Some Ramblings

Well, it's been one week since I left little 'ol Sleepy Eye to travel to Granada, Spain and boy has my life become interesting!


The first thing we needed to do was get in touch with our contact here in Granada, Racquel Escobar. She is our "G" (academic advisor) back home at UWL and has helped us tremendously in figuring out what we needed to do. To our surprise, we found out that classes start on this upcoming Monday, not in April like we anticipated. Furthermore, we discovered that we needed to get a bunch of paperwork into the University of Granada in order to claim ourselves as International Students. After a few bus trips and some confusion, we've filled out the paperwork and will be ready to turn it in on Monday. Our plan for the first week of classes is to get to as many as we can in the Exercise Sport Science department, then decide which classes we'd like to take at the end of the week. My Spanish is not great, but even after a week I feel like I'm already beginning to understand the language more. I've got plenty of work to do though, so we will see how classes pan out! 


In addition to classes on Monday, the girls and I will be meeting with more people from the Facultdad de Deportes at the hospital where we will be doing our internship. I'm hoping that we will find out more information regarding the actual internship come Monday.


Aside from the school and classes road bumps, Jen, Karrie, and I have been trying to begin taking in this wonderful city. It's around 50ish degrees here and that is a genuine heat wave for us Midwestern girls! It blows my mind looking at everyone bundled up in the wool coats, "winter" scarves, and gloves while we are milling about with just a jacket on. They have no idea what cold is! :)


On Friday we took a tour of the University of Granada campus. Now, this campus is not your ordinary campus because it is spread throughout the entire city, and I think we walked through the entire city! Europeans walk everywhere. Needless to say my feet are a sore today. Later in the afternoon we went with another group to tour the Albacin. This is more or less the area surrounding the Alhombra Moorish palace here in Granada. I didn't take many pictures because we are planning on going back on our own so we can take our time and read up on these historic sites.


One thing I've noticed is that many Europeans smoke. While this is not something I'm a fan of, it  seems to just be a way of life here. On a positive note, I'm impressed and jealous of the lingual knowledge students here possess. From early on, they are required to take both English and Spanish. Many of the students on the campus tour were multi-lingual. In fact, one girl said, "I just don't know what language to speak. My host brother texts me in both Spanish and French." Mind you, the sentence she stated was in English. I wish I had that problem!


Eating Spanish cuisine is also a must when your in Granada. So far, I've had tortilla espanola and chocolate con churros at the Cafe Futbol near our apartment. Yummmm! Tapas are also a huge part of food ways here. When you go into a bar or restaurant and order any sort of drink, you get a round of "tapas." These range from slices of ham to bite-size open faced sandwiches...you name it! We're in the process of locating our favorite tapas place. :)


As much as I enjoy the food here in Spain, I am craving some things from back home. Any guesses? I am having withdrawals from carrots and dip! Seems silly I know, but when you're so used to having them it's hard when they're not readily available to you. Jen is craving Panera and Karrie is craving Chipotle. No worries, we won't starve! :P


Joe: I found some cheap generic brand Nutella that you'll have to try when you come visit. It's great! We'll be getting you the chocolate con churros--it will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth.


George Hirschboeck: When the girls and I went to get chocolate con churros, the waiter told us, "Ten un buen dia." I couldn't help but smile and think of you! 


We're hoping to do some more touristy things this weekend and prepare for classes on Monday.


Sorry this got kind of lengthy! Enjoy the photos!


Besos,

Ice cream at the heladeria!

This is the view from my apartment window!

A close up of the apartment window view. Beautiful.

Outside the Office of International Relations

Photo Op!

Orange trees are everywhere.

In El Jardin de Triunfo

El Jardin de Triunfo

Many people jet around on mopeds.

Scenic view pictures from our walking tour of the main campuses 

of the University of Granada.

Mi colegio.

La Plaza de los Toros. Where the bullfights take place.

I'll be going to see one when the season starts in summer!

View of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from the street.

La bandera de Granada.

Can't wait for more of these to bloom as it gets warmer.

Street lights on the street de Gran Via.

Karrie and I outside of our apartment.

We live in La Plaza de Los Campos!

One of the bedrooms.

Living/dining room

Window view.

Fountain in La Plaza de Nueva

Sierra Nevada Mountains

These pictures were taken when we went on another walking tour of the

Albayzin, the area around the Moorish palace called Alhombra. We plan

on coming back to take more pictures and tour the Alhombra itself.

Headed back down to the city center.

Nana