Granada = Pomagranate

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!  There have been so many things going on here.. I've been soooo busy!!  We got to Granada on Sunday. It was a 4 hour bus ride from Toledo to Granada.  Once we got here we met up with our host moms right away.  My host mom's name is Encarnación, but I call her Encarna.  She's so sweet and a really good cook!  She takes care of her 90 year old mom, Carmen.  Once we got to Encarna's flat, she gave me time to unpack all my things and get settled in a little bit, she showed me around the house.  All the rooms are very small, but that's typical for Spanish flats.  Encarna is the caretaker of her mom, so she doesn't have a job.  Her job is to care for Carmen, that's all.  I have my own little half bath and my own room.. no roommates.  Everyday a girl named Julie comes over and helps Carmen, Julie is so cute and nice.  I have been showing Julie and Encarna all the snow that is in KC.. they're amazed by it.. they've never seen that much snow in their lives! 

I think I'll lose weight while I'm here.. their main meal is lunch and they walk EVERYWHERE.. that way they have time to work their main meals off.  (That's what my ISA leader said haha)  I have around a 30-35 minute walk to school everyday.  It's far, but it's not too bad.  My host mom gets up and fixes me breakfast everyday.. 2 baby muffins, a baby banana (plantain) and a cup of coffee.  Then for lunch we have a big meal, and for dinner I have a "tortilla".. which is like an omlette, or a sandwich and "yogur" (yogurt).  It's different than in the states.. and NO ONE is fat here.  It's amazing.

We took a walking tour of Granada.. some of these pictures are sideways.  I'm sorry, but it takes so long to upload them, so that's just how they're going to stay haha.

There is a lot of grafitti around Granada.  One of the main grafitti artists is called "El Nino", he was finally caught by the government and made an agreement with them that he would grafitti for the government to make a positive image around the city.  This is his house:

Amanda, me, and Brittney at the Flamenco show

Whenever we were walking back, we saw La Alhambra lit up at night.  La Alhambra means the fortress in Spanish.

The next day, we took a walking tour of La Alhambra  We split into 2 groups.. these are all the girls that were in my group.. In all we have like 6 guys in all of ISA Granada! That's crazy!

The Alhambra is the number one most visited place in all of Spain, second is La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. 

Inside part of La Alhambra

The view of Granada from La Alhambra

This part is the reflection pond.. it's so beautiful!

I have more pictures of La Alhambra, but they're on my phone because my camera died.. I'll have to put them on my computer soon.

This is a picture of the Sierra Nevada from La Alhambra

Yesterday (Wednesday), we took a walking tour of El Albaicin.  It's basically just a big area where you can see all of Granada, it's so pretty.  I took pictures on our walk there.

This is a little, tiny alley way that was used a really really long time ago.. When people would get mugged a long long time ago, the police would chase after them and all the alleyways would be closed off at the end of them.. this is one of those alleyways.  After this little part, it extends more, but stops soon after.

La Iglesia de Santa Ana is the most popular place in Granada to get married.  It's a place of good health and Rosana, our leader, said it was absolutely gorgeous on the inside.

All the houses in downtown Granada are painted white because it's a symbol of being clean.  Most of the houses are on the 2nd story and have gardens leading up to them.. I don't live in something like this. We live in an apartment.

Look at this picture.. a palm tree, the Sierra Nevada, AND La Alhambra.. so pretty!

Everyone in my group for the day.  We had lots of fun.

Me, Sarah and Holly 

The Missouri State Group!!!!! Hahahaha.. we didn't even know each other before we came on this trip.. now we're friends!! lol

Beautiful sunset from El Albaicin

The sunset at El Albaicin was breath taking.. so pretty!

The sunset on the Sierra Nevada

I live right next to La Plaza de Toros (Bull fighting Arena), I took this picture last night as I was walking home.. it's so pretty, but they're doing construction on it right now :(

I will have many more pictures and stories to come.  I'm absolutely loving this experience right now; however, I miss being at home.  Having the big communication barrier is difficult, but I'm slowly learning the ways of the Spaniards.  It's only been a few days and my Spanish has drastically improved.  I'm glad I don't have a roommate because I'm not tempted to speak English while I'm at mi casa.

I just bought a Spanish phone today.. they're definitely not on the level of the US yet with their cell phones.  From what I've seen a lot of people don't even have touch screen phones yet.  I bought a flip phone that doesn't have a display on the front.. it only lights up on the front.. very funny!!  I bought a Pay as you Go Phone.. it was very cheap, but that's all I need for here.. something that's cheap and I can get ahold of my friends.

I have to go find a bookstore so I can buy a book and do my homework.. I will try to bet better about updating my blog so they're not as long as this one!