Monday, August 29, 2011

First night in Granada


Hello my friends and family.  I have officially arrived in Granada and I am moved into my host family’s house.  Everything is wonderful.  My mother is very kind and she loves to feed my roommate and I, also named Katie, copious amounts of delicious food.  I am going to come back to the states as a gordita aka a small fat child!  I arrived to my host house around 5 after Renee and I came to Granada by bus from Nerja.  Our last few days in Nerja went very well.  We spend quite a bit of time on the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean and we had a fun time getting to know the city.  The hostel that we stayed at was very nice and I would recommend it in the future, it was called Hostel Azahara. 
Now that I am in Granada I have begun to speak Spanish all of the time.  My host mom tells me that I speak very well, but it will be interesting to see how I do on the placement test that I will take in a few days.  I do have a bit of a headache from processing the language but for the most part I understand what people are saying to me! The next few weeks will be difficult but I am very excited to master the language.  My roommate is very good at speaking Spanish (and a very nice person in general), and it very helpful when it comes to learning new vocabulary and describing things to me. 
 A little bit about my living situation.  My host moms name is Elvira and I would say she is in her 50's or 60's.  We are on the fifth floor of an apartment building, which is pretty nice.  My host mom has two children, however, both are older than us by quite a few years.  I do not believe either of them live at home.  She has two dogs, which is nice considering I have been missing my Lucy quite a bit.  The house is a good size, consisting of three bedrooms, two living rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen.  From the sounds of it I believe my host mom has had many students from the program before and she actually works at the CLM, which is the language university that we will be attending.  She is very kind and very interested in learning about Katie and I.  I feel very lucky to have the situation that I do. 
I am off to bed but a little story about my travels to my host house today.  Renee and I actually ran into another girl from the University of Portland at the bus stop and we all took the same cab to our host houses.  I was the first to be dropped off and when I rang the bell to my supposed house a lady answered and then informed me that I was not at the right house.  So there I was in the middle of Granada and I had been dropped off at the wrong house!  So I started to talk to people that I met on the streets.  Finally, I found a nice old woman that was able to point me in the right direction; she even walked me to my door.  That demonstrates the type of people that I have met here thus far.  The Spanish are very approachable and very open to helping people find their way!  Buenos Noches! I will try and post some pictures of Granada as I take them!

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