Hola friends and family!
I’m writing you from my little balcony that overlooks a hillside sprinkled with houses and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Granada, Spain..my home for the next four months!
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| view from my balconcito (little balcony) |
I arrived in Spain at the end of August and have been settling into a new rhythm in Granada for the past two weeks. I live with a host family: my parents, María and Federico, and their youngest daughter, Zorayda. I also have a roommate, Whitney, and we share a tiny but comfortable room on the fifth floor of this apartment building. Almost everyone here lives in apartments, not houses. Oh and I can’t forget about Lluvia, our tiny little dog that always has a small green clip holding her long hair out of her eyes.
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| "Lluvia" |
School is just a twenty minute walk from here, and the route is lovely. On my way I cross the Río Genil (Genil River), pass by the Fuente de las Granadas (Fountain of Pomegranates), then weave through a collection of narrow, colorful streets up the hill to the Centro de Lenguas Modernas (Center of Modern Languages), which is where my classes are. For the month of September, I have “Intensivo” every day, which is the intensive course that has so far focused on grammar. Then in October I’ll begin a completely new set of classes, but I won’t find out which ones until a little later. I’m really hoping to take Italian! All of the classes here are taught in Spanish, and I think it’d be so cool to learn another language while being taught in my second language. And I just think Italian is really cool. :)
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| La Fuente de las Granadas (The Fountain of Pomegranates) |
Today was one of my favorite days so far. Excursions to various cities in Spain are integrated into the program here, and today we had an excursion to Ronda, which is about three hours away by bus. We visited the famous Plaza de Toros (Bullring) there. It’s one of the oldest bullrings in Spain. Even though I will probably be cowering in fear with my eyes shut most of the time, I’m hoping to see a Corrida de Toros (Bullfight) sometime while in Spain. After the Plaza de Toros, we crossed the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) which connects the precipices which separate the modern half of the city from the old half.
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| La Plaza de Toros (The Bullring) - Ronda |
My favorite parts of our rendezvous to Ronda were lunch and our free time. We ate lunch in this nice restaurant that overlooked the countryside. The first course was a salad topped with goat cheese baked with honey. Delicious. Then some tasty, tender chicken and veggies followed by tri-colored/flavored ice cream. Chocolate, vanilla, and some unidentifiable flavor that was also delectable. In our free time, we went exploring and found this cool castle-like wall at the edge of the city that had stairs leading up to a landing from which the view of the city and surrounding land was really beautiful.
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| El Puente Nuevo (The New Bridge) - Ronda |
One more story before I go. Last night we went to a free guitar concert at the Palacio Quinta Alegre. The concert was outside, under the stars, and the guitarist played flamenco music. He was incredible. His fingers flew, his right hand strumming and plucking intricate rhythms while his left hand danced effortlessly up and down the neck of the guitar.
I don’t know how often I’ll write on here, but as you can see, I’m trying to write sometimes in Spanish and sometimes in English. Now that I’ve written a little intro, my next posts will probably be a lot shorter. I’m hoping that this blog will be a good way to share my adventures. : ) Ciao!
