en y cerca de granada
hey all, it’s been awhile since i’ve last posted, but being busy and having my internet hijacked from my home stay has lead to a few setbacks in my Granada blogging career. but here I am; back with some new pics n such…
every morning I get up around 9ish. I haven’t had a morning where I’ve been tired thus far, so I’m obviously doing something right. Although it didn’t take much to improve on my sleeping habits during Christmas break (dad will testify). Anyways, my senora purri (note the spelling correction from last time, double r’s and double l’s, when said fast = confusion for a struggling Spanish student) prepares a light breakfast for me every morning (I’ll talk about food here in a second) and then I take a shower and leave the apartment by 10.
I always bundle up for the morning walk since it’s always a bit chilly. I even bought a new jacket pretty much solely for the morning walks. I do not dread these walks at all, however. I just strap on my ipod and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Here are some pics from my walk to school (click on any for a larger image):
Intersection of two big streets outside my apartment (Paseo del Violon and Camino de Ronda)
Paseo del violon
Looking back towards my apartment on the river canal
The river canal on my way to school; nice view of a church and the hillside
The best part of the walk: carrera del genil
Neat fountain at the end of carrera del genil
The main fashion district drag
I haven’t taken any pictures of my school building yet. Its not much to look at, just a three or four story building tucked back inbetween some small streets. It has a courtyard and the majority of study aborad students have their classes here. For these first few weeks I am in an intensive Spanish class, where I meet for four hours a day (10:30 – 2:30). 10:30-12:20ish is solely grammar and such, while the latter half focuses on conversation. We have a break in between the two sections for twenty minutes, which is very nice considering four hours of Spanish-only teaching can begin to wear on you. I like both of my teachers; both are eccentric and engaging for the most part. Im learning exponentially, and I’m giddy to think about how much I will know in the coming months.
When classes are finished, I usually try to talk to people and make plans for the evening since I don’t have a cell phone. Im still holding strong, but ill prolly give in here soon. I then make my trek home, ipod in hand, in order to make it home for lunch. (errr, look at the above pics backwards or something for a visual of what walking home looks like). Normally I eat lunch and take a short nap until 5ish. Dinner is at 9, so I usually will either do something in between lunch and dinner, like go walk around the town or shop or what not, and then stay in after dinner or I will hang out at the house until dinner and then meet people at night for tapas (free food when you order a drink!). so yaaa, that’s my typical week day schedule, at least for the next few weeks. The days seem to go by suuuuper fast. I already can’t wait to travel. Our program is going to Madrid for 4 days at the end of January and then even after that finishes, we still have 5 days until classes begin so im going to head about to Barcelona to see ryan, peter, and company. I can’t wait.
oh ya, I said I’d talk about food. I have never had consecutively (that ‘consecutively’ is for you mom and dad) this many great meals. I seriously look forward to lunch and dinner so much. Breakfast is always the same: toast with jelly, orange juice, a coffee with milk, and a muffin. It’s light but it suits me well…lunch is always the biggest meal and the yummiest. Normally it’s an incredible vegetable, fish, or bean ‘n rice soup with some other meat to accompany it. It’s always superbly delicious. Every meal also is accompanied with a fresh loaf of bread and fresh fruit (pears, bananas, and manadrines) which are always totally scrumptious too. My senora always makes me eat a ton, but I cant say no, because it’s so darn good. Dinner is normally a tad lighter, but still great, as it consists of some fried fish or chicken or a sandwich. The other night she made me this huge Bocadillo (see sandwich) on fresh bread, with cheese, tomatoes, and three slices of chicken. I know it doesn’t sound too special, but it was amazing…usually I eat lunch with the whole fam, while I typically eat dinner with just my senora and senor (without the kids). Each meal i increasingly become more comfortable communicating, and slowly and slowly I am able to understand the family as they talk a lot more as well. It’s neat.
Welllll, that’s it for now. We are going to check out the Albaicin tomorrow with the program, so I figure I will up pics from that and last week’s excursion to the Alhambra next time I post.
