I've arrived!

I've successfully arrived in the beautiful, small city of Granada, and so far I love it here!  But  I'll start with my arrival in Malaga on Tuesday, which is about an hour from Granada, on the coast. I met everyone in my program at a hotel, and we spent our first afternoon walking along the beach and touring the city. It's a beautiful, slightly touristy city with a giant cathedral, and I would like to spend more time there at some point.  The next day we had some orientation sessions and then rode an extremely comfortable bus to Granada so meet our host families.  Apparently it was a beautiful ride, but I can't quite describe it because I slept the whole way.

My host madre is named Sole (short for Soledad) and she lives in a nice though somewhat small apartment with her 39 year old son.  She has two other kids, also in their thirties, who are around a lot, and two young grandchildren who I have yet to meet.  The apartment is located in a neighborhood called El Realejo, which is where all of the Jews lived before they got exiled.  It is known for its hills and views of the alhambra, which I'm hoping to visit soon.  Sole is really upset because there is a building under construction next door that is blocking the view that she has enjoyed for 33 years.  I'm sharing a room with my IES roommate Hannah, who is from LA and goes to Occidental.  The best part about my homestay so far is that Sole cooks delicious vegetarian food, which isn't very common in a country overrun with jamón.  My favorite food so far is called tortilla española.  Apparently in Spain, tortilla means eggs rather than the thing you put a burrito into, and tortilla española is basically an omelet with potatoes and sometimes onions.

Warning: I really like talking about food, so I'm tempted to turn this blog into a daily log of what I eat for every meal.  However, I realize this subject isn't as interesting to the average reader as it is to me, so I will try to stick to just the highlights. Please let me know if I fail to do so.  If you are interested in hearing about every meal that I eat, please let me know.  I would be more than happy to give you personal updates.

Orientation so far has consisted of five hours of Spanish class in the morning, although we've been learning some useful things.  Yesterday we learned about the unique Granada accent, in which they swallow all of their S's and pronounce the letter Z as "th."  Today we had to interview people on the street about their favorite parts of Granada, which was slightly awkward but provided some great recommendations for restaurants and tapas bars.  We were supposed to go on a field trip to Cabo de Gata this weekend but it was postponed because of a chance of rain.  This is actually less of a disappointment for me because in two weeks my mono will (hopefully!) be gone forever, so I will be able to fully participate in the 10 mile hike along the coast.  As for this weekend, I'm looking forward to exploring the city that I will be living in for the next four months.

Spanish word of the day: Chulo
Translation: Cool (slang)

Example: En Granada si compra una bebida recibe una tapa libre.  ¡Que chulo!
Translation: In Granada, if you buy a drink you receive a free small plate of food.  How cool!