What a busy first day!
We had an academic meeting so we woke up for breakfast with
Mati around nine. Breakfast consisted of
toast with butter and jam, coffee with LOTS of hot milk, and fruit.
I’m considering making a dairy of a week of meals here do
you guys can see all the different foods we eat!
Anyway, our first full day in the little pomegranate city
consisted of a meetings and a tour of the city. I tried my best to stay focused and locate
myself so I didn’t take many photos or video.
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| Even through Granada isn't really wet or damp, moss grows on everything here! I think it is so pretty! |
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| Look really hard in the distance--you can see the Sierra Nevada mountains! They look different that the US because they don't have ANY trees. |
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| I love these lights on the lampposts. There are maybe 100 of them--I am sure I will bore you with many more photos of them later :) |
Sarah, my roommate, and I then headed home for our largest
meal of the day with Mati, lunch.
Sarah and the other ISA kids in the regular semester program
(I’m in the a three month intensive program) had to take their placement exam
so I had some time to wander the city.
Enter my first moment of homesickness:
It’s been freezing here at night. Many places aren’t heated (at least to the
extent we do in the US) because electricity is so expensive. I needed to get some more layers and sweats
to keep warm enough at night. I decided
to try H&M, because in the US I’ve always been able to get basics cheaply
there. Trying to find my size was
difficult so I tried another store that I recognized, Zara. About a half hour later (remember, I’m
walking everywhere here), I realized the smallest they carried was slightly
larger than what I wear in the US. So I
headed back to H&M, but again it was difficult to find my size and then
calculating out the approximate cost in US dollars of everything and how
expensive it would be made things much worse!
I ended up with a pair of sweat pants, thick socks, and a couple of long
sleeve under shirts but the whole ordeal was really exhausting. Who ever thought it would be so hard to buy
clothes?
I was hoping to get a straightener (mine fried the first day
in Madrid, hence all the bun hair dos you see me wearing), shampoo,
conditioner, lotion, etc because I start classes on Thursday but I just decided
to go home.
When I got home I didn’t have long until I needed to be back
at the ISA office to leave for a flamenco show.
When I tried to leave, I told Mati that I talked to Sarah and we would
be back around midnight (hours are much later here, MOM….) or before.
On the first day we arrived, Mati told Sarah and I something
regarding what time we needed to be home.
Either w couldn’t leave after 12, or we couldn’t come back after 12, but
it was lost in the language barrier.
So now that I needed to leave and was running a bit late,
she tried to explain this whole ordeal again.
And we sit there talking about it, me saying I don’t understand but I’m
late, for about twenty minutes.
Finally I rush to the office, to find that the rest of the
group isn’t don’t with the placement exam anyway.
The flamenco show is good, except the eldest dancer of the
three keeps staring at the group, and especially me, because apparently she
didn’t want us to film or take photos of her and I, looking through the camera
lens, was completely oblivious. So you
better appreciate what I have to show you!
This was kind of annoying because we were never told not to photograph,
just mad dogged into submission!
Sarah, Madison, and I walk around for a place for tapas, but
on a Monday night around eight in the evening, downtown seems deserted, even
though just last night on Sunday it was bustling at this hour. Eventually we will figure out the pace of
things here!
When Sarah and I walk Madison home, we see a bit more of the
city including the main department store, El Corte Ingles, and one of the
rivers. On the way back we see a pizza
place and give in to the temptation of more recognizable food.
I’m glad we did, because as we return home, I feel more
relaxed, happy, with all signs of homesickness passed.
P.D. (“post data” is the Spanish equivalent of “P.S”)
Sorry for the lack of posts—we live in an area near a main
construction zone—something about putting in an underground train system. Anyway, our internet has been on and off
because of the construction. Will blog
when I can!!!
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