Buuut, Here’s a pic to tide you over mom. I know how much u love silly faces…
Hasta luego.
every morning I get up around 9ish. I haven’t had a morning where I’ve been tired thus far, so I’m obviously doing something right. Although it didn’t take much to improve on my sleeping habits during Christmas break (dad will testify). Anyways, my senora purri (note the spelling correction from last time, double r’s and double l’s, when said fast = confusion for a struggling Spanish student) prepares a light breakfast for me every morning (I’ll talk about food here in a second) and then I take a shower and leave the apartment by 10.
I always bundle up for the morning walk since it’s always a bit chilly. I even bought a new jacket pretty much solely for the morning walks. I do not dread these walks at all, however. I just strap on my ipod and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Here are some pics from my walk to school (click on any for a larger image):
Intersection of two big streets outside my apartment (Paseo del Violon and Camino de Ronda)
Paseo del violon
Looking back towards my apartment on the river canal
The river canal on my way to school; nice view of a church and the hillside
The best part of the walk: carrera del genil
Neat fountain at the end of carrera del genil
The main fashion district drag
I haven’t taken any pictures of my school building yet. Its not much to look at, just a three or four story building tucked back inbetween some small streets. It has a courtyard and the majority of study aborad students have their classes here. For these first few weeks I am in an intensive Spanish class, where I meet for four hours a day (10:30 – 2:30). 10:30-12:20ish is solely grammar and such, while the latter half focuses on conversation. We have a break in between the two sections for twenty minutes, which is very nice considering four hours of Spanish-only teaching can begin to wear on you. I like both of my teachers; both are eccentric and engaging for the most part. Im learning exponentially, and I’m giddy to think about how much I will know in the coming months.
When classes are finished, I usually try to talk to people and make plans for the evening since I don’t have a cell phone. Im still holding strong, but ill prolly give in here soon. I then make my trek home, ipod in hand, in order to make it home for lunch. (errr, look at the above pics backwards or something for a visual of what walking home looks like). Normally I eat lunch and take a short nap until 5ish. Dinner is at 9, so I usually will either do something in between lunch and dinner, like go walk around the town or shop or what not, and then stay in after dinner or I will hang out at the house until dinner and then meet people at night for tapas (free food when you order a drink!). so yaaa, that’s my typical week day schedule, at least for the next few weeks. The days seem to go by suuuuper fast. I already can’t wait to travel. Our program is going to Madrid for 4 days at the end of January and then even after that finishes, we still have 5 days until classes begin so im going to head about to Barcelona to see ryan, peter, and company. I can’t wait.
oh ya, I said I’d talk about food. I have never had consecutively (that ‘consecutively’ is for you mom and dad) this many great meals. I seriously look forward to lunch and dinner so much. Breakfast is always the same: toast with jelly, orange juice, a coffee with milk, and a muffin. It’s light but it suits me well…lunch is always the biggest meal and the yummiest. Normally it’s an incredible vegetable, fish, or bean ‘n rice soup with some other meat to accompany it. It’s always superbly delicious. Every meal also is accompanied with a fresh loaf of bread and fresh fruit (pears, bananas, and manadrines) which are always totally scrumptious too. My senora always makes me eat a ton, but I cant say no, because it’s so darn good. Dinner is normally a tad lighter, but still great, as it consists of some fried fish or chicken or a sandwich. The other night she made me this huge Bocadillo (see sandwich) on fresh bread, with cheese, tomatoes, and three slices of chicken. I know it doesn’t sound too special, but it was amazing…usually I eat lunch with the whole fam, while I typically eat dinner with just my senora and senor (without the kids). Each meal i increasingly become more comfortable communicating, and slowly and slowly I am able to understand the family as they talk a lot more as well. It’s neat.
Welllll, that’s it for now. We are going to check out the Albaicin tomorrow with the program, so I figure I will up pics from that and last week’s excursion to the Alhambra next time I post.
Buuut, Here’s a pic to tide you over mom. I know how much u love silly faces…
Hasta luego.
posted by pete at 4:44 PM
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