estoy aquí y estoy viva

hiii,

I feel funny writing the same things in emails to 5 different people and my internet time is quite limited (no internet en casa so I have to paayy at a cafe, ew) so I´m keeping a blog! woo! unfortunately, I couldn´t think of a catchier name. sorry

so, I´m here. the flight sucked and so did the really long wait between flights but god, I could not be happier to be here right now (here being Granada, not this junky internet cafe). the city is BEAUTIFUL, soo european-esque which, you know, makes sense. people just sit on stairs of giant cathedrals and stay out until 5 am and eat enormous lunches and talk endlessly about things in spanish i don´t understand and i love the siestas...everywhere closes 2-5 pm so you have no choice but to take a long nap after lunch. we need that in the US. no wonder i couldn´t ever make it through my COMM301 class at 3 last semester, it´s just wrong. I was punishing my body.

The city itself is pretty small but it is like a maze of tiny side streets and plazas. You can see the mountains from almost anywhere and I can´t wait to go hike them.

my host parents are just adorable. both late 50s and constantly in their pajamas, they talk for HOUURSS and a lot of the time i´m just reading facial expressions to know how to respond. the apartment´s great, sarah (roommate) is great, the food is great except sarah and i made the mistake of eating a late breakfast today when we got up at 12 (late night anoche), forgetting that their lunches are so big here. i was literally force feeding myself because i didn´t want to insult mami. i´ve never been that full. i literally plopped, like made that noise, into bed afterwards and tried to sleep off the gazpacho. tonight a bunch of us are going out for tapas because there´s no way i can eat our host mom´s portions for dinner haha. but the food is delicious.

hmm what else? well last night a bunch of us from the group went out and ended up at this club called...Granada Diez? we went various places prior and walked up this huge hill and had the most gorgeous view of Alhambra. didn´t have my camera because it didn´t fit in my bra. my host mom scared me out of ever taking a purse with me when I go out. Anyway, the club was really fun and when we left at like 430 am it was still PACKED. crazy Granada. Honestly, I love so much how going out is such a part of Spanish culture. It´s like the concept of just enjoying yourself is ingrained into everything. Old couples were cuddling on street corners and men with shirts unbuttoned to their bellybuttons were just grooving by themselves instead of attaching themselves to the closest hot girl (COLLEGE).

I´m just so happy to be here. Some of us are going to the beach tomorrow (Almuñecar) for the day. We don´t start classes until Monday and I regrettably signed up for the earlier class so I´ll be at the school (which is also gorgeous, no surprise) 9 30 am cada día. Next weekend we visit La Alpujarra and Nerja on the coast as one of our planned excursions....so sweet.


So that is now. I will try to update often but no promises because I don´t like paying for internet. The school has free wifi but I also don´t like bringing my laptop to school. I guess something´s going to have to give.

I love all of you! (whoever´s reading this, creepy? it´s ok)

Leave messages or whatever or e-mail me!

Adios!

Connie