My School- El Centro de Lenguas Modernas

The Courtyard with doors to classrooms

The streets of Granada

First Days

After the adventures arriving in Granada, I am finally here in a stunning region.  As I walk down cobblestone streets, I glance back and see the Spanish Sierra Nevada mountains.  These are snow-capped and truly majestic.

The city is basically built on a hill.  My apartment is at the base of the hill, and as you walk up the busy streets, the city slowly becomes older.  The buildings vary from colorful stucco, to Romanesque marble, to Moorish arches of stone.  My school is about half-way up the hill, about a 10 minute walk from my apartment.  The school- Centro de Lenguas Modernas- is a large white stucco building centered around a covered courtyard.  The courtyard has a large white marble fountain and a mosaic floor.

There are 30 students in my program from various regions of the US.  We have students from Arizona, California, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, South Dakota...and of course, Virginia.  Eight of us arrived late and together we participated in orientation on Thursday.  After orientation, we were taken to a Spanish restaurant where we were served salad (lettuce, onions, tomatoes, carrots, kiwi, and oranges), hummus, fake caviar (at least that is what our advisor told us!), vegetable cakes (like quiche), bread, pureed potatoes (similar to mashed), green beans, trout, and flan.  A HUGE meal.  After this, we 8 connected with the other 22 students and walked further up the hill to a teahouse in the Albaycin area.  This area is strongly populated and was settled by an Islamic culture....and is absolutely fascinating.  The streets are intersected by numerous alleyways made of stairs.  Each alleyway is filled with women selling scarves, teas, dresses, beads, and spices.  It was raining this day, so I also noticed that each street is laid with mosaic leaves and has a canal in the middle for the water to drain.  SO neat.

The teahouse was tiny (for 30 students) but the tea was delicious and the atmosphere was priceless.

I walked back to my apartment without an umbrella, and I quickly got lost...but I loved it.  I asked an old man for directions (in spanish, of course), and at last reached my apartment.

On Friday I took a placement exam, and did very well.  I will now be taking all 5 of my classes in Spanish...AAHH!!!

THE APARTMENT

I am in a room by myself...I assume I was assigned this because of my headaches.  The apartment building has a grated gate on the first floor that is locked in the evenings.  My apartment is on the second floor at the end of a white marble hallway.  When you enter the apartment, there is a living room on the left (with a door that is usually shut), my roommates' room, and a door the kitchen.  On the right is a hallway with my room, a bathroom, and my host parents' room.

My room is white-walled, with a very tall ceiling.  I have a small twin bed (I think it is a cot, but it is rather comfortable), a wardrobe, bedside table, and a desk...with 2 chairs...I still don't know why I have two chairs).  I have one window that overlooks the outer courtyard.  This is where Eloisa hangs the laundry.  I can look up and see the laundry lines of the other families in the building....pretty cool.

My room is ALWAYS freezing, and damp.  I wear slippers everywhere (there is no carpet) and I usually have about 4 layers on.  I am not too bothered by this, although it is sometimes hard to sleep.  The damp aspect is not so great because nothing will ever dry, including my towels.  Oh, and Eloisa mops a lot, so the floor is usually wet.

I share the bathroom with my other roommates (who are great!) and it has a shower, toilet, and sink.  The shower has a cool orange curtain that lets all the water out, so that after each shower we have to mop the floor.  The toilet is flushed by a button on top.  All of this makes the bathing process pretty interesting....I really don't mind it!

LOS NINOS

Sergio is 14, Eloisa is 11 (same name as her mom), and Dario is 5.  They are crazy.  Sergio loves soccer and is extremely sarcastic and witty.  He is learning English and likes to yell at me when I speak English...I must speak Spanish all the time...which is brilliant!

Eloisa is a sassy sweetheart.  She loves volleyball, High School Musical, Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, ice-skating, and hot chocolate.  She took me on a walk on Friday to Garcia Lorca Park...which is probably beautiful in the summer.  It has many gardens, playgrounds, ducks, and marble lined pools.  Today we went to get hot chocolate (which is basically chocolate soup) and churros...and I taught her an energizer.

Dario is learning to read and write...which is awesome.  He speaks really quickly, and I think he likes feet a lot.  He also likes to hide under my bed and then make me play with his little plastic toys.  He is great...and absolutely adorable.  As I write this, he is sitting beside me drawing pictures and writing letters.

