Tuesday, June 3, 2008

2nd day in Granada- more details, por favor!

Okay, so I definately have a bit more time to write on the computer! (Yesterday was in between classes, today I´m writing after class!)

I´ll start off with yesterday then! Yesterday, we took placement exams to see which class we would be placed in. I am in the intermediate level of Spanish, my roomate advanced level, and our other student, Scott, in intial! My class is in a different building than the central one, and is about another 7-8 minute walk from the main one, and it is a very pretty, kinda rustic building.

After my placement exam, me and my roomate went back to our apartment! It took us a while to get back, because we still didn´t really know the way too well! (I´m pretty sure at one point we walked in a circle!) but we made it in time for lunch, which is about 2:30 pm. Surprisingly, I have adjusted well to the Spanish food times- Many Americans do not like eating so little or so late, but it agrees well with me! I might have to make it permanent, jajaja!

On another note, name confusion from the previous blog- Jaime is a guy, he is the director and in charge. His assistant, Inma, helped me move in on Sunday. They are both very friendly and helpful, and are always willing to listen to requests and such- So cool!

Anyway, yesterday for lunch we had a spanish tortilla? (I really need to start writing these names of these cultural foods!) It was a keesh (sp?) -like pie with potates and ham. It was very good! There were also some fish sticks and bread, and despite my dislike of fish, I gave the sticks a try, and they were very good! Afterwards, me and Stephanie had a siesta, which I have adjusted to very well. It´s a period during the day for relaxing and napping, and so far ours have been anywhere from 1 hours to 3!

After our siesta, we then decided to walk around town. We were looking for a hardware store that sold converters, because the new converter I brought doesn´t work. (However, I have an old one that my mom used in her travels, which works perfectly-however, the slots are too small for my computer to fit, but I can charge my camera and Ipod!) We weren´t able to find a store that sold them, though we did ask around! We also looked into video game stores, as Stephanie is a big gamer, and wanted to buy games in Spanish. Neither of us bought anything, as we were mostly content to walk around and see all the different sights. When we decided to head back for dinner, we stopped and bought small little ice cream cones. They were delicious! They remind me of gelato- they are very good!

I have been taking lots of pictures, and tommorrow I will bring my USB port and see if I can´t upload some pictures up tommorrow for you all to see! I notice the computer I am on now is able to support usb ports! (as my homestay doesnt have wireless, and I cant use my laptop yet, so I am using the school computers, which is awesome!)

Today, I got up this morning and went to my morning class. (on today´s note, I walked by myself to my class using a map, as me and Stephanie have different classrooms and am a bit proud I found my way around! ;D ) It´s four hours long, and it´s really intesting! The teacher only speaks spanish, and we are learning a lot of new things. For example- jugo isn´t juice in Spain, they call it zumo. Jugo means the juice of the fruit, not fruit juice! (It reminds me how English and American-English use different words to mean different things.) After my class, I walked over to the central building to hop online and write a more detailed post.

We have a tour today at 5 pm which will show us all around the city- I am very excited! After this post, I´ll head home for a 2:30 lunch, then a siesta, then off to the tour! (Our weekend trip is going to be visiting Seville- Ill write more when I know more, but I am very excited to go!)

Until next time, ciao!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You remember me to the Spanish students I used to have all the time in my house in south america hehe.For lunch, do you guys have soup, the main meal, and dessert aswell? like we do?

David.

Anonymous said...

I am so happy for you!
I will try calling tomorrow at 2130 your time!

Anonymous said...

Why dont you and mom use Vent?

Mariana said...

Yummy!!! Spanish tortillas are so delicious! And I am glad you liked the fish there!!!
About the converter: you could also use one of those files for metal (called lima para metal) to reduce the size of that wide leg in your laptop's plug. We have done that with several appliances in order to use small converters. And it still plugs in perfectly in the new outlets.
Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your Granada city tour!!!
Love,
Mariana

Patricio & Julieta said...

Hi Natalie,
You sound so amazed!! It must be great being in Europe with so many things to learn!! Please, enjoy your trip very much and take lots of pictures...we will be waiting for them.
Please, count on us if you have any question about the language :)
Besos
Patricio and Julieta Cal.