Exploring Granada and Trip to Ronda

Pictures from Ronda:
(above): El toro!


Me in Ronda. Behind me is the beautiful city.



Me in Ronda looking down on the surrounding area.

Me at the entrance to La Plaza de Toros. They actually still have bull fights here!

Me in the center of La Plaza de Toros. Cool!

Pictures of Granada:

La Alhambra from far away.

Me!

Our room at Ana's apartment. We are on the fifth floor.

A fountain in Granada. They have fountains everywhere!

Hello!

Earlier last week I got to explore Granada a little bit more! As part of our class, one of the professors (Alfonso) took us around Granada and showed us the historic neighborhood of Realejo and we also could see La Alhambra from far away (it's the castle of the Moors when they controlled Granada). It is such a beautiful city.

On Saturday we went to Ronda, a small town about three hours from Granada. We were given a tour of El Plaza de Toros and also had some free time. We explored a garden and the mine where the water source for the town used to be kept and guarded. It was really cool.

The weather here is really hot!! But we are well fed and there are ice cream shops on pretty much every corner! Libby and I always have long conversations with Ana. She is amazing and very catholic (which is really typical in Spain). She has great insight and knowledge to share with us. I enjoy our conversations. She even corrects our grammer and helps us with our pronunciation (which I need)!

We had a practice placement test today and tomorrow we have our placement test for the intensive spanish course. It was hard! So mucho studying needs to be done! I am a little rusty but it is all coming back quickly!

This week is pretty much just class and of course free time to go get tapas! Next saturday Libby and I and some other people are planning on going to Salobrena, which is a beach really close to Granada. It's on the Mediterranean coast! I am super excited!

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

-Annie

Settled in At Last

Hello All!

I am moved into my host family´s house tuesday afternoon and started classes and orientation the next day. I have explored Granada a little and it is beautiful! On Saturday our group is going to Ronda, a small town near Granada that is known for it´s Plaza de Toros (Bull Plaza where the bull fighting takes place). I don´t have access to the internet in my house so I have to use it at the school, so my posts will probably be less frequent. I hope to put up pictures and more details early next week so you can see the city of Granada. It´s magnificent!
My host mother is phenomenal. She is a great cook and is super motherly. It´s just Libby and I in the apartment with her. We are about a 10 minutes walk to the school and are super close to everything! My first class is going well. It is the culture of Spain class so we are learning about Spain´s history and geography. We haven´t started the intensive Spanish course yet, but we will once September begins. In the beginning of October we will finish the intensive course and begin the other classes (which I haven´t signed up for yet). In the middle of November we will take the DELE exam which is an exam to gain status as a fluent Spanish speaker.
We also found out where we are going to be travelling! Besides Ronda we also are going to Cordoba, Sevilla, Segovia, Toledo, and Madrid. I am planning on going to the beach of the Mediterranean which is only an hour away from Granada one weekend. During our six day break at the beginning of October I want to travel to the north part of Spain. Either Barcelona or Santiago de Compostello. I am super excited to see more of Spain and to improve my Spanish!
I miss you all and hope everything is good back in Portland!

Hasta luego,
Annie

Madrid: Day 2

Libby and I at the Plaza Major.

Me in front of the Spanish Flags in the Plaza Major.

Me in front of the statue at Plaza Major.

A famous statue in Madrid (I really don't know what it's called but Kathryn said it's really famous!)

Me with my first cup of Spanish coffee! It was sooo good! Cafe con leche!

Hola,

So the first day in Spain was spent relaxing and eating. We slept a lot so I am much less jetlagged now! Today we walked around Spain. Our hostel is right in the heart of Madrid so we can walk everywhere. We went to La Plaza Mayor, el Mercado de San Miguel y el Supermercado. I successfully bought food with euros! Hace mucho calor hoy (It is very hot today!) So we were super toasty while walking around. It's very pretty here and a lot different from the cities in the states. The streets are much more narrow and there are not nearly as many cars as here. It is actually quite nice. Many of the smaller streets are cobblestones and the houses and buildings are all tall. Most everyone lives in apartments. Tomorrow (Monday) we are headed to Granada! I am very excited about finally getting to our host family and settling in. The first couple of days will just be orientation and such. I will post more when I get to Granada.

Since pictures are better than words I posted some pictures from the day in Madrid! Enjoy!

In Madrid!

Hello again!

I am in Madrid! The journey here was a little rough including a rerouted plane and a few hours wait for luggage but all in all it turned out just fine. I am very jetlagged and tired. But it is almost evening here now so I get to sleep soon! We are at our hostel in Madrid. It's very cool and there are a lot of young people around. We are just relaxing today but will probably explore the city tomorrow (Sunday--it's a little confusing cause Madrid is 9 hours ahead of PDX time). Then on Monday we are still on for bussing down to Granada. Hopefully that will go more smoothly than the journey here! It was a little rough. I will be bringing you more stories and and some pictures soon. Once we actually start to see the city and not just the airports it will get more exciting.

More soon,
Annie

2 Days Until Take Off!

Hello!

Ok so only two days until I leave and there is still major packing to be done. I'm sure you don't want to hear about my packing woes so I thought before I left I would take some time to write down in detail what I going to be doing in Spain.

I fly out of PDX early Friday morning and get into Newark in the late afternoon. After a four hour layover I am off to Madrid! We (as in my three friends and I) get into Madrid at about 11 AM on Saturday. Losing those 8 hours won't be fun but that's travelling for you!

We are staying in a hostel in Madrid for two nights so that we can get used to the time change and to get into the groove of Spain! Then on Monday we are taking a bus down to Granada (about a 5 hour bus ride). We are staying in another hostel in Granada because we aren't suppossed to arrive at our host familiy's house until Tuesday afternoon.

Once we arrive at our homestay, the very next day (Wednesday) is orientation. Beyond that I really don't have a clue what we are doing. I know we will be starting a one month intensive Spanish course and then we will start taking normal classes similar to the schedule at UP. We are also going on excursions to Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla and some others that I can't remember at the moment. All of the classes will be in Spanish but about different subjects. I signed up for Art History, Politics of Spain and some other ones. I am not sure what classes I will get placed in just yet.

Well, that is the plan for the first leg of my adventure. I will keep you updated on the rest of my time in Spain as I experience it!

Peace,
Annie