That is all for now, I am going to go hang out with the kids.  Hasta luego!

Adventures in Aviation (or lack of aviation!)

I began this trip sure of my route to Granada.  I was supposed to land in London Heathrow, then take a flight to Madrid and connect to Granada.

The flight across the Atlantic was great.  Fortuately, the grumpy couple beside me had complained and were upgraded to another class leaving me with 3 seats in which to spread out and sleep.  It was when we were over Bristol, England that we noticed the first interesting flight pattern...the pilot began to go in circles.  Finally, after about 15 minutes of this, he announced that London Heathrow was closed, and that no flights were going in or out.  So we turned around and went back 45 minutes to land in Cardiff, Wales.

From here, I claimed my luggage, legally entered the UK, and boarded a double-decker bus to London.  For 3 hours, I rode through the hills and farms of Wales and England...in a blizzard.  We arrived in England, collected our luggage from under the bus, and entered Terminal 5 at London Heathrow airport.  The lines were enormous.  I had no idea where I should go, so I hopped in a line labeled "Assistance" for British Airways.

After 45 minutes in this line, I was told to go to another line to obtain a hotel voucher.

After 1 hour in this line, I was told that I needed to rebook in order to get a hotel voucher.  Fortunately, I had my wonderful Mac by my side, and I was able to purchase internet, get in touch with Dad, and rebook with British Airways (thanks for all the help, papa!).  My flight was to leave at 1:10pm the next day.  So, I got back in the hotel voucher line, showed them my boarding information, and received a voucher and directions to a hotel in Central London.

I bought a ticket for the underground to the West Brompton station, pulled my luggage onto the train, and took off.

After about 1 hour, the train stopped at Earl's Court station where I was to wait for a train to West Brompton station.  Now, if any of you know the British underground...these two stations are only 1 stop apart.  But, of course, my ticket had me going to West Brompton, and so I waited for 1 hour in 2 degree weather for the next train.  Meanwhile, I met an Indian man who hardly spoke any English and was also on the way to the hotel.  He got cold and wrapped sweat pants around his head...this made me laugh.  I helped him read english, and he was quite appreciative.

Finally, the train came and we arrived at West Brompton station.  The Ibis hotel is about 4 blocks away, but of course there were about 5 inches of snow on the side walks.  I was wearing crocs (the only time I have EVER regretted wearing crocs), and was trying to drag my suit case through the snow.  This was a sorely unsuccessful process that took me much longer that I had hoped.

I arrived at the hotel, sopping wet and freezing, was booked on the 9th floor, was too late to get a real meal, ate a baked potato, video chatted with mom and dad, and went to sleep.

The next morning, I took the underground back to London Heathrow only to be told that my flight to Madrid had been cancelled.  So, I went to a counter where they kindly rebooked me on a flight leaving from Gatwick airport.  I checked my luggage, and proceeded to the bus station for a ticket to Gatwick.  Somehow in this process, I lost my brand new jacket.  Then I tried to find it, which was a very bad idea.  I never found it.

Once I was on the bus to Gatwick airport, I was hopeful that I would make it to my flight on time....then the bus stopped for 30 minutes because of ice.  I arrived at the airport with about 15 minutes to spare, and ran through a mile of airport to my gate.

The flight arrived in Geneva, Switerland 2 hours later.  Geneva was about 6 degrees, and the mountains were stunning.  Once there, I had to find my next gate.  I accidentally went through customs (so I now have legally been to Switzerland) and then right back through customs, then security (the whole time speaking French) and eventually found my gate.

My boarding cards from England weren't recognized, so I had to work that out.  Once that was finished, I boarded the plane and arrived safely in Madrid.

Madrid's airport is huge, and I had 15 minutes to make an 18 minute trip to the next terminal, including a train ride.  I ran the whole way and arrived with 1 minute to spare.

When I arrived in Granada, my luggage had not arrived....but I was thrilled to finally be in my city.  I filed a luggage claim, cried a bit, called my parents, called my host mother, got a taxi, and drove to my apartment. 

Eloisa opened the door with a welcome hug and kiss on each cheek.  Finally, I have arrived.