La Llegada

Hola a todos! I have finally set up my blog on my fourth day in Granada so we've got a lot to catch up on. I got here around 1pm Granada-time, which is 7pm New York-time. That makes 24 hours of travel, but here it was only 18 because we lost 6 hours. The flights were fine. There were no problems so overall i would consider it a success. I had booked my flight so that i would travel with Alex but as an added bonus, Tori transferred to our flight at the last second because there are some kind of terrorists in Heathrow. The only ticket they had left on such short notice was business class so pobrecita had to fly up front in the reclining chairs with free wine and socks.

I made una amiga espanola on the transatlantic flight, which was nice. When we got to Madrid we found other students from our group: Nick, Erin, and Katie. We talked on the flight to Granada and found our bags when we got there. Teresa met us at the airport and put us on a bus to the center of the city. Our madre, Maria, met us at the bus stop and helped us drag our bags some 15 blocks to the apartment.

We live on the first floor of a nice, marble building off of a main shopping street. Tori and I share a little room with 4(!) armoirs. I'm totally in heaven. Our madre makes us keep it very clean and organized, which is a huge challenge for both of us. On the plus side, she does our laundry and cooks 2 meals a day, which is beyond awesome! Maria is the best cook in the country and she literally forces food upon us. we are too spoiled living here. Perhaps i spoke too soon; the shower is freeeezing and water is scarce. Our showers have to be under 10 minutes and only the last person gets hot water. We take turns going first.

The first day was strange because we were so tired and disoriented, but from day 2 i felt completely at home. I absolutely love Granada. It's very small and cute, but still big enoughto be modern and interesting. There are very few cars but hundreds of motorbikes. Walking is the preferred method of transportation, which means i'm in luck cuz i have nothing but legs.The weather makes the commute easy too. It's about 50 degrees F here, but the temperature really depends on the sun. In the daytime, when the sun is out it feels like 60 degrees, but in the shadows it's more like 40. Por la noche it feels like 30.

I'm going to meet some of the group for a visit to a teteria, a tea parlour, soon. Por eso, I will update later!
Hasta luego!