Hey guys,

I am slow with the posting for some reason here in Spain. I guess that I am permanently on siesta.

Thought I would give you a little update. Thanks to all of you who responded to the Granada vs. Sevilla poll- Granada is beautiful! I haven´t even seen that much of the old part of the city- which is the most beautiful part- and it is beautiful. Warm, sunny, orange trees with oranges on them all over even the ugly streets- winding roads that are just for pedestrians, spanish and moorish architecture. Basically it is gorgeous. Sadly my good camera is still in the shop in London being fixed for 400 dollars (thank god I got the insurance) andmy crap one even stopped workign this weekend- so I am out of luck for the moment with photo taking.

The other thing that makes Granada heaven is the free tapas. There is tapas culture everywhere in Spain, but here it is the only place that it s free. You can get away with ordering just a drink, and they will bring you enough tapas that you can eat lunch off it- seriously. I don´t know how they stay in business here, but it is quite lovely and cost effective.

Mostly though I have been eating with my host family- who are great. I was pretty intimidated when I first arrived, because I basically dont ( didn´t?) know spanish at all, and no one in the family speaks any English whatsoever except for the son- who isn´t always around. There are two parents and two kids, who are both around my age ( as is custom here-- to live with your parents until you are married). Funnily enough it was the most intimidated I have been on this whole trip to try and communicate to the family and to the people of Granada ( who also generally don´t speak english either). I felt like I would do anything to not have to try to speak spanish. But the need for survival has soon killed this fear- and my spanish is really improving- especially thanks to the homestay even more than the school. ( I take 4 hours spanish a day). Granada is the perfect place to study because unlike other parts of Europe, I actually do know more spanish ( generally) than locals do english- so I don´t feel like a jerk stumbling through ordering and asking for directions, or making small talk with the parents. Also- it makes for many a good laugh with the family when all means of communcation just seem to fail ( miming included). So all in all it is pretty fun. I am glad in a way that I am stranded here. haha. I actually wish I had more time here... though at the same time I am worried about my itinerary and willing my foot to heal faster than it already is.

This weekend I hopped in a rental car with a few other students from the school who I met last week and went for a road trip of Andalucia ( this part of Spain). We went to Sevilla for a night, and then to Tarifa which is a little surf town accross the way from Morrocco ( you could see it accross the water). The beach was gorgeous- even though I couldn´t go for a swim because of the foot foot foot. ( should I talk about my foot some more? haha) I had a lot of fun, and it was a good experience because all of us on the trip were pretty different. And I was the only American. Everyone else was from Europe. We did party a little more than I am used to ( dragging ourselves back after 4 am 2 or 3 nights in a row)- but that was good for me too I reckon.

I have a lot of sightseeing to do here in Granada still- and I think that I am going to go to it. I might join a little tour to Morrocco this weekend as well. But only if I get in everything I want to do here first!

More to come. Sorry I have been lazy on the writing front.

xxxx

http://rebeccasworldadventure.blogspot.com