Beer and wine are always available.
6. “Raciones” versus “porciones” = “free” versus “way more then I want to pay for only potatoes”
a. If you order your drink first, food comes free! If you order food first, you’re a sucker. *this is only true for Granada.
7. Laundry is a multiple day long process. I turned in my laundry two days ago only to find it out on the line in the rain. This drying process seems to have its flaws. My socks and underwear situation is becoming increasingly desperate. I only hope for a day without rain to have clean clothes once again.
8. There is a bakery, hairdresser, tobacco shop, and newsstand on every corner. I certainly do not have any problems having bakeries so near. (Also, bakeries seem to have regular functioning hours. However, there are no stores that actually post their hours. For me, it’s been a game of guess and check.)
Thanks again for all of the emails. I love hearing how things are at home! I’ll try my best to keep uploading pictures so you don’t miss my pretty face :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/laurahoman

I updated pics in the Granada Album

first few days of class

So I had my first class on Monday and it's already Wednesday so things are getting into full swing already. I think I'll really enjoy the Spanish law and Spanish art classes. The law class will be a whole new set of vocab, how exciting! But I think it will be the most applicable. The art class has a field trip every Thursday. So we will get to go to a lot of historic sites in Granada for free, not a bad deal at all. Yesterday for Obama's speech we went to the most American bar we know, Hannigan and Sons. They had CNN broadcasted in English. It seems as though all the other American students migrated there too, so it was a great atmosphere to watch everything unfold. The bar had a good sense of humor about it too. They promoted the inauguration with signs with Obama's face "Obama Fiesta." The tapas of the day included hot wings! and chips and chili. We spent the rest of the night out at tapas bars. I already have a few favorites. I hopefully sent most of you my mailing address here, but just in case you didn't receive that email feel free to snail me anytime:
CEGRÍ
C/ Sacristía de San Matías, 12
18009 Granada
SPAIN

pics!

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Figuring it all out

I am more than excited to be stealing someone else's nearby wi fi at this moment. I am now moved into my señora's apartment and being the older woman she is, she does not have wi fi. Not many of us at our apartments do, so I'm not the only one. Apparently, central heating is a luxury here too. I have what appears to be a space heater, but really does not produce much heat at all. I hope to upload pictures as soon as the connect is fast enough. Maybe tomorrow I'll find an internet cafe and do some uploading. I wanted to do that this evening, but practically nothing is open on Sundays except the Alhambra (we went today!) and churches. The Alhambra is absolutely amazing. Today was a sunny and clear day. It was perfect for pictures and walking around. The temperature here is always fluxuating. Apparently here in Granada we are having one of the coldest winters in a while. It fluxuates between 32 F and probably 45 F. Sitting or walking in the sun it feels almost hot. Yesterday I was taking in the view from my apartment, which looks out on to the Sierra Nevadas, and felt so much warmer than I have been sitting inside the "heated" apartment. My room has some outrageous decor, plenty of little figurines like animals fighting each other, hand puppets of burt and ernie, robots, ET hanging from what looks like a noose, a cut out face of GI Joe, to name some of my favorites. I have my own bathroom, so I can pretty much come and go as I please. I have a beautiful walk (about 15 minutes) to the center of town and the school. I walk along a river and park with orange trees for the most part. So far things are good, but it's just so hard to figure some things out. I think they will just come in time. Today not knowing what or when things were open was entirely frustrating. When we finally did find a restaurant that was open, they don't use menus. I attempted to get a "go phone" yesterday but didn't bring my passport with me, so I was unable to get one. It is so hard to meet up with friends. We set a time an meeeting place for going out like in the old days. I'm getting around the city fairly well. Street names don't really matter here except for the main drags. All navigation is done by relation to parks and other things it seems because it's hard to even notice street signs. Next I'll have to conquer the bus system. One thing at a time. Today our group visited the Alhambra. Absolutely AMAZING. The pictures don't capture the depth. The views are just breathtaking. I look back at my pictures and think that I am just standing in front of backdrops. Unreal. I don't know if I will always have a connection at my apartment so hopefully I will soon find a way to consistently post and email. Thanks so much for all the emails

Mi primero escrito

Hola from Granada!
Just setting up here in the Hostel Atenas. The internet is slow but at least its in the room, or rather right outside the doorway haha. So I arrived safely yesterday afternoon with plenty of delays and plenty of waiting. The connection is way too slow to attempt to upload pictures, so I'll do that once it won't take an ungodly long time. Today we took our "survival tour" and I discovered my apartment is off the map and will be about a 20 minute walk to school. I will meet my senora on Saturday, so I'll let you all know what she's like. Maybe come up with a sweet lil nickname like senora Rosa (haha Jamie). Everyone on the trip seems really great and outgoing. Last night some of us went to a tapas restaurant together and shared each dish and some vino. We decided to walk around after dinner and explore the city. We turned in relatively early because we were all so jetlagged. Tonight we are planning on eating dinner at the "normal" time at 10pm and heading out from there. Granada is only the city left in Spain that gives free tapas with drink orders. How exciting. I can't wait to take advantage of it! Love you all!
;)
Laura